A review by tsar
The Love Hypothesis, by Ali Hazelwood

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

“I'm starting to wonder if this is what being in love is. Being okay with ripping yourself to shreds, so the other person can stay whole.”

Dubbed as the sensation in the book community across social media platforms, The Love Hypothesis recounts the story of Olive Smith, an intelligent science Ph.D. candidate who accidentally ropes Adam Carlsen, the renowned young and attractive but grumpy professor of her campus into a fake dating scheme by kissing him in front of her best friend Anh, in hopes that the gesture would convince her best friend that it'd be alright to date Olive's short-termed ex. Like any other romance that draws the fake dating theme, chaos and misunderstandings would ensue between Olive and Adam as they come to terms with their true feelings for one another.

If we talk about the plot itself, it's a very familiar trope that has been used more than enough times in fiction. As an audience, we have understood the basic premise of what would happen when two potential lovebirds agree to fake-date one another regardless of their respective reasons. Thus, to see whether the trope succeeds in building such a heated romantic story filled with adoration lies on the author's ability to elevate the trope into a fresh and engaging story for the audience to bite their nails in anticipation of the characters' romantic mishaps. For The Love Hypothesis, the answer is found in an academic setting.

As the author of the book, Ali Hazelwood has a specific goal in mind when she writes contemporary romance stories: to introduce the world of academia through the point of view of an intelligent, attractive young woman actively working in the STEM field while navigating some blossoming relationships she's discovered amongst her peers along the way.

Hazelwood opens the narrative by describing the highly competitive environment of the field that the public knows so little of, beginning from the limited numbers of interest to play in the research field compared to the industry, the implicit insinuation of high confidentiality of their works, and the unspoken stigma of ambitious scholars who have almost zero social lives. She twists a contrast from the earliest page of the book to the referred gossip mills spread around the chapters that present a fact that ambitious scholars do have quite busy social lives, some of them are spectacular and even risky, aside from their focus on several topics and brainstorms that they attempt to discover through the studies they've been pursuing. She takes it up a notch by exemplifying another fact that scientific scholars of the modern age consist of genius brains coming from diverse backgrounds, races, sexuality, and gender—no longer the world exclusively for white men.

It's a refreshing take to witness, albeit it's quite challenging to pull off in romantic comedy fiction, for the possibility of inaccuracy in the narrative or weighing down the light-hearted atmosphere of the fiction subgenre because of the many foreign scientific terms littered around the pages. Yet, Hazelwood demonstrates her capabilities in constructing some science-related discussions understandable while maintaining the classic feel-good tone of a romantic comedy; as someone who is a neuroscientist and recently becoming a STEM professor in the higher education institution, Hazelwood composes her explanation regarding science, methodical studies, and other higher education-related topics, such as fellowships and grants in a simple conversational way that universally enlighten her readers, whether they are familiar with the environment or have zero knowledge about it before reading her books.

Not to mention, choosing fiction as her path to pour her creativity outside of her current field allows her the freedom in contesting some sensitive topics encountered in the environment, but mostly failed to be highlighted as serious issues that demand changes for fairer and better treatment of the aspiring scholars. For example, through the side arc between Olive and Tom Benton, the other attractive professor with whom she receives her first acceptance of her research pitch, we witness a blatant unbalanced power dynamic between both of them where Tom could comfortably pressure Olive for sexual offers in exchange of easier access to continue her research—or the fact that he could demean her brilliance then accuse her of being an opportunistic and silly girl by entering a relationship with Adam.

Another instance could be read from Adam's recount of his academic life when he was still a college student; some professors had indicted Adam as a useless student, constantly taking notice of his mistakes and making a big deal of them, even when his works were considerably flawless—going so far as to pit him against his best friend Holden just to scramble for a lifetime opportunity of having their research ideas funded. These examples present the long-time problem of power play, unveiled from the characters with powerful back-ups and acclaimed reputations like Tom and the professors from Adam's student years, whose misdeeds are either dismissed or remained unchallenged because their opponents happen to be exceptional albeit naive students with less prominent connections, such as Adam during his student days and Olive in the current time.

As a result, Hazelwood conveys a new insight for her readers to be aware that these several acts of harassment and bullying are extensive—that they could happen on any field, campus, workplace, and even home—and could be severely damaging to the point of considering to give up their talents to save themselves from further cruel aggravations

I've mentioned how Hazelwood imbues her story with a set of diverse and lively characters, so let's begin with the protagonists themselves. Olive Smith is an average height white woman with red hair and cute little freckles all over her body, who comes from a relatively poor and broken household before she achieves an impressive academic stage in the present—she once lived with her single mother as her father never existed in her life, then she had to go from foster homes to foster homes after her mother died because of pancreatic cancer. Living in such a challenging environment has shaped Olive into an independent young woman, albeit a bit reclusive and a loner sometimes.

She is idealistic and ambitious, transparently driven by her past to discover a more effective way of diagnosing terminal illnesses, which could be a breakthrough in the medical field if she succeeds. Yet, Hazelwood describes that Olive’s ambition doesn't transform her into a self-important person; she keeps improving herself, learns from her seniors, and considers their advice as she works hard to meet her goal. Despite her slight detachment from major social circles, Olive has also shown to be an attentive companion to her close friend group. She pays attention to their stories and hardships, is selfless in the way that she would avoid doing something that could make her friends hurt, and understands her position as an ally by not stepping out of line when she supports equality causes that she, in fact, is not the one who would be severely harmed due to her obvious advantages.

On the other hand, Adam Carlsen is not the unattractive, stereotyped broody nerd getting a makeover that readers would expect. He is unfairly handsome, having a jacked body and maintaining a healthy lifestyle with a punctual schedule of gym visits outside of his teaching time. Contrasting Olive's background, Adam comes from a relatively well-off family, where his parents are diplomats, and he's had the chance to explore the world during his childhood. Still contradicting Olive's backstory, the socio-economic privilege that Adam has is exchanged with the distant relationship between him and his parents, unlike Olive, who had a strong family bond with her mother before her mother's death.

While he is infamously sharp with his critique towards the students' research to the point that they come out too harsh sometimes, Hazelwood doesn't illustrate him to be an extremely holier-than-thou person who boasts his achievements proudly. In fact, Hazelwood writes him to retain a semblance of shyness in his bones—an apparent example is implicitly drawn from several scenes where Adam feels that he's at a dead-end with his career, almost giving up with academia and choosing to apply to the industry instead.

This is why reading their blossoming relationship from fake dating to an actual relationship is a delightful ride. Aside from the fact that Hazelwood manages to build a hot and heavy tension while each protagonist tries to control their true desire during the whole scheme, she also succeeds in having them bond with each other about their lives, particularly their dreams and insecurities as part of a cutthroat environment like the STEM field. Even when they argue and banter with each other, Hazelwood maintains a penchant for mutual respect that both characters exude, remarkably avoiding silly scenarios that contain hurls of offensive insults to one another.

For a romantic comedy that is primarily so white, Hazelwood is wonderful in diversifying the supporting characters in Olive's and Adam's lives, imbuing such vigorous energy and distinct personalities in their characterization that makes them compelling for readers to know more about them and avoiding the risk of being tokenized figures solely for the diversity agenda. Hazelwood gives them enough spotlight to talk about their respective struggles; for example, Anh's aspiration to create a community for WOC working in the STEM field to help each other, or letting Malcolm gushes over his crush on Holden Rodriguez, the other young and hot professor, and vent out his frustration towards Adam's too strict teaching methods that Olive unexpectedly listens and regards instead of dismissing it completely in defense of her 'fake' boyfriend. Even Holden and his more carefree attitude is endearing to witness, despite that his description is mainly told through Adam's stories or Malcolm's infatuated croons.

If Hazelwood is intrigued to bring these three as main characters in sequels, either written by herself or collaborating with another author to mitigate potential insensitive writing, I would love to read more about Anh and Jeremy or Holden and Malcolm.

To conclude, am I satisfied with the novel? Absolutely yes, without a doubt. I am usually skeptical about hyped books, particularly because they often don't meet my expectations, but The Love Hypothesis is as excellent as how people praise them. So, I could say that the book deserves the many compliments it receives, and I am personally anticipating Hazelwood's next adventure in the academia world.
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