Ali Hazelwood - Love, Theoretically

 

Ali Hazelwood - Love, Theoretically 

4⭐

Genre: Contemporary Romance,Romance, Fiction,STEM,Academia

Pages: 389

Format: Paperback 

Publisher: Sphere

Date Published: 13th June 2023

Book Blurb: 

The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. By day, she’s an adjunct professor, toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure. By other day, Elsie makes up for her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend, tapping into her expertly honed people pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs.

Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and broody older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And that same Jack who now sits on the hiring committee at MIT, right between Elsie and her dream job.

Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?

My Review: 

I love Ali Hazelwood’s writing and romances. There is no doubt about it. Yet, Love, Theoretically for me just wasn’t as good as her first two full-length books. Although I still loved the academic setting, the drama and the light that Hazelwood shines on misogyny and sexism in STEM when it comes to females, the romance itself for me was a real letdown.

The story follows theoretical physicist Elsie who is living two lives. She is an adjunct professor in two different universities, teaching graduates and hoping one day she can land a tenure. She also offers her services as a fake girlfriend on the online platform, just so she can pay her rent and bills. However, her best client’s older brother Jack Smith ruins her perfect double life when Elsie meets him during an interview at MIT, where she is hoping to get her dream job. Elsie’s hate for Jack doesn’t end there, he is an experimental physicist who ruined her supervisor's career and now is on a path to ruin Elsie's career too. Or so Elsie thought…

I didn’t like Elsie at all. She is not likeable. She pretends to be a version of herself that people want to see, thus it was hard to figure out who she really is. For someone who is also a Dr and theoretical physicist, she is also very naïve. I liked Jack as a character, he was more open than the male love interest in the other two Hazelwood books, so that was very interesting to read.

Romance-wise, I just didn’t buy it. She and Jack’s chemistry for me felt really forced and very instant. I didn’t believe their romantic story one bit, and honestly, I didn’t care that much about them both. I didn’t root for her like I did with Olive or Bee.

I enjoyed the Olive and Adam cameo, as well as the cheeky appearance of Bee’s name…It was so wholesome. Also, I really enjoyed the nature of academia being discussed during the book and all the drama that comes with it.

Overall: Not my favourite Ali’s book but still a very enjoyable read, academia and STEM wise mostly, instead of romance. However, I can’t wait to read Check & Mate, her first YA book and see what it’s like. 

About the Author:

Ali Hazelwood is the pseudonym for an Italian neuroscientist and writer of romance novels. Her main characters are women in a variety of different STEM fields and in academia. Her debut novel, The Love Hypothesis, was a New York Times best seller. In 2022 she has published three novellas: Under One Roof, Stuck with You, and Below Zero. Her second novel Love on the Brain was published on August 23, 2022.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21098177.Ali_Hazelwood