⭐⭐⭐ 3 stars | The Love Hypothesis is a funny, often sweet rom-com involving one of my favorite tropes (fake dating!) but while it did make me laugh out loud and swoon, it didn't quite hit the mark for me.
Olive Smith is a third-year Ph.D candidate who is focused on her research project, her best friends, and getting by on her measly student income. When her BFF Anh develops feelings for Olive's ex, she knows the only way Ahn will go for it is if she believes Olive has moved on. So Olive kisses the first man she sees and it happens to be Adam Carlsen, a young very attractive professor, who is pretty much known by the whole student body as being harsh and unapproachable. Naturally, a single kiss isn't enough and they need to fake date to prove they're really dating to Anh. But soon the entire campus knows of their relationship and their ruse turns into something bigger and unsurprisingly more real than either of them ever expected.
First and foremost, Olive and Adam find themselves in some of the most awkward situations to prove they're dating and I couldn't help but cackle each and every time. But underneath all that humor is this very real connection and Olive gets to see a side of Adam know one else knows (cue: me swooning). I enjoyed the progression of their relationship from strangers, to fake daters, to friends, and then to something much more. I really loved Adam and how he showed up for her. But what frustrated me was Olive (particularly during the second half of the book) and the various "conflicts" in their story. Olive came dangerously close to the manicpixiegirl territory and some of her quirks were just ridiculous. Then in terms of conflict, I don't mind if the story is predictable. It's a romance and I'm reading it knowing I'll get the happily ever after. That said, the levels of miscommunication as a barrier between them was unbelievable (that particular bit of writing felt lazy) and all the reveals and big declarations were anticlimactic to the point of dissatisfying. It's a cute book but it just lacked a certain pull to make me feel fully invested.
If you went to grad school, what would you want to major in? I don't know if this would come as a shock or not, but I'd want to go back for Professional Writing. There was a point during college where a professor encouraged me to switch majors to English so I could pursue writing, which I obviously didn't do. But after blogging for as long as I have, I wouldn't mind upping my writing game!
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| Collaborative feature with Alexa. We read ARCs together and post our reviews on the same date. |
I picked this one up because it was all over social media and definitely agree with what you said about Olive - the story itself was cute but didn't really pack the same punch. On the prospect of grad school tho...I have no idea but it'll probably be something in the realm of education to continue my undergrad degree - I'll have to decide sooner or later 😂
ReplyDeleteriv @ dearrivarie