My Hypothesis for Enjoying this Book was Correct

The Love Hypothesis By Ali Hazelwood

Started: October 31, 2021

Finished November 1, 2021

Rate: ★★★★★

Synopsis

• Olive needs to convince her friend Anh that she has moved on from her ex-boyfriend

• When Olive tells Anh that she was going on a date and Anh and Olive almost bump into each other on campus, Olive freaks out and grabs the first guy she sees, and kisses him

  • The guy Olive kisses is Adam Carlsen, an advisor who has a reputation of being an asshole to his grad students

• So now Olive and Adam have to continue to fake-date to convince Anh that she has moved on and can finally date Olive’s ex-boyfriend (for reassurance!)

Review

Plot

I.Love.This.Book. there are no words to describe how much I loved and enjoyed reading this book. There were so many moments where it was 2 am and I had to contain myself from screaming out of pure excitement and love for both Olive and Adam’s relationship. They just. Even typing this out, I can’t describe how much I enjoyed reading it. It made me feel all gushy and I kept smiling and my heart kept melting because of Adam frickin Carlsen. It’s been a few days since I have finished the book and I still am picking it up to read to feel the serotonin again. I am such a sucker for strangers to enemies to lovers kinda book. It just had all the tropes that I love--Grumpy x Sunshine, fake dating, "guy has a soft spot for only her", forced Proximity. It’s just. ANSKANKNDEKWNWECMLFKSN I loved this book. I keep saying that but there is nothing else to say about it. I finished it so quickly and finished it pretty late at night too, but I stayed up even later to read Adam’s POV chapter. Worth it.

Characters

Olive was relatable. She was just someone that was so awkward and I loved her for that. But she was also not scared to stand up to Adam and give him a piece of her mind. There was also a reoccurring theme of her having the mindset of being in summer where everything is light-hearted and fun, but then something bad happens between her and Adam, and she notes

"She hugged herself and didn't look back to the cafe. Fall had finally begun"

I screamed when I read this because I CAN RELATE. She was just an easy character to like and contrary to popular belief, I enjoyed her inner dialogue throughout the book. Some people said that it was annoyingly quirky, but I liked it and thought it was cute.

Adam. Oh, sweet sweet brooding Adam Carlsen. He is one of the best book boyfriend I read. He was just UGH I LOVED HIM. The way he treated everyone so cold-heartedly but when it came to Olive, oof, he becomes a different person. I like the “brooding but has a special spot for her” guy in any book. And the way he tries to hide his true feelings for Olive is so cuteeeee but we know...we all know that little smirk means SO MUCH. and my heart died at literally every little thing he did to and for Olive.

[Semi-Spoilers] The scene where he comes into the hotel to find Olive in the bed crying from what FUCKING TOM SAID and he kept asking WHO DID THIS?? Ugh, that scene made me feel something I swear. [Semi-Spoilers]

The witty banter between them was just MAGNIFICENT. Their chemistry was unmatched. I now have an emotional attachment to Adam.

Final Words, Parting Thoughts

This book was THE most popular book on TikTok for a good month and I went into the book with high expectations. And after reading, those expectations were exceeded to the MAX. This book is my all-time favorite contemporary romance book I have read so far. It takes the motherfucking cake. I will be rereading this book over and over as a comfort read because it is just that good. It was a bit weird to learn that it was a Reylo fanfic, let alone a fanfic, but hey a book is a book. I also did not see the appeal of Adam Driver (i still don’t) but I understand it now if anything. I also couldn’t stop picturing him when reading the book, so that kinda helped my understanding lol

If I can recommend any book to anyone (who wants to read romance ofc) I will recommend this book. I loved it. And I would give up almost anything to could read it for the first time again.