New York Times Best-Selling Novel “The Love Hypothesis” by Ali Hazelwood has taken #BookTok by storm. The story is from the point of view of Olive, a broke graduate student at Stanford with a deep interest in pancreatic cancer. One night, she kisses the notorious Adam “Ass” Carlsen, one of the meanest yet brightest professors in her program.
In this light-hearted story, Adam and Olive commit to a fake relationship that is mutually beneficial. Adam needing to ‘place roots’ and Olive wanting her best friend to not feel bad about dating her ex. With a list of rules and an end day in sight, nothing could make this situation complicated.
In typical rom-com fashion, the fake relationship starts off smoothly; they see each other once a week and the gossip spreads around the entire campus. But when they keep running into each other, they are constantly put into situations where only being in a real relationship would make it comfortable: sitting in one’s lap, putting on sunscreen, movie nights at one house.
“The Love Hypothesis” follows many wonderful romance tropes including ‘he hates everyone but her’ and ‘friends to lovers’. This story is fast-paced and a light read that many could enjoy. It is very personable and relatable to those in graduate school.