Love, Theoretically
Ratings324
Average rating4.1
LISTEN. I KNOW Ali Hazelwood's books are all the same. I know her male love interests are always monstrously large and her women are always sexually inexperienced. these are not deep books, but they are FAST PACED (I read this in about four hours. that's less than some youtube videos), full of juicy personal drama and! bonus! everyone involved has a demanding job that they love (relatable!)
3.75⭐
song: mirrorball by taylor swift
“There is no universe in which I'm going to let you go. I want to be with you, on you, every second of every day.”
“You could be my entire world. If you let me.”
“But take your time, Elsie. I'll wait for as long as it takes.”
“You are the most magnificent thing that ever happened to me.”
This was my Schrödinger's reading experience: At the same time, this novel was what I expected - and it wasn't at all. And by simply reading, I influenced the outcome of the experiment! Thankfully, it all went down in a very good way.I smiled, grinned, and giggled my way through [a:Ali Hazelwood's 21098177 Ali Hazelwood https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1611084228p2/21098177.jpg] “[b:The Love Hypothesis 56732449 The Love Hypothesis Ali Hazelwood https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1611937942l/56732449.SX50.jpg 88674377]” and even a bit more so with her “[b:Love on the Brain 59571699 Love on the Brain Ali Hazelwood https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1657897729l/59571699.SY75.jpg 93021199]”. I almost feverishly waited for “[b:Love, Theoretically 61326735 Love, Theoretically Ali Hazelwood https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1681476644l/61326735.SY75.jpg 96703712]” and while I found myself smiling at the very first sentence, for quite a bit of the novel, I didn't really get the same “vibes”.Elsie seemed so naïve (a Goodreads friend of mine put it less favourably as “dumb af”!) and I wasn't entirely sure about Jack either. And then I started to understand that Hazelwood didn't seem to aim for the nerdy, uplifting, carefree romance/romcom I was expecting. She actually seemed to take time to build up both protagonists. »Professionally, my life sucks a bit. Psychologically, I'm not, as some would say, “healthy.” Musically, I should hire a tuba to follow me around. But on the upside, I've been killing it in the lunch invite department.«Elsie has been manipulated, psychologically abused, and gaslighted from childhood on by pretty much everyone - starting with her mother, her brothers, her (fake-) boyfriend, her mentor - everyone but her best friend and the latter's hedgehog. (Who she's deeply suspicious of anyway, though!)Elsie is so injured and so insecure, that she hides her personality and instead applies a strategy she calls “APE” - “Assess” what the person she's interacting with expects from her, which “version” of her said person wants to interact with. Next comes the “Plan” phase during which Elsie quickly calculates success chances, tactics, etc. to best please her counterpart and then she “Enacts” the plan most likely to succeed.Elsie can “read” anyone and hide from anyone - but Jack. And Jack has a razor sharp bullshit detector when it comes to Elsie.No wonder she's constantly tired. Elsie is a chameleon, or a shapeshifter, or changeling, if you will. She bends till breaking point and even with her best friend she's not entirely honest.Just like Jack I found myself wondering: »What happened to you, Elsie?«Speaking of Jack: Jack lost his mother at such a young age, he doesn't even have memories of her. What he got was a stepmother who ordered him to stop calling her “Mom” in a difficult situation. His father was pretty much absent. Greg, Jack's brother, with his own issues is much of a confidant but not entirely either.So we have two seriously “damaged” people meeting each other - and Elsie has been “trained” to despise or even hate Jack.So, how do two people like that get together? Like hedgehogs, very carefully. (I am a dad so I'm allowed that joke!) In fact, they both hesitatingly agree on basic honesty and, like that, they grow together. Don't get me wrong: It isn't all mental health and hide-and-seek between those two. Elsie, when alone in her own head, is a brilliant theoretical physicist and has very clear (and amusing) ideas...»Experimentalists . . . well, they like to fuck around and find out. Build things and get their hands dirty. Like engineers. Or three-year-olds at the sandbox.«(As an engineer I obviously find that comparison ludicrous and despicable but that's theorists for you...)I also cannot help but root for any person who believably says:»I think I might be happy.Though due to a lack of hands-on experience, I cannot be sure.«As so often, there's also lots to relate to:»I love this. Just as much as I thought I hated him. And Jack's right: this is going fast—too fast, maybe. But I wonder if certain relationships are living proof of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle: their position and their velocity simply cannot both be measured at the same time, not even in theory.«How often have I battled “Heisenbugs”? And didn't my wife propose after a few weeks and didn't we get married less than three months after our first meeting? For once even the final “hiccup” between Elsie and Jack felt believable and, actually, right. It made sense on many levels and I felt a kind of pride in Elsie standing up for herself - at potentially huge cost to herself. Elsie felt like the most honest character Hazelwood has written so far. (And she's right about the star of 2001 being HAL; about Lars von Trier; just not about Bing!)»I'm a mess. A work in progress. I'm two steps forward and one step back. I hoard my cheese, and I can't efficiently load the dishwasher, and I'm going to struggle with the truth until the day I croak.«Also: An Adam and Olive cameo (and so nice!) and Bee is mentioned? I'm melting! I remain convinced we're pretty much all messes. Unique messes, messy messes, ugly messes, wonderful and horrible messes. First and foremost, though: Irresistibly human messes. I like that the novel celebrates that and shows how two messes can find love and happiness together.This is certainly no perfect romance novel but it was nuanced, intelligent, empathic and, ultimately, something Ali Hazelwood is hopefully very damn proud of. I can hardly wait to see where Hazelwood takes us next. However else could I honour that but with full five stars out of five?»I treasure my newfound feelings. Hoard them. Every once in a while I study them, turn them around, squint at them like they're a ripe piece of fruit, plucked from a mysterious tree that shouldn't even be growing in my yard. When I pop them in my mouth to swallow them whole, they taste at once bitter and delicious.«Blog Facebook Twitter Mastodon Instagram Pinterest Medium Matrix TumblrCeterum censeo Putin esse delendam
I really wished I liked this more than I did.
The start of the book felt endless. Elsie's thoughts were so jumbled up I got lost so many times. I ended up deciding it was best for my simple brain to just keep reading till it was over.
That was not the best start for me, honestly. Add this to the fact that I didn't connect much with the characters (which usually isn't a problem for me).
Either way, I kept reading because I am a sucker for science nerds romance, and i needed to know what would happen.
I don't think it was Ali's best novel to date, and that might be my inner IT girlie complaining about how much she hates physics and how hard they are to comprehend.
But right now I just want to make an official request to Alli for a male perspective book featuring Kirk and Cece, because I need it. I crave STEM themed books as if they were the air I need to breathe.
ps: not me complaining about Elsie's jumbled thoughts when I mostly do the same in my reviews 🤦🏼♀️ must be why i hated it 😂
I love stories about women in STEM, but it would be nice if they would be the saviours for once. Ali H. building up her extended universe I see. Where all men and all women are basically the same ;)
Ali Hazelwood does it again - she wrote one of my favorite rom-coms. As a woman in STEM myself, I LOVE reading her books so much. A stunning book with a beautiful story, I loved it, it made me laugh out loud and it was so enjoyable to read!
I anticipated a lot of this feeling similar to Hazelwood's previous books and in some ways they do.
The daily grind of a woman in a male dominated field trying to reach her goals while being underestimated and overqualified is very familiar to previous books, but there's enough that's unique about the plot that keeps it from being repetitive for me.
If you're looking for the typical fake dating plot line this might not be it for you, but if you enjoyed Hazelwood's previous books you'll undoubtedly like this one.
I'm not sure how to rate this book.. I'll go for 3.5 stars rounded up.
I'll start by saying that it was probably my favorite Hazelwood's book.
I think her writing improved immensely, her characters are deeper and the story was quite interesting. Additionally, in this book we really have a greater background about life in STEM and the characters careers, which I much appreciated.
It surprised me that it was not a love hypothesis 3.0 as the synopsis promised. However, it's a pity this novel comes after her other books and novellas, as parts of it still reads like recycled material.
As usual, I hate that the FMC is so emotional immature and that everything could be solved with a simple adult conversation. Additionally, this books settles that I don't like AH sex scenes.
I really had a great time and I recommend it for everyone who likes her books.
I don't usually do this but I want to rant for a bit:
- Firstly, I'm really tired of all the pop culture references included in romance novels. I understand authors are just seeking a way to create connections between the readers and their characters. This works both ways though, and the next time I'll read a reference to Twilight and Taylor Swift I'll just DNF the book. I know that I'm partially to blame as I enjoy this feel good stories, and keep picking them up despite knowing this references will appear. But honestly.. is this all you remembered and enjoyed while growing up? Does it need to be referenced in every single romcom?
This book did have references to Big Bang Theory, which I loved, and mentions to several cult movies, although most, if not all, in a negative way (e.g ”producers should stop giving money to Lars von Trier and instead pick a good charity.”
- Ali, can you please, please stop with the ginormous penis? It's just too much already... and don't let me start on the vaginas.. do all female Ali's characters suffer with Vaginismus? I don't think two fingers is much different of a menstrual cup, but i'm not sure I fully comprehend the scale of Adam, Levi, Jack, Liam, Erik and Ian body and hands. During arousal, blood flows to the genital area, and sexual excitement causes the upper two-thirds of the vagina to lengthen by forcing the cervix and uterus to ascend, which should better accommodate their impossible lengths. If it is that painful, can you maybe include some lube in the sex scene? At this point I just wish it was a closed door romance.
- The quirky female character. I'm a finance girl now but I've started in STEM and I've met zero quirky females on the university. They were mostly smart, normal, a bit shy and emotional mature but somehow all Ali characters have zero emotional intelligence.
Jack is the best of the best, and because of that I'll say to give this tall and muscular guy a chance.
“I want you, Elsie. All the time. I think of you. All. The. Fucking. Time. I'm distracted. I'm shit at work. And my first instinct, the very first time I saw you, was to run away. Because I knew that if we'd start doing this, we would never stop. And that's exactly how it is. There is no universe in which I'm going to let you go. I want to be with you, on you, every second of every day. I think—I dream of crazy things. I want you to marry me tomorrow so you can go on my health insurance. I want to lock you in my room for a couple of weeks. I want to buy groceries based on what you like. I want to play it cool, like I'm attracted to you and not obsessed out of my mind, but that's not where I'm at. Not at all. And I need you to keep us in check. I need you to pace us, because wherever it is that we're going . . . I'm here. I'm already right here.”
I hope Ali writes Cece's story as it has potencial to be very different.
Had low expectations for this one considering the author's recent novellas were pretty bad. But this one was alright! It was a bit tropey at times but decentish plotline for a romance novel.
I just finished Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood and here are my musings!
Imagine being a theoretical physicist and having to be an adjunct professor during the day but because that doesn't cover the bills, being a paid for fake girlfriend from a dating app. She has a unique set of skills where she can read people and instinctively know how to please her clients and those they are hiring her to fool.
Things are chugging along just fine until the brother of her latest client seems to see right through her. Trying to ignore the gnawing feeling in her guts, she is offered to interview for the job of a lifetime.... Until she finds out one of the men interviewing her is none other than Jack Smith, the man who ruined her mentor's career.... And the older brother of her client. He wants his choice to be hired and there is no way he will change his mind.
The more she fights for the job, the more she starts to truly see Jack and he seems to be the one person who actually sees her too and that scares her more than anything.
I am already an Ali Hazelwood fangirl!! Total fangirl so my expectations were super sonic high! I couldn't put it down. I loved the whole premise being based on Elsie trying to win a job against another candidate against a man who is hellbent on stopping her. I have to admit, Jack was really well written and I loved watching it all unfold! Their banter was epic and had me giggling. Hazelwood has this ability to send you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions and leave you begging for more. She has a way of bringing a delicate balance of belly laughs, intellectual educational tidbits, witty conversation, a little heartbreak and some heartwarming moments that will give you a complete experience.
The character building was top notch and really sets this book apart from other rom coms. If you don't fall in love with Jack... what am I saying... of course you will. The best book boyfriends always come with PhDs.
5 stars... all the stars... take my stars..
Thank you @berkleypub and @netgalley for my gifted copy