Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

Love, Theoretically Reviews

• 
  Zoe (Marauders version)

  {this review is based off the synopsis i have not been given an arc}
  
  I asked and Miss Hazelwood did not deliver.
  
  This book looks like an exact carbon copy of Love on the Brain and The Love Hypothesis mashed together
  
  "Rival physicists collide in a vortex of academic feuds and fake dating shenanigans in this delightfully STEMinist romcom"
  
  Sound familiar??
  
  In The Love Hypothesis Adam and Olive fake dated
  In Love on the Brain Levi and Bee were rivals in collage
  
  "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"
  
  Again In Love on the Brain Bee was a scientist by day and a social media STEM infulence by night. Seems like all her characters have two 'personas'
  
  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
  
  again, sounds familiar??
  
  In The Love Hypothesis Adam was known for turning people thesis down because 'they wernt good enough' he was known as cold hearted and scary.
  In Love on the Brain, Bee thought Levi ruined her career.
  
  Also what kind of simple ass name is Jack Smith, please choose something more interesting for flavour.
  
  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?
  
  I bet you that this book will be that the girl finds out how soft and sweet he is under that scary persona and he'll only be nice to her
  
  
  
  
  
  Even the covers look the same
  
  I rest my case
  
  thank you for coming to my TED talk
  
  p.s i will still be reading this because well women in stem what am i to do? already not enough around so despite my hypothesis (get ittt) i will still be reading and lets hope that I am dead wrong
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  .........................
  this looks like every other Ali Hazelwood book ESPECIALLY THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS IT LOOKS THE EXACT SAME
  But at least he doesn’t have black hair right? Let’s take what we can get
  
  …………………
  
  Ali
  
  Please don’t become a one hit wonder. Do something different.
  
  Love Zoe
• 
  Monica

  Why is the guy on the cover MILO FROM ATLANTIS
• 
  SK

  Love the cover but I swear if this is the Love Hypothesis 3.0 I'm gonna lose it. I need Ali Hazelwood to prove to me (and the rest of the world) that she's not a one hit wonder 👀
• 
  Nilufer Ozmekik

  The queen of STEM romance, the creator of the quirkiest, nerdiest, most entertaining, likable, and huggable characters is back! And she's returned with my all-time favorite trope: enemies to lovers!
  
  I can honestly say this is my favorite book of hers because it's funnier, sexier, and quirkier! Did I mention that Jack Smith is the best book boyfriend she's ever created? That sulking, intense, intelligent man knows how to make a girl happy! He's passionate, but he perfectly controls himself to put Elsie's needs first. He's caring, patient, and gentle. I loved him!
  
  Let me introduce you to dear Elsie, who deserves ten thousand hugs. She has a Ph.D. in theoretical physics. When she couldn't get an academic position, she resorted to fake-dating to pay off her student loans. Even though she still lives in a crappy apartment with her bestie Cece, she remains hopeful that she'll find a better position in the near future. She still manages to keep her head above water as an adjunct professor, teaching five different classes, grading labs, and reading her students' very sincere emails (those emails made my week! I laughed too hard!). Meanwhile, her mother forces her to become a negotiator to solve her big brothers' extra immature problems they've gotten themselves into!
  
  Elsie's weakness is that she doesn't know the meaning of "no"! She can never say the word! She molds herself into a different character for each person in her life, putting their needs first. That's why she never thinks about what she really wants from the universe!
  
  Then, her path crosses with her nemesis. She finds out that Jack Smith, the brooding but charismatic brother of her best fake-dating customer Greg, is the same person who wrote an article that ruined her mentor's career! Unfortunately, he's also the man who's in charge of the physics department at MIT and one of the decision-makers who will decide if she's the right candidate for her dream job. Jack supports another candidate for the job and is shocked to find out that Elsie is not the librarian girlfriend of her brother, as he was led to believe. As an experimental theorist, he has every intention of rejecting to work with a theorist!
  
  Elsie has no intention of giving up her dream job without a fight. She's determined to fight against the man who gets under her skin. Yes, she finds him very attractive. Yes, she wants to rip his clothes off and kiss him senseless, then punch him in the face. But she can restrain her feelings to be professional, right? Oh, you already know the answer!
  
  Overall, Elsie and Jack were dynamite! I loved their dialogues, hilarious banters, and blazing chemistry! This is my favorite work of the author! I wish I could give it more than five stars!
  
  Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest opinions.
• 
  Kat

  are we giving out arcs yet???? follow up question, who’s feelin’ silly enough to let me have one?? 🥺🤪
• 
  katia

  please be different from the last two please be different from the last two please be different from the last two
• 
  Jonathan

  everything about this sounds good to me
  
  
  except the fact that its written by AH
  so it's definitely just TLH for the umpteenth time
• 
  chan ☆

  only the besties on patreon get my thoughts and feelings before release day 😤
• 
  library ghost (taylor's version)

  this better not be the love hypothesis 3.0
  
  if ali hazelwood said reduce recycle reuse AGAIN i swear i am going to lose it 🙂
• 
  Phuong ✯

  Jack Smith?? We are getting a book about Olive's older brother with a OliveAdam cameo and all of the sudden I'm so hyped for this book! June can't come soon enough 😩🙏
  
  Ali or besties working at Berkley if you see this, please send an ARC my way I'm not above begging 🥺👉👈
• 
  elena ❀

  this already sounds like the love hypothesis 3.0
  
  but here we are
• 
  Harshitha

  No yall have no idea how obsessed I am with Ali Hazelwood. I want her to write my Eulogy.
• 
  emma

  sigh.
  
  yeah okay i'll read it
• 
  ♡tanaz♡

  3 stars 👩🏽‍🔬
  
  

  ❝You could be my entire world,” he whispers in my ear before moving to my collarbone. “If you let me.”
  I stroke his hair. “I think I will.❞

  
  
  okay, first things first ali hazelwood thank you for continuing to write these important stem romcoms because you might not be the pioneer of the genre but still, you are certainly the biggest and someone a lot of people started with as an introduction to the sub-genre.
  
  3 books have explored 3 different types of science. we've gone from chemistry to biology and now finally physics (the most dreaded one, more on that later) and i can hand-on-heart say that every single book delivers on the content of stem, the academic environment, politics and experience in such a relatable and endearing manner. i've truly enjoyed every single book in this series, (love on the brain YOU WILL ALWAYS BE FOREVER MY FAVOURITE).
  
  now as for love theoretically...
  
  🎓 jack smith is not your typical ali hazelwood hero so i don't want to hear anything on how this is a copy paste reylo fanfic, because it's NOT. jack may be a big old physics nerd, but he was charming, subtly cocky, forward and knew exactly what he wanted. jack wasn't grumpy, nor was he quiet and brooding, he was confident and served obsessed man trope from page 1. jack was also the most sluttiest AH hero thus far, this is a man who knows how to please his lady 👅
  
  🎓 elsie was your typical AH heroine but a lot more polished. she wasn't insecure or oblivious, she was just an extremely stressed out broke graduate that desperately needed a good job with HEALTH INSURANCE, (god i feel so sorry for americans having to deal with this, i wish i could let you guys borrow our NHS xx), because elsie has diabetes. elsie was also on the ace/aro spectrum, and when it came to her personality and growth, she went from a people-pleasing chameleon to someone who put herself first.
  
  🎓 jack and elsie together gave me so many cute moments i could gush about. my favourite moment has to be that twilight marathon. AH really changed up the dynamic of the couple from her past 2 books, but i have to say i still prefer TLH and LOTB more. the olive and adam cameo in this book was also such a cute surprise and i'm so sorry to report that jack smith and olive smith have no relation 😂
  
  

  ❝I settle between his long legs on the couch, toes brushing against his calves, his hand splayed on my stomach under the hoodie.
  He refuses to watch the end of Twilight (“I think I’ve seen enough”) but agrees with me that New Moon is the best in the series (“Relativistically”), curls around me for a twohour nap during Eclipse (“You smell like me—you should always smell like me”), and then wakes up as the afternoon stretches into evening, just in time for Bella’s unexpected pregnancy.
  “This is atrocious,” he says, laughing at every single thing the characters do.
  “Shut up.”
  He laughs harder against my nape.❞

  
  
  🎓 couple aside, the reason why i'm rating this book so low is simply because of my trauma with physics. it's a battle i've fought ever since the grand old age of 11 and reading this book triggered long and stressful nights of me crying over my physics homework and exam because for the life of me i don't understand what they're talking about and guess what folks i'm a medical student. give me biology and chemistry any day but keep that nasty physics away from me. so yes i found it hard to keep up with the academic stuff, and this time AH added a lot more scientific content than in her previous books. i did feel like that overshadowed the couple, as the book almost felt like it was solely elsies journey, and jack is just sprinkled in for a bit of romance. it didn't give me romcom vibes, i needed way more rom.
  
  🎓 i also didn't really care for the side plots regarding elsies mentor, it was like a half-hearted attempt at making last-minute conflict and a poor version of olives side plot from TLH. but i have to say the book did make me giggle (jack had a way with words), cry (that one moment when elsie finds out about the job she applied for) and blush (see the comment after giggle).
  
  overall i think it was an enjoyable read, and this book has the best cover out of all 3 in the series so i'll definitely be purchasing this to add to my collection upon release. i think if you're a fan of AH's previous books + novella, and have an added interest in physics you'll enjoy this a lot.
  
  *thank you to netgalley for my arc in exchange for an honest review*
  
  
  The Love Hypothesis - 4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  
  Love on the Brain - 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  
  Love, Theoretically - 3 stars ⭐⭐⭐
• 
  Hilly

  "But the title is Love Theoretically, and it's a book about two rival physicists. She is a theoretical physicist, and he is an experimental physicist, and they both think their discipline is better. They end up falling in love, but it’s also a weird twist on the fake dating trope in the sense that she ends up with the brother of the guy she's fake dating."
  
  Hello? How does she always have the best ideas?
• 
  Anna

  Special thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book for an honest review.
  
  Guys. GUYS. This was EXACTLY what I wanted it to be!!!!
  
  Ali Hazelwood’s writing style is always SO delicious to read. She’s insanely talented at crafting the most hilarious and relatable inner monologue for her heroines, and the quickest, most fun banter you could ever imagine for her couples.
  
  Okay, let’s get to this crazy plot (in the best way possible). Elsie is a physicist who works as an adjunct professor at three different colleges, which results in crazy commutes, an ever-lowering salary and infuriating (and hilarious) emails from students demanding deadline extensions.
  
  It’s definitely not the dream research job Elsie always wanted, and the lack of health insurance means she’s forced to pay for insulin out of pocket (she’s a Type I diabetic), and somehow still be able to afford rent and food everything else. Since that’s an obvious impossibility, Elsie and her best friend Cece start working on the side for Faux, an app where people can basically request fake dates for events such as parties, work functions, all that stuff.
  
  Elsie’s favorite client is Greg, who takes her to several family gatherings as his fake girlfriend so his family will get off his case about being single in his late twenties (which is literally insane, lol). She even has a whole fake backstory about being a librarian for privacy reasons. Greg, bless him, has a gorgeous older brother, Jack, who, for some reason, is always circling Elsie and asking her questions and being generally very intense? Huh, weird.
  
  Anyway. Elsie is in the running for a tenure-track professor position at MIT, which would be immensely helpful in a financial sense (if not in a hopes-and-dreams sense). Except, once she arrives at the first function she has to attend for the selection process, she’s pretty shocked to find that Jack is actually Jonathan Turner-Smith, MIT professor and infamous legend in the physics field (which is a whooole other story).
  
  Now, Elsie is stuck having to prove herself to Jack in order to get the job – which is especially hard since Jack thinks she’s hiding this secret life from his brother, and she can’t exactly contradict him without violating Greg’s privacy. And, on Jack’s end, he has to get over his slight obsession with Elsie and actively try to hate her for catfishing his brother (even though she’s not!!!).
  
  This book really gets into it with scientific academia politics, which I never thought I would care about, but, when Ali’s telling me about it, I can’t help but fall into the rabbit hole along with her characters.
  
  In terms of the heroine, if Olive and Bee’s whole no-one-could-ever-love-me-for-me nonsense bothered you, beware of Elsie. The Mariana-Zapata-like heroine obliviousness and lack of confidence is alive and well in this book, but, for some reason… I didn’t mind? Idk, Ali’s writing is always so relatable to me, and I loved Elsie a whole lot. 🥰
  
  Also, it was so refreshing to read about an Ali hero that was a little less brooding and a lot more easygoing and smooth (without losing that mysterious, intense staring that we love). It made the book a little different from The Love Hypothesis and Love on the Brain in a great way (even though I love those books too).
  
  At first, I think Ali Hazelwood’s tropetastic writing style is pretty jarring. But, ultimately, if you can accept that there’s going to be instalove, a secret villain hiding in plain sight, an obsessed hero and probably fake dating of some kind involved, you can just surrender to her magic and enjoy the ride. 💘
• 
  sil ♡ the book voyagers

  ࿐*⁀➷ Is this my favorite Ali Hazelwood book? I... think so.
  
  I think Jack Smith is one of the best heroes she's ever written. Do you love boy-obsessed heroes? Heroes who feel so much for the heroine that they blush so much and every touch is a boost of serotonin to their veins? And the communication in this *chef kiss* I loved every minute I spent reading this book.
  
  I don't want to go too much into it. Because I believe that everyone should have the best possible experience reading it. Jack and Elsie are so adorable and I love them both separately and together.
• 
  Dab

  Dearest Ali,
  
  If I get this arc I will clean your cat’s litter box for a week. For a year.
  
  Sincerely,
  Dab
• 
  Mariana

  4.5 Estrellas
  
  Me gustó muchísimo la historia y no estoy para nada sorprendida. O sea me refiero a que es Ali Hazelwood y nada de lo que escriba esta mujer puede decepcionarme o no gustarme. Sus historias y sus personajes tienen algo que siempre me cautivan.
  
  Nos cuenta la historia de Elsie que le tiene miedo a que la dejen de amar, y que la dejen de querer en sus vidas si muestra quién en realidad es (¿Quién ha estado en esa situación? Porque yo sí la he tenido). Entonces tiene esta manía de leer a las personas y decir lo que esperan de ella, ha fingido por tanto tiempo para tantas personas que en realidad no sabe muy bien quién es. Van desde sus películas favoritas hasta poder sostener una cerveza toda la noche aunque no le guste el alcohol con tal de encajar.
  
  También está teniendo varios problemas financieros y es por eso que tiene un trabajo que odia y es ser maestra. No está en su vocación pero necesita el dinero para subsistir y comprarse su insulina porque es diabética. Tiene otra trabajo por necesidad económica y es que finge estar en relaciones con personas, por dinero. Todo mediante una app, a ella le pagan por y fingir ser la novia perfecta de tal persona que haya contratados sus servicios.
  
  Así está un día en uno de esos trabajos y se encuentra con Jack, el hermano de "su supuesto novio" y siente que no le cae bien él a ella e intenta evitarlo. Pero claramente la tensión está ahí desde que se conocen. Pero pronto se va al carajo todo porque lo que ella y él no saben es que los dos son físicos, solo que uno del departamento teórico y el otro del lado experimental.
  
  Ella se le va a ofrecer una posible posición del trabajo de sus sueños y va a tener que pelear por el a toda cosa lo que no sabe, es que uno de los jueces y directores generales de ese departamento es Jack, el hermano de su supuesto novio. Y lo que es es más interesante, ya que ella se presentó y dijo que su trabajo era trabajar en una biblioteca.
  
  Entonces Jack se vuelve súper paranoico que está detrás del dinero de su hermano, que le está mintiendo. Pero ella no puede revelar esa información confidencial, y le dice que tiene que hablar con su hermano, pero se encuentra de viaje.
  
  Todo increíble y buenísimo. Así empieza la historia de Jack y de Elsie que en lo persona la disfruté muchísimo. Me tuvo enganchada desde que entendí el rumbo de la historia como del 8% hasta terminarlo por completo. No me duró nada la historia y vaya que quería disfrutarla.
  
  Una historia bastante bonita y con un mensaje importante. Sé tú y haz lo que tú quieras. Jack es una amor de personaje y me encantó la interacción de los dos.
  
  Pero tengo que admitir que es mi libro menos favorito de los 3 que ha escrito Ali Hazelwood. Y es que hay algo que sentía sobre todo a partir del 65% hasta el 85% de la historia que no me dejaba estar a gusto. Y es que Jack siento que tomaba muchas actitudes de papá. Con esto me refiero a que tomaba decisiones por Elsie porque creía que era lo mejor para ella sin preguntarle si quiera, siento que eso es lo que hace un papá.
  
  Ver lo que es mejor para un hijo, pero no siento que deba ser el rol de una pareja. Elsie puede tomar malas decisiones y Jack la puede ayudar, pero no creo que deba de decidir por ella. Y siento que eso pasó mucho y me daba un poco de coraje, porque Elsie no es una niña y puede tomar sus propias decisiones.
  
  Es el único contra que no me deja ponerle las 5 estrellas. Pero en todo lo demás es una joya y me gustó demasiado. Y las escenas spicy no los van a decepcionar, de mi se acuerdan.
• 
  kimberly ☆

  thank you so much berkley for this arc!
  
  
  5 stars! personally, this is my favorite Ali Hazelwood book yet. I absolutely had an amazing time while reading it, I loved every part of every single character introduced in the book, except for obviously the negative ones. I loved the progression of the story, I loved how the plot progressed I just had a good time! Elise is a character that I relate very deeply with, her big character flaw is one that I see within myself, or at least saw within myself, and every single decision she made I could absolutely understand, so from the standpoint, she is my favorite character that Ali Hazelwood has ever written, and then we get to jack who is everything anybody would ever want in a partner, and their banter in the beginning, is just beautiful, as well as the progression of the relationship. I had a lot of fun reading this book, and this book is absolutely a book I could see myself re-reading!
• 
  ash ✩‧₊˚

  this is gonna be copy and paste of the first 2 so no, i'm not wasting my time again.
• 
  aly ☆彡 (slowly catching up)

  Probably the prettiest cover from Hazelwood.
  
  Also, the way I've been shitting on Hazelwood's past books but still succumb to nice covers. I am a such a weakling. #LordSaveMe
• 
  Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell

  Ok but why does it look like Anastasia and Dimitri from the Don Bluth movie
• 
  libby (kenji's version)

  he looks like nanami so obv i'm going to read it idc
• 
  Annabella⁷ (blackford & henry li’s version)

  THE COVER REVEAL PLUS AN ADAM & OLIVE CAMEO🥹😭😫 STOP I’M SO EXCITED!!! JUNE 13TH 2023, MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!!
  
  Ali Hazelwood, please pretty please with a cherry on top pleaseee send me an arc so I can go feral for this book early🥰 xo
• 
  alluringB

  Ali babes, this one better not be from your AO3 Reylo drafts again
• 
  Robin

  pleasantly surprised that i enjoyed this one!
• 
  Isabella

  *** I received this ARC from Berkley and NetGalley***
  
  this is honestly Ali's steamiest, spiciest, funniest book I'm not even joking. if you love her books, but keep coming back to "I need more spice"- this book has it. she heard us and did not disappoint.
  
  I don't want to give too much away, but this book had everything I could've wanted. and per usual, even though it's centered around the STEM world, I never feel left out not having much background in science. I think Ali Hazelwood does a fantastic job of keeping her stories relatable to every reader, while writing about academia. this book had me cackling and swooning. oh my goodness the SWOONING.
  
  I even caught myself tearing up at some parts. I know... ME tearing up at a book... who even am I??? it was literally so sweet and romantic I couldn't even believe myself. this is definitely her best work thus far and I already want to reread it again.
• 
  •❅Avery (Taylor's version)❅• Kishimoto-Brekker-Greenbriar-Whitethorn-Havilliard

  AN OLIVE AND ADAM CAMEO???? SCREAMING CRYING SOBBING INTO MY PILLOW. also that cover is gorgeous, I love the color palette.
  
  But PLEASE. I want something different. I may not have read Love on the Brain or any of the novellas, but I plan to and I need something DIFFERENT. I do love rivals to lovers and fake dating, but sometimes it can get annoying if it's just a copy and paste of a previous book *cough* The Love Hypothesis *cough* just with different characters and conflicts.
• 
  gloria ୨୧

  wait i ac love this cover sm hello?? the braid is so dreamy and he's really...he's lookin...uh uh uh