“I’m starting to wonder if this is what being in love is. Being okay with ripping yourself to shreds, so the other person can stay whole.” To Olive, this is what she starts to realize as she falls in love. Definitions of love are different for everyone but this is what Olive believes. Being so in love with someone that you would risk everything. This is the main theme of The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood.

Olive is a third-year Ph.D. student who is trying to convince her best friend, Ahn, that Olive is over her ex-boyfriend, so Ahn will date him. In a rush to make Anh think she is on a date, Olive kisses a tall, handsome stranger. She soon realizes she kissed Adam Carlson who works in her department. Olive wants to keep up the charade with Ahn, and Adam needs to convince Standford that he’s not leaving to get his research funds unfrozen. The two then agree to fake date for a month and hope that everything will go according to plan.

Earlier in her life, Olive’s mother died of pancreatic cancer when she was 15, so she decided to dedicate her life to being a scientist and searching for the cure. She doesn’t want anyone to ever feel what she felt. But there is one problem: Olive needs the right equipment to do her research and she doesn’t have it. She reaches out to multiple professors at other universities, but only one responds: Tom Benton from Harvard. He just so happens to be Adam’s best friend. Tom asks Olive to give him a pitch, which she delivers. A few days later, Tom offers her a spot in his lab the following year.

One aspect of the novel that I enjoyed was the characteristics of the main character, Olive. She is a woman working in STEM. It made me feel empowered to read it, especially when she gave a presentation at a conference, speaking about her research. The slow burn with Adam and Olive will keep you intrigued, and the connection between the two characters is delightful and adorable. This novel explores the theme of harassment, especially common in work environments. This novel also deals with people learning how to express their emotions and dealing with emotional growth.

The Love Hypothesis is an intriguing novel because there is a wicked plot twist. If you like cute romance novels, then this novel is for you. There are scenes with forced proximity, scenes with science and experiments, and so much more amazing scenes Ali Hazelwood wrote. Even if you don’t like novels about science, I think you should give this novel a chance because there are so many novels that are cute romance novels like this one. Some other authors I recommend if you like The Love Hypothesis are Emily Henry and Christina Lauren.