The Love Hypothesis, Book 3
From the publisher:
“The reigning queen of STEM romance.”—The Washington Post
An Indie Next and Library Reads Pick!
Rival physicists collide in a vortex of academic feuds and fake dating shenanigans in this delightfully STEMinist romcom from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis and Love on the Brain.
The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. 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, tapping into her expertly honed people-pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs.
Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and arrogant 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. And he’s the same Jack Smith who rules over the physics department at MIT, standing right between Elsie and her dream job.
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?“The reigning queen of STEMinist rom-coms returns with a tale set in the cutthroat world of elite academia full of delightful humor, realistic emotions, and the messy search for self-acceptance.”—Booklist, starred review
https://amzn.to/473qshW
“A decidedly quirky and thoroughly charming tale…Geeky science jokes, humorous student emails, and expertly delivered snarky banter enhance the narrative. Readers will cheer for Jack and Elsie and their bumpy road to happily ever after.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Hazelwood’s latest STEM-set novel may be her best yet, addressing not only discrimination among different realms of physics, but the unconscious bias Elsie has to continually fight as a woman in her field…A dynamic rivals-to-lovers romance.”—Kirkus, starred review
I love this series so I was shocked to see I missed the summer release of this latest offering. But no worries, I hunkered down and read it over the weekend and I’m so glad I did!
I am the least STEM person around – I even had to look up what STEM stands for (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). I went to grad school at the University of South Florida because I didn’t have to take the GRE (my GPA was high enough) and there’s MATH on that test! Tech I’m okay with, but that’s it. Nonetheless, I love these books even if I don’t understand a lot of the back story. Like there are two schools of physicists? I can spell physicists but that’s about the extent of my knowledge of physics. So now I know there are theorists and experimentalists, and I sort of understand the difference. But it doesn’t really matter. All you really need to understand is that the difference is the main reason for this enemies-to-lovers romance.
I also really enjoyed the university setting of the story as I work in one, even if we don’t have a physics major (I don’t think??) Elsie is an adjunct professor, which means she is basically part time and paid by the class – and they don’t get paid much. There are no benefits, no insurance, no vacation. It’s a really sucky job, to be honest. And Elsie is an adjunct at a few schools (also not uncommon) to try and make ends meet. So when she gets the opportunity to apply for a faculty position at M.I.T., with benefits and a lab, she is over the moon. Until she meets one of the professors on the hiring committee.
Jack Smith turned the theoretical physics world on its head when he was in high school, and Elsie’s mentor was the target. Once he hears where she is interviewing, he is not too happy. And I loved that her mentor calls her Elise – so typical that he can’t even bother to get her name right. As Elsie goes through the hiring process, she spends time with Jack and the next thing you know, feelings are developing. But there are major roadblocks here, and it takes quite a bit of time for them to work past them to their happy ending.
I loved the humor here, the setting, and of course, the characters. This was another unputdownable read from one of my favorite authors. I love these books and I swear I feel smarter when I finish one! Don’t miss it.
12/2023 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
LOVE, THEORETICALLY by Ali Hazelwood. Berkley (June 13, 2023). ISBN: 978-0593336861. 400p.
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