The Love Hypothesis By Ali Hazelwood

THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS

I want to read more broadly this year and I never read electronically but this hugely hyped book was 99p (just over a dollar for our US friends) so this was out of my comfort zone on all fronts. Let us know how you read, I really didn’t mind the kindle experience though I love the feel of a book in my hand! 

I’m not a romance reader at all, by about page 10 I’m usually shouting for them to get together already. However this book is literally on every other #bookstagram page and I understand the excitement, it’s heartwarming and fun.

The context is clever by default, the author @alihazelwood is a neuroscientist which explains the very realistic setting in a university with professors or PhD students as characters. The pace is quick, the plot straightforward and highly commercial with a few steamy scenes. I adored the style of writing which is very conversational, you feel like you are chatting to friends.

For me, it’s ingenuity lies in the authors witty acknowledgment that it is a romance following a very normative trope i.e. two people pretend to be together whilst actually falling for each other. It makes regular reference to this and takes itself with a pinch of salt giving an air of authenticity that made me enjoy the book so much more, injecting a humour, a shared joke with the reader (I bellowed with laughter at the line “this can’t be real it’s a hallmark movie or a poorly written young adult novel that won’t sell” – oh how you have sold @alihazelwood ).

There is also a really important theme of women and minorities in STEM and academia, the inherent privilege of the old boys club, sexual harassment by men in positions of authority and the fear of victims not being believed that I wasn’t expecting and which added a level of seriousness and importance to this. 

Fans of Bridgerton and any enjoyable rom-com unite. Lord this would be such a good holiday read. Maybe I like romance novels now?! What other books would you recommend in this category?

~ Chaya