Early Review: Love Theoretically

Love Theoretically
By Ali Hazelwood

Published By: Little Brown Books
Publication Date: June 13, 2023
Date Read: January 28, 2023
Genre: Adult – Romance
Source: eARC from Netgalley
Format: E-Book
Pages: 368

From Goodreads:
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 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. And that same Jack who now sits on the hiring committee at MIT, 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?

“I didn’t account for having to spend two days with her and finding out that she is… spectacular.”

Wow! There are no words to describe my utter love of this book. I have been a huge Ali Hazelwood fan since her debut The Love Hypothesis, and I honestly don’t know how she does it, but no matter how high my expectations for her next book are, she smashes them all… every… single… time! I loved every moment of Love Theoretically, and devoured this book in one day! I couldn’t put it down!

Love Theoretically is such a phenomenal book! I really loved The Love Hypothesis and Love on the Brain… but I don’t know what it is about this one. It was just so much more. It has some of everyone’s favourite tropes, some of them that we have seen in Ali’s books before, but in a totally different way. Before I went into this one, I’d seen some other readers concerns about the fact that the tropes in this one are the same ones as her previous books. It has fake dating, like we had seen in The Love Hypothesis, and rivals which we have seen in Love on the Brain. Let me put your fears to rest… this is not a carbon copy of her other books. Yes, the tropes are the same but they are done in a totally different way to what you are thinking (no I am not going to say how because spoilers!). I didn’t, for one moment, think this was the same as her other books. It’s different, and just phenomenal!

One thing I adored about this book was that it was so much more plot. Don’t get me wrong the romance is there and it is central, but I just felt like I knew these characters so much better, and I felt like the story of how tough women have it in STEM jobs was explored on a much deeper level in this one. It has a little more spice as well, which will keep all you spice lovers happy. Everything was just done on such a bigger scale and it was utterly perfect. The characters… I associated with them so much more. Our main girl is a people pleaser and she changes her behaviours to fit with what she thinks the people she’s socialising with want. As someone who used to do this a lot when I was younger, I associated and connected with her so much. I love her! She is such a relatable character! And having our main guy see through that and just challenge her to be herself is what every people pleaser dreams of finding! It was just perfect!

Love Theoretically is without a doubt Ali’s best work to date. It has everything. Relatable characters, incredible plot… and even some asexual representation from a side character which I was living for!! I loved everything about this book and it has cemented Ali Hazelwood as my favourite contemporary romance author. I adore her, and I am convinced she cannot write a bad book! I can’t wait for more from her. If there’s one romance book you pick up this year, make sure it is this one!

“Have you considered that maybe you’re already the way I want you to be? That maybe there are no signals because nothing needs to be changed?”