Title: Love, Theoretically
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Publication: June 13, 2023
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Romance
Pages: 400
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SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
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?
REVIEW:
I have been a fan of this author I read The Love Hypothesis. It was such a good rom com I immediately put her on my auto-purchase any book she writes. So when I was picking out my book club books for the year and needed a romance I decided to pick it. A: because I really wanted to read it and B: I wanted to find something that was a little lighter since we have been reading some pretty heavy books recently. So I was excited to start it and when I did man o man I binged it in about two days.
Elsie feels like she is at a dead end. She hates her job as an adjunct professor at three universities in the Boston area. It’s not what she wants to do. She is a Theoretical Physicist. She wants to do her postdoctoral and do research but according to her mentor, there are no jobs out there for her. How does she make ends meet? She is a date for hire but it is all on the up and up. So when she runs into one of her client’s brothers things start getting exciting in her life for once. I absolutely loved this book. I squealed with delight at everything good that happened to Elsie. I was taken aback by everything her mother expected of her. That is not what your child is for. Deal with your own kids don’t make someone else do your dirty work.
This book is well-written and flows easily through the chapters. You fall in love with all of Elsie’s quirks and I saw some of my own quirks in her. You see Elsie learning to tell the truth even if it hurts someone’s feelings. I am a people pleaser and find myself doing the exact same things she was. You make yourself miserable at times because you don’t want people mad at you. She learns to love in a way and learns to trust someone. I loved that you see both characters grow as the book progresses. This book is a bit steamy but not until almost the end of the book, at that point all bets are off. I finished this book at work and have perfected the nonchalant look as I read a steamy scene. I have several more books by this author on my shelf, I’ll be getting to them ASAP.
