Having really enjoyed Hazelwood's characters and story telling in "Bride" I chose to go and read through her academia inspired romance series, I did start off with the last one technically... whoops.

This book falls in the same vein as "Bride" for me, with similar highs and lows. I’m starting to think this might be a pattern with Hazelwood’s work, but we’ll see. "Love, Theoretically" has some really fun and interesting characters. I really do enjoy how Hazelwood writes her protagonists and the leaning into STEM related fields is a bonus. I love a character who can hold their own and are proud of it when it comes to their area of expertise. She also develops the relationship between characters very well and I don't have as many ick moments, if at all, as other romance novels. I really enjoyed the back and forth between our two characters in this book for the first 3/4 of the book with the later 1/4 leaving a little bit of a cringe taste. The supporting characters, like roommates and grandmothers, were also fantastic and really rounded everything out.

If I could rate this only on all of the build up to the expected pay off of a romance novel it would have landed at a higher 4 to 4.5 stars. However, I do have to take the book at it's whole and the last 1/4 of the book with the "spicy" moments ended up being super cringy. I don't know why the author had to say the word "big" so many times but I promise the readers understand after the first 5 or 6. Also, to have such confident characters act the way they did once they were intimate was a choice I didn't really agree with. It gave slight red flag vibes for our romantic interest which hadn't really popped up yet. I would've also liked to see a bit more back and forth in the relationship when it comes to aiding in the flaws of our main characters and not mainly just our protagonist. I am never a huge fan of the male love interest coming in to just solve our female leads problems. Instead, I would like to see them both develop towards something better. This story felt more like he helped her with her issues, while she didn’t provide as much in return for him. Sure, he worked through a past issue, but it seemed more like it was done to win her over rather than him genuinely addressing the underlying reasons. And yes, I know she brought him the joy of watching Twilight...

I am off to read the other two books in this "series" in a random order because, why change now? ( )

What can I say? I am a sucker for a soft, sweet, and caring love interest. (When he was like "the only thing I want is for you to let me take care of you" I think I actually died.) I related a little too much to our main character oopsie. I really enjoyed the non-romantic subplots and honestly this was just a good book. ( )

Jack is a great book bf

3.5/5 ⭐️
This is a cute book. I really really loved Jack. He was so patient. He was so supportive of Elsie without pushing her in any direction she didn’t want to go.
Elsie was a little more complicated for me. I found her to be pretty immature but as I read on I understood her personality more. I felt for her and her insecurities leading her to be something she wasn’t for everyone around her so THEY would be happy. It makes me sad for anyone in the world who feels they need to do the same.
I loved the science-y stuff! It’s really fun even though I have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about lol.
This is a solid book. If you like Ali Hazelwood’s other books then it’s definitely worth the read :) ( )

Loved it. An absolute comfy blanket of banter, friendship, self-realization, pine-tree love interest, nerdery, and sex-positive ace-spec rep. ( )

Elsie is a theoretical physicist stuck in the hell of adjunct professorship, attempting to make ends meet by working as a fake girlfriend. This is actually a good gig for her, as she has spent her life as a chameleon, always trying to be the Elsie other people want her to be. When the brother of her current fake boyfriend shows up at her MIT interview, her entire world gets turned upside down. Now, I would like to start off by saying that this book is pretty darned predictable. No surprises whatsoever. But you know what? That doesn't matter. It's still a whole lot of fun. Elsie's experiences in academia reminded me of my own college days studying physics and engineering decades ago. I loved her kooky film studies roommate, her adoration of cheese, her unabashed love of Twilight. Most of all, I loved watching her journey towards self respect and acceptance. It was the sort of thing where I almost want to give this book to certain people and hope they recognize themselves in it. Romance isn't usually my bag (and hoo boy are there some steamy scenes) but I got a real kick out of this one. ( )