Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
Publisher: Berkley Romance
Pub Date: 6/13/2023

Thank you to Berkley Romance for the free paperback copy and PRH Audio for the free audiobook copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

GoodReads Synopsis: 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: In Love, Theoretically, Elsie Hannaway leads a double life as a struggling adjunct professor and a fake girlfriend for hire. However, when she encounters Jack Smith, the older brother of a client and the experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career, her carefully constructed world begins to unravel. As they navigate their complicated connection, Elsie must decide whether to embrace her true self and put her theories on love to the test. When it comes to Ali Hazelwood’s books, I’ve come to expect certain elements in her stories like the enemies-to-lovers trope, a small girl and big guy dynamic, and a STEM setting. Love, Theoretically follows that formula and while I enjoyed it, I wished we could have had Jack’s perspective as well. Elsie’s people-pleasing personality made sense, but there were moments when her decisions and thought process grated on me. Nonetheless, I appreciated how the author developed the relationship between Elsie and Jack. The cameo appearance of Olive and Adam from The Love Hypothesis was a sweet touch. If you’re a fan of Ali Hazelwood or enjoy the enemies-to-lovers trope, this book is worth a read!