Genre: New Adult romance

Synopsis: As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships--but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.

That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor--and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive's career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding...six-pack abs. Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.

Content/Trigger Warnings: Death of parents, misogyny, attempted sexual assault, body shaming/negative food comments

I loved just about everything about The Love Hypothesis. The characters, the academic setting, the grumpy love interest, the plot. All freaking lovely. Just lovely.

The thing I couldn't get over, and that almost ruined such a lovely book for me, was a couple of random, unexpected diabetes jokes, as well as comments regarding how and what people (particularly the main character, Olive) were eating. This literally a book about scientists, people who understand biology and how the body works, and they a few times too many regarded having a sugary Starbucks drink as the sole reason a person may develop diabetes. It was honestly infuriating, and as a person who has had a deal with this chronic condition and the accompanying stigma for more than 20 years, it doesn't feel good.

So how do I follow with any good about after sharing that? I can, don't worry.

Other than the aforementioned, the novel was an absolutely joy to read. Olive was brilliant, but also flawed in ways that felt so real. She was anxious and curious, and at times a little clueless (it's funny how the smartest people can be totally oblivious). And look, I know that this book is based on Daisy Ridley as Rey and Adam Driver as Kylo, but I saw Adam Carlsen in the book as Brett Goldstein (aka Roy Kent). Grumpy, and gruff, and so tough on the outside while being a totally softie on the inside. The dynamics between the two were absolutely adorable and sexy. 

This book was great. The writing was strong, the story's plot was totally solid, the characters were well-developed. This book lives up to the hype, but some really stupid comments just about ruined it all for me.