LOVE, THEORETICALLY - Ali Hazelwood

It's Ali Hazelwood, of course I devoured it. But it wasn’t *quite* the same level of awesome as her first two books for me. (Still dang good though.)

Concept: ★★★★★
Characters: ★★ for him, ★★★★★ for her
Pacing: ★★★★

Elsie Hannaway is a theoretical physicist struggling to make ends meet in adjunct professing hell. So to pay her bills, she sidelines as a fake girlfriend for hire.

This gig requires relatively little from Elsie. She's already used to morphing versions of herself for each person she interacts with—some call it masking, some (Elsie) call it being amenable and whatever said person in front of her needs.

Elsie is always looking out for those around her, even when it is at the expense of herself.

But her fake-girlfriending side hustle goes pretty poorly when her client's older brother, Jack Smith, ends up poking into her veneer. And then to make matters WORSE, Elsie discovers that Jack works in her field of physics and is on the hiring committee for a job that she's trying to get.

Will Jack stop Elsie from this job opportunity? Will he blow her cover as a fake girlfriend? Or will he do the unthinkable and wreck Elsie's chances just like he wrecked her field of study years ago when he torpedoed the field of theoretical physics in a scathing academic essay takedown?? (Oh yea, there's science issues too!)

Cue the drama...

Love, Theoretically takes the classic Ali Hazelwood fable and turns it further into the realm of STEM women in love with this latest installment of intelligent women falling haplessly in love with stoic yet heartwarming men.

I think this novel did several things incredibly well: Elsie's characteristics, her journey toward self-prioritization, the academic drama, the banter. You KNOW Hazelwood has her banter down.

But I do think this novel lost me a bit when it came to the love interest, Jack. Hazelwood seems to always write her men as internally heartwarming and loving with a gruff exterior—ripe for that miscommunications trope to come in—and then shows us their soft side as the romance progresses.

I felt like Jack was TOO nice, TOO accommodating. He felt like a 2D man who fulfilled Elsie's needs a bit too perfectly. You know? Elsie's not perfect and makes a fair few mistakes and offenses. And Jack just completely rolled with every one of them, no doubt, no drama, hardly any justification. And I felt the conclusion hinged too much on that and I didn't understand the full motivations of why Jack cared so much, and why he was obsessed with Elsie in particular.

I don't know. Love, Theoretically lost me a little bit because of that. I did still love it, but readers beware if you're the kind of person who needs some depth to your men. (Hazelwood always is lighter on her mens' character traits, so this was even more so in that line of thinking!)
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