Love, Theoretically
Ratings270
Average rating4.1
I had fun with this one!
It's Ali Hazelwood's formula once again, and there were a few too many mentions of how big Jack was and how tiny Elsie was (but a lot less than in LotB).
However, I liked Elsie and Jack together. I also liked the angle the author used with Elsie (sometimes it's hard to show ourselves exactly how we are) and her character growth was so well done.
It was a sweet, entertaining book.
My favourite so far from this author! Truly enjoy that there is even more academia in this one. It creates a deeper context for the romance part and reminds me how I used to love science!
One thing about Ali Hazelwood's MMC, they're deservingly swoon-worthy. I'm just glad that the FMC is not the reincarnation of the other 2 FMCs from her books.
I was genuinely really loving this book so so so much and then it kind of just ended and I was like “oh ok I guess we're done”.
Ali Hazelwood does it again - she wrote one of my favorite rom-coms. As a woman in STEM myself, I LOVE reading her books so much. A stunning book with a beautiful story, I loved it, it made me laugh out loud and it was so enjoyable to read!
I really wished I liked this more than I did.
The start of the book felt endless. Elsie's thoughts were so jumbled up I got lost so many times. I ended up deciding it was best for my simple brain to just keep reading till it was over.
That was not the best start for me, honestly. Add this to the fact that I didn't connect much with the characters (which usually isn't a problem for me).
Either way, I kept reading because I am a sucker for science nerds romance, and i needed to know what would happen.
I don't think it was Ali's best novel to date, and that might be my inner IT girlie complaining about how much she hates physics and how hard they are to comprehend.
But right now I just want to make an official request to Alli for a male perspective book featuring Kirk and Cece, because I need it. I crave STEM themed books as if they were the air I need to breathe.
ps: not me complaining about Elsie's jumbled thoughts when I mostly do the same in my reviews 🤦🏼♀️ must be why i hated it 😂
LISTEN. I KNOW Ali Hazelwood's books are all the same. I know her male love interests are always monstrously large and her women are always sexually inexperienced. these are not deep books, but they are FAST PACED (I read this in about four hours. that's less than some youtube videos), full of juicy personal drama and! bonus! everyone involved has a demanding job that they love (relatable!)
I'm actually surprised I liked this as much as I did. I haven't been the hugest fan of hazelwood considering the love hypothesis was just ok for me but as I make my way through her work, gotta give credit where it's due...I personally think this was rlly cute! I laughed out loud multiple times & enjoyed myself! In the same vein, someone tell this lady to stop writing smut. It's just bad.
Er, it's okay. I liked TLH as a junk food book better. Was actually going to rate this book 1★, but Georgina and the random Latvia callout (i'm Latvian and it's my God given right to not let a Latvia reference go unnoticed) saved it.
⭐️ 3.35/5
(i'm redoing my old ratings bc they need help)
okay! i probably shouldn't be reading romance after going through a heartbreak - but this is a GOOD read that i would recommend.
love the STEM elements, love all the female characters (although some felt a bit bare bones or like they were weirdly missing something - mainly cece) - don't know how I feel about elsie's obsession with cheese.
as far as book boyfriends go, jack smith-turner is a 10/10. a masculine, authoritative, caring, respectful & intelligent man.
i struggled to get through some of this towards the end - but then it really picked up and all the elements came together and it made sense and amplified the love story.
i didn't demolish this like i would a thriller, i just like thrillers better. this didn't have enough moments to make it compete with thrillers so that's why it's not a whole 4/5.
ella puede escribir todos los libros de la misma manera y yo los voy a leer todos porque me hacen feliz
4/5
this is my first ali hazelwood book & i had a good time! i really like the inclusion of science because it really adds to the plot rather than it just being a romance so i'd definitely read more from her!
Things were looking up! Not a single cringy scene in over 250 pages! I found myself thinking “here's a cute Ali Hazelwood romance book I would actually recommend to people”. But then, we get to chapter 19. Our first spice scene enters the chat! Cringe Factor 1: the scene lasts for over 20 pages. Cringe Factor 2: the film Twilight is playing in the background of said spice scene. Cringe Factor 3: they bring up the fact that he was jealous she was fake dating his brother, maybe don't discuss siblings in a spice scene. I will now and forever think of this book as a 4 ⭐️ before chapter 19 and a 1 ⭐️ after chapter 19. The cringe factor continued throughout the remainder of the book. Also after sleeping together one time the characters are already discussing moving in together, like slow down you're only in your late 20's. To me a good romance book has hundreds of pages of yearning and banter, then in the last 10 pages they get together and that's the end. Once the couple is happy and stable I lose interest, to be honest this book could have ended 100 pages earlier. Overall, I think this was my most disappointing read from Hazelwood as I was tricked into thinking this book deviated from her usual writing style and book reviewers rate this as their favourite of the three STEM focused novels. The reason I decided to pick up Love on the Brain and Love, Theoretically this month is because I was so intrigued by her new novel Bride, but I think I'll have to give it a miss for now as I can conclusively say Ali Hazelwood's writing style isn't for me.
Never in a million years would I assume that a hot guy who is clearly into me saying ‘can I take you out?' meant it as fighting me mob-style :/// girl.
3.25 - The emotional roller coaster
-
Jack is the greenest green flag I have ever seen. He's a little too green to the point of being almost unconvincing.
Elsie, our lovely main character, on the other hand is quite relatable. I love her story, her personality, her character development.
-
Personally, it would be a better book if the author remove the spicy scene (it doesn't do much to the story?), and the way she described Jack appearance (please we all know he's giant, stop reminding us every two sentences)
-
Czy można wydawać ciągle ten sam fanfik Reylo? Można, wystarczy go lekko przeredagować i pozmieniać szczegóły.
Also cute! Less banter in this one than in Love on the Brain, just by a hair, which I appreciated. Hazelwood also writes sensitively about living with chronic illness and both asexuality and demisexuality. And still spicy, to boot. Not sure when I'll read her 3rd STEMinisty one, but I definitely will.
I finally read an Ali Hazelwood book, and now I get why she's so popular. Mostly I enjoyed Elsie as a character and I was invested in her story. I genuinely teared up at one point (when she bumped into Jack and George outside the movie theater--if you've read it you know what I'm talking about). Jack, on the other hand, was not my cup of tea. Pretty much everything about him put me off, including all the overstepping behavior that's popular in romance but would never fly in real life. I like my guys (and relationships) more realistic. Since I've heard that Ali Hazelwood's men are all the same, I doubt I'll pick up another one, but who knows?
3.75⭐
song: mirrorball by taylor swift
“There is no universe in which I'm going to let you go. I want to be with you, on you, every second of every day.”
“You could be my entire world. If you let me.”
“But take your time, Elsie. I'll wait for as long as it takes.”
“You are the most magnificent thing that ever happened to me.”
AAAA ME HA ENCANTADO. Gracias Ali Hazelwood por sacarme del bloqueo lector por el que estaba pasando.
Elsie y Jack me parecen adorables. Creo que Jack es mi hombre favorito de todos los libros de Ali. Me ha encantado el mini cameo de Olive y Adam, mis niños.
Y las escenas spicy la verdad que me han gustado todavía más que en los otros dos libros.
While I think there tended to be some academic over yapping, I couldn't put this book down. It kinda felt relatable sometimes and it was nice they were slow. I even read the acknowledgements and ending stuff. I never do that...
