Love, Theoretically

Ali Hazelwood manages to have the nerdiest, most enjoyable, cutest and just dreamiest characters. She once again whisked me away with her charm, wit and whirlwind of a romance novel. I would probably read her grocery lists. If Ali Hazelwood writes it, I read it. Elsie works as a professor and to buffen up that low income she has a side gig, she poses as a fake girlfriend to people that might need it for an event or two. All is good and well until her client's brother turns out to be Jack, the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And he also happens to be the one to sit on the hiring committee of Elsie's dream job. Elsie is ready to fight an outright war of scholarly sabotage, but what she is not ready for is Jack gazing at her longingly and the brooding tension between them. Is Jack really that cold-hearted?

Ich kann mich bei jedem Buch von Ali Hazelwood einfach nur wiederholen: Ich liebe den Humor. Ich liebe die Intelligenz. Ich liebe die Charaktere. Ich liebe den Schreibstil. Auch wenn mich Jack als Protagonist dieses Mal nicht zu 100% überzeugen konnte, so hatte ich doch wieder eine wundervolle Zeit beim Lesen und habe es sehr genossen. Ich fühle mich in diesen nerdigen Geschichten einfach wie zu Hause. Jack hatte für mich leider nicht genug Persönlichkeit. Irgendwie hatte ich das Gefühl, dass er nur für Elsie lebte und das war fast ein bisschen unheimlich. Die Story, die sich rund um die beiden aufgebaut hat, war aber wieder sehr unterhaltsam. Jedoch ist mir aufgefallen, dass ich die intimen Szenen in Ali’s Büchern immer sehr seltsam finde und am liebsten überspringen würde. Das hat jedoch meiner Lesefreude nicht geschadet, sodass ich auch dieses Buch sehr weiterempfehlen kann. Man hat einfach eine gute Zeit beim Lesen.

... I wish it would have been more different compared to Ali Hazelwoods other books. This review will be not spoiler free, I will not really go into detail but if you don't want to know about some parts you should not read further :3 So yeah, I was looking forward to this book so much and I really liked it. Ali Hazelwood has such a nice way of writing her stories and I couldn't stop reading it. BUT it's the same point I disliked about Love on the Brain as well: Her stories feel like the same but in a different font. The Love Hypothesis was an easy 5* read for me, while Love on the Brain and Love, Theoratically felt like the same but somehow a little different. The male leads are all enormously huge, built and misunderstood, large hands and even larger other body parts, same style of clothing (for real, why do they all wear henleys like all the time?!)... No real enemies to lovers because they fell in love with the protagonist ages ago who misunderstood the behavior of the male lead immensely. Jack was no exception from that, even tho it was a nice change that he didn't also have black hair. Elsie in comparison was also very much the same as Olive and Bee in the other stories. A struggling scientist, kinda helpless at some points due to their insecurities, and no friends really because they are socially insecure, very inexperienced in love and with men but thirsting over the male leads biceps and abs. Oh. And drowns in his clothes, because she's incredibly tiny and skinny next to their significant other. Which is all, don't get me wrong, very cute and totally okay. But as a tall woman myself (6"0) it was kind of a bummer to have such a focus on an enormous dude falling in love with the tiny girl AGAIN. It sometimes felt like the characters were somehow the same over the books but simply put in different positions and jobs. Also always that one jealous dude that tries to put the female protagonist down. I just wish it would have been changed up a little bit more. In the end I still liked it a lot, and I still love A. Hazelwoods writing style a lot. And it's still a recommendation because yeah, it's good. For example, the friendships felt more real in this one. I also enjoyed the mention of Olive/Adam and Bee in some parts. And the real cameo from Olive and Adam was very cute and I loved it, because I am biased and they are still my favorite couple out of the three xD I guess if you enjoyed The Love Hypothesis you will like this one as well :3

„Love, Theoretically“ is Ali Hazelwood’s newest STEMnist rom-com and her most academic one so far. Since being an adjunct professor doesn’t exactly pay her bills, Elsie has a second job as a Girlfriend-For-Hire. Her perfectly constructed Elsie-verse is about to go up in flames, though, when her favorite client’s insufferable brother turns out to be not only the one who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined her field of expertise, but also the person who stands between Elsie and her dream job… This book is by far Hazelwood’s most sciency one, which is simultaneously very interesting and a bit overwhelming. Luckily, it doesn’t matter too much, if you can’t follow those parts of the story, though. Elsie is probably one of the most relatable main characters I’ve encountered in a rom-com so far. This might sound a bit contradictory, but she is frustratingly insecure and doesn’t have a sense of self-worth, but she’s also self-confident when it comes to her job and not scared to go after what she wants. Both she and Jack have childhood trauma that shaped them in different ways and I really appreciated seeing them work thourgh it and their story unfold. I also loved his insistence on them being honest with each other – I just really am a sucker for open communication and character growth. Overall, Hazelwood has once again written a novel with endearing characters, a fun and engaging storyline and the perfect mix of depth and humor. Highly recommended!

Bevor ich das Buch begonnen habe, dachte ich mir noch, wann werde ich wohl mal wieder ein richtig gutes Buch lesen? Wahrscheinlich nicht so schnell. Und dann habe ich dieses Buch begonnen. Für mich ist es das Nummer 1.Buch von Ali Hazelwood. Ich freue mich so, dass ich es angefangen habe. Ich bin sehr kritisch, was heterosexuelle Romance-Bücher angeht, weil ich sehr schnell Aspekte darin abneigend finde. Deshalb kommt es auch sehr selten vor, dass ein Buch dieser Kategorie gezielt heraussticht und noch lange positiv im Gedächtnis bleibt. Aber dieses Buch wird dies definitiv tun. Es ist so gelungen in jedem einzelnen Aspekt. Ich könnte jetzt wirklich eine ganze Seite füllen mit Stichpunkten, warum ich das Buch so liebe, weil ich jeden Aspekt, der darin vorkommt, aufzählen müsste. Deswegen hier drei (ziemlich zufällig) ausgewählte Aspekte ohne spezifische Reihenfolge: 1. Die Diabetes-Repräsentation war so interessant. Ich muss oft an ein Interview denken, in dem Zendaya folgendes gesagt hat: Storytelling (books and movies) allows us to understand other people’s lives better. It allows us to view situations through their eyes. It gives me (ich) the ability to be more thoughtful, to be a little bit kinder, because I know more about things people struggle with, illnesses and problems that aren’t part of my life. Dieses Buch hat mir das ermöglicht. 2. Die ACE/ARO-Representation. Ich habe das wirklich nicht erwartet. Erklärung: Ich habe mir das von einem heterosexuellen Romance-Buch nicht erwartet bzw. hatte in meinem doch leider (weil es selten vorkommt) beschränkten Vorstellungsvermögen das nicht sehen können. Großes Bravo an Ali Hazelwood für die wunderbare Darstellung unserer Gesellschaft, in der jeder seinen Platz findet und Menschen, die dich lieben. Da sind lesbische Paare mit den coolsten Vornamen und ACE/ARO kleine Brüder, die witzigsten Omas und jemand da draußen, der dich genau für das liebt, was du bist (auch wenn du selber noch nicht ganz sicher bist, wer diese Person ist und lieber noch 100 andere Persönlichkeiten ausprobieren würdest). 3. Und die E-Mails waren so cool, ich habe so oft gelacht beim Lesen. Eines der besten heterosexuellen Romance-Bücher, die ich bis jetzt gelesen habe. Und unabhängig davon ein so gutes Buch als Allgemeinwerk: perfekte Seitenzahl, ein richtiger Pageturner, so viele coole Plot-Twists, spannende und liebenswerte Familiendynamiken, bekannte Charktere die zurück kommen und alles in unserem geliebten STEM-Umfeld.