Summary

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 arrogant 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 he’s the same Jack Smith who rules over the physics department at MIT, standing 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

Out of the one other Ali Hazelwood book that I have read I can with great confidence say that this one is my favorite. And I can also with the same amount of confidence say that this book is one of my favorites of the year. I wholeheartedly enjoyed Love, Theoretically. I feel as if I’m five seconds from shouting it in the middle of the street.

Did I understand all the physicist conversations and explanations? Absolutely not. I’m not even going to pretend that my brain even processed them, they went over my head. However, that did not hinder my reading experience. I still had a great time. Ali Hazelwood has crafted an addicting love story between Jack and Elsie, and I was hooked.

Very early on readers learn that Elsie is fake dating Jack’s brother and Jack has been acting a little weird towards her every time she is around him. Elsie believes that it’s because he suspects that she’s a fraud. As the book continues, and secrets are revealed, it’s clear that her assumptions about him are wrong.

One of my favorite things about this book were the interactions between Elsie and Jack. Some of them were completely ordinary and normal things that people do in relationships, but I got so giddy because I loved seeing the progression of their relationship and how they built trust with each other. And I will say, I will happily read six hundred pages of them doing nothing but loving each other. Ali Hazelwood, give me a sequel, please? There doesn’t need to be a plot!

Another thing I really enjoyed was Elsie coming into her own. She’s been a people pleaser her entire life and it was rewarding to see her stand up for herself and start to demand to be respected.

Final Thoughts

Love, Theoretically was a book that I thoroughly enjoyed. The main character--- Elsie, was an incredible and real character who I loved deeply. The romance was one of the best that I have read this year. I loved how patient and understanding Jack was, and how he and Elsie had this one-sided hate to lovers thing going on in the beginning. And it was beautiful to watch their relationship progress. One of the biggest issues I had with this story was the ending. I felt it to be a little rushed, and I had to read the last few pages multiple times because it felt like I was missing something. All and all, I still really enjoyed this book.

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