Recent Read: Love, Theoretically
A few weeks ago, I read Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood, and I think it’s her best book yet! This is Ali’s third full length novel and I have read all three. Known for her books about heroines who work in STEM, I have always thoroughly enjoyed her stories even though science and I are as far apart as can be. I think what makes her books universally accessible and relatable is that STEM, and in this case, academia, are really just the setting. What her books are truly about are women navigating spaces that traditionally were, and often still are, dominated by men.
Love, Theoretically centers around Elsie, and theoretical physicist who is currently working as an adjunct professor at three different Universities a year after finishing her PhD. Because adjuncting pays next to nothing and does not some with health insurance, Elsie need a side hustle to pay for her insulin and mange her diabetes out of pocket. For the past several years to make up the gap in funds, Elsie has worked through a company as a fake girlfriend—willing to act as the significant other for someone who may need a plus one to a work event of wedding.
When Elsie has the chance to interview for a tenure track position at MIT, it’s a dream position as it would allow her to focus on research, her main love, and provide the financial stability and health insurance she needs. When she arrives for the first part of her marathon interview (hello, academia!), however, she is thrown when one of the prominent faculty members of the department and part of the hiring committee is the brother of one of her fake dates and knows her as someone else who he thinks is a librarian! Elsie also believes that Jack has never liked her as encounters with him at family functions where she has been with his brother have proved to be awkward.
To make matters even more complicated, it turns out Jack is also the author of a journal article several years before that disregarded her area of expertise within physics and made a mockery of Elsie’s mentor. However, as the book goes on, because this is a romance after all, they begin to understand one another in a different light and attraction grows for Elsie against her will. How will they make it all work? Read this excellent book and find out!
Ali Hazelwood does a great job of touch multiple popular tropes without ever making the story feel cliched. There are elements of enemies to lovers, power/ethical dynamics (he’s on her hiring committee and they would work together), misunderstanding, and family complications (he thinks his brother is in love with her!). All throughout, Elsie is also starting to learn what it means to stand up for herself and not constantly change herself to please those around her, and Jack is a huge champion for her when it comes to being true to her own goals and desires.
I highly recommend this book or any others by Ali Hazelwood if you are looking for a thoughtful, yet still lighthearted and enjoyable read.