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by Ali Hazelwood

I liked Love Hypothesis and thought it had some great moments, but I loved this whole book. I did not anticipate picking up a romance novel and finishing it with a greater understanding of the differences between experimental and theoretical physics, but here we are. 

Elsie Hannaway has a PhD in Theoretical Physics but struggles to make ends meet as an adjunct professor. To make ends meet, she gets paid to be a fake girlfriend, which she excels at because she has an incredible ability to read people and adapt her personality to be the person they need her to be. She’s making the best of it until her two worlds collide when the obnoxious brother of her favorite client turns out to be on the hiring committee for her dream tenure-track position at MIT. Not only does he loathe her at family gatherings, but he turns out to be the experimental physicist who trashed her field of study and almost destroyed her mentor’s career. So, why can’t she stop thinking about him?

There are so many layers to this book, and I adore Hazelwood’s commitment to spotlighting women in STEM, gender power dynamics, and inequality in male-dominated fields. I very personally felt Elsie’s tendency to try to bend herself to the needs of those around her rather than being honest about what she really wants. There was also a strong storyline that spoke to generational differences in gender power dynamics that I have felt deeply throughout my career. 

Rapid fire things I loved: Adam and Olive cameo, straight talk between Elsie and Jack, women who support each other rather than automatically treat each other as rivals, reasonable third act intensity, Jack has to recon with his behavior as much as (if not more than) Elsie, how family dynamics were portrayed, Jack’s complete transparency about his feelings, the critique of our healthcare system.