Is Love Only Theoretical

I recently finished reading Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT

  Rating: 4/5 stars

"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 the 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 broody 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 that same Jack who now sits on the hiring committee at MIT, 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?"

Ali Hazelwood did it again with another amazing stem romance. This one was so cute, comforting, and wholesome. Loved the story, the characters, Jack and Elsie's romance, and all the science references. I love love love the Twilight references and Adamolive cameo. I missed them so much! I love how sweet George was and Cece and Elsie's friendship was everything. Cece is such an icon.

I loved the academic rivals trope and the whole theorists vs experimental physicist. It's a romance book but I loved that Ali focused more on Elsie's character development and career growth. The characters were written so well in this one.

The smut in this book felt normal and real. The whole trial and error thing and Jack asking Elsie and reassuring her about the whole intimacy was just amazing and sweet because he knew that Elsie was not so comfortable with sex and all.

Elsie Hannaway

She's an adjunct professor in the morning and does fake dating as a part-time job sometimes because she is broke. She was trying to get her dream job at MIT. She's a people pleaser and always has a personality ready for every person she meets because she thinks that if she showed them the Elsie they want then maybe they might care for her. I wanna hug her. She lies about her own interests and likes just to make the other person happy but Jack can read her like an open book. 

Jack Smith

He is a professor at MIT and you already know I have a thing for hot and grumpy professors so... He is such a sweetheart and a perfect gentleman. I fell in love at the very first moment. He's caring, thoughtful but also a grumpy asshole but who doesn't love a man like that. He knows and understands Elsie like no one can and he knows about every facade she puts for others. If a man did that to me in real life I'd be running for my life but Jack just made it like he cares for her and not just calling out on her facade and lies. 

The relationship.

Elsie always kind of hated Jack but Jack was 'he fell first and harder' and wanted to see the real Elsie and not just one of her made-up personalities. Their relationship felt real and natural like how Jack asked her to give him a chance and took her to a date and she just accepted that date. That's how things work in real life.

I loved that Jack always comforted her and believed in her and asked her if she wasn't comfortable with anything. He even cared for her and bought her snacks because she had diabetes and tried to know everything about it and how she takes her insulin and all. Can anyone tell me if I can buy myself a Jack from Amazon?

I loved that Elsie tried to be just herself with Jack. Their relationship was so wholesome and comforting. 

The ending was perfect and I know there was a third act breakup but it was the first time I really didn't mind it that much. It was reasonable and I liked that Elsie took time to work through her things and feelings before accepting Jack and their future. 

Check out Love, Theoretically, and discover the truth about the theories of love.

Happy Reading :)