About the Book
Rival physicists collide in a vortex of academic feuds and fake dating shenanigans in this delightfully STEMinist romcom from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis and Love on the Brain.
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?
My Review
I recently read Love on the Brain from Ali Hazelwood as well, so when this review request came across my email, I eagerly said yes. Another brainy romance seemed like a yes to start the summer heat off with and let me tell you – this brings the fire between Elsie and Jack. I thought the backstory on each character was so fascinating – Elsie is a theoretical physicist that can barely pay rent and doesn’t have health insurance, clawing her way out of debt by offering her services as a fake girlfriend. When a regular client’s brother turns out to be an experimental physicist that is part of the crew deciding if Elsie gets her dream job, she prepares herself for battle but … things take a different turn with Jack. From realizing how much they have in common despite their conflicting career paths, and both learning how much depth the other has, it was really sweet to watch them fall for each other. And there were plenty of unsweet scenes also, so if steamy scenes aren’t your thing, I would probably skip this one. With the first book I read from Ali Hazelwood, I felt the ending got a little bit out there, but with this one, I was totally invested all the way through. A side note, I loved Jack’s grandma and all the scenes with her, and watching two opposites find their way to one another and work together to make a relationship work was downright pleasing. A perfect addition to your summer reading list!
5 stars
