In Love, Theoretically, Ali Hazelwood (Love on the Brain; The Love Hypothesis) once again delivers a hilarious, spicy, and heartfelt romance set in the competitive world of STEM academia. Hazelwood revisits her much-loved enemies-to-lovers dynamic with a giant, grumpy, smitten hero and a down-on-her-luck heroine trying to make her way out of the hell that is adjunct professorship. In a twist on the fake-dating trope, theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway first meets Jack Smith when she's working as his aromantic brother's paid girlfriend to supplement her terrible adjunct wages. She's cobbled together several teaching jobs and has no time to conduct research, nor does she have health insurance--something especially important for people, like herself, who have diabetes. Now she's finally made it into the final round of interviews for a coveted tenure-track position at MIT and things are looking up--until she meets her interview team, including Jonathan Smith-Turner, the experimental physicist who nearly ruined her mentor's career a decade earlier. And Jonathan? He's Jack.
Love, Theoretically is delightfully nerdy and laugh-out-loud funny. Elsie's offbeat roommate is a joy, and a smattering of e-mails from Elsie's students are a highlight. Even the heavier aspects of Hazelwood's character work are enjoyable. Demisexual people-pleaser Elsie spends her life contorting herself to be what others want, so Jack's refusal to let her do that with him is quite charming, despite his terseness. Hazelwood successfully resolves the professional issues at play and employs her signature blend of banter, romance, and humor to send her characters off to a much-deserved happy ending. Readers looking for a geeky, heart-melting, funny romance will want to pick this up. --Suzanne Krohn, librarian and freelance reviewer