Love, Theoretically

By: Ali Hazelwood

Narrated by: Thérèse Plummer

Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

"The reigning queen of STEM romance."—The Washington Post

An Indie Next and Library Reads Pick!

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?

©2023 Ali Hazelwood (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“It would be so easy to hate Ali—who is brilliant and funny and the most delightful writer…but it’s far more productive to create a shrine I can worship at, praying for her to finish another book quickly. LOVED. IT.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult

"Whenever I want a sexy, witty, delicious romance, told in a fresh and intelligent voice, I read Ali Hazelwood. Prepare to get addicted. Each book is pure joy."—Simone St. James, New York Times bestselling author

"The reigning queen of STEMinist rom-coms returns with a tale set in the cutthroat world of eliteacademia full of delightful humor, realistic emotions, and the messy search for self-acceptance."—Booklist, starred review

Terrific Narrator Terrific Story

The story was really funny and fascinating about academic life and science. Highly recommend it!

Absolute Favorite!!

I love love love this book!! This is my new favorite book by Ali! Definitely recommend!!

Perfection!

I absolutely adored everything about this book. I could not stop listening and devoured it in a day. It was absolute perfection. I LOVED Elsie and Jack with all of my heart! This is my new favorite Ali Hazelwood book.

Another Book Knocked out of the park

This book was exactly what I wanted and expected from Mrs. Hazelwood! I waited patiently (well maybe not PATIENTLY, but the best I could) for this book. The mixture of science and romance has my little heart all a flutter! I connected with the FMC soo much that and her journey really has me looking into my own people-pleasing personas. I can't wait for the next Women in STEM book!

Very sweet

Not my favorite Ali Hazelwood book but I ate it up none the less. Definitely an excellent beach… er .. listen!

Loved this Book So Much!!!

I fell in love with all of the characters! Fabulous Narrator of this story! Loved it all!

Fantastic

One of the best in a while, on par with love, hypothetically and the novellas, much better than love on the brain

Loved

I absolutely loved this entire book, and the narrator was on perfect. I was giggling, smiling, and cringing throughout. I was left wanting know more about all the characters. This book was a nice pick me up after what felt like a long defeating work week. Truly a lovely book!

Loved the narration!

Smart, sexy, and so entertaining! I love all Ali Hazelwood’s books, and this one did not disappoint. The narration was fantastic. I found myself laughing out loud. Highly recommend.

Neurodivergent FMC in Academia HEA FTW

Though not explicitly stated to be neurodivergent, the FMC definitely fits the bill of some of the common neurodivergent types who are drawn to academia for any number of reasons. It was very refreshing it have some of the very common experiences, not only with romance as a neurodivergent person, but also that we deal with in academia be put into a story and dealt with... not always well, but realistically.

This will absolutely be a story I listen to over and over again.