2021 Bestselling Slow-Burn Romance Named a ‘Best Book of the Decade'
Readers who love a slow burn, fake dating, and passion with a good amount of spice already know that author Ali Hazelwood is a go to. Her 2021 debut, The Love Hypothesis, contains all of that and more and was listed by Goodreads users as one of the "Best Books of the Decade."
Fans of the book love it for being impossible to put down and say, "overall this book had [them] trembling, gasping for oxygen, sweating through [their] hairline." Readers have also gushed about the connection between the main characters saying their banter is, "nerdy, sexy, and wildly entertaining" and that the sweet story "checks all the boxes."
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The Love Hypothesis follows Olive Smith, a PhD student at Stanford University who is desperate to convince her best friend, Anh, that she's over her ex and thriving in the dating scene. In order to accomplish this, Olive pretends she's dating her biology professor, Dr. Adam Carlsen, who agrees to the scenario in order to convince the University that he fully intends on keeping his position. Along the way the feelings they were faking turn into something the scientists don't need a microscope to see.
Hazelwood (a pseudonym for the former professor and neuroscientist herself!) describes her work as "contemporary romcom novels about women in STEM and academia." She originally wrote the story that would become The Love Hypothesis on AO3 (or Archive of Our Own) as Kylo Ren and Rey fanfiction. The fanfic garnered the attention of a literary agent in 2020, who helped Hazelwood shape the novel into her first work of traditional romantic fiction. The Love Hypothesis was a smash success and spent 40 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.
In 2025, it was announced that Lily Reinhart and Tom Bateman will star in the film version of the beloved love story. Filming wrapped in the summer of that same year.
Romance readers have long wanted more respect for the genre, and it's safe to say with books like The Love Hypothesis getting this kind of recognition, that well may be happening right before our eyes.
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This story was originally published May 6, 2026 at 6:19 PM.