Ali Hazelwood returns to the world of academic romance with Love, Theoretically, a story that attempts to balance the complexities of theoretical physics with the equally intricate dynamics of human relationships. Following the success of The Love Hypothesis and Love on the Brain, Hazelwood continues her exploration of STEM romance, though this third installment presents both her most ambitious plotting and her most frustrating character work to date.
The Premise: A Double Life Unraveled
Elsie Hannaway exists in multiple dimensions—not in the theoretical physics sense she specializes in, but through the various personas she maintains to survive academia’s brutal landscape. By day, she’s an underpaid adjunct professor scrambling between universities, teaching thermodynamics while dreaming of tenure. By other day, she moonlights as a fake girlfriend through the app Faux, weaponizing her people-pleasing skills to become whoever her clients need her to be.
This carefully constructed multiverse implodes when Jack Smith, the brooding older brother of her favorite client Greg, turns out to be Dr. Jonathan Smith-Turner—the experimental physicist who destroyed her mentor’s career and now sits on the MIT hiring committee between Elsie and her dream job. The revelation creates delicious tension, but Hazelwood’s execution doesn’t quite match the promise of this setup.
Character Development: Brilliant Minds, Inconsistent Hearts
Elsie Hannaway: The People-Pleasing Paradox
Elsie represents one of Hazelwood’s most complex heroines, yet also her most inconsistent. Her expertise in theoretical physics shines through authentic technical discussions about liquid crystals and multidimensional mathematics. However, her characterization suffers from what feels like multiple personality disorder—not the intentional kind from her fake-dating career, but authorial uncertainty about who Elsie truly is beneath her personas.
The concept of someone so skilled at reading others that she’s lost herself is compelling, particularly within academia’s pressure cooker environment. Elsie’s journey toward authenticity resonates deeply, especially when she finally declares to Jack: “I want this job, Jack… I want someone else to get it.” These moments of genuine assertiveness feel earned and powerful.
Yet Hazelwood undermines this growth with repetitive internal monologues about Elsie’s inability to be herself. The APE protocol (Assess, Plan, Enact) becomes tedious rather than insightful, and readers may find themselves wishing Elsie would simply speak her mind more than occasionally contemplating it.
Jack Smith/Dr. Jonathan Smith-Turner: The Unreadable Equation
Jack emerges as perhaps Hazelwood’s most intriguing love interest—a man whose emotional unavailability stems from genuine trauma rather than manufactured brooding. His revelation about his mother’s death and his status as Greg’s half-brother adds necessary depth to what could have been another arrogant academic trope.
The author excels at showing Jack’s gentleness beneath his imposing exterior. When he tells Elsie, “In my fantasies, you allow me to keep an eye on you… and when I really let go, I imagine that you let me take care of you, too,” the vulnerability feels authentic rather than performative.
However, Jack’s professional hostility toward theoretical physics—particularly his connection to Elsie’s mentor’s downfall—never receives the thorough exploration it deserves. This plot thread dangles uncomfortably throughout the narrative, resolved too easily for such a significant conflict.
The Academic Setting: Authenticity Meets Accessibility
STEM Representation Done Right
Hazelwood’s background in academia shines in her depiction of the adjunct professor experience in Love, Theoretically. The financial precarity, the endless commutes between universities, the degrading student emails—these details ring painfully true. The contrast between adjunct life and tenure-track security creates genuine stakes beyond the romantic plot.
The physics content walks the line between authenticity and accessibility admirably. Discussions of experimental versus theoretical physics, the politics of research funding, and the brutal nature of academic job markets feel lived-in rather than researched. When Elsie explains her work on “two-dimensional liquid crystals,” the passion in her voice transcends jargon.
Academic Politics as Romance Catalyst
The MIT job interview sequence showcases Hazelwood at her plotting best. The dinner scene where Elsie realizes Jack’s true identity crackles with tension, and the subsequent bathroom confrontation delivers both humor and conflict. The author effectively uses academic hierarchies and departmental politics to create obstacles that feel organic rather than contrived.
Writing Style: Humor and Heart with Uneven Execution
The Signature Hazelwood Voice
Hazelwood’s trademark blend of scientific terminology and contemporary humor remains engaging. Elsie’s internal comparisons—describing Jack as “a sentient weighted blanket” or calling him “granite-Kevlar blend, engineered by a task force of experimentalists”—demonstrate the author’s gift for character voice.
The physics puns and academic in-jokes land consistently, creating an authentic sense of community among scientists. When Dr. Volkov asks about “the formula for a velociraptor” (distanceraptor divided by timeraptor), the groan-worthy humor feels genuine to the academic environment.
Pacing and Structure Challenges
The narrative suffers from significant pacing issues, particularly in the middle third where the fake-dating subplot with Greg feels divorced from the main romantic arc. The revelation of Jack’s identity, while dramatically effective, occurs too early, leaving the novel searching for sustained conflict.
In Love, Theoretically, Hazelwood’s chapter titles—each named after physics concepts like “Nuclear Fission” and “Chain Reaction”—promise thematic integration that doesn’t always materialize. Some chapters feel more like clever naming exercises than meaningful structural choices.
Romance Development: Chemistry and Missed Connections
The Emotional Core
When the romance works, it truly soars. Jack and Elsie’s late-night conversations reveal genuine intimacy, particularly when discussing their respective traumas and academic struggles. The scene where Jack comforts Elsie after her job rejection feels authentic in its tenderness.
The physical chemistry builds effectively, with Hazelwood’s signature slow burn creating genuine tension. The bathroom confrontation scene pulses with barely contained attraction, and their eventual coming together feels earned rather than inevitable.
Relationship Obstacles and Resolution
However, the central conflict—Jack’s professional opposition to hiring Elsie—resolves too easily. His change of heart feels more plot-driven than character-motivated, undermining the academic stakes that drive much of the tension.
The fake-dating element, while providing comedy and initial connection, becomes increasingly irrelevant as the story progresses. The resolution of Elsie’s relationship with Greg and his family feels perfunctory rather than meaningful.
Supporting Characters: A Mixed Ensemble
Greg Smith: The Catalyst
Greg serves his purpose as the connection between Elsie and Jack, but his character development stops there. His struggles with family expectations and his genuine kindness toward Elsie create sympathy, but he remains more plot device than fully realized person.
The Academic Community
In Love, Theoretically, Hazelwood populates MIT with believable academics, from the pun-loving Dr. Volkov to the intimidating Dr. Monica Salt. These characters feel authentic to the academic environment, though some veer toward caricature.
The graduate student Michi provides a brief but effective reminder of the struggles facing women in STEM, though her appearance feels more like box-checking than organic character development.
Themes: Identity, Authenticity, and Academic Survival
The Performance of Self
The novel’s strongest thematic element explores how academic and romantic pressures force individuals to perform versions of themselves rather than exist authentically. Elsie’s fake-dating career serves as an effective metaphor for the ways academia demands conformity and people-pleasing.
The question of whether anyone truly knows themselves resonates throughout, particularly in Jack’s observation that Elsie is “the real girl who wished to be a puppet.” This reversal of the Pinocchio story provides genuine insight into modern pressures to commodify personality.
Academic Inequality and Gender Politics
Hazelwood addresses the real struggles facing women in physics and the adjunct crisis in higher education. While these elements add depth and relevance, they sometimes feel like background decoration rather than integrated themes.
The contrast between Elsie’s precarious adjunct position and the security of tenure-track faculty effectively illustrates academia’s structural inequalities, though the resolution via George’s job offer feels convenient rather than systemic.
Critical Assessment: Ambition Exceeding Execution
What Works
- Authentic Academic Setting: Hazelwood’s depiction of university life, from department politics to student interactions, feels genuine and lived-in.
- Character Chemistry: When Jack and Elsie connect authentically, their relationship crackles with genuine attraction and emotional resonance.
- Humor and Voice: The author’s blend of scientific terminology and contemporary humor creates an engaging reading experience.
- STEM Representation: The novel provides positive, complex representation of women in physics without tokenism or oversimplification.
What Doesn’t Work
- Inconsistent Character Development: Elsie’s growth toward authenticity feels halting and repetitive rather than genuinely transformative.
- Unresolved Plot Threads: The conflict over theoretical versus experimental physics, central to the academic tension, receives insufficient exploration.
- Pacing Issues: The fake-dating subplot loses relevance as the story progresses, creating structural imbalance.
- Convenient Resolutions: Major conflicts resolve too easily, undermining the stakes established throughout the narrative.
Comparison to Previous Works and Similar Titles
Love, Theoretically represents both evolution and regression in Hazelwood’s development as a romance novelist. While more structurally ambitious than The Love Hypothesis, it lacks that debut’s focused narrative drive. The academic politics feel more complex than those in Love on the Brain, but the character development feels less assured.
Readers seeking similar academic romance should consider:
Recommended Similar Reads
- The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood – Hazelwood’s debut remains her most tightly plotted academic romance
- The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang – Features a neurodivergent heroine navigating relationships and career pressures
- Beach Read by Emily Henry – Explores identity and authenticity in academic/creative settings
- The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon – Contemporary romance involving professional deception
- Satisfaction Guaranteed by Karelia Stetz-Waters – Romance between women business owners with identity themes
- The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun – Reality TV setting with themes of performance versus authenticity
Final Verdict: A Complicated Romance for Complicated Times
Love, Theoretically succeeds as an entertaining academic romance with genuine chemistry and authentic STEM representation. Hazelwood’s exploration of identity, authenticity, and academic survival resonates strongly, particularly for readers familiar with higher education’s pressures.
However, the novel suffers from structural issues and character inconsistencies that prevent it from reaching the heights of Hazelwood’s debut. The promising premise of fake dating meeting academic rivalry doesn’t fully deliver on its potential, leaving readers with a satisfying but ultimately frustrating reading experience.
For fans of Hazelwood’s previous work, Love, Theoretically provides familiar pleasures—witty dialogue, academic settings, and slow-burn romance—while attempting more complex themes. New readers might find better entry points in the author’s earlier, more focused narratives.
The novel works best when viewed as a flawed but ambitious exploration of how we perform ourselves in professional and personal contexts. Like Elsie’s theoretical physics, it’s more interesting in concept than in practical application, but the concepts alone make it worth engaging with.
