Friday Friyay: 'Love, Theoretically' by Ali Hazelwood

Happy Friday! I finally saw Dune: Part Two last night and I legit feel hungover this morning from the entire experience, like, it made me feel all the things, overwhelmed me, intrigued me, and now I'm just ... drained. But thankfully, a friend lent me her library copy of a delightful (according to her) romance and perhaps that's exactly what I'm in the mood for. I'm no stranger to AO3 myself, so I have a sneaky affection for how Ali Hazelwood moved from fanfic to published. And I definitely have her book Bride on my TBR as well, can't wait to see how she brings certain tropes into print. But for this weekend, it's Love, Theoretically. Love me some women in STEM and academic love!

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 nonexistent 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 coldhearted 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?

Book Beginnings is at home on Rose City Reader, hosted by Gilion Dumas, and Friday 56 at Freda's Voice, hosted by Freda. Freda is taking a break at the moment, but Anne over at My Head is Full of Books is thankfully keeping the spirit going! I'll also be joining the Book Blogger Hop, hosted by Billy over at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. 

BB:

'Prologue
In my life I have experienced regret, embarrassment, maybe even a touch of agony. But nothing, absolutely nothing prepared me for the ignominy of finding myself in a bathroom stall, pressed against the arrogant older brother of the guy I've been pretending to date for the past six months.' p.1

Lol girl, that suuuckksss! Except that it's not gonna very soon I expect. But yes, I think I can get into the vibes of this, even though I haven't sat down for an actual romance in months, if not years!

F56:

'"You've been lying to him."
I'm taken aback. "Lying?" p.56

Oooh drama! This book is almost 400 pages, so I doubt this is the dramatic, third act break up, so clearly we're still in the "getting to know one another" phase. Don't know who is talking to her here though, perhaps it is the brother/client?

BBH:

This week's question comes from Billy himself:

On average, how long do you spend writing a review?

It can really differ. Some reviews I knock out in 20 minutes, while others take days. The difference usually is whether I have straightforward thoughts on a book or if it hits me in a weird way. I imagine that I'll knock out a review for Love, Theoretically pretty quickly because I know what to expect and I don't think it's gonna revolutionise my world. This is not meant dismissively btw. But books like Three Eight One or Y/N, those reviews took me forever because I was trying to figure out what I felt, what happened, what was relevant for people visiting my reviews, etc. 

Also, if I didn't like a book, I feel like I spend more time on the review trying to make sure it's at least a little objective? Like, something I hated might be someone else's cup of tea, so I don't wanna yuck someone's yum. Or if it's a debut author, I don't want to crap all over their developing craft. When I love a book I just let all of the love, praise, and admiration pour out of me without restraining it though.

Update on last Friday's Read: Finished reading The Girl in the Tower and I still absolutely love this series. Honestly, it's just so beautiful and vivid. Can't wait to dive into the final book, The Winter of the Witch, though I also kind of want to savour the trilogy.

So that's it for me this week! Have you read any of Hazelwood's romances? I hope you have a delightful weekend!