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As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn’t believe in lasting romantic relationships–but her best friend does, and that’s what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.
That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor–and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford’s reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive’s career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding… six-pack abs.
Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.

I never expected to be here, almost a month after I read this book, still thinking about how it might just be my favourite book of the year so far.

There are certain books that I just don’t find myself being drawn to – and this was one of them. I never wanted to read this one, because I don’t tend to drift towards romance, or ‘TikTok books’ in general. But I changed my mind when I first heard this book had demisexual rep, and soon afterward started getting recommendations for this from friends. Thank you specifically to Amy and Charlotte for recommending this and making me finally pick it up!

I wish you could see yourself

I read most of this one on audio, and then finished reading it physically because I literally couldn’t put it down. I was absolutely hooked, and I wanted to know what was going to happen to Adam and Olive. I loved Olive as a main character a lot, and Adam was an absolute sweetheart. Adam’s personality absolutely made my heart melt, and I rooted for them throughout the entire book.

But there was more than just the romance to keep me interested – I really loved the atmosphere around Olive being at university, and reading about her PhD while I was finishing off my dissertation was so good. I feel like there was so much I could relate to on the academic front, and I also enjoyed reading about her friendships and other relationships too.

the way I see you.

Honestly, I just don’t have a bad word to say about this book. I absolutely loved it, I immediately wanted to read anything else by Ali Hazelwood and I still want to re-read it. I never expected to love this as much as I did, but it was so good.

★★★★★
5 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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