The story follows Olive Smith, a third-year PhD candidate, who kisses the first man she sees in order to make her best friend, Anh, realize that Olive is okay for Anh to go after her ex-fling. Soon after, Olive finds out that she kissed the grumpy hotshot professor, Adam Carlsen. Surprisingly, Adam follows along, and now everyone at school thinks they’re dating… and he’s not saying otherwise.
With a slow-burn romance and some of my favorite tropes — like fake dating — in the mix, it’s easy to fall in love with The Love Hypothesis. Luckily, Hazelwood already has a sequel, Love on the Brain, coming out August 23rd this year.
Until then, here are a few books that’ll satisfy that Love Hypothesis void in your life. I organized this list in a way that you could find books that have not only the same tropes as Hazelwood’s book, but also a similar vibe.
I’m just like everyone else when it comes to trying to find my next great read. Sometimes I want books that are very similar to my favorites — like The Love Hypothesis readalikes mentioned here, or even books like Beach Read, The Kiss Quotient, or other romances — and sometimes I want something that’s a little outside my comfort zone. For these kinds of book recommendations and others, Book Riot’s tailored TBR service based on reading taste is perfect. Sign up here!
A little bit of fake dating, annoyed-at-first-sight encounter, neighbors-to-lovers, and you have one big, exciting love story.
This slow-burn romance with a grumpy/sunshine dynamic is a sure favorite read if you enjoyed The Love Hypothesis.
Now, Sloane and Dominic have to work together at work, creating moments where they have to spend time together. When Dominic saves her one night, their relationship quickly changes into something else. But how are they going to try a relationship when Dominic was her late husband’s best friend?
Tam decides to fly to Ponto Beach, where Josh lives, in order to regroup and fix her life immediately. They never thought about a romance between them throughout all those years; their friendship was too important to them. But being in closed quarters after so many years might finally bring their attraction out to the surface.
Battle Royal follows Sylvie and Dominic, two bakers who don’t have much in common. Sylvie does colorful cakes while Dominic creates minimalistic sweets. They just so happen to have neighboring bakeries. Now, they have to work together as judges in this reality TV baking competition and… it’s going to be hard for them both because they kind of don’t get along.
This book stars Oliver Bergman who has been playing soccer at a professional level for years now. He’s a rising star who can clearly see a future in the sport. While Gavin, who happens to be the captain of Oliver’s team, is suffering a downfall. His body hurts constantly, making it impossible to continue to do his best on the field. One day, their coach assigns them to be co-captains, and it couldn’t come at a worse time.
This book also has a slow-burn romance that will make you swoon so hard! The pining and yearning in the story are unreal, you have never seen anything like this.
Hudson wants Kian to be his fake boyfriend while his parents are in town. But after the dinner, things get more complicated when Kian is invited as Hudson’s plus one at a wedding!
August’s reputation is not looking good. His publicist and team come up with a plan for him to fake date a Black socialite. Xandra knows all about pretend relationships. She does it quite often with other celebrities in order for their image to improve and for them to still be relevant. This time she’s asked to be famous actor August’s girlfriend, and after the contract is signed, their pretend relationship starts!
The only thing Kareena wants is to have a relationship like her parents and to be able to fix up her mother’s house. But when her dad announces he’s selling the house, she doesn’t know what to do. Her father, though, makes her a deal: if she can get engaged in four months, he’ll give her the house. Enter Dr. Prem Verma, the man she had a one-night stand with.
Luka has been her best friend for years. When he finds out that she needs a pretend partner, he grabs the opportunity to make her see that they make perfect sense together rather than apart. He’s definitely not playing pretend.
