Back of the book
As a third-year PhD 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 on her way to a happily ever after was always going to be tough; scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting woman, 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 he agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire and Adam surprises her again with unyielding support (and his unyielding abs), their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion.
Olive soon discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.
My thoughts
This was super fun to read, light-hearted and low stakes the entire way through. It didn't have the typical romance alternating POV from each character of interest which was nice. It was written in third person which occasionally felt odd since we only followed Olive and her feelings but I liked not having multiple first person perspectives.
This entire book was very surface level, the university setting was just background noise and every character was 2D, almost including the main characters. This wasn't a feature that made me dislike the book, just noteworthy. Perhaps after reading so many book series my expectation of what it feels like to know a character is set too high. I must traverse the continent with them for 3000 pages before they become an actualised being!
Despite the one amazing sex scene, this book almost felt YA in tone. Olive herself seemed younger than her age due to the breezy tone of this book and her many avoidable mistakes. That made the age gap feel larger, but that was never a focus in the story therefore easily ignored.I think that is also why this felt like such an easy read, despite the science terms thrown around for authenticity to the university setting.
To wrap this short one up, books don't have to be a great book, to be time well spent reading. This was a nice brain break from the seriousness of fantasy, the high stakes that the world will end, or having to contemplate important themes and how they were portrayed. I recommend this to people who enjoy romance where one is a bumbling fool, accidentally falling into every situation. The love interest is also tall, dark and moody so it ticks a lot of cliché boxes (fake dating trope too!).
TL:DR
A fun fake-dating trope romance, a woman working hard at finding her place in the science community as a backdrop. Feel-good all the way through.
YOU ARE READING
Spoilery Book Reviews
Kurgu OlmayanBook reviews written by me. All reviews will contain spoilers. Some books are ones I have read millions of times and are my well known favourites. Some books are really random and bizarre picks for me that were complete surprises.
