Genre: Contemporary Romance
No. of Pages: 352
Book Type: Standalone
My Rating: 5/5
Tropes: Fake-Dating, Grumpy-Sunshine, One bed
Trigger Warning: Parent’s Death, Sexual Harassment, Explicit and graphical sexual content, Cursing.
My Thoughts:
Olive, a third year PhD student wants to set her best friend Anh with her ex boyfriend Jeremy. In Olive’s defense, she never had feelings for Jeremy even when they dated for like a week or two, and she knew that Jeremy and Anh had a connection. So, she does what a not-so-normal best friend would do. She decides to Fake-Date someone, to make Anh believe that she can date Jeremy. (Love it when fictional characters do such things, I could never think of fake-dating unless of course it is Adam Carlsen!)
Adam Carlsen. Professor, advisor, broody, grumpy (supposedly) and an absolute Hottie! The day Olive decides to make sure that Anh knows she is dating someone, she runs into Carlsen. There is no time for second thoughts, she kisses him… uh..oh.. on lips (umm.. butterflies!) to make sure that Anh notices her and gets an idea that Olive is dating someone. (If only I had such shenanigans in my life, I would have loved every minute of it. Except for the Misogynistic idiot who came in Chapter 14.)
Characters:
I loved all the characters in the book. I cherished every minute of Malcom, Anh and Olive’s friendship. I loved all the relationships in the book: Anh-Malcom-Olive, Holden-Adam, Aslan-Olive, Jeremy-Anh – all of them got enough book time (~screen time in bookish language.) I enjoyed the banters and the way Adam called Olive “smart-ass” and the way he was being his vulnerable self with her was absolutely endearing to read. I loved how head-strong Olive was and how in situations like I saw in Chapter 14, she maintained her calm. The characters did justice to the Grumpy-Sunshine trope. And, I have no complaints about it.
“You kiss him and next thing you know he’s saving your ass and he’s buying you scones and calling you a smart-ass in a weirdly affectionate tone”
– Ali Hazelwood.
The plot of the book was typical chic-lit but, had a hint of suspense. At a point of time I was pacing all across my room, waiting for the climax. It was real dramatic at a point. I was so invested with the characters and the plot that I barely knew when I reached the end of the book. It was so lucid and the pace was perfect! And nothing, I repeat nothing was superfluous, or abrupt or rushed.
“It wasn’t until a few minutes later, when she was sitting on her bed staring at the Boston skyline and chewing on her lunch, that Olive realized that the protein bar Adam had given her was covered in chocolate.”
– Ali Hazelwood
This is the best romcom I read after The Hating Game. This book was like a soul food. As long as you take my vote on “if this book was worth the hype” you will always see the bar on green. The book was So Worth The Hype that I do not even regret the Tik-Tok sensation sticker it has on it’s cover.
Blurb:
When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman’s carefully calculated theories on love into chaos.
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 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 his unyielding support (and his unyielding abs), their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion.
Olive soon discovers that the only thing over complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.
Pages And Quotes 