The Love Hypothesis: hilarious, relatable and a whole lot of brilliant

“Physics genius Caro Kerber-Murphy knows she’s smart. With straight As and a college scholarship already in the bag, she’s meeting her two dads’ colossal expectations and then some. But there’s one test she’s never quite been able to ace: love. And when, in a particularly desperate moment, Caro discovers a (definitely questionable) scientific breakthrough that promises to make you irresistible to everyone around you, she wonders if this could be the key. What happens next will change everything Caro thought she knew chemistry – in the lab and in love. Is her long-time crush Haruki with her of his own free will? Are her feelings for her best girl friend some sort of side-effect? Will her dog, Sirius, ever stop humping her leg?”

As a massive fan of Laura Steven’s other books, I knew I needed to get my hands on a copy of Love Hypothesis as soon as humanly possible. Luckily for me, the brilliant publishers at Egmont sent me over a copy and, as soon as I finished the book I was reading, it went to the top of my list. I was hoping for a funny story with relatable characters and what I got was those things AND SO MUCH MORE. 

The Love Hypothesis tells the story of Caro – a bloody genius with 2 hilarious fathers – and her struggles with finding love in her teenage years. She’s always been the smart girl, and the people around her are always getting boyfriends and girlfriends, but she’s never managed to quite get there, until she discovers she can buy some dodgy pheromones from the internet, which will make people fall in love with her. Despite the fact she’s a genius, she thinks this is a stellar idea and what ensues is HILARITY, a lot of embarrassing situations, relatability and a story which I devoured in a matter of hours. 

As always, I’m going to try and keep this as spoiler-free as possible because I wold hate to ruin your lives by giving away everything! 

This book, like Laura’s other books, just oozes charm and wit. From my cackle on the first page to my sheer tears in the final pages, this book is one of those stories that I just wanna shake in front of everyone and tell them to read. I’ve read books where I’ve related to the main character many times before, but with this one there was a LOT of stuff that close to the bone and there were many times I was PUNCHED in the gut. But that’s why I loved it. There’s a certain magic in seeing yourself in a book, and while I’m no supergenius like Caro, I’ve been where she is. I am who she is. I’ve struggled like she does. I’ve thought to myself ‘I’m smart, I’m kind, I’m funny, WHY DOES NO ONE WANT ME?’. So reading this book was a bit like reading my thoughts.

I always love reading female protagonists, but what Laura’s got here (like she had with Izzy) is someone who is funny, clever and brilliant. You can’t read The Love Hypothesis and not find Caro endearing. I love reading clever characters. They’re one of those niches I love reading. Caro doesn’t shy away from being science-y in her story. She makes mistakes; she has to say sorry; she does most of this with grace and with her tail between her legs. She realises that there are some things more important than being wanted. She has those tough conversations and realises things about herself through the book and going on that journey with her felt like a bit of a priviledge. She goes through some HILARIOUS things – enter her two dads, who I will get to in a minute. 

Her dads. Man. I can’t NOT dedicate a little bit of space to her dads. They are HILARIOUS, SHAMELESS and MAJESTIC. I just loved them. They gave this book such warmth and love. They filled the pages with hilarity and compassion. I loved that it was SUCH a positive representation of a gay relationship and it wasn’t just there to tick a box: they were her dads and they loved her endlessly. I also love that they loved each other endlessly. They were the ying to the other’s yang. They both seemed to fit. I really loved their relationship. I loved that they were shameless dads: telling dad jokes, embarrassing Caro at every opportune moment. Vati was definitely an early favourite for me, but Dad definitely came into his own later on in the book. I’d LOVE  a book just about the dads. I bet they have some MAD stories to tell. 

Can we take a moment to appreciate the gorgeous cover? I love how bright it is! It looks gorgeous on my shelf! It’s so science-y, just like Caro!

This book is a wonderful story of love. Love in all its guises. Caro goes through an awful lot through this story, but it all comes down to love. Self love; love for your friends; love for your family; unrequited love; parental love. There were many moments where I was punched in the face because I had been there. Caro’s feelings about herself were especially poignant for me because she learns that she has to love herself just as much as she would love others. 

There’s some wonderful chats in this book about consent. Consent between people in a relationship and consent between friends. You don’t see the latter talked about often, but I think it’s so important that books talk about these things. 

Yes. There’s a ship. It’s a ship that I SHIPPED SO HARD. 

My Goodreads review:

This is proper triumph: funny, meaningful, clever. I’ve proper cackled, cried and learned things. I wanna hug this book and it’s characters: they’re just incredible. A massive shout out to the dads – they’re the best. There is SO MUCH OF ME in Caro that this hit close to home at times. Reading some of this was like reading my own thoughts. This books just brilliant. It’s funny, it’s full of love in all its guises.

My moodboard for this book because I couldn’t NOT show my love and appreciation for this book in more than just words!

A massive massive thank you to the publishers, Egmont, for sending me an early copy of the book for review. I just adored it. 

Have you read Love Hypothesis?
If you could take a pill and make everyone fall in love with you, would you?
IS THIS BOOK ON YOUR TO BUY LIST? 

Speak to you all soon! 

S x