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.
This book was just ridiculous and fun! This was exactly what I was hoping it would be. I both loved and hated this book but ultimately, love won. I gave this book 4 stars. This is not a sincere love story. If you enjoy romantic comedies filled with plot holes, then this book is for you!
Part way through this book I learned that this book started life as Star Wars fan fiction, I have only seen the original trilogy so that didn’t really impact my enjoyment of the story.
The two man in characters in this book were absolutely ridiculous. They were intelligent professionals who acted like they were teenagers. The whole story starts with Olive kissing a random man at work…I’ve never worked in a university lab but I’m fairly certain that smooching on company time is frowned upon in most institutes. As soon at that happened I realised that this was going to be a silly romance and I was really in the mood for that.
The entire book could have been 3 pages long if only these super smart adults would use their words and actually tell each other how they felt. This makes for an entertaining story but absolutely infuriating in real life.
I really loved Olive’s friends, they were so supportive and fun. A lot of the time they really did feel like they were teenagers though. When Ahn goadied Olive into putting sun cream on her Adam at a picnic, the friends reacted as if she were giving him a lap dance in front of his grandmother, as if it was something so raunchy. I kept forgetting that Olive and her friends were in their mid-20s and Adam was in his mid-30s as their reaction to any sort of romance was very juvenile- ‘I can’t believe you sat on his lap’…it was a busy event and there weren’t enough chairs, a pretty innocent move.
If you want a book with a graphic romantic scene, this book will fit that bill. Specifically, chapter 16. The sex scene was both graphic, hot and steamy, yet factually impossible at points. I listened to this book on audiobook and was out on a walk when this chapter started and I was walking around the park laughing my head off! I genuinely laughed until I cried
This book was predictable from beginning to end. I wanted a sweet and silly romance and this book provided me with that.
This book provided an unnecessary amount of shade towards pumpkin spice. Pumpkin spice is delightful
If you want a cute romance with only mild peril, I recommend this book. It was so silly and i just loved it
Kapowski Reads 