Laura Steven

An LGBT romantic comedy with a twist from the Comedy Women in Print prize winner Laura Steven, author of The Exact Opposite of Okay. 'A brilliant social satire . . . disarmingly charming and relatable . . . it was hilarious. Laura Steven is an explosive talent on the page!' - CWIP judges Marian Keyes, Kathy Lette, Katy Brand, Allison Pearson, Shazia Mirza and Jennifer Young 'Laura Steven simultaneously destroyed the patriarchy and made me laugh so hard I choked. I will protect Izzy O'Neill with my life.' - Becky Albertalli, author of Love, Simon. 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 about chemistry - in the lab and in love. Is hot guy Haruki with her of his own free will? Are her feelings for her best friend some sort of side-effect? Will her dog, Sirius, ever stop humping her leg? A hilarious LGBT love story with a (double helix) twist, The Love Hypothesis is perfect for fans of Sex Education, Booksmart, Becky Albertalli and Jenny Han.

The Love Hypothesis

Ben Bastow

Oh my gosh, I haven’t laughed quite this hard in years. I’ve loved Laura Stevens books since I first heard about her first book, The Exact Opposite of Okay and I’ve been recommending them to everyone I know ever since. When i heard that she was writing a queer rom-com, my heart leapt out of my chest and I knew I needed this book as soon as it came out. Thank you to Electric Monkey though who sent me an early review copy which had me in stitches and recommending this to everyone I know as soon as it was out.

Unfortunately it didn’t exactly meet my high held expectations, it beat them. I thought this book would keep me laughing all the way through and have that extra kick of Laura Stevens magic. Though what i didn’t expect was that this book would have me pissing myself laughing with every twist and turn. I never expected to be SnapChatting friends specific phrases and pages that had me in absolute tears of laughter. This book is one you should be going out to buy right now, it will definitely lift your spirits! It’s wacky, fun and adventurous with a huge dollop of love right in the middle of it all.

In Short
In Short: Love + Stupid Cleverness + Absurdity to the highest levels + GAY DADS = The Love Hypothesis

In More Detail
It starts off as with any good love story with a physics prodigy, Caro, wondering why no one ever has fallen in love with her. Like every other teenage girl she discovers a magical pill that makes everyone around you fall for you, and as such Caro decided to buy said magical love pills and from there hilarity ensues. You can’t really plan or predict what happens in this book purely because of how funny the book is, you’re focused on the hilarity of the situation and not really what will come next.

But one thing I do love about this book is if you put aside the laughs and the jokes you still have a solid plot which is surprisingly heartwarming and thought provoking. Underneath it all is a fun story about consent, sex, relationships and everything that comes in between. Is it consent if someone wants to date with you only because you took a magic pill? Is it consent if people only want to have sex with you because you took a magic pill? What exactly is love and can it be distilled into a formula? Is love formulaic? These are some of the questions “The Love Hypothesis” answers and so many more.

The Characters Though…
But what really made me fall in love with this book is the characters they all feel really fleshed out and felt like living people. Though the one couple I need to point out in particular is Caro’s parents, they were the stars of the book. It might focus on Caro and her issues with finding love, but her dads are the secret stars of the show. The relationship between Caro and her parents too is absolutely hilarious too. There is a certain scene about carrots and sex education at the beginning of the book that had me in pieces. In fact there are so many stand out moments it’s hard to name and remember all of them, but it was the characters and your relationship with them that made it that little bit more hilarious.

I read this book twice within a week whilst I was travelling to work on the tube and whilst I was at home as well. It got to the point when I’d be reading this on the tube and i’d involuntarily burst out into laughter whilst garnering the odd weird look from other people. Though I might have found it incredibly funny, it’s humour might not be for you, if you’re slightly awkward around sex and crude jokes or don’t find any of this funny then I think you’d still love the book, but it might not have the same effect on you as it did on me. But I still think everyone should give this a read because not only will it distract you and put a huge smile on your face it will also give you some interesting food for thought after you’ve read it!

In Conclusion
Overall, this is one of funniest and heartwarming books I’ve read in years and I hope I’ve done a good enough job to persuade you to read this book as soon as you can! On another note though, my Mum doesn’t read that much but recently asked me for a book to read whilst she has a little bit of spare time on her hands so I gave her this to read. It’s safe to say every time I walk down the stairs or see her outside in the garden she’s in fits of the laughter and absolutely enthralled and in love with “The Love Hypothesis”. It’s safe to say if my Mum loves it then so will you! Once again, thank you SO much to Electric Monkey for sending me a review copy for this stunner of a book, it made me so happy to get the chance to review it early! Sorry for the delay in the posting of my review though!

Kate

The Love Hypothesis has a classic rom-com movie feel, without the questionable rom-com movie morals.

I feel like the fact that someone who once literally got 1/60 on a chemistry test loved this book, is enough to convince me anyone will. (Me. I'm that someone. Not a single cell in my body has an aptitude for science…)

I love the way Laura writes. It’s quick in wit, easy flowing and so comfortable to read. Sure, a lot of the scientific aspects went way (and I mean, WAY) over my head but it didn’t matter because this book was funny, thought provoking, nerdy, adorable and, despite the fantastical plot, relatable. There were also some excellent discussions and explorations surrounding consent, friendship, family, substance abuse and sexuality making for a brilliant, all rounded read.

I would also do anything for Caro’s dads and Sirius the one eyed cockapoo.

Beth Bartholomew

I picked up The Love Hypothesis because I needed an easy read that was funny and distracting, this book delivered exactly that! It was light-hearted, easy to follow and made me laugh. The pure absurdity of the plot, but in the best way possible, made me laugh a lot. Caro is a science nerd and I have great respect for the effort Laura Steven put into creating Caro's character, she is well crafted and knows her stuff. I like that we actually saw parts of her knowledge rather than just being told she was a science nerd. I also liked that this book broke down stereotypes a bit and did it's best to open doors outside of the status quo.

The stars of this book for me were Caro's dads, a very funny, comedic duo that had some of the best lines in the book. They had great chemistry (pun not actually intended) together and I really enjoyed seeing their dynamic with Caro. I don't think we see family relationships all too often in YA anymore, parents are more discarded to the side, so it was nice to get to know these two more.

This book focuses a lot on friendship and how we all change over time. I liked that the trio of friends didn't have to have the same interested to be friends and that's what made them click well together. I also think it looked at important issues such as what happens when you outgrow a friend, which is a sad truth. Relationships change over time and they take effort to maintain and this book presented this perfectly, I'd like to think it was more a story about friendship than romantic love...?

This book was cute and funny, which was exactly what I needed it to be. There wasn't a complex plot and it didn't fall down the predictability holes. I have to say though, the only reason I didn't rate it higher was that I found it all a little bit cringe towards the end. The way it ended felt a bit thrown together, so it didn't quite work for me. But the writing was super fun and has prompted me to buy more of Laura Steven's books, which I'm very excited to read!

The Love Hypothesis

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