jajalala

I fear my "no tiktok only ebook" technique is working too well, as I finished Love, Theoretically in two days. It was fun and easy to read!

Overall I enjoyed it! It flowed pretty smoothly, enough so that I imagine an audiobook would be really enjoyable (though I personally don't listen to them). And the setup?? The main character is pretending to be a librarian to fake date a guy, meets his mega-hot brother at family events, and then when applying for a professorship that mega-hot brother is on the search committee!! It's a setup with a lot of juice.

I tend to love the chase more than the resolution, so around the time when the initial misunderstanding involving fake dating resolved, I kind of expected the book to end... and then it didn't? There were some other subplots, so there was indeed meat enough to continue, but I feel like the spitfire between the protagonist and her love interest died down and I got a little bored.

The main character's people-pleasing persona was unfortunately relatable, though the book definitely went to extremes. I don't mind the extremes in a book like this, though, it punches up the energy and comedy. It does sacrifice any subtlety, though. I can't count how many times the main character just laid out her issues in detail for the reader, and then her love interest came in and laid out her issues ever so clearly as well, very articulate therapy-speak style etc etc. It definitely pushed it out of realism territory for me.

The love interest... lol I guess he was fine? I'm kind of meh on men nowadays, so that might be biasing me, but also... I feel like he truly had no flaws. He was just a charming guy who somehow basically always knew exactly what she needed. Wish-fulfillment, I guess, but I like a love interest with a little more fallibility to give a human charm.

The sex scenes I liked! I was surprised at how many were there in a row. Most of the book was pretty safe for work aside from occasionally ending up in close proximity or swooning in her love interest's arms (low blood sugar and diabetes), but towards the end there were like, two or three sex scenes almost right in a row. They felt right for the characters, and I liked that there was some realistic actions/discussion along the way, but I was also trying to read the book on the train!!! And so I was desperately speed-reading a chapter with my phone right up to my face hoping no one was looking over my shoulder, and then I got to the end of the chapter like "Phew, that's over!".... and then the next chapter was like "Morning after ;) Sex TWO!!!!!" so sorry to any fellow train-goers who saw that.

One of the more grating things throughout was the dialogue and the contemporary references... It was published in 2023, but I feel like it's going to feel very dated in some years, though perhaps it'll be nostalgic. Still, it felt like every character kind of had the same cadence/humor and style of talking. Occasionally I couldn't get through a single page without somebody making a hyperbolic statement referencing some sort of mainstream media or cultural event. Everyone has a silly one-liner for every situation. It was fairly aligned with my own humor, so I didn't mind it, but it was kind of odd to hear so many people talk in such similarly distinct ways.

There were some pointed plot points about the pressure caused by low pay and lack of health insurance, which unfortunately realistic but also sometimes made me feel like "GEEZ this kind of story is usually escapism, but now I'm stressing about the state of health insurance in this country-"

All complaints aside, this book was well paced and fun and easy to read, so I have to be clear: I liked it.

I mostly was aware of Ali Hazelwood because of The Love Hypothesis, which from just the cover you can tell is Rey/Kylo Ren (Star Wars)-inspired. I never read that book, but having read this one I can high-key see the little pieces of Kylo in the main character. Him being "built like a refrigerator", A random shirtless scene that you could have plucked right out of Kylo Ren's scenes, Rey and Kylo Ren ARE LITERALLY REFERENCED when the main character thinks up a bunch of famous antagonists in her narration. It's clear the author knows people are going to think "is this repackaged ReyLo fic?" and she's like "Lol I still love it, so yeah here's some nods to it :D" Which honestly good for her. AO3 and omegaverse are also referenced.

I've heard that several prominent ReyLo authors have moved to the original publishing space, and a lot of them seem to know and network with each other. Even though the Star Wars sequels are years past at this point, it spawned this group who have found success elsewhere with original work that nonetheless point clear tendrils back to their original inspiration.

It's fascinating, and it warms my heart to see a fanfic/AO3 community building and continuing outside of its origins. I'd like to think if some of the fanfic writers I know in My Hero Academia (or potentially other fandoms) branched into original work publishing or other projects, I'd have their back. It would be fun to see a published author and say "We went to this Fandom together!!!"

Anyways, next up: My girlfriend suggested I check out The Bear and the Nightingale, book one of the Winternight Trilogy. I don't know anything about Russian mythology, but I guess I'm gonna learn/absorb something. I'm so happy about Libby; when my girlfriend lightly recommended the book, I was easily able to just look it up and discovered the first was available and put it right on my virtual shelf! For free! It's scarily convenient.