“The Love Hypothesis” is a science romance-themed book written by author Ali Hazelwood. One of her many romance books, this one stands out as her breakthrough novel which began as Star Wars fanfiction. A popular published book being based on fanfiction is not unusual, and shouldn’t change your opinion of the book. For a lot of readers, this turned them off from the book, and for the ones who still read it, the relationship overall was not up to standard. The relationship in this book is between a student and a teacher, due to the level of education both characters are of legal age, but the workplace relationship trope that is established can leave a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths. Sometimes a story with a unique power dynamic can be interesting, other times it can be toxic.
A forbidden love story is a popular trope that can be established very easily in books with worldbuilding, especially when they take place in a world different than our own. When writing a book that takes place in the world we know, forbidden love can get a little more tricky. Not only does “The Love Hypothesis” have a teacher-student relationship, but it is also a book full of science which caused a disturbance in the academic science community who felt they were being represented in a bad light.
Despite the flaws in this book and the relationship as a whole, it still had amazing sales and brought Hazelwood into the spotlight. Since “The Love Hypothesis” Hazelwood has released books rapid fire, and has developed her relationships to be more to the reader’s liking while still having her signature flair.
When writing a book made for the average reader, some topics should be avoided, and having your main characters joke about Title IX, and be involved in glossing over sexual assault situations, is a great way to turn readers off your book entirely. When there is something in a book that is unsavory, reviewers and readers will then begin to pick the entire book apart. People are not afraid to give one-star reviews and tell you exactly why they did so. No matter their reason, a one-star review is still a one-star review. Sometimes these reviews can be comedic as YouTuber @ebnovels shares, especially to those who enjoyed the book. In the end, the reason this book did so well despite unsavory topics and hate is because it had diversity and women in STEM, it hit on other ideas that readers would love to see more of causing them to still read, and enjoy, the book.
Readers want to read about relationships that are out of reach to them, which is why fantasy romance is so popular. Another popular trope in romance novels is fake dating, which “The Love Hypothesis” also contains. The main characters agree to fake date because the relationship has the potential to be beneficial for both of them. The power dynamic in this relationship, fake or not, is where problems begin to arise. Even just changing that power dynamic slightly could have made a huge difference in the way people viewed the book. A good rule to follow is if something is considered unlawful in our society, don’t make that the focus of your book, it will only draw negative attention.
You can create drama and angst between a couple without making their relationship toxic and questionable. When reading a romance book, the relationship is going to be the component that is analyzing the most. Make the relationship the strongest part of the story. If there are certain components that absolutely need to be a part of the relationship, write them in a way that will make sense to the reader and will leave no questions regarding the morality of the relationship. The reader should fall in love with the couple. If the couple is supposed to be toxic, that is a completely different story and should be treated as such. Creating the perfect couple is not rocket science, but it is a sort of science as demonstrated by @thecaffeinebookwarrior in her illustrated guide, relationships are complex.
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