The following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: Hazelwood, Ali. The Love Hypothesis. Berkley, September 14, 2021.

In the romance The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, Olive Smith was not sure about attending graduate school until a chance meeting with a man who convinced her that she had what it took. The problem was that Olive met this man in a bathroom she had wandered into because she had to take out her contacts which were expired and irritating her eyes. She was not able to see him well and believed he was just another graduate student. It was years later when she realized what an impression she had made on this man, who turned out to be a professor, Adam Carlsen, and what significant roles they would play in each other’s lives.

Three years later, Olive was a graduate student at Stanford where she was studying blood biomarkers for the early detection of pancreatic cancer. One night in the hallway of the biology building, Olive surprised both herself and Adam, a professor she did not know, when she grabbed him in the hallway and asked if she could kiss him. She kissed him before she had even heard his answer. She explained later her friend, Anh, believed Olive was out on a date. Olive was trying to convince Anh that she was over Jeremy, a boy Anh liked, so that Anh would feel free to date him.

Adam, who was known by his students for being antagonistic and unapproachable, suggested to Olive that a fake dating relationship would benefit them both. Olive wanted to convince her friend she was dating. Adam wanted to convince the chair of the department that he was rooted at Stanford so he would release the remainder of Adam’s grant money.

Meanwhile, Olive was excited because she had a response from Tom Benton, a professor at Harvard, who she had contacted because she needed a bigger, wealthier lab in which to complete her research. Little did she know that Adam and Tom were good friends. When she made the connection, she worried Tom would believe she expected him to accept her because she was Adam’s girlfriend.

As Olive and Adam spent more time together, Olive began to fall in love with him. Adam did not seem to mind the time they spent together, as if he was attracted to Olive as well. Since Olive did not want to be hurt, she kept her feelings hidden from Adam.

To Olive’s dismay, Olive was chosen to give a talk about her research at the Society for Biological Discovery conference. Circumstances forced Olive and Adam to stay in the same room, a situation that also made Olive uncomfortable. Olive believed her talk was successful until she was confronted by Tom, who told her that she was chosen for a talk only because she was dating Adam. He degraded her and her work and suggested that if she came to work at the lab at Harvard, he would expect her to sleep with him, the way he assumed she was sleeping with Adam. He warned her that if she told Adam what he had said that Adam would not believe her.

That night, Adam was distraught when he found Olive in their hotel room, crying. She told him she had overheard some people saying her research was not useful, but would not tell him who had said that. Adam took her to dinner to comfort her and Olive decided to be intimate with him that night. The next afternoon, she broke off their relationship, believing what Tom had told her was true.

Olive realized only when she prepared to send a recording of her talk to her advisor that she had also recorded Tom’s words to her. She played the recording to Anh and their friend Malcolm, who agreed she needed to tell Adam what had happened. When Adam heard the recording, he conferred with Tom’s boss. Tom was fired from his position.

Back at Stanford, one year later, Olive found another research lab at which she could work. She and Adam were dating for real. She took Adam to the place where she had surprised him with their first kiss and re-enacted that kiss.