emmm626's reviews
465 reviews

I enjoyed this, but don’t feel like I can rate it more than 3 stars. It kept me engaged the whole time, but I found the wrap up to be anticlimactic and the ending to be super underwhelming. I liked the theme of chosen family and some of the mysterious characters, but wish that these other characters had been part of bigger reveals or had nefarious intentions. The writing could be confusing at times. It could be hard to catch on when a flashback was referenced in a non-flashback chapter. The way the author filled in background information that predates the story was just not very clear. There were also times that something specifically mentioned (ie a waitress taking their order) wasn’t really brought up again, which made it really hard to keep track of how much time had passed in one scene. Sometimes it was as if hours had gone by in the scene, but there were only two lines of writing. Just made it hard to picture the scene happening and track the timeline.

DNF @ 61%
I take back everything I said. too many characters, too many povs. not enough going on. soooo much wasted page space I feel like we take forever to get to the point. really disappointed

I enjoyed this overall, but it fell short for me in a few areas. There was a good amount of romance, and I felt like the chemistry between the characters was better flushed out than the last novella, Under One Roof. I’d wished that that one had more conflict between the characters, and I feel like I got some more of that with this novella. Obviously due to the length of the story, the conflict wrapped up really fast, but I appreciated that these characters seemed a little more flushed out. However, the writing and storyline felt so Wattpady. I didn’t notice the narration of The Love Hypothesis being so…cringey stream of consciousness of the narrator, but maybe I’m just forgetting. This novella’s narration was so jumpy and cheesy, I felt like I was being slapped in the face with the main character’s “quirkiness.” Second, the story relies FULLY on the miscommunication trope and total, absolute, insta-love. I don’t love miscommunication, and insta-love isn’t my favorite, but at this point it seems like all of Ali Hazelwood’s books and characters follow pretty much the exact same formula. Don’t get me wrong, love when the dude falls first, but the 0 to 100 obsession can be a little much. I’m being picky here, but overall this was some pleasant fluff, despite the slightly overwhelming STEMinist rhetoric. I’m all about women-in-STEM empowerment, but I don’t need to be beaten over the head with it.

if there are three things I love, they are:
1. forced proximity
2. hella banter
3. overprotective mmc
and boy did this one deliver. def some deeper themes covered here (mental illness, generational trauma) but I felt they were handled tactfully overall. I thought that the fmc’s podcast could have been better utilized as a plot point. I would have loved if the duchess revealed that she was a fan or something. just felt like that piece fell short. docking a star due to complete and absolute 100% predictability and a little bit of cheesiness in the writing/dialogue/fmc’s narration (i hate when a character breaks the fourth wall, SUE ME)…but I still ate this shit up.

This one was okay for me, could have gone 3 or 4 stars. It was an interesting concept, but I felt like the story could have been paced much better. There were confusing switches between narrators and timelines, which sometimes made the events hard to follow. I think the twists toward the end were pretty good but could have been better executed.

***Spoilers from here***

I was surprised when Bea and Meredith were revealed to have killed Shelby. Meredith then freaks out, Bea kills her, and holds Delilah in her soundproof garage for 11 years. The girl they found was not Delilah but another missing girl who was the victim of a copycat crime. The reveal that the girl they found wasn’t Delilah was done well I think, but I wish that the initial “Delilah” chapter was written such that we thought it was from the girl they found, but in hindsight was the real Delilah above Bea’s garage. I think it also would have been more interesting if Shelby already been dead and Bea/Meredith stumbled upon her body and mistakenly took the blame. Overall I just think that the pacing of the story could have been much better. I remained interested in the book, but didn’t feel hooked, like I couldn’t stop reading. If anything, I fell asleep reading this book a few nights in a row. There was too much in the beginning half of the book. I think if they’d revealed that the girl wasn’t Delilah sooner, then had more investigation into that, the story would have felt more evenly paced.

This was like National Treasure in book form and I loved every second of it. I had some predictions partway through that wound up being false, so the twists and turns I didn’t see coming were a ton of fun. I wish there had been a little more tension between Lily and Leo toward the beginning of the trek and I could have done with some more witty banter. They seemed to slip back into friend/lover mode really fast. I’m all for healthy communication, but a little more drama would have been cool. Overall this was a really fun and sweet read!

it was okay. super interesting concept, but overall the plot just felt really repetitive and slow. i was kinda dreading reading it after a while and am thankful to have finished it and now i need a rom com injected directly into my neck. this book just got boring. the reveal of what was really happening was cool, [spoilers] how really it was other-timeline-genius-scientist jason who kidnapped narrator jason. it felt like the same thing over and over. ugh ANOTHER universe? ANOTHER jason? snooze. now what?? the comparison to life at the end with charlie felt a little cheesy, but I guess as far as sci-fi happy endings go, that was pretty decent.

I enjoyed this one a fair amount. I was surprised by a couple of the twists, but the final one I saw coming by the end. I liked how the narrator was unreliable with her hallucinations, but found the whole “movie in her mind” piece to be a bit cheesy. I also wish that it had been first person POV, but if intended to be like a screenplay, maybe it had to be third person? Overall I liked the book. It was wild how the whole plot really only takes place over a few hours. If felt like there was way more crammed in. The main character also really annoyed me at times. You had chances to get away, why didn’t you just…take them?? Could probably give 4 stars, but was annoyed enough by the book that I’m going with 3.

god DAMN did I devour this shit and it was a great departure from the usual slow burns I wind up reading. I will say that it is more spice than plot BUT it wasn't in a way that felt stupid. there were still definite plot and character arcs and there was some solid grumpy banter. this was a rare case where I enjoyed the dual pov and felt like it added to the story without being annoying. one thing that did irk me was the "miss/mr" through a lot of the book. we get it he's your boss but please for the love of god at least make it obviously sarcastic because that sent my cringe count off the charts. i do wish the romance was like a little sweeter earlier on and there was more HEA time at the end but overall this was very entertaining and I liked the characters a lot.

sigh. it was fine. once again, miscommunication trope abound. somehow it feels like very little happened. there was less “mediocre white man” feminist writing in the narration which was nice, but the writing still felt really conversational. like fanfic that wasn’t edited very well. felt very surface level and please tell me why he had to compare her to the topography of mars I simply can’t contain the cringe