love hypothesis reylo

Bestselling Romance Novel Inspired By Fanfiction About Star Wars' Rey And Kylo Ren Is Becoming A Movie

The impact of Reylo lives on.

It’s more common these days for an author to be inspired by a popular love story and write one of their own than ever. The Dakota Johnson-led 50 Shades of Grey movies is based on erotica that started as Twilight fanfiction, and the After books and movies are based on Harry Styles fanfiction. The latest movie that will be influenced by imaginative shippers is The Love Hypothesis , a bestselling romance novel that began thanks to Star Wars’ Reylo. 

Ah yes, Reylo. It was the controversial Star Wars relationship that was often at the center of the Sequel Trilogy and ended with a kiss between Daisy Ridley ’s Rey and Adam Driver ’s Kylo Ren/Ben Solo. The display of affection occurred in 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker before fans of the romance were crushed when Ben died in Rey’s arms just moments later. Ali Hazelwood was inspired by Reylo to write her 2021 novel The Love Hypothesis , which is now officially being adapted into a movie. 

Per Deadline , the studio behind Netflix’s recent adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion is tackling the movie version of The Love Hypothesis , a romantic comedy storyline with characters that were inspired by Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver’s Star Wars on-screen romance. Check out the cover of the New York Times bestseller and tell me you don’t see the resemblance: 

Now The Love Hypothesis is not a sci-fi romance set in Jakku. The story follows a third-year Ph.D. candidate named Olive Smith who is a cynic when it comes to lasting romances. Olive gets wrapped up in a classic rom-com scenario of finding a “fake boyfriend” in Adam Carlsen, a “young hotshot professor–and well-known ass” who agrees to take part in the charade with Olive. Down the road, obviously the pair fall for one another for real. 

Not only do the main characters of The Love Hypothesis look just like Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver, “Adam” as a character name is also a nice nod. In the official synopsis of the novel, it’s described that it’s “going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks” for Olive to fall in love. The subtle references are there, but all in all, the upcoming movie is very much its own thing just like 50 Shades of Grey and Twilight are much different, and the Harry Styles and After comparisons stop at Hero Fiennes Tiffin’s appearance. 

Now the question is whether Daisy Ridley or Adam Driver would actually star in The Love Hypothesis . It’s what everyone wants, but we wouldn’t blame the actors if they want to distance themselves from Reylo after all the toxicity from Star Wars fandom over the years. While we anticipate The Love Hypothesis , check out the Star Wars movies in order and new episodes of Andor on Disney+ on Wednesdays. 

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'The Love Hypothesis' won Amazon's best romance book of 2021, has a near-perfect rating on Goodreads, and is all over TikTok. Here's why it's such a unique love story.

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• " The Love Hypothesis " grabbed the attention of romance readers everywhere in 2021.
• It was named Amazon's Best Romance Novel of 2021 and was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award.
• This book checks off all my boxes for a great romance read and is definitely worth the hype.

This year, Amazon named " The Love Hypothesis " by Ali Hazelwood the best romance book of the year. Even though it was only recently published in September 2021, "The Love Hypothesis" has quickly become a fan-favorite, with 88% of Goodreads reviewers giving it four- or five-star-level praise .

It was also nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award and is hugely popular amongst Book of the Month members , with only 1% of readers giving it a "disliked" rating.

"The Love Hypothesis" is about Olive Smith, a third-year Ph.D. candidate studying pancreatic cancer at Stanford. In an attempt to convince one of her best friends that she's moved on from an old crush, she impulsively kisses Dr. Adam Carlsen, the department's notoriously brutal (but undeniably attractive) professor. After the kiss, Adam and Olive agree to fake a relationship so she can prove to her friend that she's happily dating and he can convince their department that he isn't planning to leave anytime soon.

I'm a little picky about my romance novels , so giving this read every bit of a five-star review didn't come lightly. My standards are high because the best romance novels have the potential to expose readers to authentic and imperfect relationships and offer new topics of discussion without making us feel like it's a story we've already read. 

With all the hype surrounding this new romance read, I couldn't resist picking it up.

Here's why "The Love Hypothesis" is one of my favorite recent romance books:

1. the story focuses a lot on olive and adam's lives outside their romance, making their love story more believable and interesting..

Romance novels tend to fall into a few popular tropes such as " enemies-to-lovers " or "forbidden love." "The Love Hypothesis" combines two of the most popular tropes right now, "Fake dating" and "grumpy/sunshine," really well — I loved the contrast between Adam's serious attitude to Olive's bright and sugary one. 

But despite following these tropes, the story feels fresh because it's also largely about Olive's work and its meaning to her. The only other romance book I've read featuring a STEM heroine is "The Kiss Quotient" , so I loved seeing that representation and learning about something new. 

The story honestly reflected the challenges Ph.D. candidates face in academia and that authenticity — deepened by the author's personal experiences — brought the characters, the settings, and the romance to life even more as Olive and Adam faced challenges with funding, time-consuming research, and questioning their sense of purpose.

2. The steamier scenes are also awkward and realistic, which made them even better.

In romance books, there are a few different levels of how graphic a steamy scene can get , from little-to-no detail to explicitly outlined movements. (I personally prefer mine to "fade to black.")

There was only one chapter with adult content, and it was definitely graphic. While I made a ton of ridiculous faces while reading and tried to skim past the parts that made me audibly gasp, I loved that it wasn't a movie-made, perfect sex scene with graceful movements and smooth dialogue. The scene was a little awkward, imperfect, and full of consent and conversation, making it refreshingly real.

3. The book deals with other topics besides the main love story, making it a much deeper read.

While it's wonderful to get swept up in the magic of a romantic storyline, having a secondary plot that addresses real issues is what makes a romance novel truly great . 

Mild spoilers and content warnings ahead: While "The Love Hypothesis" is a fun romantic read, it also addresses the pain of familial death, power differentials, intimacy challenges, and, most prevalently, workplace sexual harassment. 

Love is beautiful, fun, and amazing, but "The Love Hypothesis" takes the opportunity to also include conversations about serious issues. While these topics may be tough for some readers, I think these plot points, hard conversations, and complicated emotions take "The Love Hypothesis" to the next level and make it a five-star read. 

The bottom line

"The Love Hypothesis" has everything I personally look for in a romance novel: A unique storyline, authentic characters, and an important message. If you're looking for a perfectly balanced romance read, "The Love Hypothesis" is worth the hype and definitely one of the best romance books to come out in the past year.

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Reylo (Rey x Kylo Ren) fanfic that was published as "The Love Hypothesis" is getting a film adaptation

• Thread starter WrenchNinja
• Start date Oct 7, 2022

WrenchNinja

• Oct 7, 2022

Bisous Pictures Lands Rights To Ali Hazelwood’s ‘The Love Hypothesis’

Bisous Pictures, the romance label from Elizabeth Cantillon and MRC Film, have partnered with Ali Hazelwood to adapt her best-selling novel The Love Hypothesis, published by Berkley. The book has been on The New York Times Best Sellers list for 39 weeks. In the book, an impulsive kiss leads two scientists into a fake relationship, testing their theories about love and each other. "Bisous Pictures is thrilled to be working with Ali to amplify her voice and bring this magical book to the screen," said Cantillon. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Drive-In Mutant

50 Shades' legacy lives on.  

no more white cishet romances until we figure out what the fuck is going on  

Imagine if they got Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver to reprise their roles.  

Woke up, got a money tag, swears a lot

In the book, an impulsive kiss leads two scientists into a fake relationship, testing their theories about love and each other. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

I thought Disney was gonna go down a rabbit hole and make a movie like this by reading that title....  

Resettlement Advisor

Reylo stays winning  

Gespenst MKIV

Fat4all said: wait, ain this an anime something something love is war, or sommit Click to expand... Click to shrink...

The Quentulated Mox

personally, i think they should have just made it an actual unauthorized reylo movie and release it The People's Joker-style. but you know what, this is a good thing. it's not made for me, but people tried to make the fact that 50 shades was relabeled twilight fanfic into a knock against it, which is what idiots do. you're not original for saying "still a better love story than twilight" in 2022, 50 shades was not bad because of the fanfic angle (it was bad for other reasons) and if a fanfic author be getting paid, then good for them.  

This Is DEFINITELY Not A Published Reylo Fanfic Novel

AcademicSaucer

Best selling novel? The written word may have been a mistake.  

The cishets are at it again.  

This is literally Science Fell In Love. Fuck I need to just rip off some anime or Japanese stories, it worked for Hunger Games and Chronicle. Then when people ask you, you can pull the pretentious ass "I don't read manga, that's for children, I am a serious author" bullshit. Check it out: There's this island kid in the Pacific who decides he's going to be the king of all the pirates, so he eats this magical fruit... No, his name is not Luffy, it's Monkey, because I'm inspired by a classic myth of China called the Monkey King but you'd never understand that because you read manga and not literature...  

BassForever

One winged slayer.

But they already released The Rise of Skywalker?  

Deleted member 11637

Get that money, but Reylo shipping is...not ideal.  

Saw the truth behind the copied door

I would just like to throw in that "Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It" is an amazing anime very worth watching. It's hilarious, cute, and a surprisingly accurate portrayal of some aspects of university research.  

I'd take more FinnPoe Fanfic to real books please. But I guess get your bag how you can lady. It's still really crazy.  

Channel 5 News said: Get that money, but Reylo shipping is...not ideal. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

I had never heard of "Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It" before this thread, but now I have something else to look into.  

Dreams-Visions

The pairing we all hope to never have to relive, back again for the memes  

Bor Gullet said: Imagine if they got Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver to reprise their roles. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Bengraven said: This is literally Science Fell In Love. Fuck I need to just rip off some anime or Japanese stories, it worked for Hunger Games and Chronicle. Then when people ask you, you can pull the pretentious ass "I don't read manga, that's for children, I am a serious author" bullshit. Check it out: There's this island kid in the Pacific who decides he's going to be the king of all the pirates, so he eats this magical fruit... No, his name is not Luffy, it's Monkey, because I'm inspired by a classic myth of China called the Monkey King but you'd never understand that because you read manga and not literature... Click to expand... Click to shrink...

crimsonECHIDNA

Wasn't enough for Reylo to ruin one set of films.  

I thought I understood fanfiction a bit more than I did, but reading the synopsis, I have no idea how it relates to Rey/Kylo. (As in, loosely inspired?)  

Joe said: The wildest part? The male lead's name is actually Adam lol According to my wife, this description isn't really accurate. It's more of standard Fake Relationship story featuring scientists, not "let's do experiments to determine if we're in love." Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Randomly Generated

Necromanti said: I thought I understood fanfiction a bit more than I did, but reading the synopsis, I have no idea how it relates to Rey/Kylo. (As in, loosely inspired?) Click to expand... Click to shrink...

spookyduzt said: 50 Shades' legacy lives on. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Sounds like your standard romance novel plot, I don't get the issue y'all are having it aside from personal baggage from the worst of the Star Wars trilogies.  

Imperial Bishop

Sounds more shojo anime inspired than Reylo lol  

There is an incredible episode of the Overdue book discussion podcast about this bizarre book  

Bisous Pictures' Persuasion , starring Dakota Johnson, is currently available on Netflix. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Saucycarpdog said: Would you like to read The Purge AU with Harry Styles? Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Saucycarpdog

carlsojo said: Sounds like your standard romance novel plot, I don't get the issue y'all are having it aside from personal baggage from the worst of the Star Wars trilogies. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

GreenMamba said: Basically my point of view. Really weirdly hostile reaction here. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Is this a live action adaptation of Science Fell in Love So I Tried to Prove it???  

I will say, I read a lot of silly romance novels when I'm in the mood for that kind of thing, but this one has never come up on my radar, which is weird if it's on the NYT best sellers lol. Is it actually super popular or one of those fake-ish popular ones that got an artificial boost? (If anyone wants a fun, saucy, tropey romance, Book Lovers by Emily Henry, A+!)  

We have this book at my library. ...how on earth did I not piece together the Reylo connection? It's right there on the cover, ahaha.  

wait, why reylo ? do they move stuff with their minds ? Like the point with 50 shades is that by being a vampire and human the bdsm relationship kinda makes sense ...  

Force of Habit

Can't tell if these kind of stories make me more or less motivated for NaNoWriMo  

effingvic said: Is this a live action adaptation of Science Fell in Love So I Tried to Prove it??? Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Leeness said: I will say, I read a lot of silly romance novels when I'm in the mood for that kind of thing, but this one has never come up on my radar, which is weird if it's on the NYT best sellers lol. Is it actually super popular or one of those fake-ish popular ones that got an artificial boost? (If anyone wants a fun, saucy, tropey romance, Book Lovers by Emily Henry, A+!) Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Tumblr must be stopped. It's gone mad with power  

CupOfDoom said: Its legit popular. Or at least popular enough for the target I was in a month ago to stock on shelves Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Uzumaki Goku

This reminds me of some Naruto/Sasuke fanfic getting some kind of adaptation (with their Japanese vas playing the parts!)  

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From Friends to Lovers: The Fanfic-to-Romance Pipeline Goes Mainstream

Ali Hazelwood, a New York Times best-selling author of the romance novels The Love Hypothesis , Love on the Brain , and Love, Theoretically , found her literary agent in January 2020 in an unusual way. Instead of the long process most authors undertake that involves sending out countless letters seeking representation, it was an agent who reached out after reading stories Hazelwood had written on Archive of Our Own , a popular fan-fiction site. Her stories focused on a relationship between the saber-crossed Star Wars duo Kylo Ren and Rey Skywalker , a pairing often abbreviated to Reylo. Once Hazelwood posted that she was considering reworking her fics to publish them, Thao Le from the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency sent a message encouraging her to submit. They’ve worked together since, and today, Hazelwood’s career comes full circle with the publication of From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi , an official collection of Star Wars short stories that includes one by her.

That pathway to representation was an inversion of the one experienced by Lauren Billings and Christina Hobbs almost a decade prior. Back in 2011, the author pair — who publish as Christina Lauren — felt they needed to hide from their agent the fact that they had met while writing Twilight fan fiction. At the time, E.L. James avoided emphasizing that her blockbuster erotic novel, Fifty Shades of Grey , had begun as a Twilight fanfic titled “Masters of the Universe,” which gave Billings and Hobbs the impression that the publishing industry wouldn’t take fan-fiction works as seriously as original content.

When they finally told their agent, Holly Root, she was delighted and took a book based on one of their fics, Beautiful Bastard , to publishing houses. It sold in just 12 hours. The pair have since published nearly 30 novels, and they’ve hit the New York Times best-seller list multiple times.

Once considered a frivolous endeavor undertaken by sex-obsessed amateurs, fan fiction is now fully in fashion, enabling romance writers — and their publishers — to celebrate (and capitalize on) their Archive of Our Own roots. In July, Julie Soto, who writes Harry Potter fan fiction envisioning a relationship between Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy , published her debut novel, Forget Me Not . The upcoming titles My Roommate Is a Vampire , You, Again , and The Hurricane Wars , as well as multiple 2022 releases , have their origins in Reylo fanfic; so prevalent is that pairing that it’s become a meme in romance fan spaces to imagine Adam Driver walking into a bookstore and seeing himself on the covers of dozens of titles.

Top publishing houses including Hachette, HarperCollins, and Penguin Random House are making a clear push in the space, with proper package and promotional rollouts. Marketing materials have embraced — critics might say too much — fanfic-style tropes such as “enemies to lovers,” “only one bed,” “fake dating,” and “fated mates” that match the tagging system found on Archive of Our Own. (The odder yet nevertheless popular “male pregnancy” trope hasn’t achieved quite as much mainstream traction.) The Love Hypothesis even features fan art on the cover.

The appeal is understandable: Fic writers bring knowledge of how to market a story and build an audience, a boon for editorial houses. The fans authors have gained writing fic will buy books, in some cases carrying them to the best-seller list. For writers who demonstrate a facility for telling a certain kind of story, the process of transitioning into writing traditional books is as much a matter of format and structure as anything else.

Not that those are trivial elements. Romance novels rarely run longer than 100,000 words and typically have a three-act structure. Fan-fiction stories can run hundreds of thousands of words and take a meandering approach to plot. There’s a learning curve. “When you’re writing a romance, there’s a beginning and an end. You have a plot and emotional beats,” explains romance author and fan-fiction reader Adriana Herrera. “With a fic it’s more episodic. There’s a different flow to it.”

Beyond the structural nature of adapting their work, fanfic writers often have to reskin IP-based elements. Some fanfic writers, Hazelwood and Christina Lauren included, rewrite their fics before publishing them. It’s a process known as “filing off the serial numbers,” which involves more than simply changing the names. That’s how Hazelwood’s Reylo fanfic became The Love Hypothesis: While her fic “Head Over Feet” put Kylo and Rey in an academic setting instead of a galaxy far, far away, when it came time to revise the story for book publishing, she also added an antagonist, condensed characters, combined scenes, and raised the stakes with a tight timeline, all changes that gave it a more traditional narrative arc.

Hazelwood describes rewriting her fiction as “harrowing,” explaining that it was far more difficult than writing an original book. Christa Tomlinson, an indie romance writer, says it took her months to transform a fic based on WWE into a story about a SWAT team . Building original characters — their quirks and distinct traits — proved more difficult for her than developing a plot. She chose the law-enforcement world because it allowed her to keep the sense of “camaraderie and brotherhood” from her original fic while moving it out of a wrestling milieu. Some of the plot had to change as a result, though Tomlinson kept the bones of her story the same.

Not all fic writers are benefiting from the boom — yet, at least. Publishers have made some progress diversifying their love stories, but disparities remain. In a dynamic that mirrors traditional publishing, white fic readers don’t widely consume stories about characters of color written by people of color. That leads to fewer opportunities for those writers — even as they embrace the same styles and stories as their white peers. Similarly, queer love stories, especially those featuring two male leads, are wildly popular in fan-fiction libraries, but the Big Five publishing houses haven’t repackaged these stories the same way they did for Hazelwood or Billings and Hobbs.

Those shortcomings notwithstanding, the fan-fiction-to-romance pipeline continues to grow. Earlier this year, the Reylo fandom helped propel books from their favorite fic writers to the top of the Barnes & Noble best-seller list during the store’s annual preorder sale, even with minimal advertising from editorial houses. YA fantasy author Rosamund Hodge promises her upcoming release, What Monstrous Gods , has Reylo vibes . Indie publisher Lake Country Press has built a niche business around publishing Reylo books, including upcoming books Sliding into Love by Juliet Bridges and Katrina Kwan’s Knives, Seasoning and a Dash of Love . Julie Soto promises her next book, Not Another Love Song, will be “familiar” to fanfic readers.

Jen Prokop, romance critic and co-host of the romance podcast Fated Mates , points to Hazelwood as a model for fan-fiction authors looking to publish original works. The Love Hypothesis, she says , is clearly Reylo fan fiction to people who know, but to others, it’s a fun romance featuring two scientists. “Ali is clearly a big romance reader as well as being a fic reader,” she says. “I think part of the reason that she’s such a success is that she knows both fic and the genre.”

Even Hollywood has noticed the trend. Last October, Bisous Pictures, which produced Netflix’s Persuasion adaptation , announced it would be bringing The Love Hypothesis to screens. Fans immediately took to social media to express their hopes — half in jest, half completely serious — that Star Wars co-stars Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley would play the movie’s leads.

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A guide to Reylo coded romance novels!

Hello book lovers and Reylo Rats! I’ve noticed a very particular pattern in my reading this year and a pattern in books published thus far! My latest read just so happened to be Thea Guanzon’s the Hurricane Wars-out this October- which also has fanfiction origins. The trend is Reylo, also known as the chaotic pairing of Rey and Kylo Ren from the sequel Star Wars films. Given the popularity of this pairing online, it’s only natural that many authors took inspiration from their dynamic and later published original works of fiction. 

The most famous of these novels is none other than Ali Hazelwood’s, The Love Hypothesis. A novel I simply adored! Although there are many novels with links to Reylo, there are also novels that give off that vibe. Which is what my list consist of! Some of these pairings give off that enemies to lovers vibe, while others feature a love interest who resembles Adam Driver.

A Witch’s Guide to Fake dating A Demon by Sarah Hawley

Genre: Fantasy, Fiction, Romance

Content Warnings: Sexual Content, Emotional abuse

Mariel’s a witch that’s bad at harnessing her powers which is how she accidentally summons a hot demon instead of a bag of flour one night. While Oz, the ruthless is more interested in harvesting Mariel’s soul, he’ll settle for fake dating her and living as her roommate.

This story is cozy, sexy, and fun. It has an element of paranormal romance and protagonists that are most definitely Reylo-Coded. Especially Oz, whose resemblance to Kylo Ren did not go unnoticed. But if you’re looking for a light romance read, pick this one up.

Incendiary and Illusionary by Zoraida Cordova

Content Warnings: Torture, Blood, Violence, Child abuse

Renata has the power to take a person’s memories which made her the perfect weapon for the crown, but now as an adult Ren has allied with the rebels and aims to overthrow the monarchy. But when Prince Castian slays Ren’s lover, she’s out for vengeance and will stop at nothing to take her revenge. But Castian isn’t who he appears to be.

This story is inspired by the Spanish Inquisition, but it’s also reminiscent of the conflict from Star Wars. Plus Ren, and Castian just compliment each other so well!

My Roommates a Vampire by Jenna Levine

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

Content Warning: Sexual Content, blood, violence, kidnapping

Cassie Greenberg’s a struggling artist who stumbles upon the cutest apartment in a nice neighborhood. Her roommate, Frederick’s sleeps all day and speaks like he’s emerged from the pages of a regency romance, he’s also a sweet guy. But when Cassie finds some blood bags in the fridge, Frederick has no choice but to come clean, and he has a proposal for Cassie.

I think the love interest in this one is giving off major Mr. Darcy vibes. While Kylo Ren cannot compare, I am told this novel is remixed fanfiction.

Forget me Not by Julie Soto

Genre: Romance, Fiction

Content Warnings: Sexual content, injury, death of a parent, cancer, gaslighting

Ama Torres is a thriving Wedding Planner, and her next gig could bring Ama’s business national attention, but she’ll have to team up with her ex. Elliot’s a grumpy florist who’s not over Ama. Things are tense between them, but the brides are determined to get them together! And with a camera crew filming the entire wedding the stakes couldn’t be higher!

A baddie who’s an actual softie and works as a florist? Sounds like a space prince I know well. I was sold on this novel with the description of a tattooed florist, but this second chance romance is sure to become a quick favorite.

Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen 

Genre: Romance, Fiction, Fantasy

Content Warning: Sexual content, violence, war, murder

Lara was raised to marry the King Aren of Ithaca and destroy the Bridge Kingdom. But after their wedding Lara soon learns that everything is not what it seems, and she soon gains a deeper understanding of war. In the end, she’ll have to choose which kingdom is worth saving.

Lara’s a baddie who’s extremely loyal, and I love that about her. This novel not only features arranged marriage but enemies to lover too! I’ll never get tired of recommending this one! 

Half a Soul by Olvia Atwater

Genre: Historical, Fantasy, Fiction, Romance

Content Warnings: Classism, Ableism, Kidnapping, War, Death

Theodora had half her soul snatched away at a young age, and now she no longer feels fear or embarrassment. Which leaves Dora at the center of many scandals! And when Dora finds a connection with the most unpopular bachelor-Elias Wilder- she suspects that she might actually begin to fall in love with only half a heart.

This novel is sure to be a hit with lovers of cozy fantasies and Howl’s moving castle. Giving the fantastical setting of this novel, I decided it needed to be on this list.

Honorable mentions:

Accidentally Amy by Lynn Painter

This cozy office romance is a favorite, but it made onto this list simply because the protagonist is obsessed with Reylo. 

Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Coffee shop

Content Warnings: Sexual Content, Alcohol, cursing

The Love Hypothesis Ali Hazelwood

How could I make a Reylo book list without including the novel that started it all! If you haven’t read the Love Hypothesis, but you enjoy coziness, fake-dating, and academic settings, pick this one up!

Genre: Romance, Comteporary

CW: Sexual content, Sexual Harassment, Death of a Parent

The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon

One of my most anticipated reads this year, The Hurricane Wars is the perfect read for Fantasy lovers. This novel features enemies to lovers, arranged marriage, and complimentary powers. Not to mention the protagonists are idiots in love!

Genre: Romance, Fantasy

CW: War, Sexual Content, Violence

I hope you enjoyed this list and that in comes in handy the next time you’re looking for an enemies to lovers or a great fantasy read!

until next time book lovers I’ll be living in libros,

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The Winonan

Entertainment

Book in Review: “The Love Hypothesis”

Joseph Eichele

“The Love Hypothesis” by Ali Hazelwood has gained much popularity on blogs and Book Tok, a genre of sorts on social media app TikTok focused on YA novels.

Madeline McClure , features reporter February 16, 2022

Isolation due to COVID-19 brought about an unprecedented era of loneliness, boredom, and ample free time for people all around the world. This was a culture shock, especially in the United States where capitalistic output is valued over personal enjoyment. People began to take up new hobbies ranging from baking to crocheting to thrifting, while others returned to hobbies from their childhood and teenage years such as video gaming, painting, and fanfiction reading.

While fanfiction gets a bad reputation for poor grammar, ridiculous plot, and borderline painful cliches, it provides an indulgent escape for bored or stressed minds. This is why books such as “The Love Hypothesis” by Ali Hazelwood have gained popularity on blogs and Book Tok, and after seeing so many raving reviews, I decided to give it a try. I was definitely skeptical going into it, remembering all too vividly the last popular fanfiction-turned-novel franchise, “Fifty Shades of Grey.” However, when I first saw the cover of “The Love Hypothesis” in Barnes and Noble and realized that the love interest is a dupe of Adam Driver, I was embarrassingly eager to shell out $10 for the paperback copy.

“The Love Hypothesis” is based on a “Reylo” fanfiction. For those who aren’t fluent in Wattpad and AO3 terms, “Reylo” is a fanfiction that centers on the dubiously romantic relationship between Star Wars characters Rey and Kylo Ren. For copyright purposes, Rey and Kylo Ren are respectively renamed Olive Smith and Adam Carlsen. The story is set in an alternate universe, taking place in a present-day university rather than the futuristic, galactic setting of the Star Wars franchise. The novel begins from the perspective of Olive, a postgraduate in Stanford University’s biology program who is working toward earning her Ph.D., fueled mainly by inordinate amounts of caffeine and her vaguely tragic backstory.

Olive’s best friend, Anh, feels guilty about developing mutual feelings for Olive’s ex-boyfriend, so in a convoluted plot to convince Anh that Olive has moved on, Olive kisses Adam Carlsen in front of Anh at a university event. To complicate things even further, Adam Carlsen is a biology professor at Stanford as well as an infamously cruel and despotic advisor. Things get even more complex and awkward as word spreads around campus about Olive and Adam’s kiss, so much so that Olive confronts Adam about it, at a loss for how to disperse the rumors about their supposed relationship.

Adam is disturbingly unbothered by the rumors and instead proposes that they go along with it in a mutually beneficial agreement: Anh will believe that Olive has moved on with someone new and can finally get together with Olive’s ex, and Adam, who was deemed a flight-risk by Stanford, will have his research funds unfrozen once administration realizes he has set down roots at Stanford and has a reason to stay.

This agreement sparks all the standard fare of the fake-dating trope: rules and boundaries are set in place that will ultimately be broken one by one, and public dates are scheduled so all the nosey biology majors can see them together. As Olive works towards achieving her dream of synthesizing biomarkers that will detect early-stage pancreatic cancer, a series of tropes draw her ever closer to tall, dark, handsome, and broody Adam Carlsen, including but not limited to the miscommunication trope, forced cohabitation, tragic backstories, power imbalance, strangers to lovers, the sunshine one paired with the grumpy one, all tied together with an honorable mention of the one-bed trope.

In the interest of good and honest journalism, I have to admit that some sections were hard to get through. There were instances of cheesy dialogue, unexpected explicit scenes, and plot devices that made me smack the book against my forehead and question why I was putting myself through this. The power imbalance between Olive and Adam was never abused, but I feel that it’s harmful to represent such a relationship without discussing the ways in which it can go wrong because no one is as perfect as Adam in real life. The miscommunication trope, in my opinion, was frustrating rather than amusing and it was used to somehow drag out and complicate the plot even further. As much as I wanted to like and support Olive as a badass, woman-in-STEM character, I couldn’t get past the fact that a man still had to swoop in and help her solve all of her problems.

Despite all of its flaws, the saving grace of “The Love Hypothesis” was author Ali Hazelwood’s sense of humor and self-awareness. Several times, Olive made an offhand comment that came comically close to breaking the fourth wall, likening her situation to a poorly-written YA romance or a Hallmark movie. The irony made it a bearable and sometimes even an enjoyable read. If you’re craving a truly self-indulgent, escapist romance stuffed with all manner of tropes and sickeningly sweet fluff, you can just as easily find it for free on online fanfiction forums. However, if you want to appear intellectual and mysterious by reading a real paper novel, or if you want to imagine yourself kissing Adam Driver’s lookalike on the cover, I would recommend buying “The Love Hypothesis” at your own discretion.

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'The Love Hypothesis' Author Ali Hazelwood on Getting Her Start in Fanfiction and Which Scene Didn't Make It Into the Final Book

She also teases a few details about her next romance novel.

The day before I was set to chat with Ali Hazelwood , the news broke that her debut novel The Love Hypothesis had officially become a New York Times bestseller , charting at #9 in print and at #11 on the combined print and ebook lists. Understandably, Hazelwood's recollection of the moment she found out about it from her editor at Berkley Publishing is a little hazy: "I think I had grilled cheese in my mouth. I have vague memories of trying not to choke."

But it's no surprise, taking into account that the book itself has been absolutely blowing up a certain section of TikTok lately — as well as considering The Love Hypothesis 's origin story. When Hazelwood decided to make the leap from writing fanfiction to becoming a published author, readers flocked in droves, and even though The Love Hypothesis is a completely original work, there are still some nods to its beginnings — like the cover, for example. In my conversation with Hazelwood, which you can read below, I spoke with her about how both her background in fanfic and in STEM informed the writing of The Love Hypothesis , the one steamy scene in particular that didn't make the final cut, and what she can tease about her next book.

COLLIDER: Congratulations on the book being out! I think some people know the backstory of how it came to be, but for those who don't, what's the genesis behind The Love Hypothesis ?

ALI HAZELWOOD: I think it was a lot of just luck and chances and opportunities. I was really, really into writing fanfiction, first for the Star Trek fandom and then for the Star Wars fandom. And I loved it. It was just, it was this amazing community. I made a lot of friends and I was just having a lot of fun. And then what happened is that I started slowly thinking about trying to write something original, just to challenge myself and to do something different. And while I was in that kind of mood, my agent started reading my fanfiction on AO3 and then she reached out with a DM. She was like, "I saw that you wrote something about maybe pulling some of your fics and reworking them. And I wanted to tell you that I'm a literary agent and I would love to see you some of your manuscripts, if you're interested in it."

And so that's how I took the fanfiction of mine that I thought was the most reworkable and I sent it to her and then I signed with her. And then after approximately 70 billion more revisions, both with her and an editor... we got a lot of RNRs [revise and resubmits] that didn't pan out but made the book better, because we got really good feedback. Then we ended up at Berkely with my current editor, Sarah [Blumenstock], who is amazing, and yeah, now it's out.

I feel like we're definitely seeing more authors who are like, "I totally got my background in fanfiction and there's nothing wrong with that." One of the more famous examples is obviously Christina Lauren.

HAZELWOOD: Christina Lauren. They're amazing.

Or even authors today who are like, "Oh yeah, I'm writing this mainstream book, but I still have an AO3 profile." So I appreciate that we're seeing the barriers break down around what the public perception of fanfiction is and how it really is such a great breeding ground for authors to find their voice.

HAZELWOOD: Absolutely. Fanfiction is just an amazing medium. It's great, like you said, to find your voice, to explore things that you usually don't find in traditional publishing. But it's also just great to feel a sense of community and to get to know people, to find someone who's like-minded and is interested in similar things. It's very hard to make friends as an adult. And I feel like I truly found my adult friends through fanfiction and through the fandom community.

And I just, I'm very grateful to my publisher that they embraced the fanfiction part. They were like, "Yes, we're going to own this. For the cover, we're going to use fanart made for the fanfiction, if you want to." They were just great with that. I do think traditional publishing is getting more and more interested in fanfiction and in embracing it. And maybe they're doing well because of money and marketing and stuff like that, but I'm just really happy that this is happening and that fanfiction is gaining legitimacy, because it always had legitimacy.

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I want to talk a little bit too about the setting of the book, and I know your personal background is in STEM. So did that inform your inspiration on where to set the story, drawing from your own experiences?

HAZELWOOD: Yeah, 100%. I'd been wanting to write fanfiction set in academia just because it's really... I'm a professor right now, but I feel like my entire adult life has been spent in academia. I feel like I would struggle to write any other setting, in a weird way. So it was just the more natural setting for a story. My next book is going to be set in academia and my third book is going to be in academia. And yeah, that's the easiest thing for me.

One of the things I personally love about the book is how it references romance tropes in the world, but then the book itself subverts the tropes. I'm thinking specifically about the only-one-bed scene, and then there's not only one bed, which felt like a really funny wink at romance readers. What made you decide to include that meta-awareness in the story?

HAZELWOOD: It's actually really funny. I never would have thought to include that if the story hadn't been fanfiction originally. I was posting it chapter by chapter and I was writing it chapter by chapter. And I remember all the comments saying, "They're going to go to the conference and there's going to be only one bed."

So it started as just like a conversation with other people in the fandom, who were at the same time writing fanfiction about other iterations of the same characters. It was just so much fun. It was kind of like a collective effort there.

You had talked about how when you were reworking the fic for publication, there were a lot of edits, and I'm assuming a lot of things ended up on the chopping block. Is there a deleted scene that didn't make it into the final novel that you maybe wished you could have kept in?

HAZELWOOD: So when Adam and Olive break up — not really break up, but when she goes to his hotel room and she's like, "It's over." Originally, they ended up having sex in that scene. And we took it out because we thought it was more poignant, or I don't know, more heartfelt if it was only a kiss. And it was, in a way, but the fanfiction person within me kind of misses...

Let them have one more time!

HAZELWOOD: The fanfiction ho within me was like, "I wish we had kept that sex scene." But honestly, honestly, we talked about it — my editor, my agent, and I — and it was a good call from a story-structure perspective.

So you mentioned you've got a second and third book in the works. I'm sure you probably can't really talk about book three yet, but is there anything you can tease about book two coming up?

HAZELWOOD: Book two is about a neuroscientist who is selected to work on a project at NASA. And she's super excited about it, until she gets told that the person she's going to co-lead the project with is an engineer that she used to work with in the past, and they're kind of enemies. Or at least she thinks they're enemies, one of those things. And that's the story of them working together on this project. And it's coming out in August 2022.

I thought it would be fun to wrap up with a couple of rapid-fire questions. Enemies-to-lovers, or friends-to-lovers?

HAZELWOOD: Enemies-to-lovers. Reylo forever.

Secret billionaire or secret baby?

HAZELWOOD: Secret billionaire.

Marriage of convenience or amnesia?

HAZELWOOD: Marriage of convenience.

Coffee or tea?

HAZELWOOD: Tea.

I feel like I know the answer to this last one, but I'm going to ask it anyway. Macfadyen Darcy or Firth Darcy?

HAZELWOOD: Macfadyen. I mean, 2005 forever. Even though I do appreciate Firth. He's a good high-quality Darcy, but it's just not my Darcy.

I feel like everybody has a very strong opinion, based on which one you saw first. That lake scene, I'm sure that's very formative.

HAZELWOOD: 100%.

But for me? He's walking through the field in the morning mist, and that's it. In the long coat.

HAZELWOOD: He says, "I love you" three times. I mean, she has bewitched him body and soul. Come on, come on. The hand flex!

The Love Hypothesis is currently available in print, e-book and audio wherever books are sold .

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For the love of books

‘The Love Hypothesis’ Is Being Adapted For The Big Screen

For fans of Ali Hazelwood’s ‘The Love Hypothesis,’ we have some super exciting news for you! Adaptation news for the famous romance book was just announced.

The best-selling novel, The Love Hypothesis , by Ali Hazelwood, is getting a movie! She is partnering with the romance label, Bisous Pictures, for the adaptation of the beloved BookTok sensation.

Hazelwood could not contain her excitement as she shares the news all over her social media pages.

The Movie Deal

The Love Hypothesis centers around Olive Smith, a third-year Ph.D. candidate. Olive is also a nonbeliever in lasting romantic relationships. She is determined to prove to her friend she is dating. But naturally, she panics and kisses the first man she sees. Luckily Adam Carlsen, the attractive professor, and known lab tyrant, agrees to be her fake boyfriend. Soon things get complicated in their fake relationship as feelings between them start changing. 

Bisous Pictures is thrilled to work on the movie and bring Olive and Adam’s relationship to life on the big screen.

According to Deadline , Hazelwood comments:

“It’s a true privilege to have Elizabeth and such a talented and experienced team of people working on adapting The Love Hypothesis , and I’m very excited for this next step in Olive and Adam’s story!” Deadline

The Power of Fanfiction

Another author proves the fanfiction to published book to movie pipeline is real. Surprisingly, there have been many well-known series that were originally fanfiction. For instance, 50 Shades of Grey was Twilight fanfiction. After is another, developed from a Harry Styles fanfiction. Therefore, it is no secret that many writers find their success by starting with fanfiction. And Hazelwood is one of them, as The Love Hypothesis was a fic about Reylo, Kylo Ren, and Rey from the Star Wars series. Then, the rest is history. 

Undeniably, The Love Hypothesis has been a huge sensation. It was on the New York Times Best Sellers List for 39 weeks. Hazelwood’s success continues as her recent novel, Love on the Brain , was an instant bestseller and has been on the list for four consecutive weeks. Of course, fans hoped for this book to get an adaptation, and as of this week, it looks like their wishes have come true! 

Looking for more bookish-related content, check out more at Bookstr . 

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