June 7, 2021
Hazelwood debuts with a charming, offbeat rom-com pairing a somewhat awkward doctoral candidate with a hotshot young professor. Olive Smith, a third-year PhD student in biology at Stanford University, doubts that happily ever after exists, while her bestie, Anh, is a hopeless romantic. But Olive briefly dated Anh’s current crush, Jeremy, and now Anh’s refusing to act on her feelings because of “girl code.” In an attempt to prove she’s over Jeremy and alleviate Anh’s guilt, Olive impulsively kisses famously irascible professor Adam Carlsen and convinces him to “fake-date” her. But as attraction and chemistry grow, their relationship becomes more than pretense. Things further evolve after Olive is harassed and belittled at a professional conference and Adam provides a supportive shoulder. But can their relationship hold up in the real world? With whip-smart and endearing characters, snappy prose, and a quirky take on a favorite trope, Hazelwood convincingly navigates the fraught shoals of academia. The delightful supporting characters, especially Adam’s colleague Holden Rodriquez and Olive’s friends Malcolm and Anh, add flavor—and readers will love seeing the villain of the story dispatched in appropriate fashion. This smart, sexy contemporary should delight a wide swath of romance lovers. Agent: Thao Le, Sandra Dijkstra Literary.

Starred review from July 1, 2021

DEBUT Science must be proved. That's why Stanford PhD candidate Olive Smith kissed the first man she found, to prove to her best friend Anh that she'd bounced back from a breakup. Fortunately, it worked. Unfortunately, the man was Dr. Adam Carlsen, the most arrogant, unapproachable, and downright mean professor in Olive's science department. He's not mean to Olive though, and he even agrees to be her fake boyfriend. As Olive spends more time fake-dating Adam, she sees another side to the professor who ruthlessly fails his students' dissertations. With Olive, Adam is kind. He smiles. He listens. Unfortunately, Adam is in love with someone else, and there's a looming expiration date on his fake relationship with Olive. This satisfying romantic comedy features smart, witty dialog and a diverse cast of likable secondary characters. Adam and Olive continually find themselves in awkward, adorable situations caused by their deception (and their meddling friends). The setting, in Stanford's STEM program, is essential to the plot and allows the author to write on the obstacles faced by PhD students, especially women in science programs. VERDICT A realistic, amusing novel that readers won't be able to put down. Highly recommended for all collections.--Heather Miller Cover, Homewood P.L., AL

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August 15, 2021
An earnest grad student and a faculty member with a bit of a jerkish reputation concoct a fake dating scheme in this nerdy, STEM-filled contemporary romance. Olive Smith and professor Adam Carlsen first met in the bathroom of Adam's lab. Olive wore expired contact lenses, reducing her eyes to temporary tears, while Adam just needed to dispose of a solution. It's a memory that only one of them has held onto. Now, nearly three years later, Olive is fully committed to her research in pancreatic cancer at Stanford University's biology department. As a faculty member, Adam's reputation precedes him, since he's made many students cry or drop their programs entirely with his bluntness. When Olive needs her best friend, Anh, to think she's dating someone so Anh will feel more comfortable getting involved with Olive's barely-an-ex, Jeremy, she impulsively kisses Adam, who happens to be standing there when Anh walks by. But rumors start to spread, and the one-time kiss morphs into a fake relationship, especially as Adam sees there's a benefit for him. The university is withholding funds for Adam's research out of fear that he'll leave for a better position elsewhere. If he puts down more roots by getting involved with someone, his research funds could be released at the next budgeting meeting in about a month's time. After setting a few ground rules, Adam and Olive agree that come the end of September, they'll part ways, having gotten what they need from their arrangement. Hazelwood has a keen understanding of romance tropes and puts them to good use--in addition to fake dating, Olive and Adam are an opposites-attract pairing with their sunny and grumpy personalities--but there are a couple of weaknesses in this debut novel. Hazelwood manages to sidestep a lot of the complicated power dynamics of a student-faculty romance by putting Olive and Adam in different departments, but the impetus for their fake relationship has much higher stakes for Adam. Olive does reap the benefits of dating a faculty member, but in the end, she's still the one seemingly punished or taunted by her colleagues; readers may have been hoping for a more subversive twist. For a first novel, there's plenty of shine here, with clear signs that Hazelwood feels completely comfortable with happily-ever-afters. Fresh and upbeat, though not without flaws.

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