By Shannen Lim (24A01A)
Raffles Reads is a collaboration between Raffles Press and Times Reads which aims to promote a reading culture among Singaporean students.
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Can I take you out?”
“You want to murder me?”
Ali Hazelwood books are often looked at as being frivolous, cheesy and elevated fan fiction. To that, I ask, so what? Belonging in the Ali Hazelwood Literary Universe alongside her hit novel “The Love Hypothesis”, Love Theoretically proves that, just like a woman in STEM, a romance book can truly have it all, with a little bit of effort.
Love, Theoretically immediately launches readers into the world of Elsie Hannaway, a theoretical physicist in the throes of a mid-twenties crisis—she has no health insurance, a job that pays her little and works her to the bone, a side gig as a fake girlfriend, a mother who can’t stop bothering her and an apartment infested with scary, tropical spiders, despite it being in the middle of winter in Boston. Elsie is currently applying for a job that could change all of this: a position in MIT as a tenure-track professor.
However, one thing stands in her way: Jack Smith-Turner, an experimental physicist who ruined the career of her mentor many years ago and discredited the entire field of theoretical physics with a published article.
The book does an excellent job of immersing readers into the long-standing war of experimental physics and theoretical physics through witty pop culture references and careful imagery of a war between feuding neighbours, allowing readers to feel Elsie’s rage at Jack right through the page.
But things don’t go quite as expected, and Elsie finds herself falling in love with Jack more than she ever should.
The book presents itself with many likeable elements, starting with its characters. Elsie is a female protagonist that has both personal agency and a rich personality. Her charming, self-aware sense of humour and passion for STEM shines through her witty internal monologue or her jabs at Jack.
To Elsie, being a people pleaser is second nature, as she assesses the needs of those around her and changes her personality accordingly to fit what they want out of her. She is a conflict mediator for her family, an obedient, hardworking theoretical physicist for her mentor, and a lover of arthouse movies for her best friend and roommate, CeCe (despite her actual favourite movie being Twilight).
Elsie is described by another character as “being like a Barbie—there’s one of (her) for every occasion”. Her struggle with being herself and honest about what she wants is handled with sensitivity and depth by Hazelwood, endearing her all the more to readers.
Elsie is also surrounded by a host of quirky characters that burst with personality, from her best friend CeCe, who dolls her up and encourages her to say a big “NO” to her people-pleasing tendencies, to George, a fellow physicist whose brash honesty and larger-than-life sense of humour contrasts nicely with Elsie’s mild-mannered behaviour.
But best of all is Jack, Elsie’s love interest, who challenges Elsie as much as he comforts her. Unlike most people in Elsie’s life, Elsie cannot figure out who he wants her to be, which initially frustrates her no end. Jack is the “the electron to (Elsie’s) nucleus, constantly spinning around (her) in the most annoying of orbits” as he gets in the way of her attaining the job that would change her life.
Their initial jabs and quick-fire arguments reveal to readers exactly what makes their relationship so exciting and joyous— Elsie can be herself around Jack, without any of the fronts she puts up for everyone else.
On his own, Jack plays the role of a romantic male lead to a tee. He is understanding of Elsie’s needs, takes care of her and challenges her to finally be honest to herself and to the world around her. Although he did not look highly upon theoretical physics initially, he later learns to respects Elsie’s work as a theoretical physicist and admires it incessantly.
As CeCe excellently states “the bar’s so low you could pick it up and beat him with it”, the state of male leads in modern romance novels may not be fantastic, but if anything, Jack passes.
Beyond its characters, the book excellently handles the difficulties Elsie faces as a woman in STEM, which is often the “boys’ club”. Yet, she finds herself navigating a male-dominated field with the clarity and seriousness it deserves. It is refreshing and empowering to see a female protagonist with as much dedication to her research and to her passions as Elsie, though the book does get sidetracked from this agenda in its third act as more focus is diverted to her budding relationship with Jack.
Elsie’s struggles with diabetes also provide an honest look into the issues those with chronic health problems face, bringing light to an issue not often discussed or recognised, especially in the Young Adult (YA) genre.
However, my favourite aspect of the book has to be its sense of humour, which is a charming mix of self-deprecation, pop culture references and enemies-to-lovers beats that any trained reader of YA romance would be able to recognise.
The book shifts deftly from ‘problems’ like Elsie’s feud with CeCe’s hedgehog (who has a “demonic glare”) to serious issues like the dire state of Elsie’s student loans, leaving readers to grapple with the severity of Elsie’s initial plight while maintaining the book’s light-hearted tone.
At times, the book can feel awkward, with its references to Gen Z slang terms like “main character energy” falling flat and making the usually effortless charm of the characters sound somewhat forced.
This is not aided by Elsie’s manifold descriptions of Jack’s handsome appearance, which can make the book feel like an extended, printed work from Archives of Our Own. The book’s use of STEM jargon can also come across as confusing and difficult to understand for the uninitiated reader, which can leave some in the dark on certain jokes and jabs between characters.
Overall, Love, Theoretically falls into as many trappings of the romance genre as it defies them—it is a funny, endearing effort that sometimes borders on being “cringeworthy”, as Elsie once describes herself. However, it manages to redeem itself time and time again through its likeable characters, surprising depth and ultimately empowering story of a woman in STEM who learns to be herself and gets the man (and the job) along the way.
If you like your fictional romances witty, sweet and with just a hint of heat, I would say Love, Theoretically goes down as smoothly as Elsie’s liquid crystal theory (that is, if I got the STEM jargon right).
