Book Reviews: “The Love Hypothesis”, “Into the Water” and “People We Meet on Vacation”

Hey guys! It’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted a book review, mainly because I’ve been in a huge reading slump most of this year. But today I have three reviews for you. I posted a reading update on my Youtube recently, so if you prefer audio over reading make sure to check that out! Let’s get into today’s books.

Back in March, I read The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood. This book was super popular online so I had to check it out. For those who haven’t heard of this book, the story follows Olive, a graduate student who convinces a professor at her university to fake-date her. This is an adult romance novel.

Let’s start with what I liked about the book. I loved the academic setting – it reminded me of all the fun and struggles my friends and I went through in university. I am also a huge fake-dating trope fan. The situation is almost always ridiculous which is kinda why I love it. Finally, I did enjoy Olive and Adam’s (the male protagonist) relationship. They had funny banter between them and there was a nice amount of tension as well.

Now for the things I didn’t enjoy. I was not a huge fan of Olive. I found her to be pretty immature and naive – and she’s technically older than me so it’s not like I can excuse her actions on her age. It’s always harder to love a book when you don’t love the main character. I dislike miscommunication and one of the lies that Olive told Adam just drove me up a wall. I had to put down the book for a week I was so annoyed. Finally, this book was hyped online to be very spicey (aka a lot of mature content) but there wasn’t much! Now that is more the fault of the reviewers than the book but I was a little disappointed on that end.

Overall I did enjoy the book but I wasn’t in love like many people online are. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a light-hearted romance. I gave the book 4/5 stars.

It had been a while since I had read a thriller so I decided to read Into The Water by Paula Hawkins. I liked Hawkins’ debut, The Girl on the Train so I was excited to read this one. I was thoroughly disappointed, to say the least. This story follows a small, British town that has had two suicides within a matter of months. This is an adult, mystery thriller.

One of the things I didn’t like about the book is that there were way too many point-of-views. It’s nice to have a few but there were close to ten points of view. Many of the characters didn’t connect until halfway through the story so it was so confusing to keep track of what was going on and who was who. The book was also just very slow-paced. Coupled with the fact that there was a lack of suspense and tension meant that I was bored the majority of the novel. Once things finally did happen It was so rushed that I didn’t feel satisfied.

Besides the plot/structural issues, I thought that Hawkins’ writing style was very nice. I will add that while there were so many characters, I felt like each was unique and well developed.

Overall I gave the book 3/5 stars. It took me a while to read the book so maybe if I were to binge-read it I would have found it more impactful? Either way, I would recommend Hawkins’ first book over this one.

The final book is my favourite book I read so far this year – People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry. This was given to me as a birthday gift and wow did my friend pick a great book! The story follows Alex and Poppy, who only see each other when they go on their yearly summer vacation. That is until two years ago when something happens that means that haven’t spoken since. Poppy manages to convince Alex to go on another vacation where she tries to fix their friendship. This is an adult contemporary romance.

I think one of the reasons why I love this book so much is how much I relate to Poppy. She’s loud and eccentric and has her own blog – sounds a lot like me haha. Alex has so many qualities that I personally look for in a partner as well. I just love their relationship and reading their dialogue was often some of my favourite parts of the novel.

The book bounces between the past and present. I loved reading about all their travel and it gave me the itch to travel myself. I like how there was tension and romance sprinkled throughout the novel to keep me engaged but also wanting more. The book was also funny AND didn’t rely on cringe/embarrassment to me funny – something I’m not a huge fan of. Finally, the ending was just so good that I even shed a few happy years. You know a book is good when it makes you happy cry.

Overall I gave this book 5/5 stars. If anyone says they want a romance book this is going to be my recommendation from now on. I know a lot of people like Emily Henry’s Beach Read so I have to check that out soon.

And those are the books I’ve read lately. If you read any of these books let me know your thoughts in the comments. And if you have any recommendations for me leave them as well because I’m always on the lookout for new books.

xoxo

Lea