This book completely turned around my expectations! I could not stop raving about this book for, like, a week. This is what I was wishing for when I read "The Soulmate Equation."
Tropes: Grumpy-Sunshine, Professor/Student, Fake Dating,

Summary
Olive is a student in the graduate world of STEM. She has a friend, Ahn, who is crushing on an old flame of Olive's. Ahn feels too awkward to ask said flame out, worried it would complicate things between her and Olive. Olive decides that she needs to get a new boyfriend to show Ahn that she is totally moved on.

One night, Olive tells Ahn she's going on a date. Instead, Olive goes to the lab. Ahn walks in, and just when she's about to see Olive, Olive panics and grabs the closest person to her - Professor Adam Driver - and just about makes out with him in the hallway. Luckily, Olive escapes an I-9 lawsuit by explaining everything to Adam. The two decide to fake-date (although Adam's reasons are a bit dubious) and what ensues are the cutest, most-awkward-yet-somehow-entertaining fake dating scenes.

As their fake-dating end date comes up, the two find themselves on a work trip. One of Adam's friends causes problems. Olive starts developing real feelings. What will happen!?

Review

I first met this book on TikTok, and although I have read and loved many BokTok recommendations, the way it was pitched left me imagining something super fanfic (a genre I gave way too much time to in 2012).
HOWEVER, what I actually got was some cute characters with amazing depth from a debut author and a great subplot that I was totally not expecting.

Adam is definitely written for the female gaze. His kind acts and thoughtfulness is what makes him a great male lead. To me, the forced romance scenes were needed because Adam is way to respectful and Olive is way too shy for any of this to have happened naturally. The coffee date scenes were my favorite, just seeing them interact normally in public together. The side couples were so cute and well developed, I want to see more of those characters.

The science talk was fun and made me remember the entertaining parts of science class. It offered a great balance of romance and plots. The world of academia that Hazelwood set us in was also very fun to learn about.

By far the best of this book is the sub-plot. I was totally not expecting it and it - and the way it was handled - is part of what made me absolutely adore this book.

The questionable: The initial scene where Olive randomly kisses Adam is probably the low of the book. My ability to suspend belief was definitely stretched by being asked to accept that this did not end in some kind of discipline or lawsuit.

Also, Olive's gal friend Ahn has very little depth. She exists for no other reason than to kick off the fake dating scenario. Prologue scene was also very random and weird, but played off in a cute way at the end.

Finally, I want to mention just how shamelessly character-Adam is supposed to be nerdy Adam Driver lol. C'mon, even the name is the same. Personally, I find no qualms with this - other than picturing Adam Driver picking this book up in a bookstore and feeling a big awkward finding out. Fanfiction on the internet is one thing, but a published book crosses a line just a bit to me.

Nevertheless, my love for everything else in this book was able to get past these quirks.