Adoration for Ali Hazelwood
Fanfic Author Turned Contemporary Romantic Comedy Author
I have been reading Ali Hazelwood’s writing since before I knew she was Ali Hazelwood. Coming off a disappointing conclusion to The Rise of Skywalker, I was itching for Rey/Kylo Ren fanfiction (more adoringly known as Reylo). One of the writers I discovered in December 2019/January 2020 was Ever-So-Reylo on Archive of Our Own (Ao3, a popular fanfiction site) and she served up all the smutty goodness that can exist between two fictional characters. I read and enjoyed and moved on.
Fast forward to about January 2021 and I come across a cover reveal for an upcoming romantic comedy novel about a grad student fake dating her surly professor. And I’m thinking… wait… I’ve read this before. And this is around the time when I’m just starting to read traditionally published romance (rather than just Dramione or Reylo fic… more on those in a separate post), so I pop the book (The Love Hypothesis) onto my library’s wishlist and call it a day.
Fast forward again to Summer 2021 and this book is literally everywhere. It becomes a crazypants viral TikTok sensation and my fanfiction-loving heart is so excited for Ali! And since I had put this book on my library wishlist so long ago, I got to borrow the ebook the instant it was released.
The Love Hypothesis (2021)
I was very much looking forward to seeing how the book changed from the fanfiction version (which I had only a vague memory of) and was glad to see that most of the humor and banter remained in the book. To me, Ali’s writing is quick and quippy and steeped in pop culture. And I might just have the right amount of exposure to academia and be about the right age to understand most of the punchlines. And while there’s less smut than a fanfic (because really, what is fanfic if not just there for the smut), it’s still intensely entertaining.
STEMinist Novella Series (2022)
The background with these three novellas is that they were released in audiobook format three months before their corresponding ebook versions were released. My preferred format is ebook so my original plan was to just wait for the ebooks. However, those plans were busted when I started seeing all the social media buzz about the first book. And on a lunchtime whim, my friend and I decided to check to see if there were any library copies of the audiobook on publication day. I cannot tell you how excited we were to sneakily find a copy of Under One Roof at 2pm-ish on publication day at one of my area libraries with no holds. It’s like no one else realized it had been added to their catalog yet. And of course within hours of snagging the loans, there were a dozen people waiting behind us. And so it goes… now I’m an audiobook person. At least that day and the days of the other STEMinist novella launches.
But how were the stories?
Each book takes a different storytelling technique in terms of timeline. Under One Roof starts at one time point, then jumps back 6 months and then goes chronologically until we get back to present day. Stuck With You uses an every other chapter split where the past timeline is all one day told every other chapter and the present moves forward bit by bit. I vaguely recall Below Zero having a present day and flashback chunk in the middle before going back to present day. I also think these were originally one-shot fanfics that were converted into novellas. (A one-shot is a one-chapter fanfic with minimal set-up and a slice of life or *cough*smut*cough*).
Story-wise, we have a lot of miscommunication as the central conflict between the characters with a lot of instant attraction bringing them together. It’s pretty much light and fluffy town, which I generally expect from novellas. There is lots of witty banter and the spice is spicy. (which, ok, spice on audio? not for me…) Of the three, Under One Roof was my fave and Below Zero was my least fave.
Love on the Brain (2022)
The internet seems to have mixed reviews on Ali’s second full-length novel. Some say it’s too similar to The Love Hypothesis and some say that she only writes the same sort of grumpy-sunshine relationship. And I can see that. Really. We have a heroine-only point of view where she thinks that the guy in the story hates her (but really, he’s just terribly socially awkward and has been pining for her the whole time). If you’re looking for something other than a Kylo Ren/Ben Solo/Mr. Darcy character, you’ll be disappointed. But if you adore Mr. Darcy, the main character in Love on the Brain will give you exactly that. He’s grumpy and awkward and says all the wrong things in real life and all right things in his Twitter DMs. The comedy is funny and there’s more spice than The Love Hypothesis. Some of the plot points were a little underdeveloped plus there’s a workplace sabotage to uncover which comes out of nowhere, but if you’re here for fun and not for story, just ignore that, and enjoy the interactions between our two main characters.
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Overall, I’m a fan of Ali’s humorous writing style and will continue to read her books. They might not float to the top of my list in terms of plot and story, but the bits that work are entertaining and I always feel like I had a good time reading.
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