The Love Hypothesis
by Ali Hazelwood
Top 10
A PhD student fake-dates a grumpy professor to convince her friend she is over someone, and the pretend relationship gets complicated. Funny, warm, and set in academia. Read the full description
Best for: Fans of fake dating and enemies-to-lovers
The Love Hypothesis is #8 on BookWard's Top 100 books for September 2026, with a BookWard Score of 81 out of 100.
The Love Hypothesis: reading interest over the past 12 months
Sources: Open Library’s public reading-log and ratings data (dump of 2026-08-31), Wikipedia page views and Wikidata. Monthly counts are exact; they show relative interest among readers of these public sources, not total readership.
Ranked against the other books on this list, The Love Hypothesis’s reading interest has run from #41 to #83 over these 12 months. Interest rank blends shelf adds, Wikipedia page views and rating activity, each compared with the other 99 books that month.
Shelf adds by month
The Love Hypothesis was added to Open Library readers’ shelves 634 times in the past 12 months, peaking in November 2025 with 83 (57% above its monthly average of 53). Over the latest three months (Jun 2026 to Aug 2026) shelf adds were up 18% on the three months before. 88% of the adds were “want to read”, 7% “currently reading” and 4% “already read”.
Want to read Currently reading Already read
Wikipedia page views
Its Wikipedia article was viewed 216,050 times in the past 12 months, peaking in August 2026 with 33,796 views. The latest three months were up 141% on the three before.
Source: Wikimedia monthly page views for the article The Love Hypothesis.
Adaptations
- The Love Hypothesis (film), 2026
Adaptations are listed from Wikidata; a release date near a rise in the charts above is context, not proof of a cause.
What the data says about The Love Hypothesis
- Moderate swings. Monthly shelf adds averaged 53 with some ups and downs.
- Busiest and quietest months. November 2025 was its busiest month (83 adds), about 2.7 times its quietest, March 2026 (31).
- Against its genre. It had 35% fewer shelf adds than the average Romance book on this list.
- Share of the list. It accounts for 0.6% of all shelf adds recorded for the Top 100 over these 12 months, #54 of 100.
- Its age. First published in 2021 (5 years ago), it is older than 7% of the books on the list.
Each finding is computed from the public data above and shown only when the numbers support it.
The Love Hypothesis on the Top 100: rank history
First charted in September 2026. The chart gains a point with every monthly update, so its peak, climbs and falls will show here as they happen.
| Month | Rank | Score |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | #8 | 81 |
Is The Love Hypothesis rising or falling?
Rising It ranks higher this week than it has over the past year, so readers are picking it up faster than usual.
On Open Library, The Love Hypothesis ranks #2 this week, #9 this month, and #55 over the past year. A longer bar means a higher position. Comparing the three windows shows whether readers are arriving faster than the book's long-term pace. Readings as of 2026-09-30.
Why The Love Hypothesis made the Top 100
The Love Hypothesis made the list mainly on momentum (+33.5 points) and being read right now (+21.2 points). Its smallest contribution is rising (+1.6). The BookWard Score blends five public signals, each scored from 0 to 100 and weighted as shown.
The reading-now, rating and rank signals come from Open Library’s public data, not from BookWard’s own readers. The score measures reading interest, not quality or sales. How the score works.
Open Library reader stats for The Love Hypothesis
Source: Open Library public reading logs, as of 2026-09-30. BookWard’s own monthly snapshots are added to the picture, and anonymous BookWard reader data will be layered in as the community grows.
More readers have The Love Hypothesis open right now than 74% of the other books on this list. These counts come from one public source, so they show relative interest rather than total readership.
Where it sits among Romance books
It is #2 of the 11 Romance books on this month’s list.
About The Love Hypothesis
A PhD student fake-dates a grumpy professor to convince her friend she is over someone, and the pretend relationship gets complicated. Funny, warm, and set in academia.
Why it’s here: It is a comfort read that keeps finding new readers through word of mouth.
Best for: Fans of fake dating and enemies-to-lovers
At a glance
- First published
- 2021
- Genre
- Romance
- Also described as
- romance novel
- Length
- about 398 pages (the median across its editions)
- Original language
- English
- Languages
- editions in 5 languages listed on Open Library
- Editions
- 13 on Open Library
From Open Library and Wikidata public records. Missing rows mean the records do not list that fact.
Themes
- Fake dating
- Women in science
- Academic life and ambition
What reading it is like
Light, funny and quick: a romantic comedy set among graduate students.
At about 398 pages it is a longer read: roughly 8 hours at an average reading pace (about 250 words a minute, 300 words a page). Audiobook and edition lengths vary.
Good to know
Adult romance with some steamy scenes. A good fit for readers who like the fake-relationship trope.
The premise
Olive, a PhD student, fakes a relationship with a young professor to convince her friend that she has moved on. The pretend romance gets complicated fast.
What you’ll get
- A warm fake-dating comedy
- Academic setting with heart
- Fun, fast, and feel-good
You might skip it if you dislike romance tropes or steamy scenes.
Pairs well with: The Deal · Icebreaker
Keep exploring the chart
Also on the chart at #7 and #9
Questions about The Love Hypothesis
What rank is The Love Hypothesis on the Top 100 books?
The Love Hypothesis is #8 on BookWard's Top 100 books for September 2026, with a BookWard Score of 81 out of 100.
Is The Love Hypothesis rising or falling?
Rising. It ranks higher this week than it has over the past year, so readers are picking it up faster than usual. On Open Library, The Love Hypothesis ranks #2 this week, #9 this month, and #55 over the past year.
Why is The Love Hypothesis on the Top 100?
The Love Hypothesis made the list mainly on momentum (+33.5 points) and being read right now (+21.2 points). Its smallest contribution is rising (+1.6).
How many people are reading The Love Hypothesis right now?
Open Library's reading logs show 439 readers currently reading The Love Hypothesis, 8,433 who want to read it and 321 who have logged it as read (as of 2026-09-30). These are counts from one public source, not all readers.
How much interest has The Love Hypothesis had over the past year?
634 Open Library shelf adds in the past 12 months (peak November 2025, 83); latest three months up 18% on the prior three; 216,050 Wikipedia views in the past 12 months (up 141% over the latest three months); Adaptations on Wikidata: The Love Hypothesis (2026). Figures come from Open Library and Wikipedia public data.
Who is The Love Hypothesis best for?
Fans of fake dating and enemies-to-lovers.
Ask a question about The Love Hypothesis
Ask about this book's chart history, reading interest, or who it is for. Answers come from this page's data and can be wrong.
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How we know
This page is built from public data: Open Library’s dated reading-log and ratings dumps, Wikipedia page views, Wikidata, and BookWard’s own monthly Top 100 snapshots. The interest rank blends shelf adds (45%), Wikipedia page views (30%), rating activity (10%) and, for months where a snapshot exists, BookWard’s own score (15%), each as a percentile among the Top 100 books. Every month shown is real data; nothing is estimated. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Last updated September 2026. Read the full methodology.
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