The Love Hypothesis

Background

Originally published online in 2018 as Head over Feet, a Star Wars fan fiction work about the "Reylo" ship between Rey and Kylo Ren, the main characters were renamed Olive and Adam (the latter after Adam Driver) on the novel's physical publication, with all explicit Star Wars references cut, and the characters on the novel's cover illustration designed after Driver and Daisy Ridley.

Synopsis

The Love Hypothesis follows the main character graduate student Olive at Stanford University as she pretends to date biology professor Adam Carlsen to convince her friend Anh that her dating life is going well. While trying to convince everyone around them that they are in love, Olive and Adam forget that their feelings are supposed to be fake.

Characters

Olive Smith – A third-year biology PhD student at Stanford University who researches pancreatic cancer, the disease her mother died from. She fakes a relationship with Dr. Adam Carlsen to convince her friend Anh she is over her ex-boyfriend, Jeremy. She is based on Rey. Olive is 26 in the story.

Dr. Adam Carlsen – A young professor who is described by his students as harsh and hypercritical. The university froze his research funds because they are worried that he is thinking of leaving to a different university. Adam agreed to fake a relationship with Olive to make the science department believe he plans to stay at Stanford. He is based on Ben Solo and named after his actor, Adam Driver. Adam is 34 in the story.

Anh Pham – Olive's best friend, pushes Olive to try new things with Adam without knowing their relationship is fake. Likes Olive's ex-boyfriend Jeremy and ends up dating him. She is based on Rose Tico.

Malcolm – Olive's roommate, who ends up dating Dr. Rodriguez. He is based on Finn.

Dr. Tom Benton – An associate professor at Harvard University and Adam's friend. He offers Olive a spot at his lab when hearing about her research, but later threatens and sexually harasses Olive. He steals her research, and ends up fired from Harvard. He is based on Armitage Hux from the fan fiction and named after Daisy Ridley's husband Tom Bateman.

Dr. Aysegul Aslan – Olive’s supportive PhD advisor who mentors her in her academic pursuits. She is based on Amilyn Holdo.

Dr. Holden Rodriguez – Adam's friend, who ends up dating Malcolm. He is based on Poe Dameron.

Jeremy Langley – Olive's ex-boyfriend, who ends up dating Anh. He is new character based on a version of Armitage Hux that wasn't present in the fan fiction.

Reception

The Love Hypothesis is a New York Times best seller. The book received a starred review from Library Journal and positive reviews from Entertainment Weekly, Shelf Awareness, and Publishers Weekly. Kirkus Reviews provided a mixed review. In 2021, the book was a finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards for Romance, coming in second place behind People We Meet on Vacation with 683 fewer votes out of 435,858 votes total.

Film adaptation

In October 2022, it was announced that a film adaptation of the novel was in development from Bisous Pictures. In July 2025, it was announced that Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman had been cast in the film. Bateman is the real-life husband of Daisy Ridley, the inspiration for the lead female character in the book, but will play the character inspired by, and named for Ridley's co-star in the Star Wars films, Adam Driver. In August 2025, it was announced that Rachel Marsh was cast as Anh Pham, Jaboukie Young-White was cast as Malcolm, Nicholas Duvernay was cast as Jeremy Langley, and Arty Froushan was cast as Tom Benton. The film will be directed by Claire Scanlon and the script will be written by Sarah Rothschild.