Need a STEM romance fix? Here are 10 books to get obsessed with until we can press play on the Love Hypothesis movie

If you’re anywhere on the bookish internet these days, you’ll know that Ali Hazelwood’s rom-com The Love Hypothesis is being adapted for the big screen. Ever since it released in 2021, this deliciously nerdy love story has been a BookTok favourite. While we wait for more news on the film to drop, here are 10 books that will satisfy your appetite for STEM romance:

1. Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

Starting out with the obvious; another STEMinist romance by Ali Hazelwood herself. A people pleaser who runs a fake dating business, only for her current client’s brother to risk unveiling it all? Not to mention that same client’s brother is a big-shot physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and has a say in the hiring process of the research position she’s applying to? Settle in for toe-curling banter and heaps of steam.

2. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

This romance about a data scientist who hires an escort to brush up her skills in the dating department was my introduction into STEM romances and packs the perfect balance of heat and heart.

3. The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren

A series of dates to test whether the data of a DNA-based matchmaking company can be trusted? Yes please! The protagonists are both data-whizzes, but beyond that, it’s wonderfully steamy, too, and the reflections on love and learning how to trust again are beautiful.

4. Technically Yours by Denise Williams

Second-chance? Forbidden romance? A workplace setting? If you like any of the above, you’re going to love this book set at a tech-y non-profit company. In true woman in STEM fashion, this one is very much head over heart, until it isn’t. And don’t we all love it?

5. Give Me Butterflies by Jillian Meadows

Prepare for plenty of butterflies and starry-eyes in this romance between an entomologist and astronomist working at the same museum.

6. Risky Business by Annabel Slator

This one is for all the She’s The Man fans. Think secret identities: When her start-up struggles to get funding, our protagonist pretends her company is male-led to be taken more seriously in a high-stakes tech competition. But what she didn’t count on is falling for the head of the competition’s assistant…

7. Deep In Love by Nicole Cubba

Two rival marine biology PhD students fall victim to meddling advisors when they are sent on a deep-sea research trip and get forced to share a cabin. Come for the sweet and spicy romance, stay for the Charles-Darwin-reference-peppered reflections on love.

8. Next Level Love by Shameez Patel

If you like a modern take on epistolary elements, look no further! Two gamers hit it off online, but don’t realize they’re working in the same office as engineers where they’re slow to warm up to each other.

9. The Ornithologist’s Field Guide To Love by India Holton

Women in STEM can also exist in magical worlds, right? This romance about two rival ornithologists chasing a magical bird in historical England has the beloved tropes and tongue-in-cheek writing of all the contemporaries but with a dash of magic and more manners. Prepare to laugh out loud as you read!

10. Love and Other Brain Experiments by Hannah Brohm

Aka me! Just released, my book is about rival neuroscientists who reluctantly enter a fake relationship when their colleagues mistake their argument for flirtatious chemistry. If kissing for hypothesis testing sounds like something you’d love to read about, you know where to find it!

Love and Other Brain Experiments by Hannah Brohm is published by Head of Zeus and available now.