Loathe to Love You by Ali Hazelwood is a collection of 3 novellas set within the STEMinist series which follows three friends Mara, Sadie and Hannah in their first jobs outside of their degrees and their inevitable conflict/romances with Liam, Erik and Ian.
I requested the ARC of Loathe to Love You as I really enjoyed the previously released ‘The Love Hypothesis’ by the same author, hoping that Loathe to Love You would release me from my reading funk!
Whilst the individual novellas were fun and easy to read, by the third I became a little bit frustrated by the similarities and theme, which probably wouldn’t be as apparent if they weren’t within a collection together. Essentially our female lead although clearly intelligent and successful in her university career must be poorly thought of or not respected by her male colleagues/peers in her new STEM role therefore fighting to find her place in a male dominated world whilst struggling to make meaningful relationships to her insecurities/vulnerabilities with unsupportive family relations. Wouldn’t it be refreshing to have an intelligent, strong female character who is well respected, encouraged and loved by her family dominating the STEM world and not requiring a large man with large hands to emotionally (and physically in Hannah’s story) save her?
It’s not that I loathed Love to Love You, I just feel Ali could have shaken it up a little bit. In truth instead of three novellas running alongside each other I would have preferred one normal length novel exploring not just the individual relationships but also the friendship between the three girls. It’s quite tricky to truly connect with a character when its all over and done with so quickly. Nevertheless, I’m out of my reading funk!
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