Books Like Love, Theoretically: 5 STEM and Workplace Romances

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Love, Theoretically puts Elsie’s scientific ambitions, precarious work and habit of adapting herself to other people into conflict with Jack. Its academic setting matters because attraction does not happen in a vacuum: the people involved have careers, reputations and unequal influence over opportunities.

A good follow-up can keep the science, the professional rivalry, or the tension of being seen more clearly than you intended. These five picks offer those routes. The three Hazelwood options are useful for different reasons, while two other authors let you keep workplace friction without repeating the academic world.

Choose your next read

• The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood — academic romance with a fake relationship.
• Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood — science, collaboration and a presumed adversary.
• Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood — a corporate conflict around a scientific workplace.
• The Hating Game by Sally Thorne — office rivalry and the uncertainty behind antagonism.
• Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly — professional pressure in a queer competition romance.

1. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

Try this if you want: academic romance with a fake relationship.

Olive and Adam’s pretend dating arrangement makes this the natural next pick if you want university life and an apparently controlled romantic situation that becomes emotionally complicated. The professional context stays close to Love, Theoretically, but the agreement changes the reason the couple spend time together. Choose it when you enjoy the contrast between public appearances and private uncertainty. The academic hierarchy also remains part of the setup, rather than disappearing because the attraction is mutual.

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2. Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood

Try this if you want: science, collaboration and a presumed adversary.

Bee’s neuroscience work brings her into a project with Levi, whom she believes has reasons to dislike her. This is the strongest same-author route if the attraction of Love, Theoretically was interpreting a difficult colleague while trying to succeed professionally. The scientific workplace changes, but professional judgment and romantic assumptions remain entangled. Pick it when you want the work itself to keep bringing the couple together, rather than a fake-dating agreement doing that job.

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3. Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood

Try this if you want: a corporate conflict around a scientific workplace.

Rue and Eli’s attraction develops amid a business situation that makes their loyalties difficult to separate from their private choices. Try it if you want Hazelwood outside the particular university-hiring setup of Love, Theoretically. The professional conflict is more directly corporate, and the relationship has a different starting arrangement. Choose it for competing interests and boundaries that become hard to maintain, rather than assuming it will reproduce Elsie’s personality or the same academic rivalry.

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4. The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

Try this if you want: office rivalry and the uncertainty behind antagonism.

Lucy and Joshua work in publishing and compete in a professional environment that keeps them in close contact. It is the obvious change of author if interpreting apparent dislike is the part you want again. There is no STEM premise, so the match rests on office friction and competing ambitions. Choose it when the pleasure is watching familiar interactions take on a different meaning, especially when neither person finds it easy to surrender a carefully maintained position.

View The Hating Game on Amazon →

5. Love & Other Disasters by Anita Kelly

Try this if you want: professional pressure in a queer competition romance.

Dahlia and London meet as contestants in a cooking competition; London is nonbinary, and the pairing differs from the other books here. The match is the way ambition, performance and personal connection collide while other people are judging the work. This is a good choice if you want to leave both universities and offices behind. The competitive setting keeps achievement important, while the romance asks what kind of support people can offer each other inside that pressure.

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Which one should you read first?

Choose The Love Hypothesis for the closest academic-and-author combination, or Love on the Brain for science and a perceived adversary. The Hating Game is the simplest change of author for workplace antagonism. Love & Other Disasters is the most distinct option if you want queer romance and a different profession while keeping competence, ambition and exposure to other people’s judgment in the foreground.

Before you choose

Are these all STEM romances?

No. The three Hazelwood recommendations keep scientific or academic work central. The Hating Game is set in publishing, and Love & Other Disasters uses a cooking competition.

Which recommendation has a queer central relationship?

Love & Other Disasters pairs Dahlia with London, a nonbinary contestant. It is included for the professional-pressure connection rather than a matching academic setup.

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