Ali Hazelwood's The Love Hypothesis is getting the film adaptation treatment, and while that's exciting news for fans of romantic movies, there's another Hazelwood book that should be adapted first. The name Ali Hazelwood should not turn up any real person when searched in a government database because it's the pen name of an Italian neuroscience professor who has successfully dabbled in romance writing. While the real name of Ali Hazelwood is yet to be revealed, perhaps, like Stephen King before her, in time, her given name will become as ubiquitous as her pseudonym.
Because of her background in STEM, many of Hazelwood's books center on women in the sciences and other academic fields. She first began writing in 2021, with her debut novel, The Love Hypothesis, which was originally a Star Wars fan fiction about Rey and Kylo Ren (via Vulture). She didn't stop with one book, however, and has since written six more romance novels, as well as a collection of novellas. In 2023, she paused her teaching career and became a full-time writer, likely the announced adaptation of her debut playing a part in that decision (via WGBH).
The Love Hypothesis Is A Perfect Movie Adaptation Because It Was Ali Hazelwood's First Book
Most Fans Came To The Author Because Of Her Debut Novel
The Love Hypothesis was a huge hit. Originally published online under the title Head Over Feet in 2018, Hazelwood made some changes to her story, including removing any and all references to Star Wars and changing the characters' names to Olive Smith and Adam Carlsen. In the novel, Olive is a third-year biology PhD student at Stanford who is sick of her best friend Anh always commenting on her dating life. To avoid the questions entirely, she fakes a relationship with a new professor, Dr. Adam Carlsen, though the fake feelings begin morphing into something real.
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Hazelwood's debut novel made the New York Times best-seller list back in 2021 and has been celebrated for placing a woman in STEM at the center of the story, an unusual character for a romance novel. The author's background in the specific field makes her descriptions and the situations feel fully realized. In 2022, it was announced that The Love Hypothesis would be joining the romance novel-to-movie pipeline with an adaption from Bisous Pictures, a label from Elizabeth Cantillon (via Deadline). Hazelwood said about the adaptation,
"It's a true privilege to have Elizabeth and such a talented and experienced team of people working on adapting The Love Hypothesis, and I’m very excited for this next step in Olive and Adam's story!"
It's great news for Hazelwood and fans who were first introduced to her via The Love Hypothesis, but there's another book that deserves the adaptation treatment as well.
Ali Hazelwood's Bride Should Be Adapted First
Bride Is A More Cinematic Story That Will Draw In New Audiences
Bride is Ali Hazelwood's fifth book, debuting on February 6, 2024. The movie is a fantasy romance that follows a dangerous union between, Misery Lark, a Vampyre bride, and Lowe Moreland, the head of a Werewolf clan. For Misery to be accepted back into a society she was thrown out of, she agrees to a peacekeeping mission by marrying herself off to Moreland. Bride is a bit more of a polished novel than The Love Hypothesis and Misery is a much more cinematic character than Olivia, with her wit and darkness.
While Ali Hazelwood's real name is not known, she has frequently posted images of herself and does not take great pains to obscure her identity.
Viewers who aren't familiar with Ali Hazelwood would benefit from seeing Bride adapted first, as its characters, story, and Hazelwood's writing are all more suited to the film medium. Furthermore, there could end up being some contentious rights issues with The Love Hypothesis considering it started as a Star Wars adaptation. The infamously litigious House of Mouse may have something to say about it. Either way, having one Hazelwood adaptation, whatever it is, is better than having none.
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