Ali Hazelwood is the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis, as well as the writer of peer-reviewed articles about brain science, in which no one makes out and the ever after is not always happy. Originally from Italy, she lived in Germany and Japan before moving to the US to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroscience. She recently became a professor, which absolutely terrifies her. When Ali is not at work, she can be found running, eating cake pops, or watching sci-fi movies with her two feline overlords (and her slightly-less-feline husband). You can find Ali at AliHazelwood.com, or on Instagram @AliHazelwood. You can find more of my reviews of Ali's works here.
As an environmental engineer, Mara knows all about the delicate nature of ecosystems. They require balance. And leaving the thermostat alone. And not stealing someone else's food. And other rules Liam, her detestable big-oil lawyer of a roommate, knows nothing about. Okay, sure, technically she's the interloper. Liam was already entrenched in his aunt's house like some glowering grumpy giant when Mara moved in, with his big muscles and kissable mouth just sitting there on the couch tempting respectable scientists to the dark side...but Helena was her mentor and Mara's not about to move out and give up her inheritance without a fight. The problem is, living with someone means getting to know them. And the more Mara finds out about Liam, the larder it is to loathe him...and the easier it is to love him.
Ali Hazelwood captures everything so perfectly: the rage towards a roommate's awful behavior, the strange guilt in realizing that other people are also human, the intense happiness at securing a new job. And, of course, she captures love and attraction like no other. Under One Roof continues to prove that Hazelwood is just adept at taking human emotions and boiling them down into words. I could feel myself getting angry at Liam's behavior, but also felt second-hand embarrassment with Mara when she realized she walked in on something she shouldn't have. Somehow being able to distill all of these emotions into prose is a huge skill, and what makes Hazelwood's work so immensely readable.
She is also able to take such a short space of time—this novella is truly short—and capture a whole lifetime in it. Utilizing time jumps effectively, and also balancing descriptions of the past with current events allows Hazelwood to build a world for Liam and Mara that exists in reader's eyes, but also that exists on the peripherals. We don't get to know everything—we just aren't privileged enough to have that space—but we get the sense that life is going on for them even when we can't read it. This makes Mara's and Liam's story feel complete even if we don't get to read all of it.
In that same vein, Hazelwood uses her space well: to critique academia (especially men in STEM), to explore complicated roommate dynamics (to put it lightly), and to actually build a genuinely hilarious love story. Hardly any other contemporary romance author is able to make me laugh like Ali Hazelwood does. Being able to do so, while also including sharp commentary about academia and crafting a believable love story, is just barely ever done. Hazelwood pulls it off like hardly any other author, which is why I will continue to read her works.
This was just the first in the trilogy of Ali Hazelwood's STEMinist novellas. Up next is Mara's friend's Sadie's story, in Stuck with You. Stay tuned for my review!
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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