By now I am sure that many of you have watched The Love Hypothesis and if not, you must simply be living under a rock. I won’t tell you to watch it because it is your time at the end of that day. However, it might help you understand what exactly I’m going on about. That’s right. I’m about to give you my full unsolicited opinion about book to screen adaptations. And it’s not going to be pretty.
Movies
Okay. I’ll say it. I didn’t like The Love Hypothesis movie at all. And yes, I did try to. For reference, I am a staunch Ali Hazelwood fan. I have read most of her print books (some more than 6 times) and have listened to her audio only stories. I am enamored, to say the least, with her beautifully nerdy stories that follow the lives of her female protagonists in STEM and their broody, hulking, and intelligent men. There is something about the combination that is just *chef’s kiss.* At their heart, the books are about brilliant female scientists trying to find purchase in the sexist world that is STEM. Along the way, they encounter and interact with their male love interest. These books are romance books, but what I celebrate about them is the persistence her female characters have to succeed within a difficult space.
That is why I am not a fan of the movie. I enjoyed the casting for the most part and the setting felt somewhat realistic, but the heart of the book was nowhere to be seen. Olive, a PhD student, is often put in situations that undermine her aptitude to succeed in the movie. She is seen leaving the lab with her labcoat and goggles, she is ridiculed by a professor at a faculty event for her hypothesis, and she is insulted by her own peers at a biology conference. In the book, Olive is a force to be reckoned with. She creates and defends an in depth presentation of her work and focuses her research heavily on a personal experience of hers. She just has more depth and nuance in the book.
That ultimately is the issue with book to screen adaptations: there isn’t enough room to give the characters all the plotlines and quirks they had in the book. I understand. But to take away fundamental and central facets of their character eliminates certain relationships and moments within the movie that I believed were non negotiables. (I missed Holden Rodriguez so much.)
Do you see why I typically am not a fan of book to screen adaptations? Too much of books’ souls are placed on the cutting board to meet a certain time restriction. And I know writers try their best, but at the end of the day, I worry about all book-to-screen releases. Lynn Painter’s books are fast approaching theaters. Two more of Ali Hazelwood’s books are as well. As a book lover I will most likely watch them, but there will be a cost.
Shows
It has been almost a full year since Heated Rivalry blessed our screens with the wonderful pair of Shane Hollander and Ilya Rosanov. It was truly a show that hooked me for its representation of queerness in a sports setting and the ability for queer joy to be shared. Needless to say, I am SO excited for season 2. Since Heated Rivalry made it to our screens in late November of 2025, other book series have made their way into episode formats. Off Campus is one of the most notable ones that came out earlier this year. And coincidentally (probably not) it too was a hockey romance.
While the series was highly entertaining, it didn’t seem to serve a single purpose besides giving a book series a bingeable show. Shortly after the major success of Off Campus, other series started to announce their own adaptations. The Heartbreaker series by Hannah Grace is reported to get its own screen time on Netflix. Other shows in the works, not related to hockey series, are Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros and potentially the famed ACOTAR (A Court of Thorns and Roses) series by Sarah J. Mass.
With each new announcement comes an overwhelming feeling of disappointment. To adapt a series is no easy feat especially when it is a fantasy. Specifically for Fourth Wing and ACOTAR, I worry for the overall quality of the atmosphere, characters, and other fantastical elements. But what also troubles me is the over saturation of the streaming market with mediocre content. The announcement of new shows from Netflix to Amazon Prime brings into question the overall quality of production. Are they just pumping out shows for profit? Yes. That is where the true issue lies. You can be excited for an adaptation to hit streaming, but you aren’t valued within the system. Streaming companies are creating these mediocre shows because they want to reach a quota, not to entertain. They are profiting on our very own fandoms and readership. And that really doesn’t sit well with me.
You are allowed to make of this what you will, but the truth of the matter is book to screen adaptations can do better. The soul is being cut out of production because at the end of the day, companies benefit by profiting off of our reading habits. I am a consumer of media. You are a consumer of media. So, let’s consciously choose what to watch next because we have the ability to demand something more.