Review: An Exhaustive Proof of Love

by Josie Juniper

The biggest thank you to Josie Juniper for an ARC so I could enjoy this story.

What would happen if a couple of sassy and independent math nerds fell into instant ‘love-to-hate’ at a conference away from home? Nothing good could come from this spectacularly terrible first impression, right? Let’s find out.

Read if you like: spicy STEM romance, math (but not a requirement), savvy nerds, suspenseful side plot, over the top friends, complicated families, ‘I’m a jerk and I know it’ guys who turn out to be sweet, smart yet fiery leading ladies who might not trust their own hearts.

Edyth has her own quirky style complete with pink hair and a love for prime numbers and bread. She’s attending a math conference to that will hopefully help with her conjecture when she runs into spoiled, pretty-boy bro, Lawson, making trouble at the front desk of her hotel. Sparks that can’t all come from bubbling hatred start to fly. As they both realize they are attending the same conference the sparks begin to catch.

Lawson spends most of his time trying to outdo all the people who bullied and degraded him growing up. Luckily, he has the looks and the charm (ahem, arrogance) to do it. But when he is waylaid by prickly, intelligent, and beautiful Edyth, he finds that his priorities begin to shift and he quickly figures out that he has some work to do if he wants to convince her to give him (another, oops) chance.

A too good to be true job offer lands Edyth in Lawson’s hometown along with Edyth’s BFF Gigi (fake wife?) and their absolutely fabulous new landlords. But when they realize that her boss’s biggest offense isn’t being stunningly creepy Lawson and Edyth try to figure out just what the company has to hide.

An Exhaustive Proof of Love was a super-fun, witty read. The banter is fast paced and clever. It’s wordy in a way that smart kids think, and occasionally stupefy their friends and family with. (Sooo, I felt right at home.) However, the characters aren’t socially impaired by their big brains and can actually hold their own in conversations with, gasp, the opposite sex. ::Mic drop, but then I pick it back up because there’s so much more.::

The spice was a solid 3 on the pepper scale. We get more than maybe we bargain for because poor Lawson is a bit of a hoe, respectfully. We also get a bit of a slow burn with our duo, which provides a nice build instead of falling into an instant relationship. I also loved the amount of verbal communication. Thank you. Thank you.

The characters are great, flawed and human. Lawson is arrogant, really, a lot. Edyth has a huge temper, especially when she feels that her intellect has been threatened. Gigi is a trust fund baby, hot mess express who somehow manages to be the voice of reason for Edyth. Both of their families scream ‘therapy please’ in the most delightful way.

The side plot is fun, and adds another layer to the story without being distraction AND providing ways for our duo to learn how to work together.

So why not 5 stars? Because I’m being picky. I’m sorry. It is how I am. It boiled down to three things:

1. The banter and language sometimes felt British, but not in a way that felt completely British and the back and forth of colloquialisms and slang pushed me into my own head and away from the story.

2. The wordiness was really wordy. I get it. I’m that way. I edit a lot because of it. I’m projecting.

3. The family connections. The characters in the families were great. But they tended to pop up exclusively for plot development. I wanted more interwoven interaction that ultimately felt more organic. A text from her dad or a call from his mom to loop them into the story would have helped a lot to tie it all together.