You see, I’ve always believed in a still slightly autistic adulthood that virtue, and not swagger and a strutting attitude, yields the best rewards. When I finally picked up this book, nearly 60 years later, I was as unfit as ever to read it - for a different reason. Looks? A blank on that score too - I was a bit overweight and ungainly.īut lady luck has doggedly plodded close behind me all my long life!Īnd besides - when I was a kid I was much more intent on doing what the other kids liked to do: have fun and joke around. Later, though, I would be plunged into the thick of it as Head Boy of our new high school. Shy, standoffish, and predisposed to dumb clumsiness, I obviously needed the role model of a misfit like I was, who would bloom under the rigours of his first command.īut being slightly autistic I was averse to authoritarian posturing. I’m sure she saw in me a little Midshipman Hornblower.

Agent: Thao Le, Sandra Dijkstra Literary.When I was growing up, my Mom, who doubled as the village librarian, URGED me to read this book. Readers will cheer for Jack and Elsie and their bumpy road to happily ever after. Geeky science jokes, humorous student emails, and expertly delivered snarky banter enhance the narrative. Meanwhile, sunshiny Elsie’s imposter syndrome rings true as she navigates the cutthroat world of academia (“STEM academia is 98 percent politics and 1 percent science”) and learns that her mentor and idol has feet of clay. The ensuing STEM-themed enemies-to-lovers romance is simply a delight, though it’s complicated by the fact that Jack believes Elsie is his brother’s girlfriend.

Jonathan Smith-Turner, a legendary young physicist whose views are at odds with Elsie’s. While interviewing for her dream job at MIT, Elsie’s worlds collide: her favorite fake-dating client’s brother, whom she knew as Jack Smith, is actually Dr. The fake dating trope gets a techy update via Faux, an app connecting clients with pretend partners for hire, through which Boston adjunct professor Elsie Hannaway finds side gigs while she searches for a better-paying job in theoretical physics. Bestseller Hazelwood ( Loathe to Love You) delivers a decidedly quirky and thoroughly charming tale.

Mr midshipman hornblower audiobook