Grad or Die Romance, Book #1
Romance, Contemporary Romance
Date Published: February 14, 2026
Two fake-dating mathematicians create all kinds of chemistry in this forced proximity STEMinist romance for fans of Ali Hazelwood and Abby Jimenez.
Mathematician Daisy Zhang-Wainwright’s fiancé Ethan unceremoniously dumps her 29 days before she’s due to move cross-country to be with him and start a new university job. But Daisy’s always been stubborn, and she’s not about to turn down a postdoc at MIT over a failed relationship, so here she is, in a last-minute apartment with minimal furniture, no friends, and a dumpster fire of a bank account.
To make matters worse, her new downstairs neighbor is Professor Lars Berg-Anderson, Ethan’s academic rival, infamously cold and notoriously antisocial. Daisy has barely settled in when she discovers that not only is Ethan in a new relationship, it’s with Daisy’s new potential colleague… who is pregnant. Daisy doesn’t need her math PhD to work out that the two relationships overlapped.
So when the happy couple arrives at Daisy’s house-warming party, what can she do but impulsively suggest Lars kiss her? Lars might be MIT’s ice man, but he’s also objectively hot. But, the more time they spend together, the harder it is for either of them to maintain appropriate boundaries. Daisy’s not ready for anything serious and Lars believes relationships have an “unfavorable benefit to effort ratio”, so these two are definitely way too smart to get emotionally entangled in a for-show, completely fake, rebound. Right?
About the Author
I’m a blessed (but often exhausted) mother of four.
I learned English by reading regency-era romances by the bagful, and when I ran out of escapist fiction that was exactly the type I wanted (usually lower stakes, usually lighter on the angst though sometimes I lean in), I started to write my own.
I also publish children’s books under Marie Chow.
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