The Love Hypothesis: Six Books + Six Months = One Very Good Experiment
Six months ago, Page to Palette was still a hypothesis.
I had an idea and a wonderful friend who supported it.
What if I took my passion for contemporary romance novels and created experiences that enable us to immerse ourselves into its setting? What if book club could be less about sitting in a circle and more about going somewhere, making something, and eating foods that enable to feel like a character in our favorite books? And…what if we featured novels that were about to be released on the small or big screen?
Would anyone care about it? I asked her.
Not only did she say yes, but she was also instrumental in designing the logo and creating the name—Page to Palette.
Without Carrie, this would still be an idea that only existed in the insecure corners of my brain.
Six books later, I think we have enough evidence to say the experiment is working on a small scale, one that’s big enough to fill my heart and feed my soul.
Our September gathering for Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis marked our sixth Page to Palette event—and our second time partnering with Good Day Cafe. And if there was ever a book that called for a little experimentation, this was it.
First: Make a Prediction
Before we watched The Love Hypothesis, everyone was asked to do something very scientific: make a prediction.
Well, sort of.
Guests wrote down the scene from the book they were most hoping to see in the movie.
There were some obvious contenders. The fake kiss that starts the whole ridiculous arrangement between Olive and Adam had to be there. And, of course, we needed the sunscreen scene.
Then there was Chapter 16.
If you know, you know.
And if you don't know, we'll just say that our group seemed to reach a fairly strong consensus that what was presumably intended to be sexy and romantic was actually much more awkward and cringey.
Maybe we didn't need to see everything brought to life on screen.
A Look Back at Our First Six Chapters
Because this event marked six months of Page to Palette, we also wanted to make a little room for where we've already been.
Our first six books were displayed together (with the exception of Five-Star Weekend), along with the patches we've collected at each event. Anyone who had missed an event—or simply missed grabbing a patch—could fill in the gaps on her Page to Palette tote.
Without our first co-host, Melina, the signature canvas tote and iron-on patches showing our reading journey wouldn’t have happened. And honestly, that’s been my favorite part…to see how our experiences are coming together on our little canvas bags our Palettes purchase to start the journey together.
They're becoming records of where we've been.
A stack of books. A wave. A camera. A hockey puck. Each one doesn't just represent a book anymore. It represents a place we went, something we made, something we ate, or a memory from an afternoon or evening spent together.
Six months in, our totes are starting to tell their own stories.
And, we’re collecting new Palettes along the way, some who are just getting started with their journeys.
A Little Color Theory
The patches weren't the only additions to our bags.
We pulled colors from the covers of our first six books and turned them into a bead bar, where everyone could choose beads to slide directly onto gold carabiners attached to their totes.
There wasn't really a "right" combination. Some people matched particular books. Some chose their favorite colors. Some just kept adding beads until the carabiner felt like theirs.
Which may be one of my favorite parts of Page to Palette.
We start with the same book.
What everyone creates from it is completely different.
We’ve added a braided embroidery floss keychain, a bedazzled Briar U locker room tag, a writer’s charm keychain, to name a few.
Channeling Our Inner STEM Girl
Of course, we couldn't celebrate Olive without acknowledging the world she spends so much time in: academia, research, and the sometimes-questionable life choices of a doctoral student.
Our interpretation involved considerably fewer hours in a lab.
Instead, we set up a hair clip bedazzling station.
Guests chose colorful claw clips and then very seriously considered which tiny rhinestones were exactly the right shades to decorate them.
There was sorting.
There was experimentation.
There was precision.
We feel confident Olive would have approved of the methodology.
The Adam and Olive Treatment
Good Day Cafe joined the experiment, too, creating two pumpkin-flavored drinks inspired by Adam and Olive.
With coffee in hand, hair clips finished, beads selected, patches collected, and snacks spread across the table that would’ve made Olive very, very excited, it was finally time for the main event.
We settled into the couches and chairs of the cafe, turned down the lights, and watched The Love Hypothesis together.
And this is where our experiment produced its most unexpected result.
The Movie Was...Better?
Book people aren't supposed to say this.
We're pretty sure there's a rule.
But when the movie ended, the verdict around the room was remarkably consistent:
The movie was better than the book.
Not just good.
Not just, "Well, they did a decent job adapting it."
It actually exceeded our expectations.
The scenes we'd hoped to see were there, even though we missed Holden, who didn’t make an appearance in the movie version. The story worked on screen. And somehow, watching it together—curled up in a coffee shop with snacks, surrounded by people we'd spent the evening crafting and laughing with—made it even better.
Which seems fitting.
Because six months into Page to Palette, we're realizing that the book is really only the beginning.
Our Hypothesis Holds Up
When I started Page to Palette six months ago, I didn't really know what it would become.
Honestly, I don’t know where it’s going.
Initially, I knew that I love books, specifically contemporary romance novels.
I knew I wanted something more experiential than a traditional book club.
And I knew I wanted to create a space where reading could lead us all somewhere—to a lake, a coffee shop, a craft table, a conversation, a new friend, or occasionally a rhinestone-covered hair clip.
Six books later, we're starting to see the results.
The tote bags are no longer a blank canvas.
The carabiners are getting heavier with each keepsake we make.
The patches are starting to mean something.
And somewhere along the way, Page to Palette has begun developing its own history as well as its very own community that I’ve come to cherish.
So, maybe The Love Hypothesis was the perfect book for our six-month mark.
And maybe that's the whole point.
We started with a pretty simple hypothesis: stories are even better when we find ways to step inside them together.
Six books, six months, and a whole lot more stuff hanging from our tote bags later, I'd say the evidence is looking pretty good.
And thankfully, our research requires at least six more books.
