Not in Love
An Indie Next and a Hall of Fame LibraryReads Pick!
A forbidden, secret affair proves that all’s fair in love and science—from New York Times bestselling author Ali Hazelwood.
Rue Siebert might not have it all, but she has enough: a few friends she can always count on, the financial stability she yearned for as a kid, and a successful career as a biotech engineer at Kline, one of the most promising start-ups in the field of food science. Her world is stable, pleasant, and hard-fought. Until a hostile takeover and its offensively attractive front man threatens to bring it all crumbling down.
Eli Killgore and his business partners want Kline, period. Eli has his own reasons for pushing this deal through—and he’s a man who gets what he wants. With one burning exception: Rue. The woman he can’t stop thinking about. The woman who's off-limits to him.
Torn between loyalty and an undeniable attraction, Rue and Eli throw caution out the lab and the boardroom windows. Their affair is secret, no-strings-attached, and has a built-in deadline: the day one of their companies will prevail. But the heart is risky business—one that plays for keeps.
A forbidden, secret affair proves that all’s fair in love and science—from New York Times bestselling author Ali Hazelwood.
Rue Siebert might not have it all, but she has enough: a few friends she can always count on, the financial stability she yearned for as a kid, and a successful career as a biotech engineer at Kline, one of the most promising start-ups in the field of food science. Her world is stable, pleasant, and hard-fought. Until a hostile takeover and its offensively attractive front man threatens to bring it all crumbling down.
Eli Killgore and his business partners want Kline, period. Eli has his own reasons for pushing this deal through—and he’s a man who gets what he wants. With one burning exception: Rue. The woman he can’t stop thinking about. The woman who's off-limits to him.
Torn between loyalty and an undeniable attraction, Rue and Eli throw caution out the lab and the boardroom windows. Their affair is secret, no-strings-attached, and has a built-in deadline: the day one of their companies will prevail. But the heart is risky business—one that plays for keeps.
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✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI
Readers say *Not in Love* by Ali Hazelwood offers a bold, spicy romance with flawed, relatable characters and a fresh take on STEM’s darker side. Many...
If you’re a fan of Ali Hazelwood but would like more spice, then Not in Love is the book for you! She doesn’t shy away from anything in her latest book, leaving the door wide open. Personally, I don’t care what level of spice there is, as long as the emotional connection is there, too.
I’ve read everything Hazelwood has published, and I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read. However, I have a lot of thoughts about this one. Good thoughts and mixed thoughts. So forgive me if this review is kind of all over the place.
As with all her books, the characters are great. Even the side characters. Although there is one side character in Not in Love that I didn’t feel like I understood, and she plays an important part in the mess that brings our two leads together. I especially loved Tisha, Rue’s best friend, and Eli’s friends—specifically Hark who needs his own book!
I instantly connected with Rue. It’s never stated that she’s neurodivergent, but I identified with her social anxiety, the fact that she’s shy and people think she’s just a snob, that she struggles with small talk. I also liked that she’s comfortable with her sexuality. It’s always refreshing for female characters to be portrayed that way, however sometimes it felt incongruous with her personality.
I like the fact that Hazelwood often makes her male leads the ones who realize their feelings first, and I liked Eli, but I did get a bit of an insta-love feeling from him. It seemed fast without much emotional build-up. But, this is a very sex-forward novel. Hazelwood even includes a message at the front of the book to the reader stating this is more erotica than her usual books, which are already quite spicy. She states that Rue and Eli want to connect, but only know how to do that physically at first. So I tried to keep that in mind as I read, but I still felt like I needed a little more time from this couple outside the bedroom to convince me.
Not in Love is more the business side of STEM, less academic than Hazelwood’s other novels, which I don’t think I liked as much. I wanted more time with Rue’s process as a biotech engineer, less of the administrative side.
As the complications built towards the climax of the book, I kept expecting a miscommunication or secret that would temporarily separate our leads. But thankfully that didn’t happen to any large degree. It was refreshing!
Even with all my mixed emotions, I loved the last few chapters of Not in Love. I thought Hazelwood did a fabulous job wrapping up the story, hitting all the right notes, and making me finally believe in this couple.
Ali Hazelwood refuses to be pinned down! She’s proving she can do it all in romance: fantasy, young adult, and new adult. I’m anxious to see what she’ll do next!
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy.
Check out my reviews and playlists at A Book Wanderer
#popsugarreadingchallenge2024 (prompt 32 - A book with an enemies to lovers plot)
I’ve read everything Hazelwood has published, and I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read. However, I have a lot of thoughts about this one. Good thoughts and mixed thoughts. So forgive me if this review is kind of all over the place.
As with all her books, the characters are great. Even the side characters. Although there is one side character in Not in Love that I didn’t feel like I understood, and she plays an important part in the mess that brings our two leads together. I especially loved Tisha, Rue’s best friend, and Eli’s friends—specifically Hark who needs his own book!
I instantly connected with Rue. It’s never stated that she’s neurodivergent, but I identified with her social anxiety, the fact that she’s shy and people think she’s just a snob, that she struggles with small talk. I also liked that she’s comfortable with her sexuality. It’s always refreshing for female characters to be portrayed that way, however sometimes it felt incongruous with her personality.
I like the fact that Hazelwood often makes her male leads the ones who realize their feelings first, and I liked Eli, but I did get a bit of an insta-love feeling from him. It seemed fast without much emotional build-up. But, this is a very sex-forward novel. Hazelwood even includes a message at the front of the book to the reader stating this is more erotica than her usual books, which are already quite spicy. She states that Rue and Eli want to connect, but only know how to do that physically at first. So I tried to keep that in mind as I read, but I still felt like I needed a little more time from this couple outside the bedroom to convince me.
Not in Love is more the business side of STEM, less academic than Hazelwood’s other novels, which I don’t think I liked as much. I wanted more time with Rue’s process as a biotech engineer, less of the administrative side.
As the complications built towards the climax of the book, I kept expecting a miscommunication or secret that would temporarily separate our leads. But thankfully that didn’t happen to any large degree. It was refreshing!
Even with all my mixed emotions, I loved the last few chapters of Not in Love. I thought Hazelwood did a fabulous job wrapping up the story, hitting all the right notes, and making me finally believe in this couple.
Ali Hazelwood refuses to be pinned down! She’s proving she can do it all in romance: fantasy, young adult, and new adult. I’m anxious to see what she’ll do next!
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy.
Check out my reviews and playlists at A Book Wanderer
#popsugarreadingchallenge2024 (prompt 32 - A book with an enemies to lovers plot)
Houve uma coisa que não gostei nada neste livro que é o facto de a autora ter ouvido os fãs para escrever dual POV, algo que também aprecio, no entanto, este dual POV é esquisito, pois alterna entre narração na 1a pessoa e na 3a pessoa. E se a princípio (e sim, notei logo desde início este "problema") é só estranho, depois à medida que os capítulos são mais longos, esta alternância acaba por tornar muito confusa a leitura e precisei de vários minutos para me situar.
Porém, foi uma agradável surpresa e atrevo-me a dizer que se fosse todo escrito na 3a pessoa teria dado 5estrelas e seria o meu favorito dela (contrariamente à opinião geral).
Eu percebo que este livro seja bastante diferente dos primeiros rom-com em STEM, e que isso pode ser um problema para os fãs. O primeiro aspeto que para mim funcionou foi que de facto ganhamos a perspectiva dele e assim acabamos por "perder" aquele charme todo dos MMC anteriores dela pois eles são sempre vistos de o ponto de vista da perfeição (de alguém que se está a apaixonar por eles) e aqui acabamos por ter inicialmente uma "relação" bastante confusa entre os personagens, mas ganhamos o lado dele, o bom e e o mau. E durante grante parte do livro gostei sempre mais dos capítulos dele (narrados na 3a pessoa) do que os dela. Apesar dos capítulos da FMC estar narrado na 1a pessoa acabamos por não conhecer tão bem aquela mulher, o que parece contraditório. Contudo, a Rue acaba por aparecer e se desenvolver lá mais para o final do livro e que mulher fascinante! Tem imensos traumas e é uma personagem um pouco estranha, mas para alguém que é muito semelhante em termos de personalidade, acaba por ser totalmente identificável. E foi. A parte da patinagem foi o bónus perfeito para mim e eu consegui me identificar na totalidade com ela. Para além de que Ali mostrou aqui o lado negro da academia e eu achei isso fascinante. E acho que o facto de nos dar este lado de que nem tudo é preto ou branco, na ciência e na vida, acabou por ser o que mais me agradou neste livro! Percebo que este livro não seja agradável a toda gente, mas para alguém que quer seguir um pouco das pisadas dela, foi sem dúvida a sua história que até agora fez mais ressonância comigo.
Thank you Ali for writing this book!!
Porém, foi uma agradável surpresa e atrevo-me a dizer que se fosse todo escrito na 3a pessoa teria dado 5estrelas e seria o meu favorito dela (contrariamente à opinião geral).
Eu percebo que este livro seja bastante diferente dos primeiros rom-com em STEM, e que isso pode ser um problema para os fãs. O primeiro aspeto que para mim funcionou foi que de facto ganhamos a perspectiva dele e assim acabamos por "perder" aquele charme todo dos MMC anteriores dela pois eles são sempre vistos de o ponto de vista da perfeição (de alguém que se está a apaixonar por eles) e aqui acabamos por ter inicialmente uma "relação" bastante confusa entre os personagens, mas ganhamos o lado dele, o bom e e o mau. E durante grante parte do livro gostei sempre mais dos capítulos dele (narrados na 3a pessoa) do que os dela. Apesar dos capítulos da FMC estar narrado na 1a pessoa acabamos por não conhecer tão bem aquela mulher, o que parece contraditório. Contudo, a Rue acaba por aparecer e se desenvolver lá mais para o final do livro e que mulher fascinante! Tem imensos traumas e é uma personagem um pouco estranha, mas para alguém que é muito semelhante em termos de personalidade, acaba por ser totalmente identificável. E foi. A parte da patinagem foi o bónus perfeito para mim e eu consegui me identificar na totalidade com ela. Para além de que Ali mostrou aqui o lado negro da academia e eu achei isso fascinante. E acho que o facto de nos dar este lado de que nem tudo é preto ou branco, na ciência e na vida, acabou por ser o que mais me agradou neste livro! Percebo que este livro não seja agradável a toda gente, mas para alguém que quer seguir um pouco das pisadas dela, foi sem dúvida a sua história que até agora fez mais ressonância comigo.
Thank you Ali for writing this book!!
DNF at 40%. I’ve heard great things about Ali Hazelwood but this book was odd. I did not like how Rue was in first person and Eli’s was third person. V distracting.
I loved this book. I couldn't put it down which was amazing. She really speaks to the fears and experiences of women in stem
I was hesitant going into this one because of the mixed reviews, but I ended up loving it. Ali Hazelwood delivers a compelling story with flawed, messy characters who find their way to each other despite their imperfections. I love seeing characters embrace each other’s shortcomings and grow together, and this book delivered exactly that. A heartfelt, engaging read that proves love isn’t about perfection—it’s about acceptance.
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