Review by lovelymisanthrope - Not in Love

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lovelymisanthrope 's review for:

Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood

3.5

emotional funny lighthearted relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

As a longtime fan of Ali Hazelwood, I was excited and curious to pick up this novel.

“Not in Love” follows Rue, a biotech engineer at Kline. She loves her job and the life she has built for herself. But all of that is threatened when a company comes in trying to buyout Kline. Eli and his associates have their own reasons for pushing for this deal. Rue has made it very clear that her and Eli’s almost one night stand can never repeat, but there is so much chemistry between them, they are both finding it difficult to stay away from one another.

This was a sweet romance that followed a smart woman who is successful at what she does, and is for one reason or another, denying her self the opportunity to date the male main character. This very much follows Ali Hazelwood’s standard storytelling, and is pretty predictable in nature. I do think we got a new character with different representation than we have seen in the past, but the story at its bare bones continues to be a standard romance from Ali.

Rue is a very headstrong character. Once we get to learn a little bit more about her background, and her childhood, a lot of her behavior makes more sense. However, I still found it infuriating at moments how closed off she was. She has a very complicated relationship with her brother, which was heartbreaking to read about. I was screaming at her through the pages to not let him destroy her happiness.

Eli seems like such a sweet and understanding guy. Although his motivation for trying to take down Kline seems nefarious, he is such a sweetheart in his soul. He really genuinely cares about Rue and does everything in his power to try to make her life better. I do not necessarily think there is anything special about his character, but I do think he is the stereotypical romance novel main leading man.

There is supposed to be a slight mystery regarding why Eli wants so badly to be involved with this deal with Kline. I did think it kind of easy to anticipate his ultimate motivation, but it was nice to see Ali try something different with a character.

Rue and Eli definitely have chemistry that is bursting from the pages. I think both characters are great for one another. Eli really helps Rue to see there is more to her life to enjoy, and it is okay to let go a little . While Rue shows Eli that there is more to life than work and revenge.

Overall, I think this was a very enjoyable story, and I had a good time reading it. However, the characters and the plot are not super memorable that I will continue to think about the story much now that I have finished. For me personally, this novel falls somewhere in the middle.

If you have any interest in the story, or in reading more from Ali Hazelwood, I definitely think this novel is worth picking up.

Content Warnings