A review by theladysparks
Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood

5.0

 

Rue Siebert, a biotech engineer at a promising start-up, may not have everything but she has what matters. Her life is stable, rewarding, and hard-won. That is, until everything is flipped upside down when a hostile takeover threatens to shatter her world.

Eli Killgore and his partners are determined to acquire Kline no matter what. Eli has his own motivations for pushing this deal forward, and is known for achieving his goals. But a chance meeting with Rue, the woman who consumes his thoughts and is strictly off-limits, shakes everything up.

Caught between loyalty and a powerful attraction, Rue and Eli disregard caution by engaging in a bit of casual fun. But they are playing a risky game and their hearts end up on the line.

He looked at me like nothing I could have said would surprise him. Like he knew not just the contours, but the shaded, buried parts of me.

Ali Hazelwood solidifies herself as an auto-buy author for me with every single book that she releases and Not in Love is no exception. While this book is very different from Ali's previous books, it still has that Ali Hazelwood touch and flare that makes it an instant favorite. This book put me through the ringer emotionally and left me relating to it a lot more than I had originally anticipated. But just like every other one of Ali Hazelwood's books, I walk away feeling nothing but satisfaction and an excitment to have a physical copy to add to my shelf.

I do want to preface everything by saying Ali Hazelwood has provided Trigger and Content Warnings for this particular book on her website and I will include them below because this book does deal with heavier topics!

The premise of a hostile takeover with people falling for each other on opposing sides is the perfect concoction for a modern rivals-to-lovers and Ali Hazelwood did a phenomenal job breathing that trope to life with Rue and Eli. Their chemistry was off the charts and I am obsessed with this particular "meet-cute" and how everything progressed relationship-wise throughout the story. This book, from start to finish, was a complete joy and I devoured it. The tension, the banter, the depth both individually and together was so great and I really think Ali shined with this book. I hope that we get more dual POV books from her in the future because it was honestly such a delight.

Rue, the fmc, is a biotech engineer working at Kline (the start-up company that Eli is trying to essentially take over). I appreciated how her background was discussed and how that part of her past really drove her to pursue the job that she has and develop the stuff that she does in this book. While this is another woman in STEM, I feel like it wasn't as technical as all of Ali's previous books so if that was something you didn't enjoy in her other novels, I'd still suggest giving this one a chance. Rue had so much depth as a character and I related to her on a lot of levels (which is probably why I ended up crying on multiple occassions). I honestly would take on the world for her and just appreciate her overall as a character and loved her as the main character of this book.

I don't think I've seen anyone talk about this particular aspect yet and I would love clarification from Ali Hazelwood herself but Rue, to me (a neurodivergent person) felt like she was also neurodivergent but I haven't seen it confirmed anywhere.

Eli, the mmc, was impossible not to fall for from the very first moment we are introduced to him and it only becomes more impossible as the book continues. This man was swoon-worthy, down-bad, a dirty-talker who looks at Rue in such an awe-inspiring sort of way. His personality was a lot different, I think, from Ali's other male leads. He was super charming, charismatic, and laid-back. When I say it's impossible not to like him, I really mean it. He also has a giant dog named Tiny and he has curly hair and was a hockey player. So . . . honestly what's not to love? He is so opposite of Rue and I think that was really endearing in this particular context, especially because he never felt like Rue needed changing or to be anything other than exactly who she is.

The supporting cast of characters are really wonderful and I loved the chemistry and flow that we saw within all of the different relationships throughout the book. There's a lot of depth to everyone on the page and we get to see more of that as the book goes on instead of just keeping it surface level. I just really love how real this one felt with everyone's quirks and baggage regardless of whether they were the main characters or just background characters.

The overarching conflict and plot was enjoyable. However, Ali's books definitely have me wondering (as someone who has never been in STEM in any capacity) if people are really as untrustworthy and cut-throat as they are in her books. So someone will have to share that information with me because wow. LOL

I want to say thank you to Berkley Romance for sending me an e-ARC of Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood. This book is one of my most anticipated releases for 2024 and it was phenomenal being given the opportunity to read it before it's release date.

TWs/CWs: (taken from Ali Hazelwood's website) a lot more graphic explicit scenes. childhood poverty and food insecurity, anxiety around food, mentions of addiction (secondary characters), social anxiety, parental death (accidents, illness / off page, in the past), parental neglect, power exchange, attempted assault of the fmc by her brother (she is unharmed), pregnancy of a secondary character (only mentioned briefly)

- dual pov
- "let's get it out of our system"
- she's grumpy / he's sunshine
- STEM (but the least out of Ali's books)
- forbidden romance
- insta lust
- angsty
- difficult familes
- traumatic pasts
- he's obsessed
- rivals with benefits
- secret entanglements
- he falls first
- found family
- slow burn romance but fast burn spice
- rivals to friends to lovers

My Ali Hazelwood Ranking:
Love, Theoretically
Not In Love
Bride / The Love Hypothesis
Love on the Brain
Loathe to Love You Novellas