A review by thebookishmama
Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood

2.0

A major no from me. Let it be clearly stated that I enjoy a steamy book, I am not shy when it comes to the books I read and the amount of steam they sometimes had. Heck, I don’t even mind when they’re not super connected before they entangle themselves together. So that isn’t my issue here at all. It started off okay. I liked the idea of the workplace rivals sort of situation, it’s worked before so why not do it again. Where this book starts and where it ends feels like two completely different books, I’m still a bit perplexed by it. I got on board with the two MCs and how they came together, but for the entire book they lacked any sort of chemistry or connection. And since it’s “so not normal” for both of them to have these bigger feelings I expected the chemistry to be off the charts. Maybe part of the problem is I just didn’t click with the fmc. At first I liked that she was different, but then I thought about it and she’s really not all that different than Hazelwood’s other fmcs. Her backstory intrigued me but the more I read from her pov the less I liked her. I even tried switching to the audio to see if I would like it better and I somehow liked it worse. I think the female narration made her even harder to like. But that could just be me. I have a lot more thoughts but don’t want to be too spoilery so I’ll wrap it up here. 

There were little pieces of the story I liked but overall it’s a big no from me and I am not sure I will be continuing with Ali’s books moving forward after back to back misses. 

Other AH books:
The Love Hypothesis ★★★★☆
Love on the Brain ★★★☆☆
Love Theoretically  ★★★★☆
Check & Mate (my fav)  ★★★★.5
Bride ★★★☆☆