Book Review: Not in Love

Since Ali Hazelwood’s Not in Love came out earlier this summer, I’ve heard nothing but good things. I had read that this book is different from her normal STEM romcoms and Ali herself said that it has deeper themes and is less romcom and more erotic romance. It didn’t surprise me that it’s different since it seems like Ali is branching out in all different directions! Check & Mate was her first YA romance and Bride was her first paranormal romance and I loved both! So I was excited to read Not in Love and it should come as no surprise that I loved it too.

The novel follows Rue Siebert and Eli Killgore. Rue is a biotech engineer working in food sustainability at Kline, a company founded by her mentor. Eli is one of the founders of a private equity firm called Harkness that has bought the loan Kline owes. Rue’s world thrown into chaos because she doesn’t know if Harkness is really just looking at Kline as an investment and wants to support them as they say or if they can’t be trusted and plan to upend Rue’s research, project, and career. But, the questionable future of Kline isn’t the only thing blowing up Rue’s world – she has met Eli before…on a hookup app. They met the night before the announcement and although nothing happened due to some extenuating circumstances, there was an instant attraction.

Not much time passes with Rue and Eli seeing each other constantly before they can’t stay away from each other any longer. Enter a casual, no strings attached secret relationship. But can they keep their physical relationship separate from work? And can they keep their relationship physical and not develop deeper feelings for one another?

I loved this book! Rue and Eli were such good characters. They both had difficult early lives and worked very hard to have successful careers. They are flawed and shaped by their life experiences in a really realistic way. There are lot of feelings going on in the storyline. Rue and Eli grow closer and closer. And the closer they grow, the more Rue feels like she’s betraying her mentor by fraternizing with the “enemy”. I loved the storyline and the characters. Rue and Eli play this “game” of sharing stories or details from their childhood/growing up, but only terrible things they did or thought etc. It was really interesting to see how much they both have been through and how they aren’t perfect but they accept each other with no judgement.

There was a twist in the book, which I predicted, but I didn’t even mind because I loved the story, Rue, and Eli so much.

Read this if you want a spicy STEM novel with the forbidden romance trope.

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