Today’s review is about NOT IN LOVE by Ali Hazelwood. It’s a contemporary romance that is STEMinist adjacent. Rue, a food scientist, fights her attraction to Eli, who is part of the firm trying to acquire the company for which she works. Of course, it’s always more complicated than this simple one-line synopsis!
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Series: None
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publish Date: June 11, 2024
Print Length: 400
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Not In Love Synopsis
Synopsis
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.
Not In Love Review
NOT IN LOVE by Ali Hazelwood just might be my favorite of her STEMinist romance novels. Rue is a biotechnology engineer at Kline focused on the shelf stability of food. She’s content with her life and acknowledges her perceived personality shortcomings. But her world gets turned upside down when someone buys Kline. She worries all her hard work will no longer be hers to own. As she tries to figure out the angle for buying Kline, Rue tries her best to shut down her attraction to Eli, one of the business partners who purchased Kline. It’s not best to mix business with pleasure, or is it?
As with Hazelwood’s other STEMinist romances, some aspect of the science world is portrayed within the story. It’s never very technical, but the reader gets to experience some part of the character’s science. In this case one gets to see Rue work in the lab as she conducts experiments for her food science, her chosen field. What I like about Hazelwood’s books is that she clearly does enough research into various fields of science to know how to incorporate those scenes realistically. My only nitpick for this book, though, is that I want more science!
I also really liked that Eli, the main male character, has a different personality than the MMC is Hazelwood’s other novels. Frankly, I was tired of the grumpy, brooding, Kylo Ren-ish male love interest. Eli is more middle of the road. He’s not grumpy nor is he sunny. But he is confident, though that doesn’t necessarily mean he doesn’t have his own family drama baggage. He and Rue use their family drama and other negative experiences as a story swapping experience. I thought this was a good way for the characters to get to know and trust each other, but also to release some mental tension and guilt.
Rue is smart and no nonsense, kind of like Spock. She knows she’s not the best conversationalist. (I think she might be coded as an autistic character, but I’m not entirely sure.) While she’s not ashamed at all and doesn’t really care what people think, there is a part of her that’s afraid to get too close to someone lest they “see” her for who she is. So, instead she focuses on one-time hook ups rather than nurturing a relationship. That is, until she meets Eli, who falls intensely head over heels for her.
This is a very sex-positive book. There’s no shaming of Rue for seeking hook ups. And the intimate scenes between Rue and Eli involve only what each other is comfortable with. That comfort evolves as Rue begins to trust Eli more. The sex-positive conversations between the two of them are, I think, important portrayals. Hazelwood even explains at the beginning that NOT IN LOVE falls more into the realm of erotica, but there’s a reason for that a la Rue’s fear of commitment.
Furthermore, I appreciated that, despite the romance, the plot of the Kline takeover remains in focus. It’s not just a background story. Instead, it’s a look into the choices people make and why in the competitive field of science and obtaining money for research.
Ali Hazelwood fans hoping for a characterization trope refresh will appreciate NOT IN LOVE. It features food science biotechnology, sex positivity, intellectual property disputes, and the courage to accept love.
Rating: 4.5
Content warnings: sexual content, food insecurity
Reading format: Paperback
If you liked this book, you may also enjoy THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS and LOVE ON THE BRAIN by Ali Hazelwood.
Ooh this does sound good. I’ve never even heard of food science, so I’m really curious now. And the characters sound believable and perfect for this story!
I don’t know much about food science, but it definitely exists. For example, there’s apparently a lot of tech and whatnot that goes into what sort of bag is used to house your salad mix or your spinach.
Ooh, if I didn’t already have this on my TBR your review would convince me that I need to have it! I have so many of Hazelwood’s books to catch up on as I’ve still only read one so far. This sounds like a fun-time read so I’m defo keen to check it out (hopefully soon)! Great review 🙂
Every time I catch up she releases like two more new books! 😂 I’m behind again…need to read Bride, then Mate, and Deep End. I might be forgetting one, too. 😅
I still need to read this one! I’m so behind on Hazelwood!
I’m behind, too! 😅
Ive yet to try a book by Ali Hazelwood but really want to (I have a variety of titles by her on my romance based TBR). Im glad you enjoyed this one so much. The personality mix of the characters sounds interesting and it’ll be fascinating to learn a bit about the science, even if it wasn’t as prominent as you’d hoped. Given what you’ve said about her clearly having put research in I wonder if its where she’s trying to balance including the details without bombarding any readers without much scientific knowledge with too much terminology 🤔