Nobody writes a STEM romcom quite like Ali Hazelwood! This book had a lot of great elements - an interesting plot/conflict (even the third act conflict worked great for me here!), characters with a lot of depth, and fantastic chemistry. I especially loved the deep issues from both MC’s pasts that were uncovered, and Rue’s character arc of finding her self worth. Also of note, this book is SIGNIFICANTLY spicier than Ali's previous STEM novels. Unfortunately, Eli didn’t quite do it for me with his tech bro vibes, and the dynamics in the bedroom weren’t really my thing. Sorry! 🙈 Okay moving on to a note on the audio: I love that the dual POV chapters each have their own narrator, and I especially love when the dialogue is voiced by the correct narrator regardless of whose chapter it is. I really enjoyed Callie Dalton as Rue. Jason Clarke also did a great job as Eli, but (sensing a theme here) he nailed the tech bro vibe a little too well for me. Anyway this is a fun read, check it out for sure!

Read this if you like:
🧪 women in STEM
🧪 workplace romance
🧪 enemies to lovers
🧪 he falls first
🧪 SPICE

Ever since her debut novel, The Love Hypothesis, I have complicated and mixed feelings about Ali Hazelwood’s books. On the one hand, each novel since her debut has shown immense potential in the romance genre- specifically in terms of character development, relationship arcs and writing. Unfortunately, a lot of those aspects are muddled in Hazelwood’s need to include various smut scenes, which I believe is not her strongest suit.

Let me start by saying that there are certain romance tropes I don’t personally like. Most of the time the reason why I don’t like them is because either they’re executed horribly or I just don’t vibe with because it feels so superficial. A reason why I don’t like FWB (or enemies to benefits) to lovers is because most of the time there is not a lot of depth other than physical attraction and/or lust in love which frustrates me because then the romance feels jaded and artificial, and I question if the romance is actually romantic besides physical intimacy (this is my personal opinion, babes).

Unfortunately, Not In Love falls under those categories. There is a lot of potential for character development and emotional connection in both Rue and Eli but their growth is blurred by many sex scenes and it got tiring really quick. As a result, the good aspects that we normally see in Hazelwood’s books are left aside for moments in the characters’ sexual relationship, which left me wanting more in terms of the characters’ emotional bond.

I appreciate Ali Hazelwood delving in other troupes and settings - except for the petite woman and enormous male lead in almost all of her books - and I think Not In Love is a great example of Hazelwood delving into and subverting troupes and genres. However, I don’t think Not In Love is her best novel as now.

Nonetheless, I still enjoyed this novel. Hazelwood’s writing only gets better and I appreciate the inclusion of both lead characters’ point of views.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing an advanced copy of this book in exchange of my honest opinions.

Eli and Rue are the perfect example of "to be loved is to be seen."
Eli truly sees Rue and continuously proves that he is willing and able to love her in the ways that she needs it most.
Their relationship is by no means traditional but their rocky start is what makes it both more relatable and stronger.
Trust didn't come easily for them but it was earned and that takes the kind of time only someone who truly loves you is willing to give.
Not only did I love the mushier parts of their relationship (aka Eli being utterly obsessed with Rue) but the spicier scenes were *chefs kiss*. Ali truly upped her game for this book and doused these pages with something I'm gonna need in a bottle.
This book was so perfect in every way.
If you enjoy romances where he's head over heels in love and obsessed with her, then this is the book for you. Eli Killgore is "he fell first and harder" to its very core.

This is an easy 5/5

I’m a big fan of Ali Hazelwood and loved all of her novels. Love Theoretically is my favorite! While Bride was different and added some paranormal flare to the mix 🪢 a bit out of my comfort zone, I still very much enjoyed it!

All this is to say I had pretty high expectations going in to Not in Love and it’s the first of Hazelwood’s to leave me a little disappointed.
( I have not read the novella anthology).

There is still very much to like in this romance. I loved Rue’s character right away. She is smart but also socially awkward in believable ways I could relate to. I appreciated her small but tight group of friends and the dynamic she had with her support system. Eli was also a very likable mmc and their instant attraction and workplace awkwardness worked well. He also came with an interesting set of friends that developed his character and provided some good humor. I was all set for another 5 star read.

About a third of the way in things took a turn that I’m sure many readers will like but wasn’t as much for me. Put simply, the percentage of pages devoted to spice is much higher than I’m used to from Hazelwood. My mild to medium preferences were not quite prepared it and, for me, the inclusion of so much more spice in the same amount of pages made the story feel a little flat and hurried.

In addition, it turned out both main characters were former athletes (ice skater and hockey player) and while this did add to the mix to make some cute scenes, it felt a little like Hazelwood wanted to throw in some sports to appeal to a wider audience than her usual nerd base. Again, nothing wrong with that, except that the story felt disjointed to me as a result and it left little space for the academic humor and parody I’ve come to love from her.

So, if you have been wanting more smut and less academic focus from her books, it’s likely this one will be a hit. I did enjoy it. It just wasn’t what I was expecting and I especially missed the nerdy aspects that made me feel more seen in some of her past novels.

Thanks to @berkleyromance and @netgalley for access to an e ARC for review purposes.

I truly wanted to love this book considering i am one of ali’s biggest fans, but i could not get past the insta love that didn’t exist. I felt like both characters were very unlikeable - rue was unfeeling, rude, and got away with her nonsense while eli was jusy desperate and pathetic. the sex scenes made me naseous. i really wish i had better things to say

As awful as this sounds, I keep waiting for Ali Hazelwood to miss.
Of course, there are books of hers that I absolutely adore and would consider reading again in the future (an impressive feat, as I find it hard to justify rereads when there are so many books on my TBR), and then ones that I probably won't reach for again. But I've yet to give up on a book of hers or take longer than 2-3 days to finish one.
While Not in Love wasn't my favorite Hazelwood (because I am an egocentric human being, my favorites always have characters I see myself in), I was still hooked from the get go. I felt like I didn't relate a ton to Rue in terms of personality (WHICH IS FINE of course!!), but I felt like her personality felt real and fleshed out and human.
As usual, Hazelwood has wonderful, witty, *adorable* dialogue that rivals my queen Emily Henry. And also....the SPICE *insert red faced, tongue out emoji here* No words, just emoji.
All in all, I have long been a Hazelwood fan and will remain so.

4 Stars!

"You're a wild ride, Rue. I've never met anyone like you, and never will again."

This was my first Ali Hazelwood read and hot dang, I did not know this author was so hella spicy!!

This was an enemies to lovers set in a STEM world. There were lots of science references but not overly so to where I was lost. They were actually interesting.

Rue is a sensitive, self proclaimed socially awkward heroine who meets Eli Killgore and they have an instant STRONG attraction to one another. amid a hostile takeover.

This is a He falls first romance, and let me tell you, he falls HARD!

While it was insanely entertaining, it did lack the WOW factor that I was expecting from all the amazing things I've heard about this author. Regardless, I am going right into one of her other books, Love Theoretically, next because I liked her writing just enough to want more.

I wanted to like this more than I did but I just couldn’t connect to Eli and Rue separately or as a couple. I knew the focus would be more on the sexual aspect of their dynamic but I didn’t care for those scenes and thought they were bland in all honesty. I just couldn’t convince myself that these two actually cared for each other as deeply as they claimed, so unfortunately the whole romance didn’t do anything for me. I also wasn’t that interested in the side plot with Florence and Eli’s business partners. I don’t even necessarily think this is a bad book nor did I absolutely hate it.. it just wasn’t for me.

This was definitely not like Ali Hazelwood's previous contemporary romances, and that meant it took me a while to really get in the groove of it and to shed my expectations of what an Ali Hazelwood book would be. This is much less romcom, which was a touch disappointing in the beginning. But ultimately, I really enjoyed myself! I think it goes to show what a good author Ali Hazelwood is, as she's able to write something that feels so distinctly different than her other works and yet is just as good.

A steamy workplace rivals to lovers story! I liked it, but nothing in particular stood out as outstanding. Ali always gives us really smart, well educated FMCs and I love that so much. However, there was a lot of engineer and business language used in this story that I couldn’t understand it it took me out the story. What redeemed it all was Eli’s character!! He was down so bad and emotionally mature.

Another amazing Ali Hazelwood book with a strong, smart female character and a storyline that feels fresh and timely. I love the way that Hazelwood builds tension between her male and female main characters and keeps readers wanting more the whole way through the novel. This one also features a female in STEM and some spicy romance. Loved it!

Not In Love written by Ali Hazelwood was absolutely STUNNING and PHENOMENAL!!!!!!!! This is my second book I've read by Ali Hazelwood, and let me just say it's my FAVORITE. When I saw that beautiful cover, I knew I had to get my hands on this book quickly, and I'm so happy that I did because I loved every single minute of it. If I could give this book a billion gazillion stars, I totally would because it was just that good. I know Ali is known for her STEM romances, but this book was more than just STEM, romance, and smut, it's about growth, forgiveness, finding love in the most unexpected places, and learning about yourself and what you are capable of. Not In Love is completely spicy, so if you are uncomfortable with that, then this book is NOT for you. I will say that the smut didn't overpower the plot, there was both smut and plot and both were done so well. I absolutely loved every single minute of this book from beginning to end. The emotional vulnerability was so freaking beautiful, yet utterly heart breaking. I can't recommend this book enough, if you haven't done so already, on June 11th, 2024 go grab yourself a copy of this book immediately. Ali has stolen my heart and soul, is anyone willing to go to therapy with me after this book?

THANK YOU TO NETGALLEY AND BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP FOR AN ARC OF THIS BOOK IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW!!!!!!!

"You need to stop bothering women who ask you to simply fuck off."

"You mean, you don't want to go upstairs and fuck a man you don't know minutes after a man you do know verbally assaulted you?"

"Maybe some people are too broken. Maybe.....maybe things have happened in their lives, in their past, that have damaged them so bad, they are never going to get happy endings with the loves of their lives. Maybe some people are meant to be tragedies."

"When my sister was born, my parents kept saying how perfect she was, and I was so resentful, I refused to even look at her for weeks."

"He stared at me like I was a beautiful, exotic flower that had the power to kill him with a pollen drop."

Dr. Rue Siebert might NOT have it all, but she has enough, a few friends she can count on including her boss, maybe? the financial stability she yearned for as a kid, and a successful career. Dr. Rue Siebert is a biotech engineer at Kline, which is one of the most promising start ups in the food industry. Rue Siebert and Tisha Fuli are the very best of best friends, they work at Kline together, but they also share gossip together, Tisha is like Rue's right hand wingman, but also the person that Rue can confide in when she's doubting herself. Eli Killgore works for Harkness, which is a private equity firm that is trying to crumble the walls of Kline, but for personal reasons alone. For certain reasons, Eli wants to take down Kline to save Rue because the same thing that happened to Eli is happening to Rue right now. Rue and Eli met on an app for hookups, so they decide to have a no strings attached hookup, but soon after spending time together, Eli and Rue are finding themselves falling for one another. When Rue finds out that Eli wants to take down Kline, she's completely speechless, but as they spend time together, Eli starts opening up and sharing his personal reasons for demolishing Kline. The secret no strings attached hookup between Rue and Eli has a deadline: the day one of their companies will prevail.

Not In Love taught me a personal life lesson, don't ALWAYS put your trust in those closest to you because they can back stab you in a heart beat. I absolutely adored Rue and Tisha's friendship, they were like two peas in a pod. For your information, yes, Rue is TALL. I absolutely loved the growth Rue had throughout this book, she went from never speaking what was on her mind, to believing in herself when hard times rolled around the corner. The emotional baggage the Rue and Eli both shared was so heart breaking, but I am so proud of each of them for sharing personal stories and overcoming their damage as a team. Rue was always so hesitant to put one foot in front of the other, but Eli was so patient with her and it made me swoon for him even more. No matter what life throws at you, you are always going to need that one specific person to hold your hand as you navigate life's obstacles, and I truly loved watching Eli be that person for Rue. Rue had a very dry sense of humor, so the banter between Eli and Rue was always hilarious and Rue's dry humor made it a million times better because you just had no clue what was going to come spewing out of her mouth when she was having a conversation with Eli. I just wanted to reach into my kindle and hug both Eli and Rue as they were unpacking their personal life stories full of emotional damage.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy! This book had some great romance moments, but overall was not my favorite Ali Hazelwood. This story follows the classic Hazelwood tropes: STEM, enemies to lovers, and lots of miscommunication. To me the main difference between this book and her other books is that this is her angstiest and steamiest book yet. If you like angst, steam, and Hazelwood, then this book is for you. I did like this book, but I didn’t love it. I thought it was a little long and just not as funny and interesting as her other books. I guess it’s not fair to compare, but oh well, I have read all of her other books, so it’s hard! I recommend this book for fans of Hazelwood, angst, steam, and STEM contemporary romances.

I usually love Ali Hazelwood's books but this one wasn't my favorite. I thought the emotional depth and trauma processing was really well written. I really enjoyed Rue as a character and thought she had a lot of depth, however I did not feel the same way about Eli. I wasn't pulled to him, much of his personality, to me, seemed to be about sex. In the end I came around to him a bit more. I thought the sex scenes were decent. I found much of the conflict around their jobs to be uninteresting until the third act. I wanted to love this book but for me it just didn't land the way her other books have.

Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood 💞
Standalone

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Adult • Romance
ARC Review
384 pages
🗓️ June 11th

🔬 STEM romance
🥼 grumpy (f) x sunshine (m)
🔬 attraction to love
🥼 he falls first
🔬 enemies to lovers, or so they should be
🥼 close proximity
🔬 giant dog named tiny

📌“He was going to keep her. For himself. As long as he could.”

📌“Rue. My sad, beautiful fortress girl.”

Have I told I Ali Hazelwood was the one who got me into romance more than 20 times?! I think I’ve told you 15 times tops. Alas, she was. The Love Hypothesis will always have a home in my heart. But the part of me that loves sad songs finds Rue a kindred soul. And this might just be moving in with The Love Hypothesis in my heart apartment, where those special parts go so they can find their place in the puzzle of what makes me… myself.

This title easily became ironic at best. Because not in love is something I’m also not for this book. I was head over heels and half way gone since the moment Eli fell for Rue. And he does fall first. Soooo “first and hard” that had me saying “awe Eli, you gentle soul” quite a few times in my head.

{Don’t read this ALI!!!! Jump this paragraph 👀} I had read some early reviews that had me feeling… concerned. Lies! Joking, everybody has the right to their opinion. [Even if *that* doesn’t even happen 🙄] But in the words of John Green about Taylor Swift, “you don’t have to like [it] but I do.”

And I love. Both Tay-Tay and this book. And Ali’s diary at this point, I’m sure, because everything she writes is gold.

A huge shoutout to the supporting cast. This one has the very best 🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼 On both sides of the MCs. And a giant of a dog named tiny 😜

4.5 stars. This was interesting. I think it is cool to see Ali still write something in the STEM world but less quirky and a more serious storyline. There is an author's note in the beginning that really sums it up better than I ever could. I don't know if the MMC was ever specifically described this way but I imagined him as a skinny king and it was nice to have that change vs her meme-able "tree trunk thighs" leading men (for the record I don't mind those I just know it bothers some readers).

This is her spiciest book yet by number of scenes but I really don't consider it her hottest book. The characters at times are overthinking, overly descriptive to a clinical point during some of their moments together and that didn't really make it very high tension. I understand their purpose for the way these characters communicate but still, when she described it as erot!c I expected more in that regard.

The main conflict is interesting. At times the MMC's found family of friends veered a bit harsh towards the FMC, I guess that made it realistic but I just wanted to root for them when the world kept turning against them. This has one of my favorite things, random serendipity and moments of forced proximity. As fleshed out as the side characters became I love how the love interests kept getting thrown together.

Overall if you like Ali, you will like this. As a long time fan each new release of hers would become my new favorite but with this that is broken and I continue to campaign for Love Theoretically. Still excited for my preorder of this though and thank you to Berkley for the eARC.

I always admire how Ali Hazelwood has the ambition and guts to experiment within romance sub genres, and with NOT IN LOVE we see a bit of a shift towards more kink and BDSM themes sprinkled in with her usual STEM themes. I enjoyed our female lead Rue, who is a fiercely loyal and incredibly clever engineer for a startup run by her mentor and friend, and whose attraction to one of the men trying to take that startup down is undeniable and unrestrained. Rue has moments of vulnerability that were real and deeply emotional, and I love that she continues the tradition of neurodivergent coded romantic leads in Hazelwood's stories. But I did struggle with some things with this one. Eli left me a bit cold as a leading man, and I didn't feel that we got enough emotional depth from the two of them together while they both had some pretty interesting emotional depth on their own. And on top of that I needed a bit mroe slow burn and connection before we started getting the really spicy stuff, but that is admittedly completely subjective and more a 'me' thing than an actual problem with this book. This probably isn't going to be remembered as a favorite of Hazelwood's by me, but that being said I know that it is going to work really well for a lot of people!

Not in Love has the classic "oh snap" Ali Hazelwood moments that had me laughing and bringing on the biggest smile.

What happens when a man you meet on a "hookup" app ends up being a company nemesis? Rue is about to realize she never should have matched with Eli. He throws her life off its axis and makes her question everything, including those closest to her. Eli, on the other hand, just wants what's best for his friends. Also, he wants Rue... the one who he can't possibly involve himself with. But can he and Rue convince themselves they are "not" in love when the truth is laid out?

I screamed at the Check & Mate nod and the typical Ali "oh no my mentor fucked me over." Yes this is spicy but I am not sure that I would classify Not in Love in the erotica subgenre (as that to me, is porn- which this is not). I adored the Hunger Games nod and the quirky friend group although; I found the story to have a slow start. Once I hit that 60% mark, I NEEDED to binge the last 40% and discover all that Rue would handle. Again, I loved the anxiety spirals that Ali makes her heroines go on, because that (to me) is SO RELATABLE. Overall, this is a classic Ali Hazelwood read that those who enjoy spice in their romantic books will love when it hits shelves soon!

I love Ali Hazelwood's writing, so I knew before starting this book that I would enjoy the story. But wow oh wow did this book WRECK me in the best possible way. The story follows Rue and Eli, who matched on a sex-forward dating app, only to find out that they are on opposite sides of a company takeover/merger. But even if they should be enemies, Rue and Eli can't seem to stay away from each other for long. The chemistry between the two characters is H.O.T. And the steamy scenes are fire as well. But what I really loved is how these two guarded individuals learned to let their walls down to let the other in. I absolutely loved the story sharing aspect of the relationship. I also appreciated getting dual p.o.v in the book, as I prefer when we can get into the heads and motivations of both characters. I also loved some of the side characters in the book, and I would happily read books about them too!

A steamy Ali Hazelwood book is a delight!

This one took me by surprise. It’s a solid note that this is erotica rather than romance. The plot felt secondary and, occasionally, thin. The secondary characters a little flat. But the spice was superb. Eli is a dream. And Rue was so wonderfully conflicted.

While this wasn’t my favorite Ali Hazelwood, it is still an Ali Hazelwood, and therefore an instant (and possible re-) read.