Book Review | Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood

Title: Not in Love
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Genre: Adult Contemporary / Romance
Publication Date: June 11th, 2024
Publisher: Berkley
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to the publisher for a complimentary earc!

“A forbidden, secret affair proves that all’s fair in love and science.

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.” (Goodreads)

After reading Bride by this author I wanted to give her other books a fair shake. I tried The Love Hypothesis at one point, but put it down and never picked it back up until recently!

The book is told from two point-of-views and they come from Rue and Eli. They are dealing with their pasts and have a hard time letting someone in. They both go through a lot of growth and it was nice to see how it all played out, especially when they brought out more from one another. One big thing being love.

I will say that the development between them was good, but I wanted more from it. I am just not a fan of the physical first and relationship later. This is just a personal preference. It was also spicier than I would have liked, but again my preference. I did still liked them together and the game they played about sharing stories.

Overall, this was good. I would say that the romance is more a subplot and the focus is more on the characters and their personal growth which I didn’t mind. It was nice!