Not in LoveKindle

I was counting down the days after I preordered it two weeks ago. Then Tuesday morning, casually starting with my morning with emails - Amazon said that it was available on my Kindle. Immediately ran to grab it and started reading. That was at 7 am. It’s now Wednesday at 2 am and I finished it.

Ali’s stories have a blueprint that I am obsessed with. Friends to lovers. Spicy scenes and a good looking man. The story almost stays the same and I’m not mad. Somehow she makes it their own world. And!!! There’s a mention of someone from her other book. No spoilers.

When Rue met Eli, I had a feeling that they would have amazing chemistry. I wasn’t wrong. Oh boy, some of the scenes made me giggle.

Stop what you’re doing and read this book. You won’t regret it.

***Spoiler - (ish) The scene in Pride and Prejudice where Mr. Darcy is showing so much love for Elizabeth after everything that had happened - that’s Eli and Rue. Heart bursting joy.

I will continue to be an Ali Hazelwood fan and will auto-buy all of her books!

Not in Love, is a wonderful addition to the Hazelverse and it's uniqueness is what allows it to stay with you even when life inevitably pulls you away. Still mostly steeped in the science/STEM world with the primary focus being from the female perspective, this story focused on the people behind the science and their lives beyond the lab with a more focused lens.

Rue and Eli are intellectuals with difficult and painful pasts that make dating and relationships...well hard. Built upon a crazy cosmic connection leading to seemingly unending horniness and frequently eyebrow raising (but in a very good way) sexual encounters, these two grow as people and also handle some pretty appalling, professional, ultimate betrayal-level bullsh*t. Despite the spotlight being more on sex and the people of science having lives outside of their work, and not so much on the people in science dealing with science society issues while also having personal/intimacy baggage, the novel creates wonderful moments of love, friendship and self acceptance beyond the science/academia environment. The science is always present but it takes the role of passenger rather being in the driver's seat. I had moments where I laughed, where I felt a strong loving found family bond and moments where I felt so seen especially when each of the main characters squared off with some deep seeded family trauma and is able to recognizes the lasting impact that injury left but find a way to move forward.

Hazelwood may have stepped a toe beyond her usual formula (in a different way than just genre like with Bride) but in my opinion she still found success. I wanted to keep reading, so I look forward to potential spinoff books giving the amazing groundwork laid for the UT/Harkness/Former Kline gang.

An exceptional summer read and an even better addition to my collection!

When you read 5 books or more a week, you tend to find the same characters over and over, but Ali Hazelwood has created a unique duo in a corporate setting, but she takes it beyond the typical office romance. This is more than a romance, too. Hazelwood takes you into the mindsets of people who are damaged, but just trying to be better. The characters are smart, the prose is smart, the plot has some light mystery, and expects the reader to be smart enough to follow the science and financial shenanigans. However, it is fun to read, too. Hazelwood is good at writing quirky and cute scenes, and though the book deals with sad subjects and seems heavier than other books by her, there is plenty of dog drool and best friend banter to make it fun to read.

Oh...and sweaty times, too. Ali is burning up the pages in this one. She doesn't write a sex scene like a how-to manual. The reader is drawn in to the feelings of it; the desperation to connect is visceral. If you relate to a nerdy girl not looking for love, I highly recommend connecting with Not in Love.

I love reading Ali Hazelwood's books, so I was worried when she said this one was different due to the character's back stories/trauma and focus on adult content. I love Ali's MMCs, the smart, sciency women, small moments that mean so much, internal dialogues, ride or die friends, and even the villain storylines. The "he falls first" trope is seriously one of my favorites and she's a master at it! However, I do not love books that are "spicy" and filled with graphic content, because most follow the formula where the MMC is a Golden Retriever by day and then turns into a foul mouthed, alpha male by night. I don't want to read chapters full of crude language, potential consent issues, and very specific descriptions about their body parts and noises. It makes me cringe way more than swoon, so I was worried about not liking this book.

Although there are a lot of intimate scenes in Not in Love, I didn't find it crude or contradictory to the characters' personalities. They both have a lot of emotional traumas, especially Rue, and physical connection is their common language. It's safer than emotional feelings and both really enjoy it. So, physical intimacy is how they begin to connect emotionally, versus the other way around. But these interactions are full of understanding and trust, so the spicy scenes were also sweet. Eli knew how to care for Rue in the ways she was willing to accept, and consent is never questioned. He's a very gentle, intuitive, caring person and one of my favorite MMCs, aside from Jack in Love, Theoretically.

Definitely a re-read for me!

I love that I am never disappointed in an Ali Hazelwood book. She is predictably one of the best writers of romance with a guaranteed pinch of humor mixed with a generous amount of novelty in the plot. Her female characters are quirky, smart and unknowingly endearing, and Rue lives up to this in spades. Eli, the MMC, is all in, patient, honest and crazy in love her, despite, no because of, her awkwardness, insecurity, and all of her quirks. It makes the reader hopeful that there are real, amazing men out there that might love us through all of our own insecurities and idiosyncrasies.

There are, as advised by the author forward, a lot of very graphic sex scenes in this book, but, importantly, she did make them integral to the plot, which was a woman with a childhood history of emotional and physical insecurity, leading her to tamp down feelings, only allowing herself limited physical gratification, with no chance for emotion or romantic relationships. To me these scenes were not gratuitous and furthered the character development as time went on. Over all a very satisfying read!