Title: Not In Love
Author: Ali Hazelwood, narrated by Callie Dalton and Jason Clarke
Genre: Contemporary romance, enemies to lovers
Length: 11 hours, 55 mins
Is this book part of a series? This is listed as book one of the Not In Love series, the second being Hazelwood’s newest book Problematic Summer Romance
I discovered this book via… insta-stalking the author, buying her new book, and realizing I bought this one but hadn’t read it yet.
Published: June 11th, 2024
Summary (courtesy of Goodreads)
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.
My thoughts (Possible spoilers ahead):
I loved Rue, with her bland humor and pragmatic views. She’s smart, loyal, and pretty damn funny even though she says she isn’t. Eli was an interesting Male Lead and gave Adam Carlson a run for his money as my favorite book boyfriend. Smart, driven, fiercely loyal and patient, he’s the perfect foil for Rue- and his past has made sure he knows how to take care of someone. I also loved how they introduced the side characters and let us get used to the Harkness group, Tisha, Maya and Nioda.
The story had a good flow, and the voice actors did a phenomenal job. It was easy to be swept aways with their story. I will say that the practically insta-love and pining on Eli’s part got over-played sometimes; but it was still sweet. He was completely gone. I also loved the growth I saw in both Eli and Rue; but wish they had put more (read: any) into Rue’s boss, Florence. Some will say that there was some, but I disagree. While she was an interesting character, she was pretty one dimensional- even though we were supposed to see Florence differently with her girls. The character never seemed genuine to me.
I am seeing a lot of reviews saying this one was different from her other books, but I don’t see it. Each one is a bit different, styled toward the characters, but they have the same types of things- nearly insta-attraction (even when they try to deny it), smart leads, at least some science, loyal men. Smart, sexy, loyal men. I have a type, so it works for me (I do read other types of romances, but these are always my favorites).
I will say that I felt like having the audiobook brought it more to life- it may have helped me bond better with Rue. This was a well done audio edition where the duel narratives played well together. It was a fun, fast read. Honestly, I couldn’t put it down. I am going to give it five stars.
As far as adult content goes, there’s language, gaslighting, emotional and some physical trauma and sexual content. This one may actually be more sexual than the others. I would definitely say this one is geared toward adults.
The book is out! Have you read it yet?
Happy Reading,
Gwen
