I picked Not in Love up knowing that Ali Hazelwood is the queen of addicting, all-consuming stories perfect for breaking a reading slump, and it worked like a charm. As always, I quickly found myself wrapped up in the characters and their story, and enjoyed the building tension immensely. Not in Love is tonally different to Hazelwood’s previous romances, and I felt that it worked really well to create a more distinct story, even if it does fall into a number of the same tropes and dynamics as her first three novels. There is a certain maturity to this book, which is particularly apparent in the character work, and I loved the development of our main character as her world became increasingly unstable. The more emotionally heavy moments were well-balanced with light-hearted, swoony moments to create an all-around really enjoyable reading experience.

Yet another fantastic book by Ali Hazelwood. Honestly this women can do no wrong!!!
And "Not in Love" wasn't an exception!!! This was so good and I had the best time reading it.
Everyone just stop what you're doing and go read this book. So easy and quick to read.

Run, don’t walk, if you’ve not already snagged your copy of of Ali Hazelwood latest book out TODAY! Packed with loveable characters (incl. strong women in STEM 🙌🏻) it’s just a totally cute + addictive read.⁣
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I loved the hilarious banter, dynamics + chemistry between the main characters,! It was executed f-l-a-w-l-e-s-s-l-y and gave me butterflies 🤩 for fans of THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS + LOVE ON THE BRAIN you won’t be disappointed

I adored Rue and Eli. They will worm their way in to your heart and make a home there.

This was so different for Ali Hazelwood and as usual, she nailed it. Not in Love is full of Ali’s classic humour as well as raw, heartfelt emotions. Throughout the book a number of difficult topics are addressed and Ali handles them gracefully.

Thoroughly recommend

While I didn't love this as much as Love Hypothesis, Love on the Brain and Love, Theoretically (and I do love those books a LOT), I still fully believe miss Ali Hazelwood can do no wrong and I can't wait to follow her career for many years to come.

This was lovely and very touching!!

And I appreciated the note at the start of the book a lot, just to clear the tone before going into it as this is not a rom-com like her other books.

4.2/5⭐

Thanks to NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group UK and Sphere for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Just like every other Ali Hazelwood ive read (and i believe I read almost everything by her) I finished this in less than 24 hours. Her stories are always captivating, popcorn reads, You just cant put them down.
Is the Plot crazily unique or innovative? no, but i still read them for pure fun.
I especially liked Rue, our socially akward protagonist, I could really see myself in her, never being able to show your true colours in public is something that alot of people struggle with and i really liked Hazelwoods approach on that.
I knew that this would be quite steamy but just be aware it is ALOT of spice, i would have preferred a bit more non-sexual interaction between our main protagonist, but all in all it was super entertaining and I would recommend it to every spicy-romance-reader.

This book was definitely a surprise. I would almost say that it is not your typical Ali Hazelwood book. With Eli and Rue putting their physical needs first and their feelings second, it sometimes felt a bit overwhelming. All in all it was still a nice read and a good time but unfortunately not my favourite book from Hazelwood (but definitely also not my least favourite)

This is an incredible read, very spicy but I really needed this to take my mind off of life for a while

First of all, I would like to thank Netgalley and the publishing house for the immense opportunity to review this book. Ali Hazelwood is one of my favorite romance writers, so it was wonderful to receive this book as a preview!

Let's talk about the book itself!
We must certainly consider that, although this is also a STEM romance like all the other ones books by her, therefore with a setting in a world of work and scientific research, it is a very different book compared to the others that the author has written. Starting from where the book begins, well, we know that the first meeting between our two protagonists takes place through a dating app, so we understand and make it clear that their relationship is much more physical and sexual than in his other books, where this component is certainly present, but where perhaps the previous tension, romance, was preferred. In this book the physical attraction and sexual relationship between the two protagonists is at the center of our story, if not the fulcrum, otherwise it wouldn't have been called "not in love".
From this point of view I must admit that although these types of very detailed and very present scenes don't bother me, I must say that I was absolutely not prepared, and that I was amazed. The story told by Ali Hazelwood this time is a little more in this sense, which I particularly liked, especially because the books all seem the same, while highlighting this aspect isn't bad! In the book there are also a lot of subtopics, in the world of human feelings and in the working world, in particular the scientific one which we know how selective it is.

For me Ali Hazelwood could always write the same book over and over and I would still love it, so I probably won't count, but I liked Not in love (it doesn't surpass the others but I still liked it)!

Truth be told, I was "Not in Love" with this story as much as I’d have liked. Though, it is a refreshing difference from Ali Hazelwood’s usual tone in STEM romances. This one, to quote Ali herself, is “less of a rom-com and more of an erotic romance” and well she was not wrong. While there are tropes of forbidden romance, insta-love, he falls first, we also have enemies with benefits and reverse grumpy x sunshine (with black cat girl and golden retriever boy) which is a change, this had a lot of deeper tones too such as finding oneself, acceptance and forgiveness.

Ultimately, this is not an all-time favourite from Ali. I would make this a 4 for the premise and actual wrap-up of the plot (I became disinterested a third of the way into the story up until the halfway point) but make it a 3 for the characters. I did not warm to a lot of them, Eli was probably an exception. The spice was excellent, and there was a lot of it. I did not warm to the main character Rue initially (probably the point, and of course I appreciate her experiences from her childhood making her the way she is) but that had a knock-on effect and it took most of the book for me to like her.

I admit the 50 Shades of Eli is a rather different approach. And we had a tall woman instead. Its tone was very different. More serious, and for this book it worked very effectively. They both have some issues from childhood, Rue especially so. Both have lost their parents and have (or have had, in Eli’s case) a rough patch with their sibling.

I loved when there was an emotional connection between the Rue and Eli. And it was lovely how supportive and protective Eli was. Also love the moments where Rue and Eli share their terrible stories, and neither of them judges the other for what they have said and done.

This book was so different from Ali Hazelwood's typical STEM romances. I loved both the main characters and the story. If you like books where the characters are good at communicating, this one is for you! Just a little bit too many sex scenes for me personally.

Headlines:
Dating apps
Awkward connections
Workplace shennanigans

As Ali Hazelwood says herself, this was a different offering than her previous books. Still, it appealed in its differences, it was more heat driven, insta-passion leading to more.

Rue was an awkward and endearing heroine, moulded by a difficult childhood of food insecurity that led to her life's work as a scientist working towards goals that would impact this issue. Eli was part of a company taking over the labs she worked for. Eli and Rue's second meeting pulled the rug out from under both of them but they kept being pulled back together.

Rue and Eli's worlds were surrounded by a small circle of people, some of which I was curious about beyond this book (hoping for a book about Hark and Eli's sister, even though I'm unsure of their age gap). One of Rue's friends was less of a friend than she realised and that was a tough pill for her to swallow.

This book felt less full-on STEM and more a gentle background but it worked nonetheless. I bought into their connection immediately and wondered if I'd find their intimacy icky, but I didn't. I liked the power Rue had in what happened and Eli's empowerment of Rue in every step. The 'he falls first' was quite lovely in this story.

Another great read from Ali Hazelwood, as ever, I look forward to the next.

Thank you to Piatkus for the review copy.

Absolute love!!! 💖💖💖
Wow! such an amazing read, Ali truly never disappoints.

Eli is an absolute dreamboat!
I didn't think she could top 'bride' but I could not put this down, she weaves magic through her pages and there is always something special about her characters; This is no exception.

There's just something so satisfying about a book that feels effortless to get into, and this - an admittedly very late introduction to Ali Hazelwood despite many recommendations - is exactly that. Fun read.

Ali Hazelwood is one of my favourite authors, so it pains me to say that this one was a big miss for me…I couldn’t get into it and had to DNF🥲

I really tried to push through to see if it would get better for me but I honestly just didn’t really like either of the MC’s and I felt no connection between them.

This is so very different from any of her previous books (which, to be fair, she does state before the book begins) it actually felt to me like it was written by someone else. I’m not sure this writing style really works for her unfortunately.

If Ali has one fan, it’s me. If she has no fans, I’m dead.

In all seriousness, I’m so attached to her writing style and uncanny ability to make every story seem so different yet familiar.

Not In Love was by no means an exception - it was peak STEMinist romance that she’s known for, but at a comprehensive level for science-averters such as myself.

Rue felt all too-relatable as an FMC: quiet, don’t talk me, introverted and scared of companionship hit way too close to home for me. Of course I loved it.

Eli is the definition of pining, love-sick puppy who just wants to take care of her in every way possible, whilst also being a dirty mofo who can absolutely call me ‘good girl’ whenever he wants.

If you couldn’t tell, I adored and devoured this and am forever grateful to HachetteAUS for sending me an arc 🫶🏻

Thanks so much to Netgalley & Hachette for the early copy!!

It was perfect, it had the Ali Hazelwood charm and everything! Her STEM romances just hit like no other, and this one was no different. She explores differing personality characteristics so well, especially with Rue and Eli. I loved there story and how well they connected. Especially with the terrible stories, I think those actually added a personal element to their purely physical relationship.

It's out now so honestly I think if you love Ali Hazelwood, you'd love this one.

This was the quickest 5 star read I e read in a while. It’s definitely deals with harder topics than previous Ali Hazelwood books but it just made me love it more.

It gave me hating game vibes with the whole company takeover aspect. I just love Rue and Eli so much and I know everyone else will too.

add more fluff and a little less smut and this was PERFECT. I absolutely loved this, I love Ali, I LOVED IT

Very different to Ali’s usual reads, and very, very steamy!! I loved the FMC but the MMC fell a little bit flat for me (although, looking for a man in finance, 6’5) I could have done with slightly less smut and more of a connection but I will read anything Ali writes!