NOT IN LOVE by Ali Hazelwood. It's my first Ali Hazelwood book and I picked this one for the simple fact that every book she writes hits popularity and social media is always abuzz about it. Her previous title Bride, though a genre away from her usual, too, was met with great enthusiasm. I was aware she writes about women in STEM and pairs her stories with wit, braun, love and romance. So let me tell you how my experience reading Ali Hazelwood was for the first time.
NOT IN LOVE is about Rue Seibert, a chemical engineer working in a tech company. Her profile is focused on her tech in food produce and shelf life. She is a layered character, Rue knows she is smart, which her academics and work prove, however as confident as she is about her professional life it's the opposite regarding her personal life. Coming from a difficult childhood and upbringing she has walls up and boundaries drawn in stone. Until, she meetsEli on a blind hook-up date, yes you read it right because Rue as a rule doesn't double dip or date. Eli turns out to be someone higher up the management pool at work, someone new the day after their almost hook-up. Will Rue carry on being NOT IN LOVE or will Eli start chipping away at her personal wall and boundaries?
Eli too, is a chemical engineer, well almost and that's where his complications come from as he is currently one of the founders of a private equity firm. His life is complicated in more ways than one and that doesn't show on the outside where he is all Sunshine. It seems he and Rue might not be a good idea given their baggage yet their attraction to each other is almost instant and undeniable. Will they not be in love and still be there for each other or content with being just professional rivals in a way?
If you are a Hazelwood fan I'm sure this book will make its way to you soon as it's released. For those who are intrigued to see these nerdy characters fall in love do pick up a copy soon and enjoy the witty charm they deliver.
I enjoyed -
The conversations, in the way Rue and Eli have even the mundane ones, they are full of witty banter. There is a logic to how they read and understand each other. Imagine a scientist dissecting human interactions on the go, that's what I felt like I was experiencing.
The emotional exchange between Rue and Eli was at once logical and still had an undercurrent of vulnerability and impulsiveness akin to being stupid, giddy and in love for the first time.
The friendships were awesome and entertaining. The mystery that kept unraveling alongside was done nicely. It was refreshing to see how the negative characters were unapologetic and outsmarted.
A popular saying stayed with me throughout reading this book, that of a duck who is calm on the surface gliding calmly on the water, however is madly flapping under the surface to stay afloat. This is how Rue and Eli were most of the time.
With a little bit of mystery, revenge, lots of friendship, love and spice I enjoyed NOT IN LOVE for its quirky charms and emotional exchanges.
A forbidden, secret affair proves that all’s fair in love and science—from New York Times bestselling author Ali Hazelwood.
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.
© 2003-2025 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy