Review: Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood

 

Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood

Publication Date: June 11th 2024 by Berkley & Penguin Audio

Pages: 384

Audio Book Length: 11hrs 56min

Narrators: Callie Dalton & Jason Clarke

Source: Publishers

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Libro.fm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Rue and Eli are on opposite sides of a hostile takeover of Kline. Rue works as a biotech engineer for the company and Eli works for Harkness, the company who’s taken control of their finances. However, before this happened, they met through an online app for a hookup, and made a connection.

 

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Not in Love. I got off to a rocky start, set it aside, read a few friends mixed reactions and then dived back in, a little more prepared for the story, and was hooked.

 

I’m not a big fan of the enemies-to-lovers trope if there’s a lot of mean back and forth. It’s hard to come back from that, but this wasn’t that. I’m also not a fan of more sex than plot, and there were quite a few sex scenes. I read a couple, (they were well done and very hot!) and then skimmed over the rest. The plot lines, the reason Eli and his friends were investigating Kline, what was behind the takeover, as well as Rue and Eli’s troubled backgrounds, were what grabbed my attention and kept me invested in the story. The story was more serious, less silly and laugh-out-loud than Hazelwood’s previous romances, and it fit the story. Even though they were on opposite sides of this conflict, they couldn’t stay away from each other.  I truly liked both Rue and Eli and rooted for their HEA. I appreciated there wasn’t a dramatic third act breakup, too.

 

I alternately read an e-copy and listened to the audio version of the story. Callie Dalton and Jason Clarke did a phenomenal job narrating and I loved that they each performed their character the whole way through, even when it wasn’t their POV! Such a treat!

4 Stars

Book Description:

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.