We hope you enjoy our book review of Not in Love as much as we enjoyed creating it! This was a really fun one for us to discuss.
Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood is the story of Rue and Eli. Rue is a scientist working alongside her two close friends on a passion project at her company, Kline. Eli works for a financial firm that has assumed the loan for Kline – they should be enemies, but we know they won’t be.
This book has a few side plots about friendship, trauma, revenge, and trust. The main plot for this book though, is spice. Like spicy spice, after page 90-something, you’re in a pepper patch.
We both enjoyed this book, and while we were warned by Ali herself this wasn’t her usual content, we were at times overwhelmed with the side plots. This is the best male character though, we adored Eli! This review is rounded up to a 4, because Ali Hazelwood never fails to write an enjoyable, well-written, and funny book.
Favorite Quotes
Alyssa
Out of all the people I’ve met, the things I’ve wanted, the places I’ve been, none has ever felt as necessary as you do.
Ali Hazelwood, Not In Love
Meagan
You’re enough Rue. And if you aren’t…I just don’t mind.
Ali Hazelwood, Not In Love
WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!
 Alyssa |  Meagan | |
|---|---|---|
Ok, before we get straight to the spice… | ||
The spice was top notch. If you were looking for more spice than plot this was fantastic. | ||
Yes, I’m so glad her Author’s Note at the beginning called this out. | ||
True. I know Ali gets some backlash for having a consistent formula. But I like that formula. | ||
There was a turtle which made me happy. | ||
LOL. But do TMNT count? | ||
Yep! Also the book smelled good and the ink was consistent throughout. Which is an improvement over Funny Story. | ||
Oh good! Speaking of breaking the formula… | ||
I was a little worried about the dual POV at first. One of my favorite things about Ali’s books is that the reader can see the guy is head over heels for the main character, but she can’t. | ||
Right! And did you notice that Rue was in 1st person but Eli was in 3rd person? | ||
Yes, it threw me for a sec. | ||
It worked though because I always knew who was speaking. I’d love to know her reasoning behind doing it. | ||
It must have been mind-bending to write that way. | ||
True. And I think it had to be written this way to get a true sense of Rue. | ||
Ali really did make that work and I loved Eli’s internal dialogue. | ||
Yes, all of my highlighted sections contain his dialogue. Another change up from other books is that the female lead wasn’t super petite. | ||
Yep, but he still had a giant… | ||
HAHAHAHA | ||
Someday when we write a book, the guy is just going to have a perfectly normal one… we can just say it’s perfect – the reader can decide what that means for them. | ||
Noted. LOL. What did you think of Eli aside from his package? | ||
He was great! He almost replaced Adam as my favorite, but I still picture Adam Driver for him, so that didn’t happen. (I love Adam Driver). | ||
Hmmm, I think mine is still Liam from Under One Roof. But I did love Eli. He found all her quirkiness adorable. Which I appreciate. | ||
Yes, and brings up my favorite quote. That he thought she was enough and didn’t care if she wasn’t. She thought he was safe. | ||
Yes, they definitely accepted each other without judgment. | ||
He was really in tune with her. What did you think of Rue? Could you have been friends with her? | ||
No. Simply because I’m too like her and only make friends when other friends force me to. | ||
Yes, me too. Wait. How did we manage to become friends then? | ||
Forced proximity at work. | ||
Ah, right – one of my favorite tropes! I liked that she was unapologetically a mess. She had a messy room and didn’t care about bringing him in. | ||
I loved that she didn’t know how to pet the dog. That one scene where Eli anxiously waits to see if she will. I loved that. | ||
I loved the giant dog named Tiny. Those interactions were adorable. Rue read as very stoic and matter of fact, but she was different with him. | ||
They were well matched. And they didn’t try to change themselves or each other. | ||
Yes. They were both VERY sex positive with no jealousy. | ||
Speaking of sex positive. What did you think about how they met? | ||
I like that they met in that manner and then were forced to work together. Especially in that context. | ||
Also, how they didn’t get to bone that first night, so there was all this tension and thought they just needed to get it out of their system. I loved that part of the plot. | ||
There was quite a bit of plot. And it didn’t completely break the Ali formula… The whole professional betrayal and the character was clueless. | ||
And then there was the revenge plot with the four friends. | ||
The revenge plot seemed resolved a little too quickly and easily. | ||
And unsatisfying. I can’t imagine being out for revenge for that long and being okay with those terms. | ||
Right, but any other option would have put someone else in the same position they were seeking revenge for. | ||
True, just got tied up too neatly I think. | ||
Then there was the food insecurity. | ||
The ex-fiance and the cooking. | ||
Rue’s brother and the cabin. | ||
He didn’t get along with his parents and had to take in his sister. | ||
The ice skating was very random. I know it was supposed to add to their connection and I did like that Eli kept showing up where Rue least expected, but the skating was random. | ||
We have to talk about Florence. | ||
Florence was a turd sandwich. | ||
LOL. | ||
I feel like the bit with Florence was a plot hole. Rue had so few close friends and her whole “I’m prepared to cut a bitch” for messing with those friends. | ||
It didn’t make sense to me that Rue wasn’t more hurt regarding Florence. | ||
Agreed. It was kind of an “oh well” and moving on. | ||
I did appreciate the ending. Finally a romance where they wanted to be child free. I never see that. | ||
The happy ending didn’t have to be what was expected of them. | ||
I liked the ending, too. And it had one of my favorite quotes. Which I’m not going to repeat here… but it’s his response to Rue asking if he had a ring. 😉 | ||
Hahaha, that was hilarious. You still need to read Bride. I’ll let you borrow my book in case you want to read a physical copy. | ||
It’s been forever since I read a physical book. Maybe 5 years? I just remember being annoyed the time wasn’t showing in the top corner. LOL. | ||
LOL. It was a fast read for me, so hopefully that won’t matter. I also already pre-ordered her next book. SQUEAL. This one wasn’t my favorite, but it was still so enjoyable. | ||