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Not in Love (Not in Love, #1)

Ali Hazelwood

Start date: July 1, 2024

Finish date: July 31, 2024

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What Members Thought

Oct 07, 2024 Jenn rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2024, 3-star-reads, contemporary, adult-fiction, romance

Umm well this was interesting. I feel like Hazelwood's first book was magic but everything I've read from her since hasn't quite lived up to that and it's made me a little sad. But let's talk this book.

Not in Love introduces us right away to Rue Siebert. Right away we learn that she's not a girl for relationships. She does single night hook ups and leaves it at that. When one of her hook ups gets interrupted by an unwanted visitor, Rue is sad that she has a no second time rule because there was Umm well this was interesting. I feel like Hazelwood's first book was magic but everything I've read from her since hasn't quite lived up to that and it's made me a little sad. But let's talk this book.

Not in Love introduces us right away to Rue Siebert. Right away we learn that she's not a girl for relationships. She does single night hook ups and leaves it at that. When one of her hook ups gets interrupted by an unwanted visitor, Rue is sad that she has a no second time rule because there was something about this guy that intrigued her. Imagine her surprise when he shows up the next day preparing to take over the company she works for.

Meet Eli Killgore, it's just a crazy coincidence that his random hook up happens to work for the company his company is in the process of buying out. But that doesn't mean he wants to stay away. Eli is drawn to Rue and is determined to have their one night. Which makes for interesting work interactions. But of course, nothing is as it seems and secrets are kept from Rue which when they come out, don't go over well.

So what didn't I like? Well the romance honestly. I don't understand how they went from lust to love. Cause all I saw was lust. Yes, they had a few conversations where they told each other stories about how horrible they were (it was a weird thing they did), but there wasn't really ever any other connection between the two that wasn't physical. Most of their conversations revolved around sex and what they wanted to do to each other, so idk, I just don't see their "love".

In addition to that, the way it went from 1st person to 3rd person was really jarring. Why not write both POV's in 1st person or 3rd? Though honestly, it felt like Rue's POV was in 3rd person with how robotic she was. This woman had zero emotions. Yes, I get that's how her character was supposed to be but when you're writing someone like that in 1st person, we are still supposed to get more from being in her head. But we got nothing. So the 1st person POV was moot. I just was not a fan of hers.

Overall, it was just okay. The story was predictable - especially the corporate games that were going on. And the the storyline with Rue and her brother just felt thrown in to try to give her some sort of compassionate side and it didn't really work because, again, there was zero communication and zero emotion. I think I just need to lower my expectations when I go into her books. ...more

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Jul 24, 2024 Tbirdplanstoread rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: own-paper-back, 2024-07-jul, rec-d-in-2024

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This has to be the biggest disappointment I've had in one of Ali's books. She is one of my favorite authors. I've read all of her other books and love them. While we were warned by her that this one was supposed to be different in the amount of smut, it still did not prepare me for the difference in the MMC.

I hate Eli. He is obsessive and manipulative. And did I say obsessive? To the point of constantly talking about wanting to lock Rue away. He is also very disgusting, saying that if he had bee This has to be the biggest disappointment I've had in one of Ali's books. She is one of my favorite authors. I've read all of her other books and love them. While we were warned by her that this one was supposed to be different in the amount of smut, it still did not prepare me for the difference in the MMC.

I hate Eli. He is obsessive and manipulative. And did I say obsessive? To the point of constantly talking about wanting to lock Rue away. He is also very disgusting, saying that if he had been married to his previous fiancée, he would have cheated on her with Rue. Wtf. His inner monologue was vile and disgusting. Also, he talked a big game but never quite followed through. He thought of sex with Rue ALL. THE. TIME. He constantly talked about being into so many kinks, but that was actually sorely lacking in the proof department. Once he finally got ahold of Rue, they had sex of some form or fashion, but nothing that was special or especially "kinky," so that was actually kind of a let-down. Also, his "magic cock"...come on now...*insert eye roll here*

The ending, though. That really sealed the deal for me on this guy. He told Rue that he loved her, even knowing how vulnerable she was at that specific moment, after finding out about her patent and that one of her best friends (of which she only had 2) had betrayed her, and when he KNEW she was not very good at expressing her emotions in that way. When she didn't respond fast enough for him, he walked away, like that was it. They were done. I was so confused by this scene. Like, why would he do that? Why right then? He pretty much already got her to admit that she wanted to spend more time with him, which for her was already out of her comfort zone since she never "double-dipped." Then, they meet at the rink, and he manipulates her again and pretty much tells her he's gonna give her 2 minutes to say she loves him or he's leaving again. WTAF dude.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of the toxic bullshit from this guy. He comes across like such a good guy, but he is an obsessed sociopath. Yikes.

Please, Ali, for the love of everything that's holy and decent in your writing, go back to the other MMCs...this guy was terrible and no good for Rue.

On the other hand, even without the actual kinky stuff, the smut scenes were really nice. Not the ones he thought about doing, but the actual ones. That's what the 2 stars are for lol....Eli ruined this book for me, though :/ ...more

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Jul 07, 2024 Shruti morethanmylupus rated it liked it

Ali Hazelwood is one of my favorite romcom writers, but this was definitely my least favorite of her books. I liked both of our main characters, Rue and Eli, but the M&A plot line here took over too much of the story for me. It was an interesting part of the story, but I found myself repeatedly wishing for more of their back story instead of the details of the acquisition.

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