Not in Love
This book surprised the heck out of me.
After reading Love, Theoretically back in 2023 (and loving it, I should add), I thought Ali Hazelwood had crossed my threshold for steam in her books. I did give her YA novel, Check & Mate, a try after that, but I wasn’t that impressed. I was starting to feel like explicit content was outweighing the plot and that the plots in her “STEM-inist” books were starting to feel all the same.
So why did I pick this one up two years later? Two words: peer pressure. Actually, four words fit better: fear of missing out. The hype surrounding Hazelwood’s latest release, Problematic Summer Romance, has been REAL, y’all. And I knew that if I wanted to pick it up (still on that library holds list for now!), I should probably get to know these characters first. You could say, curiosity killed the Cassie, in this instance.
When romance authors say books are “standalones,” it’s true. They are self-contained, but I always find myself enjoying the second or third book in an interconnected standalone series better if I read the first one first. So that’s how I got here, picking up Eli and Rue’s story when I’d nearly sworn it off. Knowing the entire plot of this one was sex-forward, I decided that I’d start reading and give myself permission to put it down at any point.
I found this to be tender and heartfelt and didn’t feel like the plot was a complete repeat of Ali’s other 3 STEM books. Rue is an engineer. Eli is part of a financial firm buying her company’s loan, but they don’t know this when they meet on an app. When they encounter one another at work, Rue sees Eli as the enemy, but she doesn’t know his whole history or story. Their attraction is strong and immediate. They deny their feelings until they can’t.
I got through 40% of this book and didn’t hit any open-door scenes, which really laid the foundation for the characters and their growth. Both of them have significant childhood baggage; Rue especially has a lack of attachment to people in general. I think this is why, when the steam finally hit (like a freight train), it felt more poignant and meaningful than it would have otherwise.
Rue’s journey is one of finding safety in trusting another person, yielding control, and letting go of her need to “have it all together.” And the way that both characters exchange stories of their dark and ugly truths was groundwork for their growing intimate relationship (in and out of the bedroom).
I wouldn’t recommend this to all audiences, but I thought this had much more substance than I'd falsely assumed and I guess I won’t write Ali Hazelwood off as “not for me” quite yet.
A couple quotes:
-
🌶️ This book contains multiple explicit, on-page intimate scenes in chapters 11, 18, 20, 22, 25, 27, and 33. There is also significant steam in chapter 10.
