What's to like: How incessantly one can try to win someone's heart!
In hindsight, I did not know that Not In Love is the story of Eli and Rue, the former being the brother of the FMC of Problematic Summer Romance and that I had to read this first, but I enjoyed it nonetheless!
In Not in Love, we meet Rue Siebert, a scientist at Kline, a research company whose main technology is biofuels and is headed by a former UT professor — Rue’s dearest friend, Florence, who owns the patent for the biofuel tech. Rue also has another friend, Tisha, a fellow scientist, who has a younger sister, Nyota, who is a lawyer. The book starts with Rue and Tisha questioning a possible takeover of Kline by Harkness, a private equity firm, due to Kline’s loan being forcibly assigned to them. While they are trying to understand what this might mean for Rue’s food preservation project and the company as a whole, the topic shifts to the date Rue had the previous night and how it went — midway through which she sent Tisha a photo of the guy’s driver’s license. Contrary to her preferred method of one-night stands through a dating app, this date didn’t end quite as she expected it to. When Harkness’ founders come to Kline that day for an initial introduction, she sees a familiar face in the group — Eli Killgore, her date from the previous night.
Eli has never felt like this about a woman before, even though he almost got married a few years ago. Still reeling from the loss of his parents while taking care of his younger sister and his dog, Tiny, he has learned that life moves on. Rue, on the other hand, has her own childhood trauma to deal with and is a pushover for her younger brother. She has never formed a real connection with anyone beyond Tisha and Florence her whole life, and as a result, comes off as standoffish when she is really just socially awkward. Grappling with the fear of never finding someone who thinks she is enough, she signs up on a dating app, clearly specifying that what she wants from her dates is purely physical. Throughout the book, she convinces herself that what she has with Eli is only physical, even though both of them have shared their most shameful (at least in their own eyes) stories without judgment. She feels a stab of guilt every time she spends time with him because of her loyalty to Florence and what Eli and his friends are trying to do to her company. But there is something Eli and his friends are hiding too — the real reason they specifically target Kline and how, despite running a private equity firm, they know their way around a lab like academics.
It is beautiful to see this reverse grumpy–sunshine trope unfold and to watch how much effort Eli puts into understanding her non-verbal cues, never once making her feel like she needs to be more outgoing or “out there.” Even when she doubts her judgment of everyone around her, including him, he never gives up on her and proves time and again why he will never break her trust. Her issues around food and relationships are something to be aware of before going into this book, as Ali Hazelwood mentions in the disclaimer at the beginning. As always, writing a romance set in academia while portraying the cutthroat grind of that life — and interweaving it with another high-pressure profession — while maintaining focus on the central love story and the dynamics among the side characters, is a balance this author continues to achieve. I loved every part of this book, especially how self-aware Rue and Eli are — it makes them so much more relatable. I hope anyone who picks up this book feels the same warmth and acceptance I felt while reading it. Also, so much spice in this one!!
Favorite line: “I want her to be all right more than I want to keep my dignity.”
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