Release Day Spotlight & Review: Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood

Happy Release Day!

Ali Hazelwood's latest STEMinist romance is now available!

Get your copy today!

About the Book

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.

Excerpt

 Visit Penguin Random House's website HERE for an excerpt!

My Review

Not in Love is probably the hottest book Ms. Hazelwood has ever written.

What you can expect from the story:

• Two person POV*
• Smart, strong FMC*
• Dominant, Clark Kent-type MMC*
• Steamy Chemistry
• Possible corporate espionage? 
• A little mystery
• A whole lot of sexy times

Not in Love has the signature Ali Hazelwood snark and STEMinist heroines. The book is well written and the storyline held my interest. But I had a hard time relating to Rue. I felt she wasn’t as approachable or as emotive as previous FMCs. It felt like Eli was the star of the book and Rue a supporting character, for which I was glad for the dual points-of-view. 

This book is definitely NOT suitable for work because the alone time scenes with Rue and Eli kept me blushing fiercely and the expletive-heavy dialogue had me laughing out loud, very loudly. 

Not in Love is a solid read and I’m looking forward to the next Ali Hazelwood book.

FTC Disclaimer: I voluntarily read a copy of the book generously provided by the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way influences my thoughts or feelings about the book or the content of my review.

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books

Books-A-Million | Kobo | Google Play | Penguin Random House

About the Author

Photo: © Justin Murphy / Out of the Attic Photography

Ali Hazelwood is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love, Theoretically and The Love Hypothesis, as well as a writer of peer-reviewed articles about brain science, in which no one makes out and the ever after is not always happy. Originally from Italy, she lived in Germany and Japan before moving to the US to pursue a PhD in neuroscience. When Ali is not at work, she can be found running, eating cake pops, or watching sci-fi movies with her three feline overlords (and her slightly-less-feline husband). alihazelwood.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Point of view
*Female main character
*Male main character

Blog Tour & Review: Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

Happy Release Week Ali Hazelwood!

Love, Theoretically is Ali's third full-length novel in her STEMinist* world!
She has also penned THREE STEMinist novellas!

If you haven't read any of these amazing books, I highly recommend them! They are engaging, entertaining, laugh-out-loud funny and so heartfelt! 

Today I'm sharing my review of Love, Theoretically! Enjoy!

My Thoughts

I absolutely love all of Ms. Hazelwood’s STEMinist romance books and I was so excited to read Love, Theoretically. The author did say in the Author’s Note section (yes I always read those!) that this book is her most academic/academic politics book she’s written so far and it absolutely is. That being said, it doesn’t take away from the love story or the brilliance of the characters, it fully enhances them and the reader experience.

Love, Theoretically is not just a hot love story with a super hunk who looks amazing shirtless, it’s a story of truth and self-discovery. Elsie adjusts her personality to people-please everyone she meets (definitely has some emotional baggage). But the one person she can’t fool is her nemesis Jack Smith. Not only is he the brother of her fake boyfriend (long story) he’s also on the committee in charge of deciding her professional fate and who gets the job of her dreams. Awkward to say the least! As the two spend more time together through the interviewing process, Elsie discovers that she doesn’t hate Jack, “not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.” (10 Things I Hate About You reference 😉)

OMG this book has all the feels! I really enjoyed reading it and I couldn’t put it down! I love a smart heroine and Elsie is amazing. She is smart, funny and easily relatable. Elsie changes faces to give everyone what they want–so they won’t get mad and leave her. The process to learn how to stand up for herself and be truthful with others about who the “real” Elsie is, that took a lot of courage, especially taking the chance of that person deciding to leave or not “like” her. I feel like such a proud mom when she actually started believing in herself in that way.

Jack. What is not to love about this guy? Yeah he’s a big jerk but he’s got some scars of his own and as Jack and Elsie gravitate towards each other, it becomes important for them to share each other's hopes, fears, hurts and hearts. So beautiful! I love how patient Jack is and how he “saw” the real Elsie and wouldn’t stop fighting for her to be revealed. *Swoon*

Love, Theoretically may be an academic love story about physics but there is crazy chemistry between Jack and Elsie, so much so that I may have blushed a time or three! It was an absolute joy to read and I am desperately looking forward to Ms. Hazelwood’s next book. What science discipline will she tackle next?

FTC Disclaimer: I voluntarily read a copy of the book generously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

About the Book

Rival physicists collide in a vortex of academic feuds and fake dating shenanigans in this delightfully STEMinist romcom from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis and Love on the Brain.

 

The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. By day, she’s an adjunct professor, toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure. By other day, Elsie makes up for her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend, tapping into her expertly honed people-pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs.

 

Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and arrogant older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And he’s the same Jack Smith who rules over the physics department at MIT, standing right between Elsie and her dream job.

 

Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?

Purchase Links

Love, Theoretically

*STEMinist is an advocate for equal representation and for increasing the presence of women in science, technology, engineering, and math.