Release Date: 11/6/24
Genre: Romance
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.
Review
Ms Hazelwood, what in the insta-love happened here?
I’ve been a big fan of Hazelwood’s work for a while, but this book was a huge disappointment. I’m not sure what has changed since Love, Theoretically and Bride, but with this book I was met with flat characters and a rushed and unreasonable romance plot.
However, I did find the general plot to be quite good, and honestly, I was more engaged by the science/business plot than the romance. My biggest issue with this book was that the characters were very much lacking in my opinion. Their personalities weren’t very well-developed, especially the FMC, leading to shaky romance.
Additionally, I really disliked how quick and unbelievable the love story was. Insta-love immediately ruins a romance novel for me, and this was the epitome of that.
While I had a lot of issues with this book, I did really like the science plot. This definitely wasn’t a favourite, but STEM-loving romance readers may want to give it a go. Make sure to check TWs before reading.
Rating: 2.5/5
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rach xx