Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood Summary, Characters and Themes
Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood, her fifth contemporary adult romance, delves into a high-stakes, STEM-fueled love story between Rue Siebert, a dedicated biotech engineer, and Eli Killgore, a powerful private equity executive.
When Eli’s firm sets its sights on taking over Rue’s company, their undeniable chemistry ignites a forbidden affair. Rue wrestles with loyalty to her mentor and her growing attraction to Eli, knowing their affair could collapse both their careers. As they navigate their personal baggage and professional conflict, the novel explores themes of trust, loyalty, and what it takes to build an honest, lasting relationship.
Summary
Dr. Rue Siebert works for Kline, a biotech startup, and leads a steady but solitary life. However, things take a sharp turn when Kline’s financial struggles put them at the mercy of a private equity firm called Harkness.
Rue soon discovers that one of the people spearheading Harkness’s hostile takeover is none other than Eli Killgore, a man she unexpectedly crossed paths with during a disastrous first date.
After matching on a dating app, their brief, awkward encounter had been interrupted by Rue’s estranged brother, Vincent. Despite the chaos, there was undeniable chemistry between Rue and Eli.
Now, with Eli poised to seize control of Kline, Rue finds herself conflicted. Eli is charming and persistent, suggesting they continue seeing each other, but Rue’s loyalty to Kline’s CEO, Florence—her mentor and friend—holds her back.
Eli is equally torn; he’s irresistibly drawn to Rue but also determined to complete his business deal. As Harkness moves forward with its plans, Eli reveals to his business partners, including Conor “Hark” Harkness and Minami, that he has a personal connection to Rue.
This complicates their strategy, but Eli remains focused on his dual goals: winning Rue’s heart and acquiring Kline.
Despite Rue’s initial resistance, their attraction pulls them back together. At a company event, they kiss, and soon after, they embark on a secret, no-strings-attached affair.
The more time they spend together, the deeper their emotional bond grows. Eli learns that Rue carries unresolved trauma from her childhood, particularly around her relationship with food and her fraught bond with her brother.
Rue, in turn, discovers that Eli has his own burdens, including caring for his younger sister, Maya, and carrying resentment toward Florence for past betrayals.
Eli eventually reveals to Rue a shocking truth: he, Minami, and Hark had been graduate students under Florence’s mentorship.
It was Minami who originally developed the biofuel technology that Florence used to build Kline, but Florence had stolen their research, forcing them out of academia.
This revelation shatters Rue’s trust in Florence and compels her to side with Eli and Harkness. She secretly provides them with the necessary documents to prove Florence’s wrongdoing, pushing the takeover closer to completion.
At the same time, Florence attempts to sell technology developed by Rue and others at Kline without their consent. Rue’s patent for a groundbreaking microbial coating is suddenly in jeopardy, making her realize that Florence is about to betray her just as she had betrayed Minami years earlier.
To protect Rue, Eli steps in and negotiates a deal that allows Florence to remain CEO but secures Rue’s rights to her patent.
As their relationship deepens, Rue struggles to express her feelings. In a vulnerable moment at their shared ice rink, she finally confesses her love to Eli.
The story concludes a year later with Rue and Eli sharing a peaceful life together, and when Eli proposes at her father’s cabin, Rue joyfully accepts.
Characters
Rue Siebert
Rue Siebert is the protagonist of Not in Love, a complex and driven biotech engineer who embodies both intellectual brilliance and emotional vulnerability. Having grown up in a turbulent household where food insecurity and neglect were common, Rue’s life is shaped by the trauma of her childhood.
This background has instilled in her a strong work ethic and a deep sense of responsibility, particularly towards her volatile brother, Vincent. Though outwardly successful, Rue struggles with a disordered relationship with food and has trouble forming emotional connections, especially romantic ones.
Rue’s loyalty is another defining trait. Her connection to Kline’s CEO, Florence, goes beyond professional respect; Florence was her mentor and friend, the person who believed in her when she most needed it.
This creates a moral dilemma when Eli Killgore enters her life, both romantically and as a threat to Kline’s future. Rue is a character in search of balance—balancing her career, her familial obligations, and her guarded heart.
Her journey is one of growth as she gradually opens herself up to love, realizing that true loyalty is built on honesty, not blind allegiance. Rue’s internal struggles, coupled with her determination to protect those she cares about, make her a deeply relatable and multi-dimensional character.
Eli Killgore
Eli Killgore is a multifaceted character, initially presented as a confident, charming, and business-savvy cofounder of Harkness, a private equity firm. His exterior confidence hides a man deeply scarred by past experiences, including being forced out of academia along with his friends by Florence’s betrayal.
Eli had once been a promising chemical engineering graduate student, but when Florence stole Minami’s biofuel research, his academic future was derailed. This led him to co-found Harkness as a way of reclaiming what was stolen.
Eli’s attraction to Rue is both emotional and intellectual, and his feelings for her quickly grow beyond a casual fling. He is aware of her vulnerabilities and seeks to protect her, particularly from her brother, Vincent.
While driven in his business pursuits, Eli’s motivations are also deeply personal. His loyalty to his friends and his desire to take back what was once theirs drive his actions.
His relationship with Rue forces him to navigate the fine line between ambition and love, revealing a softer, more vulnerable side that contrasts with his professional ruthlessness. Ultimately, Eli is a character defined by his determination, both in business and in love, as he is willing to fight for Rue while also ensuring that his friends receive the justice they deserve.
Florence
Florence is a deeply complicated figure, serving as both mentor and eventual antagonist in the story. As the CEO of Kline, she is portrayed as a highly intelligent, ambitious woman who helped bring the company to prominence with innovative biofuel technology.
However, her professional brilliance is undercut by the revelation that she built her career by betraying her former graduate students, including Eli and Minami. Florence’s theft of Minami’s research exposes her as a morally compromised character, willing to sacrifice relationships for her own success.
Her relationship with Rue adds complexity to her character. Florence genuinely mentored Rue, helping her advance in a male-dominated field, and Rue holds her in high regard.
But as the story unfolds, Florence’s duplicity becomes clear. She is willing to sell Rue’s own work without permission, repeating the same betrayal she once inflicted on Eli and Minami.
Florence’s character serves as a cautionary tale about the cost of unchecked ambition and the way it can erode trust, loyalty, and integrity.
Vincent
Vincent, Rue’s estranged brother, is a volatile and troubled character who represents the weight of Rue’s past. He is bitter and angry, particularly about Rue’s decision to leave their difficult family situation behind by going to college and pursuing a successful career.
His resentment manifests in constant disruptions in Rue’s life, most notably in their confrontation over the inherited family cabin. Vincent sees Rue’s success as abandonment, exacerbating his already unstable behavior.
Vincent’s appearance in Rue’s life forces her to confront feelings of guilt and responsibility. She believes she failed him by choosing her own path, and this sense of duty keeps her from cutting ties with him, even when his presence becomes harmful.
Eli’s ability to stand up to Vincent on Rue’s behalf marks a turning point in their relationship, as Rue begins to see that she doesn’t have to bear the burden of Vincent’s anger alone. Vincent, though a secondary character, serves as an emotional foil to Rue, highlighting her internal struggle between familial obligation and self-preservation.
Tisha
Tisha is Rue’s best friend and confidante, providing both emotional support and a lighter counterbalance to Rue’s serious demeanor. As a fellow employee at Kline, Tisha understands the pressures of working in a high-stakes, male-dominated environment.
Her presence in Rue’s life is a reminder of the value of friendship and solidarity among women in STEM fields. Tisha’s relationship with her sister, Nyota, mirrors Rue’s troubled bond with her brother, but in a much more functional and healthy way.
This contrast emphasizes Rue’s isolation and the complications in her familial relationships. Tisha is a grounding force for Rue, offering a different perspective on the company’s takeover and Eli’s advances.
She also plays a pivotal role in informing Rue about the threat to her patent, which accelerates Rue’s confrontation with Florence. Tisha’s character represents loyalty and the importance of having someone in your corner when navigating both personal and professional upheaval.
Minami
Minami, one of Eli’s closest friends and fellow cofounders of Harkness, is central to the plot even though she appears less frequently. It was Minami’s biofuel research that Florence stole, setting off the chain of events that led to the formation of Harkness and the planned takeover of Kline.
Minami is portrayed as brilliant but deeply wounded by the betrayal. Her character symbolizes the cost of intellectual theft in academic and professional settings.
Though quiet and reserved, Minami’s presence looms large over both Eli’s and Rue’s decisions. Eli’s loyalty to Minami is unwavering, and his mission to reclaim her stolen work is what drives much of the plot.
Minami’s experiences also parallel Rue’s own struggles with Florence, underscoring the novel’s themes of betrayal, intellectual property, and the tension between loyalty and ambition.
Conor “Hark” Harkness
Conor “Hark” Harkness, Eli’s business partner and longtime friend, is the mastermind behind Harkness, the private equity firm. He is pragmatic, sharp, and focused on their goal of regaining control of Minami’s stolen work.
Hark is less emotionally involved than Eli, maintaining a clear-eyed view of their business ambitions. However, he also values loyalty and camaraderie among their group.
His friendship with Eli and Minami showcases the tight-knit bond between the group, forged by shared betrayal and a desire for justice. Hark’s role in the novel is primarily to keep the business side of the plot moving forward, but he also serves as a voice of reason, often urging Eli to maintain focus.
Though not as emotionally entangled as the other characters, Hark’s contributions are essential to the resolution of the central conflict. His strategic mind and dedication to his friends’ cause make him a valuable player in the story’s outcome.
Themes
The Collision of Professional Ambition and Personal Desire
In Not in Love, Ali Hazelwood intricately explores the tension between professional ambition and personal desire. Rue Siebert is deeply invested in her career as a biotech engineer at Kline, where she not only finds financial stability but also deep loyalty to Florence, her mentor.
This dedication to her work makes her extremely wary of Eli Killgore, whose company threatens to dismantle everything she’s worked for. Eli, in turn, is torn between his firm’s aggressive takeover of Kline and his growing desire for Rue.
The novel highlights how the pursuit of success in high-stakes, male-dominated fields can complicate personal relationships, especially when power dynamics, loyalties, and ethical boundaries become entangled. Rue’s internal conflict is emblematic of how difficult it can be to reconcile ambition with emotional vulnerability, and her journey shows that personal fulfillment often requires difficult compromises.
Loyalty and the Complexity of Betrayal in Professional and Personal Relationships
The theme of loyalty plays a pivotal role in this novel, manifesting in both Rue’s relationship with Kline and her evolving connection with Eli. Rue’s loyalty to Florence runs deep—Florence is not only her mentor but also a close friend, someone who has supported her professional development for years.
This makes the discovery of Florence’s betrayal—a theft of intellectual property from Eli’s group—devastating for Rue. The novel shows how loyalty, when rooted in trust, can blind individuals to darker truths, leaving them vulnerable to manipulation.
Eli, too, faces a conflict of loyalty. While committed to his business partners and the goal of reclaiming the biofuel tech, he is drawn into an emotional commitment to Rue.
This complex navigation of personal and professional loyalties forces both characters to confront the nuances of betrayal, where not all relationships are as they seem, and what appears as treachery on the surface may be more layered when all the facts come to light.
The Interplay of Trauma and Emotional Self-Sabotage
Trauma—particularly childhood trauma—shapes the emotional landscape of both protagonists, adding a layer of psychological complexity to their romantic and professional entanglements. Rue’s experiences with food insecurity and abandonment by her father have left her with deep-rooted insecurities.
Her disordered relationship with food and her protective stance toward her volatile brother, Vincent, show how past trauma continues to shape her present, especially when it comes to trust and intimacy. Rue’s emotional self-sabotage is a recurring theme, as she constantly questions her worthiness of both professional success and love.
Eli, on the other hand, has experienced emotional and financial instability, especially when he had to take responsibility for his younger sister. His trauma makes him guarded, though he attempts to shield Rue from his intense feelings to avoid overwhelming her.
The novel illustrates how trauma impacts one’s ability to form healthy relationships and emphasizes the importance of healing as a prerequisite for emotional connection.
Ethical Boundaries in Science and Corporate Greed
Not in Love delves into the ethical dilemmas that arise in fields like biotechnology, where scientific innovation often clashes with corporate greed. Florence’s theft of Minami’s biofuel technology highlights a major ethical violation, raising questions about ownership, intellectual property, and the sacrifices made for success.
The novel critiques the way corporate greed can overshadow the ethical responsibility to respect scientific contributions. Harkness, with its goal to recover what was stolen, may appear morally righteous on the surface, but the lengths to which Eli and his partners are willing to go to dismantle Kline blur the lines between ethical justice and ruthless ambition.
Rue’s own work in microbial coatings becomes part of this ethical dilemma when she realizes that Florence intends to sell her idea without her consent. By embedding these ethical quandaries into the romance plot, Hazelwood encourages readers to reflect on the broader implications of innovation and power in the modern corporate landscape.
The Vulnerability of Intellectual Capital and the Question of Ownership in STEM Fields
The novel presents the vulnerability of intellectual capital in STEM-related fields, portraying the precarious nature of ideas and innovations in a competitive, profit-driven world. Florence’s exploitation of Minami’s groundbreaking biofuel invention exposes how easily intellectual contributions can be manipulated or stolen, especially when legal protections fail or are deliberately circumvented.
This theme resonates deeply within the professional trajectories of all the characters, especially Rue, who comes to realize that even her own work is not immune to corporate exploitation. The novel engages with the notion that in STEM fields—dominated by high-stakes research and financial pressures—ideas are as fragile as the relationships between the individuals who create them.
The conflict between personal creativity and corporate interests forces Rue, Eli, and the other characters to question who truly “owns” an idea and how much one is willing to sacrifice to protect that ownership.
The Dichotomy of Power and Vulnerability in Romantic Relationships
The romantic tension between Rue and Eli operates within a broader theme of power and vulnerability, one that goes beyond their corporate rivalry. Throughout the novel, Rue’s guardedness stems from her fears of vulnerability, a result of her past traumas and her professional loyalty to Florence.
In contrast, Eli, though outwardly powerful and dominant in the corporate sphere, is emotionally vulnerable in ways he struggles to admit. His love for Rue exposes a softer, more introspective side of him, challenging the traditional dynamics of power in romantic relationships.
Rue, too, finds herself surrendering to her feelings, despite her professional anxieties and the potential consequences of aligning with someone from the “enemy” camp. Their relationship reflects the delicate balance between control and surrender—how emotional vulnerability can, paradoxically, become a source of strength in love.
By weaving these complex themes throughout the narrative, Hazelwood elevates Not in Love beyond a simple romance, making it a rich exploration of the intersections between love, ambition, trauma, and ethics in a high-stakes world.