55 pages • 1 hour read
Ali HazelwoodNot in Love
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: Ali Hazelwood and Women in STEM
In addition to embarking on a career as an author of best-selling romance novels, Ali Hazelwood is also a neuroscientist and a professor who has researched brain simulation and cognitive neuroscience. Her experiences as a woman in typically male-dominated scientific and academic fields heavily influence many of her novels. Although not all of Hazelwood’s protagonists share her field of study, they are all extremely intelligent women who excel in traditionally male-dominated scientific fields, and they are frequently drawn to their chosen fields due to deep personal connections; for example, Rue’s research on extending the shelf life of food is connected to her childhood experiences with food scarcity. Hazelwood’s characters often work in labs and universities, and the competitive nature of their fields compels them to work hard to prove themselves as they endeavor to rise in the ranks and achieve their professional goals.
The settings of Hazelwood’s novels are naturally rife with conflict, and Hazelwood’s personal experiences in STEM fields allow her to infuse her descriptions of character dynamics with a sense of verisimilitude. In Not in Love, one of the major conflicts is that Rue does not know who is trustworthy, and she is as concerned about her patent as she is about the state of her emotions. Hazelwood’s familiarity with this professional environment allows her to build a credible world that extends beyond the limited boundaries of a romance-based plot. She therefore balances the specificity of the characters’ world with an implicit examination of issues such as sexism, misogyny, childhood trauma, self-esteem, and friendship. These topics reappear in many of her novels and add a human element to the science-themed backdrop of each story.
Genre Context: Tropes in Contemporary Romance Novels
Many romance novels conform to well-worn patterns and rely on a limited range of stock conflicts and tropes. In addition to the famous “happily ever after” conclusion, such novels often feature key plot devices that require a specific progression to this expected ending. Not in Love, as the title suggests, indulges in a more specialized version of the so-called “enemies-to-lovers” trope. Although this plot pattern appears quite frequently in the romance genre, the edgy interactions that such a premise requires often add a unique form of tension to what would otherwise be a straightforward relationship.
As a neuroscientist and professor, Ali Hazelwood adds a creative twist to such common tropes by working them into academic and scientific contexts. Given the inherent difficulties that often arise when female scientists must contend with the social realities of a male-dominated and often misogynistic sphere, the enemies-to-lovers trope is a logical framework for Not in Love. Because Rue and Eli are on the opposite sides of a work conflict, this inherent tension complicates their mutual attraction, and Rue believes that Eli is her enemy until she learns the full story of her boss’s past. The adversarial relationship between the two main characters is further seasoned by elements of the “forbidden romance” trope, in which romantic partners often engage in an intimate relationship, even though such a connection may constitute a conflict of interest on the professional level.
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By Ali Hazelwood
