This is another winner from Hazelwood and I zoomed through it. Rue and Eli are so perfect for each other. This is a forbidden romance – Eli is one of the partners trying to take over Kline, the Biotech company Rue works for. It’s a well-written, moving romance and her steamiest book yet-yes, it’s even steamier than Bride!

Rue and Eli connect on an app for people looking for casual hookups. Rue’s bio says: no relationships and no repeats. (She feels she is socially inept and can’t handle a heartbreak.) When Eli goes to meet her at a hotel bar, he sees a man approaching Rue, having words with her and grabbing her arm. He comes to her rescue by convincing the man to leave. It turns out the man is Rue’s brother who has been drinking and is pressuring her about an inheritance. Eli realizes Rue is shaken up and offers to drive her home. They share a kiss and experience a spark so strong, they decide they have to see each other again. Rue breaks her rule of no repeats and gives Eli her number.

The next day Rue is at Kline’s big employee meeting about the takeover and she is shocked to see Eli on the stage– he is one of the partners of The Harkness Group, the company that’s taking over Kline! Eli is surprised to meet Rue when he’s interviewing Kline’s managers. They have both been thinking about each other and when Eli suggests they meet up, she says her boss wouldn’t approve – Rue thinks his company is trying to steal Kline. She loves her job too much to risk seeing him. She has been working for Kline for four years and admires Florence, Kline’s CEO and founder, who is her mentor and friend. She is torn between loyalty to Florence and her attraction with Eli.

Rue is a brilliant biotech engineer who is working on her own project, a type of protective layer for fruit and vegetables to improve their shelf life. I admired this, especially considering her past–she grew up food insecure and this has left her with food anxiety. She is very reserved and quiet and loves her work. She works with her best friend Tisha, who is outgoing and very fun. I love the subtle humor between them. Now she and her friends are seriously worried about the takeover.

Eli is my favorite Hazelwood hero – he is patient and so kind. He works for an equity firm that specializes in technology. His younger sister, Maya lives with him. She’s in her early twenties now. Their parents died when she was eleven and Eli raised her, though they haven’t always gotten along and are snarky with each other.

As Rue and Eli get to know each other they find they have more in common (with their past) than they knew. Their attraction is intense and I quickly turned the pages to see how they would be able to make their forbidden romance work. There are a few mysteries in the story. There is a mystery as to why Eli wants to take over Kline so badly and along the same lines, there is a villain he is trying to uncover. There are a lot of layers to the story and I am wary to say more about the plot for fear of revealing spoilers. I will say there are a lot of spicy scenes in this book, more than I remember seeing in a book in a long time! If spice is not your thing, this might not be for you!

This story has some serious, heavier topics. Both Eli and Rue have childhood trauma and I felt like the author handled their issues with care. Rue also has trouble from her brother who is becoming a threat as he hounds her to sell a cabin they inherited from their father and I couldn’t wait to see how this would all play out.

This is definitely one of my favorite books of the year- I loved it!