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.