Say it ain't so! It pains me to rate an Ali Hazelwood book 3 stars as she is such a consistent writer of enjoyable reads. Unfortunately, this book didn't really work for me. It had some of the makings of her classic formula for success: women in STEM and lots of heat. However, it felt like random story elements were put into a blender... chance encounter, sexual kinks, ice skating backstory, family dysfunction, food insecurity (which I appreciated for the representation!), unethical ladder climbing, good intentions, backstabbing and more! I felt totally jerked around from scene to scene. One second we're in a very explicit bedroom scene with the two super horny main characters putting their hypersexual physical attraction into overdrive (to the point of being crude at times). The next second we're in a boardroom protecting patents and battling over finances in a plot that felt scant and perfunctory for the first half of the book. The plot had a bit more meat to it in the final half of the book, but I just couldn't get past the instalove in this WIDE open door 50 Shades-channeling porno. I will still read everything Ali Hazelwood writes, but who would have thought I would enjoy a book with interspecies knot sex more than a STEM romance?!