Graphic with Ali Hazelwood

Ali Hazelwood Books In Order: The Ultimate Guide (2025)

By Kathy Palm

If you’re a romance fan, you’ve likely heard of Ali Hazelwood and read one (or more) of her books. Her stories are about clever, nerdy humans just trying to live their best lives and navigate social situations in a relatable way, and I’m here for it.


No matter what age, format, or spice level, Ali Hazelwood’s stories are smart and full of vibrant, clever characters with witty banter and delightful chemistry. Her lead females are unquestionably bright, often with ties to academia and/or STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). They may also be talented hackers, chess players, video game designers, or athletes.


While each story is different, I find similar elements (which I love) that keep popping up across her books. Generally, a clever female character has to deal with men trying to keep women out of “their stuff,” be it STEM, video games, chess, or some other hobby/profession. There are often amazing supporting characters and wonderful found families and friend groups. While her stories are all stand-alone tales, her characters do have some cameos in her other books, which is always a fun occurrence.


With so many amazing books to choose from, I wanted to create a guide with all of Ali Hazelwood's books in order to share some information about each and hopefully help you pick your next read!

“Academia takes a lot from you and gives back very little.”

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

Here Are All Ali Hazelwood Books In Order

Deep End

Adult Romance


Spice Level: 4.5

Tropes: college, sports, secret relationship


Coming February 4th 2025

Content Warnings (may contain spoiler):

sexual content, domestic abuse, emotional abuse, terminal illness

Described as her love letter to new adult books from the 2010s, Deep End is a college sports romance between a platform diver and a swimmer. Scarlett Vandermeer, a junior at Stanford, is a student-athlete working towards medical school. 


Her main focus right now is doing whatever it takes to get into med school and definitely NOT relationships. Lukas Blomqvist, swim captain and gorgeous Swede, just might complicate those plans.


Warning: slippery when WHET.


Please note: The content warnings listed above don’t cover all content. Please check out the full list from the author for more information.

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Deep End


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OwlCrate Deep End Graphic

Cruel Winter With You (Under The Mistletoe collection)

Adult Romance


Spice Level: 3

Tropes: holiday romance, second chance, forced proximity, best friend’s brother, he falls first

Content Warnings (may contain spoiler):

sexual content, abandonment, panic attack, bullying

This holiday novella follows two childhood friends who find themselves stuck together during a winter storm. 


Jamie has known Marc, her best friend's troublemaking brother, his entire life. They're all grown up now, and Jamie's a Pediatrician, and Marc's a tech billionaire who happens to be cat-sitting for the family when Jamie stops by to borrow a roasting pan.


This was a short but sweet tale of two characters finally confronting the truth between them along with good banter.

Two Can Play

Adult Romance


Spice Level: 3

Tropes: workplace romance, enemies to lovers

Content Warnings (may contain spoiler):

sexual content, death of a parent, bullying

When two rival game designers find themselves on a joint company retreat, they have to figure out how to play nice, or they won’t get to work on their dream project. Viola is willing to do whatever it takes, even work with her former crush, Jesse, who clearly hates her.


This was such a fun read from the perspective of a female video game designer, especially one who is looking to design a game based on her favorite book.

This book was published as an audiobook first by Spotify Publishing and is available on your favorite audio platform. An e-book will be available at a later date, previously estimated as late 2025.

Not In Love

Adult Romance, Erotic 


Spice Level: 4

Tropes: he falls first, secret relationship, forbidden romance, angst

Content Warnings (may contain spoiler):

sexual content, childhood poverty, food insecurity, anxiety, parental death, parental neglect, grief, stalking

Dr. Rue Siebert is a biotech engineer working at a food science start-up, Kline. Her family might be out of the picture, but she has her two persons, her BFF Tish and their boss & mentor, Florence Kline, and is perfectly fine with the way things are. When a private equity company, Harkness, buys out Kline’s loans, things start to get a bit weird. Even weirder when Harkness’ founders show up at work to announce an investigation.


If that wasn’t enough to deal with, she’s unusually drawn to Eli, who she met on a sex-forward app. With her no-repeats rule, he shouldn’t be an issue, but what if she wants him to be? Eli, unfortunately for Rue, also happens to be a founding member of Harkness, making the possibility of a relationship even worse of an idea. And he absolutely cannot stay away.

Told from two different POVs (points of view), this was a really well-crafted tale of two individuals who experience a powerful attraction and try to cope/ignore their feelings via consensual sex. As with previous books by Ali, the relationships (and complexity) between the characters were really well done. I felt that Eli and Rue showed a strong emotional connection alongside their explosive physical chemistry.


Please note: The content warnings listed above don’t cover all content. Please check out the full list from the author for more information.

Bride

Adult Fantasy, Paranormal Romance


Spice Level: 3

Tropes: arranged marriage, enemies to lovers, fated mates

Content Warnings (may contain spoiler):

sexual content, knotting, violence, blood, kidnapping, death

Werewolves, Vampyres and arranged marriages, oh my! Putting it lightly, Vampyres and Werewolves are not friends. Their latest plot to keep the peace is to marry off Misery Lark, daughter of the highest-ranking Vampyre, to the Alpha of the Werewolves, Lore Moreland.


Surprising no one, both groups have their own alternative motives for going through with this deal, and everyone thinks they have the upper hand. Perhaps the question is not whether there will be a war, but who will start it?


Ali Hazelwood’s first paranormal fantasy was a definite hit, and I hope we get more in this world or at least more fantasy from her. As with her other stories, the character dynamics are delightful, and the dialogue is thoroughly entertaining.

Please note: The content warnings listed above don’t cover all content. Please check out the full list from the author for more information.

Check & Mate

Young Adult Romance


Spice Level: 1

Tropes: rivals, he falls first

Content Warnings (may contain spoiler):

death of a parent, sexism, non-graphic sexual content

Mallory Greenleaf has a lot more responsibility than most 18-year-olds. Her current goal is to make enough money to help her family stay afloat and ensure her younger sisters are taken care of. Chess, the destroyer of her family, is off the table no matter how much she loves it.


When her best friend guilts her into playing a charity game, she ends up matched with the current chess world champion, 20-year-old Nolan Sawyer. That one little game triggers a series of events for Mallory that I really enjoyed watching play out. Full of delightful banter and complex characters, Ali Hazelwood's first Young Adult romance is definitely worth the read, and don’t worry, no chess knowledge is required.

Please note: The content warnings listed above don’t cover all content. Please check out the full list from the author for more information.

Love, Theoretically

Adult Romance


Spice Level: 3

Tropes: academic rivals, fake dating, enemies to lovers

Content Warnings (may contain spoiler):

sexual content, chronic illness, sexism, emotional abuse, death of a parent gaslighting

Elsie is a theoretical physicist who has plans and dreams, mainly of a job with insurance to help with her insulin and one that doesn’t involve students. When she makes it into the final selection for the tenure-track faculty position (aka benefits including health insurance), nothing goes as planned.


Elsie's current fake boyfriend (everyone needs a job that pays the rent) has an obnoxious brother, Jack, who happens to also be a physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and who’s on the hiring committee. The problem is, he thinks she’s a librarian who’s dating his brother. 


Usually she can shape herself into what everyone needs her to be before they can ask questions, but Jack seems to see right through her.

This was a delightful rom-com with incredibly real characters with their all-too-real problems dealing with the DRAMA that is academia and navigating life.


Please note: The content warnings listed above don’t cover all content. Please check out the full list from the author for more information.

Loathe To Love You (The STEMinist Novellas)

Adult Romance


Spice Level: 3

Tropes: forced proximity, trapped together, second chance

Content Warnings (may contain spoiler):

sexual content, grief, confinement, sexism, emotional abuse

Mara, Sadie, and Hannah are the best of friends, all engineers, bonded forever from their time together in grad school. They each have their own delightful rival/enemies-to-lovers adventure as they work on adjusting to life after grad school.


Each novella is full of smart characters, fun banter, and witty dialogue. Loathe to Love you ends with a bonus chapter featuring the characters from all 3 novellas together giving a sweet epilogue to round off these tales.

Under One Roof

 
Mara, an environmental engineer, has to figure out how to cohabitate with a big-oil lawyer who just happens to be her mentor’s nephew and co-owner of the house she inherited.

Stuck with You


Sadie, a civil engineer, finds herself stuck in an elevator with the man who broke her heart and stole a major client from her company.
 

Below Zero


Hannah, an aerospace engineer, is injured while on a remote Arctic research station in need of rescue. She’s not sure she wants the hero that’s being sent, but it’s a hazardous mission, and she needs help.

Love On The Brain

Adult Romance


Spice Level: 3

Tropes: academic rivals

Content Warnings (may contain spoiler):

sexual content, sexism, misogyny, sexual harassment, grief, death of a parent

Bee Königswasser lives by a simple code: What would Marie Curie do? She even has a Twitter account dedicated to it. When she gets a career-defining opportunity to work with NASA, her excitement is tempered by the fact that she has to co-lead the project with her archenemy, the atrocious yet attractive Levi Ward.


While officially she’s co-lead, Bee finds herself blocked at every step of the way; equipment missing, staff ignoring her, and her data being messed with. Is Levi the problem, or will he help her sort things out?


This was another great story from Ali Hazelwood, full of complex characters highlighting some disappointingly common problems within academia, specifically sexism and sexual harassment in the workplace.

The story also discusses the use of standardized tests for admission into academic programs in a really good way. I especially love her assistant Rocío and enjoyed that, like Ali Hazellwood, Bee is a neuroscientist.


Please note: The content warnings listed above don’t cover all content. Please check out the full list from the author for more information.

The Love Hypothesis

Adult Romance


Spice Level: 3

Tropes: fake dating, grumpy meets sunshine

Content Warnings (may contain spoiler):

sexual content, death of a parent, sexual harassment

This was Ali Hazelwood’s debut novel, which is not one to miss.


Olive Smith, a third-year Ph.D. candidate, responds to her best friend’s disappointment in her love life in the only reasonable way; she kisses the first man she sees and convinces him to be her pretend boyfriend. Somehow that man is the hot young professor, Adam Carlsen, who is not known for being nice, yet he agrees and even buys her frappuccinos.


This story had delightful banter, smart characters, and highlighted some shady things in academia, such as sexual harassment. Grad school is hard enough without some of the additional hurdles thrown at women simply because of their gender.

The back of the book includes an author note and a little more additional information about TITLE XI. While touching on some very serious issues, this story is still a really fun and light-hearted read. Each chapter has a hypothesis for an epigraph, which added a fun touch to the book.


Please note: The content warnings listed above don’t cover all content. Please check out the full list from the author for more information.


In addition to her many tales of romance, Ali Hazelwood also has a short story in the Star Wars anthology 'From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi' (2023).


From fake dating to academic rivals to forced proximity and enemies to lovers, Ali Hazelwood has a story sure to keep your attention. Make sure to check OwlCrate’s Spice Meter to see how your spice level lines up before you start reading whichever book you choose!

Kathy (palmkdbooks) is a game-loving bookworm who spends her days playing with technology and her nights exploring fictional worlds. While she dabbles in most genres, her favorites are Fantasy and Sci-Fi.

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