Feeling excited, that is, not without love (8)
I believe the answer is:
sentient
'feeling' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'excited that is not without love' is the wordplay.
'excited' becomes 'sent' (send can mean to excite or stimulate).
'that is' becomes 'i.e.' (synonyms).
'without' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'love' becomes 'o' (love means zero in tennis).
'not' with 'o' taken out is 'nt'.
'sent'+'ie'+'nt'='SENTIENT'
(Other definitions for sentient that I've seen before include "having power of perception" , "Able to perceive or feel things" , "Capable of feeling and perceiving things" , "Feeling, conscious" , "Capable of feeling things as in tenets" .)