after multiple attempts at reading- I have decided to DNF. I’m hoping to return to it in the future but right now i’m unable to connect with the author’s writing style.

"Not in My Book" by Katie Holt was an absolute delight to read! This enemies-to-lovers romance brings together Rosie, a hopeful romance writer who adores happy endings, and Aiden, a cynical literary fiction author. Their journey begins when they are forced to collaborate on a novel blending their styles, sparking creative clashes and undeniable chemistry.
What struck me most was how Holt wove excerpts from the characters' co-written novel into the main narrative. This clever structure not only deepened the emotional resonance but also provided a window into their evolving dynamic. Rosie’s vibrant personality and Aiden’s brooding demeanor made their banter both hilarious and heartfelt.
The novel’s exploration of professional rivalry, artistic identity, and unexpected connections felt refreshingly real, while the romantic tension kept me hooked until the last page. Fans of The Hating Game or Beach Read will especially love this mix of wit, passion, and literary charm.
A perfect choice if you're looking for a romantic yet insightful escape. Highly recommend!

This was a fun, writers-enemies-to-lovers read! I loved the banter and development of Rosie and Aiden’s story through the book and the novel they were writing. Some of the pacing felt a bit off to me, and the end felt a bit cheesy, but overall this is definitely a book I’ll recommend!

This book felt like a love letter to the romance genre. You can easily tell that the author reads and loves romance, and that made me so giddy.

Rosie and Aiden have always sparred in their Creative Writing classes they've shared. Rosie proudly writes romance and she feels like Aiden has always judged her for it. The beauty in this story is now their chemistry and connection is written. It's not instalove but rather features two characters who are destined to dislike each other without really knowing one another. When their bickering forces their professor to pair them together in a last ditch effort for some peace, they have to learn to either start respecting one another or lose their spot in class.

I loved how tenacious both of these characters were. Rosie's never backed down from voicing her opinion, and pushed back just as much. However, when their co-writing starts to flourish into something beautiful, these two soon realize that maybe there's more to one another than they both previously thought.

That's a long way to say that these two enemies sure enough find that they can be lovers. And it was such a deliciously tense first half, but when their walls come down and they start having feelings for one another, it added another yummy element to this already enjoyable book.

The drama at the end of the book had me shaking my head, yet I did enjoy how the author tied it all back together. Could it have been avoided? Absolutely! But then where is the fun in that?

You'll enjoy this book if you love when characters bicker but find themselves reluctantly falling for one another.

4 ⭐️

What a strong debut! I loved watching Rosie and Aiden fall for each other through the story they were writing. I will admit I found them to be a touch juvenile at times, they felt more undergrad than grad school to me. There were moments that weren't my favorite, but also moments I was hanging onto every word with my eyes full of tears. I also loved the commentary about how romance and romance authors aren't taken seriously (even if it's the best selling genre 🙄). I adored her friend group and would love to see more of Jamie and Tyler's story. I can't wait to read what Holt writes next 💖


Thank you NetGalley for the ARC 💓

Now this is what I expect from a rivals to lovers storyline!

I cannot believe that this is a debut novel, because Katie Holt can definitely keep up with the big players in the romance genre! This book had all the elements that I am looking for in a contemporary romance.

The banter between Aiden and Rosie was perfection. Their tension was through the roof from the first page and continued to hook me throughout the whole story. I LOVED the idea to make them communicate through writing and I fear Aiden Huntington is my new standard when it comes to book boyfriends. The way this man is respectful and thoughtful in the streets but an outright menace in the sheets had me swooning more than one time.

The side characters also felt like a great addition to the story and all had their own quirks and backstories that really made this whole world feel alive.

My only critique for this would be that sometimes I couldn't quite follow Rosie in her reasonings for certain actions. Her struggles definitely helped to make her a complex and relatable character, but some of her actions felt forced and almost like a tool that the author had to add for the plot to keep moving forward. She is supposed to be this big hopeless romantic that was fundamentally shaped as a person by everything that has to do with big and romantic gestures, but when she encounters these in real life, she doesn't believe in them or shys away? This didn't quite fit into my view of Rosie as a character.

Overall this book was a fantastic read and a big recommendation for anyone that loves a good rivals to lovers story, opposites attract, great banter, angst, tension, really sexy spice, a complex and relatable sunshine FMC and the broody dark haired MMC.

dnf @ 20%

I can see exactly where this plot is going (and what the third-act conflict will be) and I'm just not interested

1: the hostility between Aiden and Rosie makes no sense
2: Rosie is so childish that I'm not sure I can believe she'd be great as a romantic partner. Plus, she seems incapable of reading between the lines and intuitively understanding situations
3: the book within a book is a little clunky imo. It's throwing off the pacing by slowing everything down since we're having similar conversations and experiences told to us twice

This was a cute romance read with forced proximity and some delicious spice!

I enjoyed the characters (Tyler was my fav), the friendships, the plot. I particularly enjoyed that Rosie was Peruvian since I am familiar with the culture.

Where it fell short for me was the miscommunication with Rosie and Aiden. It is one of my least favorite tropes. It also felt juvenile and forced when they argued.

I didn’t like that she kept bringing up that she had no money, and that he was rich. I think we could’ve done without. We already knew Rosie was a hustler.

Additionally, the book that they wrote together could have been a different story instead of their parallel world, I found myself not interested in what they were writing because it was what they were experiencing..

I enjoyed Rosie’s and Aiden’s vulnerability at times and of course that they ended up together in the end.

This one was a fun read! I loved the novel within the novel that we got - kind of a fun way to see their relationship from a different POV on page. Aiden and Rosie are academic rivals that were forced to work on a joint novel together for class. Their relationship progresses and the spice was 👌🏼

Overall, I enjoyed this one but something didn’t click with me about the writing. I can’t really put my finger on it, and it could be because I’m in a reading slump so don’t blindly trust me on this review.

I think we would have benefited from dual POV here - I found the novel excerpts to be so fun because we could see into Aiden’s mind a bit more that way and it really brought things into perspective.

This is the romance book of the season. Rosie is one of my favorite FMC she is strong and passionate, and she listens to Taylor Swift on a loop what is not to love! Aiden and Rosie's chemistry are off the charts I enjoyed their banter as they must cowrite a novel together. As a reader I love to read books about writers or bookstores or really anything that has to do with books. I love the culture in this book, and I love the once-in-a-lifetime love story trope.

Thank you, Net Galley, the author, and the publisher, for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

this was a really fun book! I really liked Rosie's character and her development throughout the story, and this was def a lot like the hating game

Honestly this book had no RIGHT (write) to be as good as it was, what an amazing debut!!

Two academic rivals are given an ultimatum by their writing workshop professor- write a book together that combines their romance and litfic genres or leave the class and get reported to the dean. The catch? The two may cover their feelings with mean banter, but both are definitely hiding their true feelings and the veil between love and hate is VERY thin.

The tension, the banter, the writing, the characters were all so fun to read. I frequently found myself quite literally covering my mouth and kicking my legs!! Rosalinda (Rosie, Rosie Posie, Max) and Aiden (Demon, Hunter) love to get under each other's skin in the most glorious, entertaining way, and when they start to bond and lose their walls when they have to write together, everything turns into such Pride and Prejudice pining!! When they start actually writing the book at the same time, while sitting on the phone together and taking turns writing, it was maybe one of the hottest scenes in a contemporary romance WHEW WHEW WHEW and then its also one of the sweetest stories around the ~holiday~ vibes that come with winter in New York.

One thing I really loved about the way this was handled was that we lived in Rosie's POV, but had little end of chapter epigraphs featuring writing from the book they've been writing that give us insight into Aiden's viewpoint- and how down bad that man is. I absolutely adored this, and cannot wait to make all my friends read it!!

Thank you so much to Katie Holt and NetGalley for a chance to read this in exchange for an honest review!

When I started this book I was unsure if I would like it. I was completely wrong!! I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought. The chemistry that the authors set up between Rosie and Aiden was great. They didn't get together immediately and she built the tension between the two I loved. Nowadays the romance books I have read get together so fast and then you have the problem and it is just so predictable. The friend group that Rosie has was great the text messages always made me laugh and made the story more relatable. The excerpts from the book, that Rosie and Aiden were writing and how it set up the chapter and summarized what happened was great. I would have liked a chapter of their wedding and how well their book would do. This is a book that I have been recommending for everyone to read. I would not mind having a book about Rosie's friends group and their getting together.

Rating 4.5/5
I DEVOUREDDD this book! such a cute and sweet romance about two rival writers who are forced to work and co-write a book together. The tension, the banter, and the lead up to their relationship was so beautiful! I also loved the different chapter of fall, winter, spring, and summer and i found it really nice that way the story progressed as the seasons changed. The author's description of New York during these seasons was beautiful, and I wanted to be there myself!!. I really recommend this book to those who love a good enemies to lovers and a bit of academia rivals!!!
thank you for allowing me to read this book :)
OUT DECEMBER 10TH!!!!

This book feels like the kind of book to get you out of a reading slump. I laughed, I cried and I didn’t want it to end. It had everything you could want in a romance, rivals-to-lovers, one bed, forced proximity etc.
I’m glad that when Aiden and Rosie were rivals, they were genuine rivals. They were horrible to each other, and yes there was initial attraction from Rosie’s side, but that was swiftly cut out when they actually spoke to each other, there was no pull of sexual tension. Just pure dislike for each other, at least this is how it was portrayed from Rosie’s POV, which was the only POV of the entire book. We did however get snippets of Aiden’s POV in the novel (written by the characters) extracts at the end of the chapter’s, which made me confused at first but then got me in my feels the further in to their story.
Their story was very wholesome, their relationship really developed before it blossomed and as the reader, I felt like I was right their with them. I’m not personally a fan of a third act breakup, I find them frustrating and unnecessary, however I think it fit into the character’s story well. I shouted at them to get their shit together multiple times, especially when ONE thing supposedly cancelled out everything else that had been experienced before it happened and then miscommunication raises it’s annoy head, leading to the breakup. But it made the makeup feel even greater here and it was beautiful. It made me very teary and if I wasn’t in public when I read it, I probably would’ve sobbed.
Aiden was swoon worthy and when he came to NYE wearing red, I almost squealed!
Overall it’s a lovely, cosy romance and I adored it.
Thank you Alcove Press, Netgalley and Katie Holt for letting me read this amazing ARC.

Rosie is following her dreams of becoming a romance writer by moving to New York City and going to school. After meeting Aiden in one of her writing classes, she can't figure out why he is constantly picking apart her writing. A back and forth verbal battle ensues until the professor puts a stop to it by making them either quit the class or write a novel together. Forced together to stay in the class, th

Thoughts 💭
This one had me hooked! I wasn't sure at the start if I was going to enjoy this one because Rosie and Aiden really put the enemies in enemies to lovers with some of their comments and actions toward each other. They were MEAN! But, I was so engrossed in this story that I could not put it down. The romantic tension was palpable, and I didn't mind the slow burn at all because of it. Any couple with that much chemistry are sure to combust. Both Aiden and Rosie had depth and amazing backstories! There were adorable friends and family members who made the story that much better. Aiden was a bit of a tragic hero, which made me like him that much more. And all around enjoyable, unputdownable read for romance lovers.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Perfect for fans of Beach Read but make it during winter! I honestly loved this so much. I’ found myself smiling, laughing and swooning over this book countless times. It’s the perfect length, it’s angsty, cute, funny. It has all the tropes I loved : enemies to rivals to friends to lovers, reluctant allies, one bed trope, forced proximity, fake dating… And it’s not dumped into the book randomly it’s well done and well written. Definitely definitely recommend!

Obsessed. I freaking loved this book. The banter was fantastic, I loved the characters and the SPICE 🌶️! I love realistic spice and man did this show up! The story was a funny, sweet romcom. If you like Emily Henry and Christina Lauren, this is your next go to author!

I cannot believe this is her debut novel. She is very talented and I flew through this book. I will look forward to more of her books in the future.

Now to leave you with one of my favorite quotes from the book: “Well, at least my book won’t be a coaster for some deadbeat forty-year-old who thinks Matt Rife is some sort of God” 🤣

Thank you for allowing me to read this early in exchange for an honest review!

Not in My Book by Katie Holt was such a fun ride! The banter? On point. The characters? Messy in the best way. It’s giving relatable drama, slow-burn tension, and all the juicy moments that make you wanna scream, “Just admit you like each other already!” The balance between humor and heartfelt moments hit just right.

Some parts dragged a tiny bit, but overall, this story had me in my feels and laughing out loud. If you’re into romance with snarky vibes and characters you wanna root for, this is a must-read.

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This was just fine for me - I saw some friends really love it so I was excited, but it left me wanting more. I didn't find either character particularly endearing or relatable, and the tension/reason for conflict seemed obvious, and it felt like it was defending the romance genre too hard. I read this a few weeks ago and I can't remember either character's name. There wasn't anything BAD about it, but it also didn't blow me away at all.