the things I enjoyed the most about this book are the Xmas New York atmosphere and vibes and all of that holiday love vibes, and OF COURSE the way they write spicy scenes together clearly thinking about each other even if their relationship was more hate than love: it made me giggles and kick my feet and everything was just SO GOOD. Rosie is hilarious and Aiden is the perfect grumpy MMC.

What made me mad? The 3rd act breakup. Was not necessary (I usually don't mind them) and useless and with no point. I could not justify the MMC for that one and it kinda ruined the whole experience for me.

3.5 stars

This was cute, enjoyable, and predictable. It didn't surprise me (in good or bad ways) and it didn't really draw me in. It was okay.

I can't really put my finger on why I didn't click with this one. Maybe it was the stereotypical attitudes Rosie and Aiden had towards romance and litfic genres. It felt overdone and extreme. They'd both benefit from some therapy because they're clearly using their genres to hide from their issues.

Maybe it was the pacing. It started off real slow and very antagonistic. I get that we only truly see Rosie's PoV so there's a bias but I don't understand how they went from hating each other to not. Either it was too subtle or their hatred was too strong. The balance is off there.

Maybe it was the ending. It felt rushed, like it wasn't given the room it needed to breathe. Also, it was a bit of a let down.

I'm sure it will find its audience but it just doesn't do it for me.

<i>Many thanks to NetGalley, Alcove Press, and the author for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.</i>

I have not read any books from this author, but I loved this book! The storyline had me on the edge of my seat. I really enjoyed the character development from both characters and will definitely be recommending this to everyone!

Features:
Rivals to lovers, close proximity romance
Book about writing
Peruvian-American main character
Set in New York City at New York University

Summary

Rosie's dreams came true when she was accepted into the prestigious NYU fiction writing MFA program and had the opportunity to work with the professor who inspired her to become a romance writer. Unfortunately, being in the program also means spending time with Aidan Huntington, a pretentious literary fiction writer who hates romance and seems to hate Rosie even more. Their fiery arguments during their writing workshops have become the stuff of legends until finally, they are given an ultimatum: co-write a romance novel without the happy ending or put their MFA on pause for the semester. As the two begrudgingly declare a truce, they begin to find their writing stride and maybe something more. However, a life-changing literary competition threatens to break the fragile relationship they have started to build.

Thoughts

This fiery, rivals to lovers romance was a lot of fun despite some of its flaws. Rosie can be a little overdramatic, but I feel like this is one of the better depictions of a rivalry. Some of the arguments feel a little childish, but I have seen many adults trying to pick on each other the same way in real life so…I can’t say it’s not realistic! The use of a writers’ workshop as a jumping point for Rosie’s and Aidan’s earlier arguments is clever and provides a natural-feeling way for the tension between them to be shown. Things start pretty explosively, but the book makes it clear that this level of animosity (and sexual tension?) has been gradually brewing long before we enter the story. The third act argument feels a little unnecessary/contrived, but compared to a lot of other enemy/rival to lover stories I have read, I found this to be a great implementation of the trope.

I really liked the idea of Rosie and Aiden literally developing their relationship through the chapters of their book. The excerpts Holt provides the reader at the end of each chapter not only give us a snapshot of Aiden’s perspective, but are also a clever way to guide us through the more tenuous parts of their relationship and put some of the pieces together. However, I also think the characters choosing to literally reproduce their own relationship and interactions in a piece they would share in class is a little hard to believe. I could totally see having characters that represent each other going through a different situation together, but some of what they put in the chapters feels too personal to be something they would want to share and oversteps the line between the writers themselves and the fictional piece they are supposed to be creating.

Overall, this book has a lot to love and I would recommend it to anyone who likes milder romances with “rivals to lovers”, “close proximity”, and “guy falls first” tropes.

The way this book consumed every corner of my mind and altered my brain chemistry while I read it! The simple fact that we were seeing a book unfold within a book blew my mind.

This book is so unique and creative, and although it follows the standard formula of so many romance book tropes, it added a sense of new to every single page. I think Katie Holt created absolute magic with this one. And yes, maybe I am biased because I am a lover of enemies to lovers but Rosie and Aiden were just perfect!

I think my favorite part was the banter, even in their most sweet moments that tension, that push and pull between them was absolutely unexpected and refreshing and amazing!

They also kept me guessing what would happen next. Everytime I thought I had these characters figured out, they managed to surprise me.

But I think my favorite part about them was their writing dynamic, that small snapshot into the mind of a writer. The way they worked together to create magic. The way with every chapter they blurred the lines of where they ended and their characters began. I could see sparks flying everywhere. Especially when they were writing together in real time (iykyk).

Not in my book quickly became one of my favorite reads this year, a cute feel good story that will make you absolutely fall in love. I can’t wait for all of you romance lovers to get your hands on it December 10th!

Thank you Netgalley, Alcove Press and Katie Holt for the chance to read this earc in exchange for an honest review.

So I think this may be one of my favorite Rom-Com books ever. And I have read A LOT of rom-com contemporary romance.

-Rosie and Aiden are class mates in their MFA program. They are both writers, but Rosie writes romance and Aiden writes Lit-fic. And he HATES romance, so naturally he takes that hatred out on Rosie. Their academic feud lead their professor to assign them a joint project. They have to write a story together, rather than alone like everyone else in the class.-

This story so perfectly blends Rosie and Aiden story, with the story of Max and Hunter; the characters in the story they are writing together. It has been a long time since I have stayed up until 2-3am in order to read, but this one made me do it. I didn't;t want to stop, I couldn't put it down. Rosie and Aiden are addicting. The banter between them is perfect. It's set from Rosie POV, but Aidens POV comes in through his writing, using Hunter to share how he feels about Rosie, so that we still get his POV, without having dual POV. Quite frankly, it's genius.

This is this kind of book that makes me wish I could write like this. I have always said that if I were to write a book I would want to write like Ali Hazelwood and Emily Henry. But I think Katie Holt has Taken the top spot.

If you are looking for a 'kicking my feet and giggle' book, a 'look at the ceiling and squeeze your eyes shut' book, this is it. 10/10. Please read this.

Katie, if this is your first book, I must tell you that you have a very bright future ahead of you. The synopsis grabbed me, I found it entertaining and the truth is that the book did it justice.

Rosie and Aiden take the cake, their banter and dialogue kept me glued to the pages. For all of you who like enemies to lovers stories, this book is for you. It's hilarious.

I adored this book!!!! i didn't think i would like this book as much as i did but. wasn't disappointed in the slightest. i loved the charcaters' dynamic and i truly fell in love with them. the plot was so original that it made the story so unique.

i don't read much academic rivals book but this one has become one of my favourite!! i loved the writing and i didn't even feel bored. the pace was well written and reading it went with the flow, which i love!! as for the characters, i just loved them :) i loved how aided was obsessed with her since day one, and how he acted with her :)
their banter was so fun to read, and they were actually so funny that i felt myself smiling throughout the whole book!

this was such a fun and cute read :)

Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for giving me an arc of this book in exchange of an honest review!

This is a cute, enjoyable and easy read.

The tension and anger between Rosie & Aiden comes off way too strong in the beginning. That quickly changes throughout the story and they end up being the cutest and kindest couple.
I loved how they’re expressing their feelings while working together, but reading the book in the book, kind of awkward.
The arguing at the end of the book was unnecessary in my opinion.

I read to 45% and just could not finish this one. So vet slow, and I just didn’t feel any progress from page one. Fell very flat for me.

Thank you to the author, publisher and @NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Holy hell, this was so fantastic! I absolutely loved the premise and how talented is Katie Holt that she wrote a romance book INSIDE writing a romance book?!

The TENSION 🥵
This was a slow burn but sooooo worth the wait IMO.

It was fantastic and I can’t wait for y’all to pick this one up! A perfect read for lovers of love and all things romance genre related.

ahhh romance is back guys!! this gave me the same feelings as when i first get back to reading in 2021 with romance books <3 the classic enemies to lovers, forced proximity, one bed, he falls first, secret crush, pining, yearning, fmc defending mmc against his family (very specific micro trope that i adore) was all blend so well together!!🥹

now i won’t like, it wasn’t perfect but i know it’s a debut and she did a great job!! my slight problems were that i found main characters too immature in the beginning. the way they bickered with each other in front of the class was embarrassing tbh😭 and then the fact that they included their kiss and some other personal moments in the book they wrote together and read it in front of the class had me side eyeing🌝 plus the third act😾 but overall i found it super cuuuuute💗

rosie was carrying her heart on her sleeve and aiden was just a shy and grumpy little potato🤭 even though it was a single pov it was easy to see aiden’s love and yearning for rosie from the chapters he wrote in their book🥹 pookie was so down bad for rosie it had me giggling and twirling my hair🤭

definitely recommend this for romance lovers<33

“No matter how bad life got in the romance novels, there would be a Happily Ever After that proved nothing was unfixable.”

Rosie and Aiden are in the same writing class, but all they do is insult each other’s work.
So the teacher gives them two options, leave the class or write a book together. The issue is that Rosie loves to write romance books with HEA and Aiden writes sad literary fiction. They agree to write a romance with a sad ending.

Even if we only have Rosie’s POV, we get some things from Aiden’s part through the chapters that he writes. They comunicate through the book what they are afraid to say in real life.

It is interesting to see how a book could be co-written. In this case they were a bit too much inspired by real life and some chapters included the exact scene that happened before, only changing the names.

I love that her family is supportive of her writing and proud of her but I would have liked to know more about Aiden.

What I did not like is the break up part. Aiden did not need to lie and Rosie should not have left New York.

I liked the writing and have many paragraphs highlighted. These are my favorites:

“what makes romance novels so good is the fact that they’re a complex dive into human emotion. There’s so much more to a romance than just love.”

“The only thing every love story really has in common is that it’s worth it. Love is always worth fighting for. I mean, that’s why there’s all the songs and poems and movies about it. It has to be something spectacular if everyone’s chasing it.”

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Um i'm so obsessed with this book I don't even know where to start- this book is Beach Read meets New York City. When Rosie, a romance writer meets her rival Aiden-a literary fiction writer in a writing class at NYU. They instantly become enemies. they constantly fight and bicker and it isn't until they are forced to pair up and write together, that they start to learn about each other through the book. All the hatred was actually love. it takes you through their first friendship and then their love story. filled with all the emotions there has to be heartbreak and betrayal- can they overcome it or are they destined to be alone? truly such a good read that had me laughing and crying my eyes out. i've never wanted to characters to be together more than Rosie and Aiden.

Not in My Book is a strong debut novel by Katie Holt. I enjoyed her writing style, that it was fast paced, and so romance positive. I’m always an enemies to lovers fan and it gave me ‘The Hating Game’ vibes in the best way. There were moments I loved both Rosie and Aiden, and there were moments they frustrated me. I thought for sure it would be a strong 4 star book for me, but honestly I didn’t love the conflict in the end. It was predictable and didn’t make sense to me. The actual ending of the book was good, though. I’m looking forward to reading more from this author in the future because I think she has loads of potential!

"If you're not mine, then know that I'm yours,"

It has been awhile since I've read a rom-com this fast and cheers to this enemy/rival to lover trope!

I liked the idea of the excerpt from the books that they both wrote although at first I was confused with the excerpt as not knowing why.

Loved the banter between Rosie and Aiden, also just wishing there would be Aiden's POV too.

I just like this book so much I don't know how to write reviews anymore BUT YES RECOMMENDED

Thank you NetGalley & publisher for this eARC.

Pretty good actually!! I like it very much. I would like to read from this author in the future soemtimes

4/5 ⭐️
2/5 🌶️
Release date December 10, 2024
YALL! This book had me giggling and kicking my feet in the air 😍 a true rivals to lovers with the best banter, it was amazing!!! Two grad students/writers are forced to work together on thei final project after causing too many disruptions during ther workshops. Aiden writes literary fiction and thinks romance books are silly. Rosie is a romance writer and believes in HEAs… what could possibly go wrong??
This book takes place in NYC during the holidays which was just another reason for me to fall in love with this book. 🥰

I devoured this! I ignored responsibilities, I ignored life, I just needed to know what happened next!!!

I loved every part of this, enemies to lovers, authors and competitions, found family, somewhat anonymous letters to each other. Oh the banter! Oh the love! Oh my broken book boyfriend who loves so hard!

I could not put this down and truly loved it.

<b>3.75 stars ❤︎</b>
⤷ one of the cutest books i’ve read in a long time <33

<b><i>🫶🏼 “I’d always preferred fiction, but now I couldn’t wait for the rest of my reality” 🫶🏼</i></b>

this bookkk. the best thing about arcs is that I <b>always go in with the lowest expectations</b> ever because they have disappointed me many, many times. but this.. this is the true exception. 💗 this book was SO GOOD. <u>the banter was everything</u>, the way they were living the romance novel they were co-writing?? and lowkey communicated their feelings to eachother through it? so unique and perfect. 💌

<u><b>📖 plot 📖</b></u>

<b>aiden and rosie are both authors.</b> attending the same workshop. they get paired up to write a book together as one of their projects. doesn’t sound too bad righttt? wrong. <b>they absolutely despise each other, bicker 24/7, and have very different writing styles. </b>😃🔫 rosie is a swiftie, a romantic, and believes every story should have a HEA (so basically me!) whereas aiden enjoys literary fiction, hates romance, and always enjoys killing off his main characters or making them have very tragic storylines (literally wtf is wrong with this man idk😭😭)

so when they are forced to work together <u>it’s kind of a disaster</u>. they don’t even enjoy being in the same room together so how is this gonna actually work?💀 they end up naming the characters as their last names (huntington = hunter & maxwell = maxine) <b>and basically their novel ends up being a story of how the writers fall in love. </b>🥹they describe their feelings for eachother as part of their story and use their real-life interactions for the plot of their book. isn’t that so cool?!!? and they fall in love but no one is shocked there. 🤭🫶🏼

<b><u>🧸 general thoughts 🧸</u></b>

I <u>usually dislike the tropes</u> that were in this book (workplace, enemies-to-lovers) but this book had me hooked! 😋I loved their bickering, it was lowkey so funny. <b>for fans of elena armas, I think you’ll love this. </b>it’s a similar type of enemies-to-lovers as spanish love deception, where they don’t reallyyy hate eachother. but I think it was better executed here personally. 🎀

I think the <b>third act breakup was unnecessary and stupid</b> and basically the last 50 pages of the book could’ve been cut out bc there was <u>no reason for them to break up</u> ❤️‍🩹 but that’s pretty much the only complaint I had, other than that it was very sweet and fun. highly recommend!!

<b>thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me an arc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!</b>