This story was okay, however it was not my cup of tea and that is okay! This story is an enemy to lovers set in an academic setting. I found the MMC to be rude and anything but likable. The FMC was sweet and definitely deserved a better treatment. This novel also became too much too quickly for me. I wouldn’t say this is a book I would not recommend but the reader should definitely be fully interested in the blurb and tropes before jumping in!

I read this as an ARC from Alcove and NetGalley.

Not in My Book" offers a fresh take on the enemies-to-lovers trope, following Rosie, a Peruvian-American romance writer from Tennessee, and Aiden, a literary fiction writer who scorns happy endings. When their constant classroom bickering pushes their professor to the limit, they're forced to collaborate on a novel that bridges their opposing genres.

The novel's unique structure stands out, featuring a book-within-a-book format that cleverly reveals character development through their joint writing project. Through their characters Max and Hunter (named after their surnames), readers get glimpses into both perspectives, even though the main narrative is from Rosie's point of view.

The story especially shines in its exploration of writing craft and genre prejudices. Through Rosie and Aiden's initial conflicts and eventual understanding, Holt makes a compelling case for the value of both literary fiction and romance, challenging preconceptions about both genres.
While the early antagonism between the protagonists can feel somewhat immature at times, their gradual transition from enemies to lovers is well-paced and believable. The New York setting adds charm to their developing relationship, with scenes at locations like Serendipity and holiday-decorated shops providing a romantic backdrop.

The novel includes several popular tropes - enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, and slow burn romance - but executes them with a fresh perspective. Particularly noteworthy are the domestic scenes between the characters, which feel authentic rather than forced.
Some readers might the personal moments written in their collaborative novel a bit unrealistic, and the third-act conflict could feel contrived to some. However, these minor issues don't significantly detract from the overall enjoyment of the story.

As a debut novel, "Not in My Book" shows remarkable promise, successfully blending humor, romance, and genuine emotional depth while exploring the creative writing process. It's recommended for fans of "The Hating Game" and "Beach Read" who enjoy their romance with a side of literary discourse.

This might be my favorite contemporary romance of the year!!!


I absolutely enjoyed reading this book. It gave me that feeling of giddiness, pure bliss, and unrestrained happiness that only a great romance novel can bring...
I will gladly recommend this book to all of you who are searching for a next romance novel to pick up and fall in love with ... the story, characters, and above anything else escape into a great story.

4.25/5 ⭐️

If you're a fan of Beach Read by Emily Henry and have craved to see what Gus and January would have been like in college, THIS IS YOUR BOOK!!!! If that makes no sense to you, this is the perfect college rivals to lovers story where they both are authors! Not joking, this filled a void in my heart. I LOVED Rosie and Aidan's dynamic so much - there was the perfect balance of angsty banter and tender moments. We got to know both of their characters on such a deep level, while also having a plot line that really kept the story moving. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this book! I just wish we got a little bit more at the end since it felt a tad rushed, but didn't take away too much from the overall experience :) I definitely recommend giving this book a try!

I feel that this little romance was adorable! I loved the characters and the banter. The story was easy to follow and to fall into.

"Not in My Book" offers a lighthearted romance that's perfect for a quick escape. The pacing is well-balanced, keeping readers engaged without rushing through the plot. The writing style is easy to follow, making it an ideal choice for those seeking a relaxing read.

The budding relationship between the main characters is charming, and the author skillfully incorporates humour and heartwarming moments. The inclusion of snippets from their book-within-a-book is a clever touch, offering additional insight into Aiden's perspective.

However, the character of Rosie can be frustrating at times. Her stubbornness and lack of self-awareness occasionally overshadow her positive qualities. Additionally, the final confrontation between the main characters felt a bit forced and out of character.

Despite these minor flaws, "Not in My Book" is a delightful romance novel that will appeal to fans of the genre. It's a sweet and enjoyable read, perfect for those looking for a lighthearted escape.

Not in My Book by Katie Holt is an adorable romcom that had me rooting for the main characters to give in to the spark between them from the first page they appeared together.

Rosie is a bit of a hothead, a complete romantic, and frankly a bit oblivious. So naturally I loved her as a main character. She is in complete denial over her lust for Aiden, a student in her creative writing class she has butted heads with from the moment the two met. Their sarcastic, witty banter had me smiling constantly and was so natural and real that I couldn't help but love every scene they were together in. Aiden, despite being seen through Rosie's less than flattering perspective, is impossible not to fall for, particularly with the little snippets of their co-written story that allow a little insight into his own thoughts and feelings. I really loved the story snippets for this very reason. They are revenge writing what they intend to be an unflattering perspective of each other, but in reality it just gives a look into their true feelings that they are hiding from each other (in Aiden's case), or from themselves (in Rosie's case). It added a whole new element to the story, and despite not actually being a dual point of view story, it allows the reader into Aiden's head that little bit that only strengthened the story in my view.

This is the kind of romance that gets even better the further along you go. I started out simply intrigued to see where it went, but once I was a few chapters deep I found myself so invested in these two characters that I started flying through it and realized I enjoyed it a lot more than I initially thought. I also really liked how the story they were writing out was true to their reality in more ways than one. Obviously there's the fact that they are writing about each other, and end up writing their own perspectives into their respective characters, but the love story itself plays out like their own as well, as in the same tropes etc. This adds a kind of hilarity to it as they discuss said tropes as far as their story, while ignoring the fact that they are experiencing said tropes in their own love story; enemies to lovers, forced proximity, and slow burn romance to name a few. It also breaks the fourth wall a little bit, but not in a jarring way, more in a self-aware kind of way that allows the reader to get excited about the tropes.

All together, I did thoroughly enjoy this book. I adored Aiden and Rosie, and their romance really had me invested. If anything, I would say perhaps the snippets of their story that were in the book could sometimes be redundant when they mirrored Aiden and Rosie's conversations word for word, but other than that I was deeply emotionally invested and that to me makes a fantastic romance. I highly

recommend and can't wait to see more from this author.

I can always count on a romance book to get me out of a slump after an intense fantasy! I really enjoyed all the little bookish quotes in this as well. Books with books/book talk in the them are always my fav! It is very rare for me to enjoy a romance but this was one was super fun and cute, definitely not perfect but as a debut Katie did so well! Can't wait for her future releases :)

4 stars!!! The plot was SO GOOD! The concept of this book was so interesting!! I loved the aspect of the two characters writing the book together! I’ve never read a book like that and I loved it!!

Not in My Book is a TRUE rivals-to-lovers romance about two upcoming authors who use every spare breath to hurl insults at each other. When I say true rivals, I’m talking, I was thoroughly convinced they hated each other. However, after being stuck together on a project, you slowly get to see their relationship and tension develop. While reading this, I was so invested in their relationship, I did NOT want to put it down! I NEEDED to know what happened next. I was surprised by how emotional this read was, but also tender hearted and sweet. I adored their relationship and how it was paced throughout the novel!

4.5⭐
Tropes: Enemies-to-lovers, college romance, forced romance, grumpyxsunshine, he falls first
Blurb: Rosie, an optimistic budding romance author is always butting heads with a classmate in graduate school, Aiden, who is an angsty literary fiction writer who hates romance and happy endings. As their increasing disdain becomes a bigger problem in their classroom, they are forced in project in writing a book together yet little do they know that they already began writing their own love story.

WOW. I am speechless. It is hard to find a true enemies to lovers because it usually seems like 2 angry people with sexual chemistry but you can feel how the angst between Rosie and Aiden changed to something more. I loved the concept of them writing this book together because even though they have difficulty talking to each other, they communicated through their book, literally writing their love story. It was entertaining to know these characters through their "fake dates" to find more things to write about but they're really getting to know each other more. I mean, that first time they wrote their first chapter together after the Italian restaurant???? SWOON.

Thank you Netgalley and Katie Holt for allowing me to read and review this book. Arguably one of my favorite ARCs of the year!

A fantastic debut. A book for book lovers and romance enthusiasts. I highly recommend.
I even Googled Aiden's mom before I realized she wasn't an actual author.
I loved Maxine's and Hunter's story as much as Rosie and Aiden's.

Katie Holt’s romance debut, Not in My Book, reads like the college-flashback portion of Beach Read, if Gus and January had found themselves at the mercy of a meddling academic advisor. Aiden and Rosie are two NYU creative writing MFA students who spend more of their class throwing insults at each other’s respective genres of choice (naturally, litfic vs. romance) than they do actually writing, and find themselves forced into co-writing their semester-long assignment.

There were parts of this that I really, genuinely liked. The writing style was lovely! I’m very picky about the tone and dialogue of the romance novels that I pick up, and am happy to report that there were moments here that genuinely made me laugh out loud. I bought Rosie and Aiden as people rather than flat, two-dimensional characters, which always makes reading contemporary fiction more enjoyable. After a bit of a ham-fisted “enemies” setup in the beginning of the novel, I really enjoyed the chemistry between them. I appreciate that they were friends before they got into anything romantic, and once things start to heat up between the two of them, the tension was great.

Unfortunately, the biggest thing that I couldn’t really buy throughout Not in My Book is the premise itself, and how this is explored and resolved within the novel. I always chafe a little bit at the false dichotomy between romance and literary fiction as these polar opposites in the world of fiction. For one, there are several well-known authors (think Sally Rooney! Andrew Sean Greer!) that have very successfully blended the genres in a way that shows that there isn’t a clean break between the two. While there is absolutely a bias against romance as a genre within more “sophisticated”/classics/litfic spaces (think of the number of people who touted Icebreaker as the death of literature), to reduce that to an insult-throwing, near-screaming-match level of animosity just came across as a touch silly.

ALSO, and I feel qualified to say this because my two most read genres over the past couple of years have been literary fiction and romance, I was a touch bothered by the idea that litfic can be flattened into “book with sad ending.” Aiden and Rosie are meant to be writing a novel together that blends their respective genres, but somehow this amounts to writing a run-of-the-mill contemporary romance without an HEA. Which, like, is just a romance? A fun, interesting, and unexpected take on romance, to be clear. But Aiden’s preference for literary fiction could have been swapped out for fantasy, or sci-fi, or horror without fundamentally changing the novel. I know I’m taking this too seriously, but it was hard for me to not compare this to Beach Read, which imo did a much better job of exploring the nuances of literary fiction and romance and what it means to write within those spaces.

Premise aside, there were a couple of small issues with pacing in the back third of the novel that I would have liked to see a little tighter. Once the leads got together, things lost direction up until around the 90% mark, when the conflict picked back up again. There were a lot of scenes that pretty much amount to Aiden calling Rosie “baby” and then the two of them participating in a few lines of hurried missionary. I wish that we had seen more of Aiden’s personal life, or more of Rosie’s friends. The novel collapses in on the main characters in the middle in a way that made things drag a bit. I also found the novel’s final resolution to be stretched on for much longer than it should have. No spoilers here, but Holt’s commitment to keeping the co-written novel-within-a-novel relevant up until the very end avoids a much more natural and mature conversation between Rosie and Aiden.

In the end, I enjoyed this book and am eager to see what else Katie Holt has in store! The parts of it that I didn’t like were very much more personal preference than anything else, and I can see this really working for so many people. Great writing, lovable characters, and a really wonderful NYC-in-winter vibe that would make this a perfect holiday read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the e-ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Writing workshop rivals, Aiden Huntington and Rosie Maxwell, are always the highlight of their classes as they can’t help but be at each others throats every single time. Rosie is all about romance and it’s happily ever after ending, while Aiden is a literary fiction snob. When their prof has finally had enough of them constantly disturbing her workshop, she gives them an ultimatum: leave her workshop OR write a romance story together, without the HEA ending.

I really enjoyed this take at the forced proximity/ enemies to lovers tropes, especially with the usage of the manuscript as a mutual perspective. The excerpts were a fun and original way to explore the tension and feelings of both MCs. I loved the escalation from rivals to fake dating, all in an effort to get the book moving along. I think the plot twist at the end was slightly unnecessary and took away from what the characters relationship development but this was definitely a great debut novel with a wonderful NYC backdrop and some charming characters! Look forward to reading more novels by Katie Holt!

✵𝖬𝖺𝗇𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗄𝗌 𝗍𝗈 𝖠𝗅𝖼𝗈𝗏𝖾 𝖯𝗋𝖾𝗌𝗌 & 𝖭𝖾𝗍𝖦𝖺𝗅𝗅𝖾𝗒 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗀𝗂𝖿𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗆𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖠𝖽𝗏𝖺𝗇𝖼𝖾𝖽 𝖱𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋’𝗌 𝖢𝗈𝗉𝗒 𝗂𝗇 𝖾𝗑𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖾 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗆𝗒 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗌𝗍 𝗋𝖾𝗏𝗂𝖾𝗐.✵

Rosie is attending NYU’s writing program with her main genre in romance. She is definitely a sweet hopeless romantic and figures this will help her along the way. There is another student in her class that loathes romance novels. He is rude and very arrogant, and he is especially rude to Rosie. They are constantly bickering and bantering in class. So when the professor has had enough he forces Aiden and Rosie to write a book together. Thinking that this may teach each other to respect the other. Now must work closely together for the rest of the semester. Will they continue to hate each other or will they get over their differences?

This was a fun corky romance. I did enjoy the way the author had a reading a book inside a book. It’s an enemies to lovers trope and a slow burn throughout the entire book. I did find myself getting a bit bored of their fighting and bickering. Overall I gave this a 3 star rating.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, Katie Holt and the publisher, Alcove Press for the opportunity to read and review an advanced reader's copy of this book.

If you are a fan of true enemies-to-lovers with a slow burn, then look no further! Set in an academic setting, these two rivals love to write but have different feelings on the genre of romance. Rosie is your romance loving girly and Aiden is just not that into the romance spectrum of things. There is constant bickering between the two and who doesn't love that! When the get paired up for a project, that's where the fun REALLY begins!

-rivals-to-lovers
-academic setting
-he falls first
-"speak to her like that again..." vibes


Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this gem early!

This book was beautiful enemies to lovers. The fact that it dealt with Taylor Swift was an especially wonderful bonus for me. So cute, so romantic, and so soon worthy!

Snappy, spicy, and endearing. A debut author to watch that's for sure.
Now I definitely need a food truck love story.

I loved this book so much. A romance book about writing a romance book!! It was swoony, spicy, funny and emotional.

I am a huge enemies to lovers fan and this slow burn stole my heart. I loved the banter with the characters and absolutely loved how they spoke to each other in the chapters they wrote.

However, and this is a big however. I absolutely despised towards the end how the MMC acted and spoke. As if the middle of the book never happened and he never changed. I know it was supposed to add to the ending but didn’t think it needed to be that way.
Loved the ending. Lots of tears. Def a 4.5-5 star read for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Alcove Press for the advanced copy!

“People say there’s a fine line between love and hate, and you know what? They’re right”

Not In My Boom is author Katie Holt’s DEBUT novel and holy fuck she knocked it out of the park. This book had me captivated and all in my feels. I devoured it on a single plane ride and will be coming back to it over and over again.

The spice, the angst, the tropes. I was in a bit of a romance slump the last few months and Rosie and Aiden, through Katie’s vision, revived my spirit.