When I saw this had a mix of a beach read and academic rivals, I knew I had to pick it up immediately. While I really enjoyed it, it wasn’t quite JanuaryGus for me. Rosie and Aiden are academic rivals in a writing workshop, forced to collaborate on a manuscript that blends their genres—romance and literary fiction. I loved how real their rivalry felt, with both constantly critiquing each other’s work. The excerpts from their manuscript, mostly in the MMC's POV, were a nice touch, especially since they subtly conveyed their feelings by masking them as their characters' thoughts. However, I found myself getting a bit bored around the 60% mark, and Rosie’s insistence that romances must have a HEA to count as romances felt too stereotypical. Plus, while the MMC’s attitude made sense initially, by the end it was used to justify his behavior, which didn’t sit well with me. Still, I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a writing-centric, academic rivals-to-lovers story with a Peruvian FMC. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book.

I was initially really intrigued by the premise. It seemed like it was going to be academic rivals to lovers, but the story just didn't deliver for me. I found the main character, Rosie, to be incredibly immature and unlikeable. She had a massive chip on her shoulder and lashed out at Aiden even when he didn't deserve it. The third act breakup was really unnecessary and felt forced.

Some of the dialogue was cringe worthy, especially Aiden's dialogue during the spicy scenes. It felt completely out of character from what we had seen of him beforehand.

There were also a lot of issues with formatting, spelling, and grammar, which I found to be quite distracting at times.

Overall, the book had a good premise, and parts of the story were interesting, but it just missed the mark for me.

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

This book absolutely made me melt while reading it! It was the ultimate grumpy x sunshine trope. As the characters fell in love with not only themselves but one another, you started to fall in love with them too! Just adoring the way they started to develop in the story! I really enjoyed this book and it was a quick read for me!

Great tension in the story! Grumpy grumpy must work together for the good of both of their careers, only if they could stand each other. Age old story!

The concept is interesting, but reading about writing is a tad tedious at times 👀 Aside from that enjoyable read.

*”Not in My Books" by Katie Holt**—I absolutely loved this book! The plot, the character development, everything was on point. Rosy, as an author, felt so relatable, especially as a fellow romance lover. It made me hope I could find my own Aiden one day! The chemistry between Rosy and Aiden was incredible, and their journey from enemies to lovers kept me hooked. They first met in a fiction writing workshop, and from there, their story took off. If you want to know more, you’ll have to read the book yourself—it's definitely worth the time!

This was sweet. Rosie and Aiden do NOT get along in class and are forced to write a book together by their professor. Classic rivals to lovers. The excerpts of the book we are shown throughout the novel mirror the growing relationship between Rosie and Aiden.
It took me until about 15% to really get into it, but then I was in it. Unfortunately I wasn't really feeling the chemistry at some point. At times it was great, at others not so much. Overall it was a bit too much flip-flopping for me on that part. I'd say this was great until the 75% mark. The lack of communication and immaturity in the way they handled their relationship made me want to throw my kindle honestly and that somewhat ruined the book for me sadly. Still not bad, just really frustrating towards the ending....

I was really drawn to this book because of the cover. In practice though I struggled to connect with the plot and ended up not finishing it. Thank you for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for giving me the arc in exchange for an honest review!

4.5⭐️
this was so good and i loved it so much. i really enjoyed the plot of Not in my Book! rival authors cowriting a book together??? soooo fun!

Katie Holt’s writing voice was phenomenal! she kept me so engaged and i would have read it in one sitting if i didn’t have work.

i really enjoyed getting excerpts from Rosie and Aiden’s book. it was modeled after them which i liked because you could really see what they really felt about each other. i also loved how they wrote about and too each other.

another part i liked was Rosie’s friend group! they were really well developed characters that actually had personalities and side parts. i do wish we got to see them more throughout. i do think that the novel would benefit with more exploration of the dynamic between Aiden and his dad.

i would definitely check it out when it published on December 10, 2024!

RATING: 4,75 of 5 stars


It is a story about two rival aspiring authors (some would say enemies to lovers, but it is not my opinion) who just despise each other. They are like two different worlds - Rosie is an idealistic dreamer who likes to write about romance. Aiden, on the other side, writes only literary fiction and thinks that romance novels are only a waste of time. Because of their fights, they are forced to write a book together. But not just a book. This book needs to contain both of their writing. Are they able to put they 'hate' on the side to create something?
Will their book be an opportunity for them to get closer to each other without shedding blood?



‘Writing’s in the revisions. Nothing’s set in stone, you know. Your backspace works just as well as the other keys.’



I really, really enjoyed this one. I liked the whole idea of writing book together - i haven't seen it anywhere yet - such an original though!
The banter was great, slow-burn was slow-burning (which i LOOOVED) and the whole academic rivals to lovers thing made my heart ache because i always dreamed of something like that (yes, i was a very proud and very ambitious girl in school and always wanted to find a snarky, intelligent rival who would fall head over heels for me) but it never happened. Sad, i know ( note to my husband: i love, love you very much, do not read that, i am very happy to be your wife).



I would give it a five stars but i took 0,25 points out because i did not like some of the actions in this book (like the attitude on miss Rosie), but i was a very nice story anyway and for it being a debut novel? GREAT JOB!





**I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

This book was typical of what I thought it would be. Rosie and Aidan are in the same writing workshop and when they can't get along and disrupt class the professor comes up with a plan to have them write together. From there we have our typical rom-com.

I did like Rosie and Aidan. They are your run of the mill characters for this type of book. I'm not a fan of the enemies to livers trope but I didn't mind it so much in this book and I liked the way the two told each other how they felt through the excerpts of the book they were writing.

This was a quick read for me and a nice pallette cleanser book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion which I have given.

I liked Not in My Book for a lot of reasons and also found it a little annoying for a lot of reasons. It's often hard for me to suspend disbelief in stories about academic settings because that's where I work, so the whole writing workshop set up here was cute, but also very annoyingly unrealistic to me (mostly the idea that these two could be forced to write together and that people would be writing romance in an MFA at MYU was...silly).

I liked the chemistry (and LOVED the recognition of the flirting possibilities of a Google doc), but the third act break-up was a bummer for me—I never like when the couple is actively mean to each other, which is what happened here. Cute book, would recommend, but not perfect.

I absolutely LOVED the premise of this one - opposites attract AND having to write together? And, on top of that, having a Hispanic main character? You love to see it. However, that's where my love for this book ended. I couldn't get into the writing or Rosie/Aiden's behaviors. It felt a little too childish for what I'm assuming their ages were and made it difficult for me to stay engaged throughout the book.

Thank you Netgalley and Alcove Press for this ARC.

DNF 15%
This book tells the story of Rosie and Aidan who are both working towards a creative writing degree, with Rosie writing romance and Aidan focusing on sad man books (aka litfic). While they're attracted to each other, they don't respect the other person's genre so he and Rosie clash continually in ways that affect everyone else in their novel-writing class. They are given an ultimatum: leaving the class or collaborate on a single novel that features a love story but not a hea. Of course they choose the latter.
For me this book didn't work, and I think there are two reasons for this. First, it's hard to get invested in characters who are so nasty to each other. The way they critique each other's writing is painful to read. I don't understand why it takes the tutor this long to interfere.
Second, the premise feels a little out-dated to me. This may be a me-thing, but I feel we've gone past the ' romance is worthy' shouting. The book just manages to steer clear of the 'books by women for women' claim, but it's a close call. And maybe I'm tired of all the romance books/authors in romance books, especially when it involves MMC reading romance. Of course, I didn't get very far into this book, so possibly Aiden is never converted, but somehow I doubt it.
Anyway, while this book didn't work for me, but ymmv.

Wow! Was this really the author's first book?! This is hands-down one of the best romance novels I have read in awhile! I am a big fan of the enemies to lovers story and this one was done to perfection. The spice in this book was fan-freaking-tastic! Chef's kiss! She knocked this one out of the park on her first try! Well done!
This book had so many moments that really spoke to me and pulled at my heartstrings.
"I wanted the kind of love you treated gently, like it could break. The kind that was intense and real. The kind you fought for, not against. And maybe I was wrong and love like that didn't exist. But I wanted to get as close as I could to that feeling."

Rosie had been through so much and Aiden was this grump, who ended up surprising her. Rosie's past was something that was always an issue when trying to move forward, which I know we can all relate to. Bad relationships can leave their mark.
"Weak guys like that are just intimidated by strong women, Aiden continued, each word a sharp cut into the air. You shouldn't have to beg someone for the bare minimum. He got too comfortable being with someone as wonderful as you and took you for granted." This part of the book really hit me hard. Don't let them take you for granted ladies!

You will not regret reading this book! Can't wait to see what Katie writes next!

Academic rivals to lovers? Sure!

That’s how I thought this was going to go. While I did feel the rivalry and enjoyed it, I did not buy into the relationship in the end. The arguments and fighting felt like too much.

Overall, a fun beach ready type of romance book.

Un très bon premier roman, j'ai vraiment adoré ! ♥ ♥
Rosie & Aiden sont deux étudiants en écriture à New York, mais leurs genres de prédilection sont totalement opposés : la romance pour elle, la fiction littéraire pour lui (comprenez, les romans "sérieux"), ils se détestent et passent leur temps à s'envoyer des saloperies à la figure lorsqu'ils sont en cours. Un jour, ils dépassent tellement les bornes que leur prof leur impose un ultimatum : soit ils écrivent un 4 mains mêlant leurs genres respectifs, soit ils sont définitivement virés du programme.

Nous voilà donc partis à fond sur du rivals/enemies-to-lovers + forced proximity (du fait de cette collab forcée), et en bonus ... du slow burn ! Et put*in que c'était bon !

Leur relation, c'est un pas en avant, trois pas en arrière, ils mettent du temps à se dévoiler, et peinent à communiquer, et c'est finalement à travers leurs personnages qu'ils vont se dire les choses. Car on suit autant la relation Aiden/Rosie que celle entre Max(ine) & Hunter, leurs doubles de papier, et j'ai autant aimé lire les extraits du roman écrit par les héros que la relation des héros elle-même. C'était une belle mise en abîme, très bien maîtrisée par l'autrice.

C'est un roman qui parle d'écriture, de livres (avec plein de réfs à la romance, aux tropes ... trop bien !), mais aussi de relations humaines, de confiance en soi, de la peur se se livrer, de se dévoiler ... J'ai surligné un paquet de passages et je me languis déjà d'avoir le paperback entre mes mains.

Pour un premier roman, c'est vraiment une réussite, même si j'ai parfois trouvé Rosie immature et agaçante, et j'aurais aimé que ses origines péruviennes soient davantage exploitées. Quant à Aiden ... qu'est-ce que j'aime ce type de héros hautain et froid en apparence (hello Mr Darcy), mais dont on découvre peu à peu la sensibilité et la force des sentiments ...

Et puis au cours de cette lecture, il m'était impossible de ne pas penser aux romans de Mariana Zapata et Elena Arma, ainsi que "Comme dans un roman d'été" de Emily Henry, mais aussi aux romcom newyorkaises des années 90, et plus particulièrement à "Quand Harry rencontre Sally".

Vraiment, c'était t♥p !

The book had a lot of potential, and I genuinely appreciated its premise. The writing style was light-hearted and made for an enjoyable, easy read. One standout moment for me was the New Year's scene, where the love interest wore a red sweater. That scene was so sweet, it made me giddy with excitement.

However, the book had more issues that I couldn’t overlook. The love interest is very unlikeable. I know they both fought in the beginning, but he was unnecessarily vicious towards Rosie and her being a romance writer for no reason. Just because you don’t like romance, does not mean nobody else is allowed to! And the thing is, he did not have any development in my opinion in this regard. Rosie’s ex-boyfriend, Simon, looked down upon romance, and Aiden is horrified to think that maybe Rosie thinks of him to be exactly like him, while being exactly like him! Rosie did not learn her lesson from her previous relationship, she stepped into another version of the same relationship with Aiden.

The third act conflict was bad. Initially I didn’t understand why she was mad at him, until he opened his mouth. Without spoiling much, the love interest doesn’t disclose something to the fmc and when she finds out she gets mad, instead of explaining himself or apologizing, he essentially gaslights her, does not take responsibility, disrespects her and her dream of becoming a romance writer (yep, just like Simon her ex-boyfriend, did!) and accuses her of being jealous. Which is fine because he was lashing out because he has his own issues, but the problem lies when he doesn’t apologize for disrespecting her and her dreams? He just explains why he lied and never even touches the topic of still not respecting her as a romance writer and she is completely okay with it because he told her that he loved her! Essentially he had no character development, and the fmc is pathetic enough to not care.

There are some grammatical errors and inconsistencies throughout the arc that I got, hoping they’d be resolved before the book gets published. Just for an example, in one scene they take their tops off, then go upstairs and take their tops off again, unless they were wearing two tops (hey, maybe they were, I wouldn’t know) it doesn’t make sense. There were a few more such inconsistencies that I hope have been edited out before the book is released. Also, the job of their fictional characters didn’t really make sense to me. They had clients, but they also wrote fiction? I was very confused.

Overall, this book has so much potential to be good if somethings were different, and if the love interest was written better.

I honestly really liked this book! It contained all fundamental elements of your typical romcom: banter, spice, enemies to lovers... but I felt like the plot and the development were really original! I loved that the characters were writing a "book in the book". If you are looking for a cute romance read, this is perfect!

There's a little bit of enemies to lovers MAGIC in this debut romance, with feuding that's actually flirting, banter for days, and an epistolary element that brings the swoon. It gave me major Hating Game/Spanish Love Deception vibes, which is absolutely a compliment. It's tough to find romance that delivers those swoony feelings, but I can truly say this accomplishes that much of the time. I loved the story within the story and how this couple was able to express their feelings within the pages of the book they were writing together. We only get the heroine's perspective, but our hero makes his feelings known with his writing, and that part fascinated me. We get to (over)analyze every interaction and look at it from a different perspective, which was actually a lot of fun. It felt fresh and different, while also showcasing the author's love of the genre. There's a ton to love here, but there were also some moments that simply didn't live up to their full potential. I'm rounding up my rating, because anything less than 5 stars doesn't feel quite right. It's Holt's debut, so I'm very excited to watch her writing grow. This felt special.

The story follows Rosie, a graduate student who is taking an intensive writing course this semester. Ever the optimist, she is daydreaming about the opportunities that will come from the course, though there is one thorn in Rosie's side - her classmate, Aiden. Though critique is part of the process, Aiden seems to be particularly harsh when it comes to Rosie. He clearly does not like the romance genre, and his constant frowns have made it clear that he doesn't like Rosie either. After an argument threatens Rosie and Aiden's place in the class, their professor requires them to work together. They'll have to write a book together over the next several months, a love story that doesn't have a happy ending. It's the last thing either one wants, but they're determined to make it work. As Rosie and Aiden work on their book together, their writing begins to parallel their real life circumstances... and things get complicated.

I was really impressed by this debut, and I sincerely hope it gets the thorough edit it needs before publication. I don't usually comment on editing or formatting issues in ARCs, but this was BAD bad. Almost unreadable, the worst I've seen from a traditional publisher. That's not a comment on the quality of the story, so I really hope it's resolved before release day. Holt is clearly very talented, and that shines through. There were a few things that revealed her inexperience as a writer - some missed opportunities, moments when the characters acted like teenagers, and definitely the third act conflict. This was an obvious 5-star rating for me until the conflict, at which point I literally groaned in disappointment. That also tells you how emotionally invested I became in the romance, and how much I got caught up in the story. I've never read a romance that's utilized an epistolary element quite like this, and I loved what that did for the relationship development. We may not get Aiden's perspective, but I could feel the love in his words. They have fantastic chemistry, and the constant banter kept me on my toes. This would make such a great movie, I can easily picture it. Holt clearly has an appreciation for the genre, and that made this a multifaceted, engaging read. If this is her debut, then I can't wait to see what's next from her.

Although this story follows the classic romcom, lovey dovey, 3rd act break up, romance plot… I STILL ATE IT UPPPPP!!!!

At first was confused with what the text at the end of each chapter represented, but eventually caught on that it was their short story the two MC we’re writing throughout, which I thought was really creative!

Loved Rosie and Aiden’s relationship as well ofc and how they communicate their feelings through their writing.

One thing i did find kind of effy for me was the spicy scenes 🌶️ the first one I thought was fairy authentic, but after that I felt it was unnecessary. maybe i’m just a closed door romance girly and not a spicy fanatic 🤷‍♀️