This was a really great debut and the fact that it was pitched as a cross between The Hating Game and Beach Read definitely sold it to me. It had the perfect mix of banter, spice and romance and I loved that it was an enemies to lovers too!

The premise of this book was fun and definitely had me looking forward to reading it. I understand this is a debut novel, so first of all, congratulations to the author, as a debut you really swung for the fences, so bravo. As such I’ll be kinder than I generally am when reviewing, because even my favorite authors had some clunky moments at the beginning of their writing careers.

I loved the idea of two burgeoning authors who are contemptuous of each other’s work, style, and plot points being forced to work together on a novel as a requirement of continuing in their post-graduate program. I really loved the way the author incorporated snippets of the work in progress at the end of each chapter as a vehicle for revealing the MCs feelings toward each other. I loved the group texts of the friend groups: they added humor and helped to move the story forward.

I enjoyed the book a great deal. I do have some criticisms, however, in particular the vitriol between the MCs in the beginning that’s not truly corollary to the differences between them. Likewise I felt that the last minute/third act event was unnecessary,

Overall this was a very good read and I look forward to more from this author in future.

I was furnished an advance reader copy from NetGalley, and I’m sharing my honest review.

Rosie and Aiden, rivals in an NYU writer’s course, clash due to their stark differences. Rosie is a romantic longing for love who writes romance but is afraid of vulnerability; Aiden is a disillusioned litfic writer who rejects romance due to his troubled past. Their constant arguments disrupt class, leading their professor, Ida, to nearly kick them out of class. Instead, she decides to force them to co-write a novel—a romance without a happy ending.

Not In My Book was my favorite contemporary romance read of the year (5 stars!), combining beloved tropes with emotional depth. Expect an enemies-to-lovers, open door slow-burn romance with themes of opposites attract and forced proximity. The integration of their novel into the main story added a unique layer and a glimpse into Aiden's head. Some Spanish dialogue without translation was occasionally confusing but did not detract from the overall story. Overall, it was a gripping, emotional read that kept me on my toes and had me swooning.

I would recommend this to fans of Ali Hazlewood, Emily Henry (especially Beach Read) and Heather Fawcitt's Emily Wilde series.

5 stars!

This is Katie Holt's first novel and it's brilliant.

Aiden and Rosie are in the same writing class and are constantly at each other's throats. They like different genres and don't get along at all. The professor assigns them to write together. The beginning may not be the easiest, but slowly they get to know each other, and through their texts they are also able to talk about their feelings through their characters.

The story was so well constructed that it was a joy to read. The plot moved along smoothly, and the characters were realistic with their faults and weaknesses. The book has a third act break up, which I usually hate. However, in this book it was resolved so smoothly that even that didn't interfere with the reading pleasure!

I definitely recommend the book to everyone who likes romantic literature. I look forward to Katie Holt's future books!

WHAT TO EXPECT:
* Book about books
* Dirty talk
* Enemies to lovers
* Forced proximity
* Hea
* One bed
* Open doors
* Opposites attract
* Point of view: FMC 1st person
* Slowburn
* Steamy
* Third act: break up

“I’m not good at romance like you are. I don’t have the right words to make you understand how completely wrapped around your finger I am. I didn’t believe in soulmates, and for the longest time I didn’t believe in love at all—until I met you. But I do love you. The shoot for the stars, shout on rooftops kind. I accepted my fate a long time ago. I don’t think I could ever love anyone else but you.”

This book follows our FMC Rosie (sunshine personified and believer of all things romance) and our MMC Aiden (grumpy writer with no belief in said romance but a soft spot for a certain romance lover) in their masters program at NYU. Because of their inability to work together amicably in a writing class, they are forced to write a book together, one that pushes and challenges them each in ways they never expected.

First I have to say, this book surprised me in the best way. I was definitely impressed considering this is the authors first novel, how hooked I was. The beginning of the book maybe started out a little rocky, but about a quarter of the way into the book I was absolutely ENTHRALLED! The banter between Rosie and Aiden had me unable to put the book down (like literally I finished the whole thing in less than 24 hours) and straight up giggling.

I loved the NYC setting, especially at Christmas time🥹 The way I could envision the Christmas lights, the snow falling on Christmas Eve, walking around the booths at the Christmas market. It just made me so warm and fuzzy inside and I loved every second of it.

The use of the quotes from the book within the book was confusing in the beginning, but as the story unfolded I wound up LOVING the use of storytelling through Rosie and Aiden’s writing (especially that spicy scene IYKYK). It turned out to be one of my favorite aspects of the book and such a creative way to further the plot and reveal certain thoughts from our main characters that they were unwilling to come forward with themselves.

I love a grumpy MMC and Aiden lived up to my fave kind of grumpy turned obsessive man. Obviously there were some moments he could have handled better and I wish he would have handled the third act break up better than he did to show how far he had come, but I do think he made up for it and his romance hero moment had me kicking my feet and on the edge of my seat like “PLEASE FORGIVE HIM ROSIE🥺”. Also the MOUTH on that man during spicy scenes had me like 🤤

There were so many relatable things about the FMC, her love of romance and her optimism along with her stubbornness. Her love for the city but the need to retreat to her TN home. Definitely felt a kindred spirit with Rosie and loved the way her character grew from the romance obsessed girl in the beginning of the book to the Rosie who saw love as work and imperfect but still worth it. It was a beautiful journey for her AND Aiden and I was pleasantly surprised at the depth and growth I saw from both of them!

There were a few small inconsistencies in some scenes and a few typos but nothing that stood out in a way that took me out of the story completely.

Overall, I ended up LOVING this book, these characters, unable to put it down and would absolutely recommend it to any book friends who love:

Enemies to lovers
Forced proximity
Grumpy/Sunshine
Only One Bed
NYC

**Thank you NetGalley, Alcove Press and Katie Holt for sending over an arc in exchange for an honest review!**

Super fun read, absolutely love the enemies to lovers trope but this was giving more rivals to lovers which I also love. Will say that throughout the book I kept thinking to myself how the vibes were very similar to the Hating Game and I absolutely loved it. The characters had a very good progression to their relationship, where there was the perfect amount of tension and yearning where I literally could not put the book down because I could not wait for them to finally get together. Yes I did read this in one sitting, and yes you should too!

listen as soon as I saw the hating game meets beach read, i immediately requested this.

I enjoyed reading this book.

the banter.
the tension between Aiden and Rosie was everything.
the slow burn was BURNING.

Now Aiden was literally EVERYTHING. The things he did for Rosie.
I really like Rosie’s character but I did find her annoying sometimes.

Overall this was a good and fun read.

Thank you netgalley & aclove press for this arc.

Read this if you like :

- rivals to lovers
- workplace romance

I've always loved Enemies to lovers stories and I thought the idea of the story was very creative. You mean writers fighting each other and falling in love while creating together? It was so unique and special as I was introduced to a new book within the pages, with all the little secrets and emotions about the characters. It was like I was there, I wanted to be there! It was a fantastic experience, beautifully constructed and wonderfully developed by the author!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

This book was absolutely adorable! A true rivals to lovers with two polar opposite writers. The main characters were both extremely relatable and their banter was so addicting I found myself unwilling to put the book down at some parts. Rosalinda is so so relatable as a romance reader and delusional hopeless romantic and seeing her get her dream man in Aiden was an absolute delight!

Enemies to lovers. slow burn. Reminds me of Beach Read by Emily Henry. I plan to experience this again once it is in audiobook format.

Rosie is me and I am Rosie! I loooooved this book and I wish it never ended. Off to do more research about Katie Holt and see what else I can read of hers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ARC copy of “Not in my Book” by Katie Holt.

I thought this was a sweet, funny, lighthearted rom com that struck a nice balance between romance and humour.

Rosie and Aiden are class rivals turned group members when their professor decides she’s had enough of their bickering in class. She tasks them with writing a novel together that blends their literary genres.

At first, Aiden and Rosie bicker about everything, but as they spend more time together, they slowly discover that their bickering was a front. They pour their real emotions into their fantasy characters - Max and Hunter - to say things they aren’t capable of saying to one another in person.

I think that Holt did a nice job of developing her two main characters and their relationship with one another. The tension was good and they spent time getting to know one another, which made the story more realistic.

I enjoyed a lot of the banter between the characters, but I did find some of the writing to be a bit too simplistic or repetitive. Sometimes, the way the characters spoke to one another seemed very robotic.

Overall, I enjoyed the story <spoiler>and I’m happy that Rosie and Aiden got their HEA</spoiler> and would recommend it for someone looking for a story set in college but with older adults and from an educational/ writing perspective rather than a sports one.

If you’re looking for a fun read that combines classic Ephron movie vibes, NYC, writing and slow burning love, look no further than this novel!

A true rivals-to-lovers novel! By the end of this book, I ended up loving Rosie and Aiden together! In the beginning, however, I did not like Rosie one bit. She's a 26 year old Peruvian-American student at NYU, with dreams of becoming a romance writer. Aiden is her rival, and it's apparent they hate each other. Rosie's reason for hating Aiden was very childish and reminded me of middle school, where girls used to bully boys because they liked them. Aiden seemed very straightforward and chill from the beginning and gave Rosie honest constructive criticism, which she clearly found it hard to accept. Once Rosie and Aiden started working together and building on their chemistry, I was able to get past Rosie's childish ways. It quickly went from childish to cute and sweet for me and then picked up to spicy! Aiden's a hot character for sure!
Thank you NetGalley, Alcove Press, and Katie Holt for this ARC!

Not in My book is a spectacular enemies-to-lovers novel about two writers who couldn't be more opposite and are forced to write a book together. As pieces of themselves start bleeding into the novel, Rosie and Aiden have trouble piecing together what's real and what's not and grappling with the fact that maybe it's not just their characters who have chemistry.

I looooved everything about this book! From the slow burn of the romance, to the witty dialogue, to the lovable characters, Katie Holt had me engaged from beginning to end!

I really liked how the story was narrated by Rosie, but we also got excerpts from the novel she and Aiden were writing as well. I thought this was an interesting way to explore how the characters (Rosie and Aiden) felt without them having to explicitly say it. They were both complex characters who tended to have trouble speaking their minds, so to be able to still be able to get inside their heads in this way was really interesting to me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ARC!

This was a cute story, especially if you like to read about two people co-writing a book!

I loved the Latinx representation in this book. I especially loved that it was a Peruvian because South America is underrepresented and I loved reading about foods I've eaten on trips to South America and I loved the inclusion of Spanish in the book.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest review.

3.5/5. It's nothing new, but it's pretty good! I'm always up to a good enemies to lovers novel if well written and with an interesting plot. and this one definitely has both elements. I would have loved to read more about the actual manuscript they were writing because what we saw was really interesting. Some parts did feel a little bit boring, but overall it was a good read.

I truly enjoyed reading this book and I was fully pulled into the story. The author managed to hold my interest till the end of the book. I really liked how the author drew parallels between Rosie & Aiden and Max & Hunter. I also liked the idea of book inside a book and how the story continued in 2 places at the same time. Though I felt it a little silly the way Rosie fought with Aiden about the fellowship submission but I was able to get over it quickly towards the end as the author justified it. The characters had layers and the exploration was very good. Going with a 4-star.

I love Aiden and Rosie!! I loved this romance book so much! The TAYLOR swift vibes the author vibes! It was everything I needed after reading a lovely Emily Henry novel! Highly recommend if you like books about authors and books

I loved this book! I love books about books, writing them, selling them, you name it. Throw romance in and I’m there! Ooh and enemies to lovers, even better!!

Very divided on this. I wanted to give it more stars but now I sit at 3.5.

First 50-60% of the book were excellent, just wonderfully excellent. I found myself getting carried away with their rivalry and turning to friends and then to lovers. I almost squealed in public when the first kiss happened, and then I giggled like a schoolgirl reading her first romance ever. The story managed to pull me that much in! And I loved how I could imagine the characters and the places they inhabited, almost like watching a movie in my head. Their bickering even made me laugh out loud several times :) I loved it so much.

But... The sex scenes uh, use the kind of talk that is not my cup of tea. I am aware this is something personal to me and others may find it good, so I didn't let it impact my reading experience and carried on.

However... Then we got to the stupid conflict in the last part of the book and I wanted to scream. This seemed to undermine everything we went through in the book with the amazing character development both from Aiden and Rosie. It just seemed unnecessary - I would have liked it and enjoyed it more if we just got the HEA as if to prove in spite of everything Aiden believed and his need to turn the HEA on its head in the book they were writing and go: See? It can be this good. And you both deserve it this good.

And even if I can understand how Aiden would keep it a secret, I am very miffled about Ida and why didn't she say anything at all? I just hated how it soured both relationships after everything that happened.

So. That impacted my rating sadly, I firmly believe we did not need that final conflict. Since this is the author's debut and I loved their writing and the way they conveyed personalities and built characters throughout the story, I am looking forward to reading more from them.