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.

Charming! Enemies to lovers, writing workshops, New York during the Christmas season, and rediscovering what the characters desire and how they want to start the next chapter.

A book about books, a love for literature, persistence, determination, but also about giving people around us a chance, even if we don’t understand them at first.

If you love a slow burn, this enemies to lovers/academic rivals book is for you. Not in My Book is about two literature students who regularly argue in class until they're forced to team up and write a book together.

Rosie is a romance writer who sees the best in people and Aiden is a literary fiction author whos life has left him jaded and with a distaste to romance. I loved the inclusion of Rosie's Peruvian heritage and her family. Seeing her parents, and their family dynamics gives you an insight as to why Rosie is such a romantic.

As the characters work on their manuscript, they begin slowly building their relationship. Their relationship that starts as a friendship and builds as they use the characters in their book to communicate. I love seeing bits of their book inside this book.

This has got to be one of my new favorite books. I couldn't put it down once I started and it flowed so beautifully. I can't wait to see what comes next from Katie Holt.

Book about books always hit different, and this one truly hit the mark! I loved how it went back and forth between the story and then the book they were writing, and the banter!! Incredible!

The book was really good and I enjoyed that it was a TRUE enemies to lovers. I like that they both write and constantly bicker over that. The book is definitely worth reading and reminded me in some ways of other popular books. The cover and title really caught my eye and describe the storyline perfectly. I’d love to see more that’s for sure

This was a pleasant surprise of a novel! While it started a bit slow and with an over the top enemies to lovers plot, it turned out to be a scorching and emotionally charged romance. The double play with the characters writing together added something interesting to the mix. I d it think the early scenes of the two sniping at each other was over the top and that many if not all their problems could be solved by communication. Overall a really good romance read.

A good book about characters writing a book... it was bookception! I love how Rosie and Aiden's book mirrored and gave insight into what was going on in the actual storyline. Very slow burn, and I personally felt the MMC, Aiden, lacked depth. He's brooding, mysterious, and intelligent (albeit not emotionally..) Rosie, on the other hand, is my bestie. Maybe because the story is told from her perspective, but I really enjoyed getting to know her philosophies on life, her experiences as a Peruvian American woman raised in the south, her parents, her creative process, etc. Overall, I do recommend you read this if you like forced proximity, enemies to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, and academic settings.

Thank you to Alcove Press and NetGalley for the ARC!

Not in My Book by Katie Holt is a unique take on an enemies to lovers romance. Rosie and Aiden are rival Grad students in an MFA program at NYU, Rosie writing romance and Aiden writing literary fiction and with little to no patience for the romance genre. Their constant verbal sparring leads to their professor deciding that if the two wanted to remain in her class, they must cowrite a novel that blend both their genres. Rosie and Aiden begin writing together an enemies to lovers novel that mirrors, in many aspects, their own situation and becomes a tool for them to become friends with each other. The author incorporates snippets from the novel that Rosie and Aiden are co-writing, about Max and Hunter, into each chapter, which allows the reader insights into how Rosie and Aiden are thinking and their reasons for acting the way they do and was a writing tool that really worked well in this book.

Thank you to the publisher, Alcove Press, and the author for an eARC of this book in an exchange for an honest review. It was a great debut novel!

Rosie and Aiden are in a writing workshop together and he constantly attacks her submissions. He hates romance novels and that is what she is writing. Things get so bad in class, that they are almost expelled. However, the professor has an option for them to write the novel together. Rosie and Aiden create a love story between Max and Hunter. The more they work on the novel, the more their relationship becomes very close to what they are writing together. Katie Holt uses this approach to help Rosie and Aiden move their relationship forward. I love the concept and the inclusion of their chapters of the novel intertwined with the plot. I recommend this novel; however, be aware that there are several very graphic sexual descriptions in both the imagined and real relationships depicted.

I don't think I've ever been as impressed with a debut as with this one. Katie Holt really blew me away with this book. It has everything, from angst to happiness and rivals to lovers.

While this book is essentially a standard contemporary romance novel, it's execution really took it to another level. In the book, we get to know Aiden and Rosie, but we also get to know Hunter and Maxine, the characters in the book they are cowriting. Aiden and Rosie are both aspiring authors and always try to find flaws in each others writing. When they find themselves stuck in a situation in which they have to write a book together, they create these characters to reflect each other.

"The truth was I liked her no matter what she did, no matter what she said."

As the relationship between Rosie and Aiden evolves, so does the one of their characters. While I love books about books, this one was so special as we also get to read excerpts about the book they are writing. I loved how we got to know their thoughts about each other this way, without them voicing it out loud, especially Aiden's.

“There hasn’t been a second where I wasn’t wondering what you were thinking and if it was of me.”

The pacing of the book was perfect. The writing kept me wanting to continue and I honestly really liked the characters. Overall, I loved this book and I will literally recommend it to everybody. It was also a lot deeper than I expected it to be, which is something I really appreciate in a romance book.

A major thanks to Alcove Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.75/ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️.5/🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

This was a really cute book about all things romance. It centres around two writers in New York City, Rosie (from Tennessee) moved to New York after a toxic breakup with a long term boyfriend, because she dreamed of being a romance author and set up taking writing workshops with a beloved writer that she admired. Aidan is in that workshop too, cutthroat and stuck in his ways, he believes that romance is frivolous and writes literary fiction that would make anyone basically contemplate their life choices. It was hate at first workshop review, but that fine line between love and hate turns into something more when they cause one too many disruptions in their writing workshops and their lecturer informs them it’s either try to get along and submit their thesis as a joint project or drop out of the workshop and get the dean to assign a new elective. Ultimately they chose to write the book together and this becomes their love story. This was a sickly sweet slow burn that had you going, “please please please just shut the fuck up and kiss already” and when they finally got together you were like “fuckin’ finally!!”. I liked the premise of this book and way it was set, I love reading about romance readers and writers, I relate so much to the thinking and I love the references to different authors and books throughout. This was an easy and enjoyable read. However, there were some small writing errors and some timelines didn’t add up for me, especially in the later chapters, they’d be doing something and then something else happens and I start thinking ‘how is that possible’. Maybe something to look over. I did love the dialogue and the spice definitely added to the story, I’m usually used to reading dual pov but in this book having everything in Rosie’s was a nice experience because you still got a lot of Aidan though the dialogue and the excepts of the manuscript they’re writing though out the novel. The third act conflict was kinda irrelevant especially since it took so long for them to even get together, I can kinda see why it was done but overall could’ve gone about it another way. This was a nice book and I lovely experience, I definitely recommend.

Swifties unite! A fun read with vibes that will fill the hole in your life now that the Eras tour is on hiatus until the fall!

As soon as I realized that our main character was a swiftie I was all for it, and I love how Rosie is just a hopeless romantic! *Queue "This is Love" by Taylor Swift. This book has forced proximity and enemies-to-lover between Aiden and Rosie and that alone made the whole plot even more fun! I liked how the book storyline was over a longer period of time than average, allowing us to see a better character and plot development for their storyline. Seeing how our parent's relationship can impact the way we and the characters view love was eye-opening. Aiden did not have the same example of love from his parents as Rosie does, and that just gets right under his skin which was so fun to read jeje. The banter was such a fun read and I can't wait to see what else this author will write next!

this was cute and had a lot of potential to be amazing, but unfortunately it fell a little flat. i really liked the plot and how their love story was told through themselves and their characters in their book. i’d definitely read more from this author

This book was such a great read. I love a good enemies to lovers trope and Katie Holt did a great job keeping the banter throughout the book. I think the epilogue started with Rosalinda wanting to strangle Aiden and I loved it. It was a super enjoyable read that I finished in 2 days! I'm actually obsessed with Aiden. A hot, mysterious writer? Count me in!

Absolutely adored this book! Thank you to Net Galley for the early access in exchange for a review.

Rosie is totally drawn to Aiden when she first sees him but later when they learn they have the same writing class he snubs her because she is a romance author. It then turns to an enemies vibe when Rosie feels that Aiden critiques her writing way harder than the rest of her peers. After having had enough of their bickering, their teacher attempts to remove them from class unless they can complete a project together and get along.

As they work together to write a fiction novel they grow to frenemies and start to fall for each other and pour their feelings into the book they’re writing. I was hooked on this book and was up until 2am TRYING to finish it but with 12 minutes left in the book I couldn’t stay up and had to finish in the morning and honestly I’m glad I waiting to be fully awake because the ending was *chefs kiss*!! I’m looking forward to reading my more of Katie’s books!

4.5 stars rounded up. This is a gorgeously written debut by Katie Holt. The interspersing of passages from the novel Rosie and Aiden were writing was a very clever storytelling technique, particularly in revealing Aiden’s thoughts and feelings, since it was a single POV book.

I would say Aiden was 90% an amazing book boyfriend. Some of the things he did for Rosie were truly swoon-worthy. I loved the Christmas in New York scenes. And my heart broke for him when he finally started opening up about his childhood.

However, there were occasionally times where it was hard to understand his behavior, particularly *spoilerish alert* in the final conflict. Though the author tried to explain it, I found it harder to forgive than Rosie did, especially when she apologized to him and I felt she actually didn’t do anything wrong.

But overall this was such a unique and well-written book, and I really enjoyed it! I recommend picking it up when it comes out in December!

Thank you to Alcove Press and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

First off, I cannot believe this was a debut book! When I mid-reading, I went to see if the author had other books because I loved this one so much already, and was surprised to see it was her debut. The plot was unique, and I loved the idea of the love story within a love story. This book had me actually laugh out loud, and kicking my feet all giddy at times with how sweet and cute the romance was. I thought the characters were fun and well written, and the dialogue felt so natural, even with the written text messages between characters. I am already looking forward to the next story from this author!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

This was such a great premise. I loved the book within a book. In fact, dare I say I liked Max and Hunter way more than Rosie and Aidan. Rosie really got on my nerves toward the end of the story, which is probably the only reason this doesn't get 5 stars. Loved the dual POV, which doesn't always work but definitely did here. Loved the friends! They were really funny and added so much to the story. Loved Ronny Jr (haha) and Aidan's exasperation with Rosie's building. This was so much better than I was expecting. Absolutely recommending this one.