This book was everything I wanted and more! I haven't read a book this fast in a while but I could not put it down!! It's crazy that this is Holt's debut novel because I want more already!! I LOVED Rosie (the main character) and it was so fun to see her personality throughout the story. Everything about this story made my heart so happy!! So grateful to have gotten the chance to read this before release day! & I am so excited to buy a physical copy when it drops!! Thank you!!

i enjoyed the first half of this book, the banter between aidan and rosie felt very real and much like conversations (debates) had about romance vs litfic. however, the book fell flat past the halfway mark which was disappointing! it became very dialogue heavy, especially the excerpts from their joint manuscript. the third act breakup was also very jarring to read as aidan became quite disrespectful and rosie childish over the situation, which i don’t think fit in with their character development.

overall, this was an enjoyable read even with the points mentioned above, i would have reviewed higher if the conflict was handled in a way that felt more authentic to both characters.

I enjoyed the read, but had some hard times with just how.....dedicated the two characters were in making each other's life an absolute living hell. There were times I was really glad the author made the character call out themselves on the childish-ness, because that is certainly how I was feeling. It took me a few times to finish this book, but overall it was enjoyable.

'Not in my book' follows Rosie and Aiden - romance and literary fiction writers, respectively - as they navigate the difficult task of writing a book together. This book explores the enemies-to-lovers & forced proximity tropes so well!

The characters are very well thought out, with such depth, that it felt like I knew Rosie and Aiden personally. The way we get presented with excerpts of the book they're writing is simply amazing, as we get glimpses inside of their main characters mind. After all, the book they're writing starts to feel as if they're writing their own story.

<b>"But all of them had been easily replaced with memories of her"</b>
<b>"I don't think I could ever love anyone else but you."</b>

The romance between the character, is, without a doubt, what makes this book a 5-star read, it made me emotional, reading about the love between the two of them, and how they overcome their own past.

<i>"I ignored the glass of my own shattered heart as I cut myself trying to put hers back together.</i>
The conflict between Rosie and Aiden is expected and predictable, and it would've been a much better book if they'd solved things together, but alas, it doesn't put me off with granting this book a 5-star.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Not in My Book by Katie Holt is a slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance that I couldn't put down until around the last few parts of the book. I enjoyed the spice but the break up which to me felt a bit out of nowhere and how fast they got over it and got back together made me feel off. Even though I didn't like the last part of the book it was still well-written and easy to read. In my opinion a great start for a debut author.

This was such a quick read! The pacing was good for the most part and there was chemistry between the characters and I loved their little dates. However, there were several aspects that made this not a perfect romance book to me.

First of all, I could not for the life of me stand Rosie, the female main character. Almost all of the drama could have been resolved if she had not chosen to be so stubborn. And maybe it’s me, but I thought her stance on „all romances must have a HEA“ was childish.

Maybe it shows through that I am more team Aiden here. I liked him as a character, and especially the way he really tried to make their relationship work and put in so much effort.

So imagine my disappointment at the twist that brought about the breakup. I had seen it from a mile coming, of course, since the plot only more or less meandered after the first half or so, and this was the logical thing to happen, but I hated it. To me, it didn’t fit into the story, and wasn’t in character for Aiden either. I would have been just fine with it if there had been a HEA right away rather than this weak attempt at drama. Instead, the romance could have been a bit more slow burn, described from both main characters‘ perspectives and it would have filled a whole book just as well.

What didn’t quite work for me besides that were the writing-within-the-writing parts. Yes, I appreciated that these snippets gave us Aiden‘s perspective, but it was so…blunt, maybe? I feel like I would have liked the whole book more if the whole attraction thing had played out more subtly and less slow-because-Rosie-insists-on-being-her-stubborn-self. Also, I felt like all three writing voices (author, Rosie, Aiden) sounded way too similar.

What did again work well were the supporting characters. They appeared rather fleshed out and had so much personality, funny interactions and great relationships with Rosie.

All in all, like I said, this was a good read, but rather forgettable as well. As a debut, this was solid though!

3/5 stars.

This one drew me in with its book lover premise and cute cover but holy crap, this may be my favorite rom com of 2024. I have so many feels and will definitely have to come back with a longer review but for now, 10/10 🫶🏽

4.5 stars,

I was hooked on Rosie and Aiden’s story immediately — to the point I read the book in one sitting. The fact that we received essentially two books in one was SUCH a bonus for me, too. If it bad that I loved Hunter and Max maybe even more than Rosie and Aiden??

I loved Rosie’s outlook on life and how well she paired with Aiden. While parts were cliche, they are romance novel cliche and I find them cheesy and cringey but secretly love them so much so I’ll eat it up every time. (Mocking the one bed trope and then throwing it into the story? Brilliant.) Because of this it was predictable, but it’s a cute novel that does beg the question — what will it take for romance authors and romance readers to be taken seriously?

“There hasn’t been a second where I wasn’t wondering what you were thinking and if it was of me. I’ll feel this way tomorrow, the day after, and all the days after that.”

I knocked down a half of a star for the last 10%, because Rosie was just so infuriating in her actions. It felt like too much for a character who believes so much in love than she’d turn around and lie to everyone that she read the pages when she continued to tell Aiden that he lied to her. Obviously there was more to the fight, but the amount of time between the end of the semester and when The Moment happens felt like too long and kinda took me out of the grand gesture.

Overall, I’d recommend this book! Everyone deserves a HEA. 💕

This book follows two upcoming authors, Aiden Huntington and Rosie Maxwell. The simplest way to describe this book is that it’s a ‘romance within a romance’. Initially, I struggled a lot while reading this because of Rosie’s inner dialogue. It also felt like there was no romantic tension between the characters, and I felt like it was forced, but slowly, as their relationship blossomed, you could see the chemistry and how well they worked together. As for the ending, it wasn’t necessary. I mean, yes, I did like how he apologized, but the reason for their breakup was childish. If they weren’t stubborn and just talked it out, there wouldn’t need to be a third-act breakup/conflict.

Rosie Maxwell— I struggled with connecting with her character; the dialogue felt repetitive and like she was saying the same thing every page. She was too stubborn and wasn’t self-aware most of the time, and some of her actions made me question everything she did. However, I liked her motivation for writing and how she believed in herself even after everything that had happened in the past.

Aiden Huntington— his character wasn’t something different, again I couldn’t really connect with him, but I feel like if there were chapters in his pov everything would’ve flowed a lot better because we would've got how she felt as well as his thoughts. I loved his gestures and how he cared for Rosie even if he didn’t show it, it just gave a lot of depth to his character.

*Thank you to NetGalley, Alcover Press, and the author, Katie Holt, for providing me with this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.*

Such a good read that I enjoyed! I'm so glad that I got the chance to read it early and will definitely be recommending it to multiple people who enjoy these types of novels. I enjoyed the characters and especially enjoyed the writing by this author. I'm excited to see what the author comes out with next as I'll definitely be reading it! Thank you to the publisher for my early copy of this book!

This book was cute and I binged it in a day. It would have been a solid 4 star read for me until the third act conflict. Not always a deal breaker but they both acted so childish! Like Aiden- why you gotta be so mean? And then Rosie just completely gave up on life. It felt unnecessary. There were also a lot of grammatical errors throughout the book, which were definitely noticeable.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

3.75 stars. This was a decent debut! I loved the NYC setting ... it was very atomospheric. I also really enjoyed the excerpts of the book they were co-writing. It was a great way to see Aiden's POV. The writing was good and easy to follow. While I love a good enemies to lovers trope, I wasn't in love with these characters. They seemed really immature for their age. I loved the build up but when they finally got together, it fell flat for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars!

This book was such a fun read! It started out really strong. I love any type of academia setting in books, especially romance, and this one was done so well! The pacing was great, I was never bored and I didn’t feel like the story dragged at any point. I really liked how there were snippets of their project/book at the end of the chapters! It was nice getting some foreshadowing as to where their real life story was going. I also really liked the writing & was surprised this was a debut!

I definitely liked the MMC a lot more than the FMC in this story. Honestly Rosie was a little unbearable at times, and I really did not like the last fight towards the end and third act breakup. They both could’ve handled it better and I reallllly hated that secret reveal/plot twist. I also felt like the conflict was resolved way too easily. OH and where were the Spanish translations??? I was LOST 🥲

Overall I did enjoy this and would give it 3.5 stars! For a debut it was great and I would definitely read more books by this author! Thank you Netgalley for this ARC!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of this book.
I'm very impressed that this is Katie Holts debut, it was brilliant. I thought the cover was great, the characters looked exactly as I imagined them to in my head.
I loved the storyline of a book within a book and I found Rosie a very strong and focused MFC.
I didn't like Ethan at the start, but he definitely grew on me as the book went on.
This was a lovely, cosy read with a slow burn that I really enjoyed.

For the majority of this book it was going to be a 4 star - I ate it up! The third act conflict, however, shoved me out of it like a pilot’s emergency eject button.

I get the literary need for a conflict at this point of the book but this fight burnt too many bridges to be resolved in just the last couple chapters. It also didn’t feel true to who the characters were. Aiden was vicious, imo.

Things I loved:
Slow burn, bonding over books, writing what you can’t say - but then finally being brave enough to say it.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for an ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

A light easy read. Two students attend an English class, both have strong opinions of each other, their choice of literature and are very vocal against each other in class.
Their professor decides that they need to co write a novel together; but first they must make a turce to be pleasant to each other.
Through the pages we see how their relationship evolves.

I loooooooved this book!

It was essentially a book within a book and I thought it was a really clever set up for Rosie and Aiden to explore their feelings for each other. Enemies-to-lovers is one of my favorite tropes, and this definitely delivered.

Bummed about the third act breakup, but swooning over the last chapters so overall it's worth it 😂

First and foremost, thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, guess who has a new book boyfriend? Yep, that’s me. Aiden Huntington is the absolute best and I love him dearly. But let’s get serious for a moment. This book was everything and a little bit more. It had the yearning, the slow burn, the bantering we all love to read, and Katie Holt delivered every single line as if the world was on fire! It’s rivals-to-lovers at its finest! I truly loved it. The pace was amazing and it just kept me enthralled and on the edge of my seat - literally - to know what was going to happen and to see Rosie and Aiden’s story bloom. This book is also a love letter to romance novels out there, which I think is simply brilliant. I loved Rosie, her personality, her flaws, she was just the definition of sunshine, complementing Aidan’s sour-type personality. But what I loved most were the little snippets of Max and Hunter’s story, it was a great and smart way to let us into Aiden’s head. It’s clear that this book was a 5-star read for me!

I really enjoyed this book! it read quickly and the aspect of having two stories intertwine was very enjoyable. The third act breakup felt like it was coming out of nowhere, and i feel like it would be a perfect book if it didn't have the third act breakup. Rosie and Aiden were really fun characters and i enjoyed there story a lot. i would give this book around 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for this earc

I really enjoyed this one. I’m a huge fan of book in the book stories and this was perfect for the holiday season.
I liked the setting, how the relationship was built through main characters writing together but at the same time nothing was rushed. I loved that they were saying things to each other through words before they could say it face to face.
New York setting was perfect for this. Especially Christmas New York.

One thing I wasn’t a huge fan of were the smutty scenes. Don’t get me wrong, they were well placed in the story and would have worked very well if it wasn’t for the writing. I don’t think the dirty talk was necessary. It will sound weird, the rest of the book I was flying through and the sex scenes I wanted to get through.

Overall, don’t miss this one when it’s out but be ready