Member Reviews
When I saw that this book was an academic rivals, enemies to lovers story, I immediately knew I had to read it. Rosie, a Peruvian-American aspiring writer from Tennessee, moves to New York to pursue her dreams but faces a major setback when she's paired with her ex-crush and rival, Aiden, in a writing class. Forced to collaborate on a novel that blends their genres (romance and literary fiction, respectively), they fill the story with their personalities and attraction, but their rivalry flares up again when a career-changing opportunity pits them against each other.
One of the things I enjoyed most about this book were the short excerpts of the novel that Rosie and Aiden were working on together, included at the end of each chapter. Since the book was narrated from Rosie's perspective, these short excerpts allowed us to see Aiden's true feelings and showed how much he yearned for her. This made the book a little more special.
The only criticism I have is that sometimes the characters acted more like teenagers than 25/26-year-old adults. Other than that, I loved it.
Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
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Cuando vi que este libro era una historia de rivales académicos, enemies to lovers, inmediatamente supe que tenía que leerlo. Rosie, una aspirante a escritora peruano-estadounidense de Tennessee, se muda a Nueva York para perseguir sus sueños, pero enfrenta un gran obstáculo cuando la emparejan con su ex-crush y rival, Aiden, en una clase de escritura. Obligados a colaborar en una novela que mezcla sus géneros (romance y ficción literaria, respectivamente), infunden la historia con sus personalidades y su atracción, pero su rivalidad resurge cuando una oportunidad que podría cambiar sus carreras los enfrenta.
Una de las cosas que más disfruté de este libro fueron los pequeños extractos de la novela en la que Rosie y Aiden estaban trabajando juntos, incluidos al final de cada capitulo. Como el libro estaba narrado desde la perspectiva de Rosie, estos pequeños extractos nos permitían ver los sentimientos reales de Aiden y mostraban cuánto la deseaba. Esto hizo que el libro fuera un poco más especial.
La única crítica que tengo es que algunas veces los personajes actuaban más como adolescentes que como adultos de 25/26 años. Aparte de eso, me encantó.
¡Gracias NetGalley por el ARC a cambio de una reseña honesta!
The cheese was real in this one. I found myself trying to start this book a couple of times, but once I was in it, it was a quick read. As a former NYU student and Creative Writing minor, I found the dynamic to be totally believable but I found the punishment of them having to write a book together to be a little farfetched, but it worked in the story. Both Rosie and Aiden had to go outside of their comfort as writers and challenge their voice, which helped their novel, and while writing these characters they say things they can't in real life. Sometimes their relationship felt a little forced, and the conflict was a bit contrived, but it made sense in terms of the characters that Holt was writing.
Thank you to netgalley and Alcove press for a free copy of this E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 3.75 (rounded to 4)
I’m incredibly torn on how to rate this book. I’ve been waffling between a 4 and 3.75 for most of the book, and had nearly settled on a 4 until the last 15% or so, for reasons I’ll get into in my criticisms. But before that, as a romance loving genre fiction writer who once had something with a highbrow litfic poet man that I met in a workshop class, I feel like this book was made for me.
To start with what I liked: I LOVED the characters. Rosie and Aiden felt very fleshed out and real and their banter had me giggling and kicking my feet in public. Aiden’s mouth during ~those~ scenes had me reducing the font size and turning down the brightness on my kindle. I also really liked Rosie’s friend group and how, despite being relatively minor characters, all felt tangible. This book was truly adorable, I literally had to hide my face bc I was reading this on a plane and smiling so hard. I also quite liked the atmosphere and the setting.
The biggest thing that stands out in my criticisms is the final conflict. On top of being incredibly predictable (I guessed what it would be at 43%), it just felt very contrived. Rosie’s reaction was incredibly dramatic and unrealistic in a way that didn’t feel true to her character. I won’t get into spoilers, but that really bothered me, especially because Rosie’s confidence and security is one of the things I loved about her character. The final conflict was the driving force behind the lower rating choice. Although, the ending ending was quite cute.
Now, I have a love hate relationship with their book. At first, I was cringing when they named the characters after each other and had terrible second hand embarrassment from their workshop scenes, having been in many a workshop myself. For the first half or so, their book felt more like a convenient plot device for them to develop their relationship rather than what it was pitched as, which was the main objective of the book. Maybe it’s because I’ve been in so many workshops but I couldn’t get fully behind it because of how unprofessional it felt. Like, at times, they weren’t even writing the book they were just writing their diaries to each other and making their classmates read it. It ended up feeling like Ida only gave them the assignment for the purpose of matchmaking. HOWEVER, the book as a plot device did lend itself to some great moments. The scene where they’re writing the spicy scene together on the phone had me blushing. There were times that I did enjoy the development being explored through the book, specifically where Aiden would write things he wasn’t comfortable saying, and when they wrote the first draft of love confessions in bed. So I’m torn.
Apologies that was a really long review. This book was fun, I enjoyed it, and despite my criticisms, I do recommend it.
TL;DR
Read if you like
✅ rivals to lovers
✅ hispanic rep
✅ ros(ie)-colored glasses
✅ NYC at Christmas
✅ BANTER !
✅ HEA
✅ fourth wall breaks
✅ writers in love
Actual rating // 3,75 stars
This was such an enjoyable read! Its been a while since I’ve read a good and fun haters-to-lovers romance and I just loved it. Definitely a book I want to put on my shelves when it releases, so I’ll be putting in a pre-order for it.
I liked the setting of this book a lot with the MC’s meeting each other in Writing Class, forming a somewhat hateful vibe between one another so that you get that nice push and pull - while they secretly felt that insta lust/love the moment they met but neither dared giving into it so they went with a hateful setting. Seeing that all unravel was a joy, especially with How it was written down; The characters need to write a romance story for an assessment with one of them being a romantic at heart and the other one keeping clear of all things romantic due to a difficult past and seeing the lines blurr more and more between them and seeing them grow as characters was very well done. A solid developing romance, with a nice build up to the sexy stuff and with more than enough depth.
I definitely recommend picking up this book when it releases! It had me feeling the feels!
thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. all opinions here are my own!
Not in My Book is a slow burn, enemies-to-lovers romance. I enjoyed the spice! The pacing wasn’t always consistent, and I really wish there was more depth and development to Rosie. Overall it was a lighthearted, enjoyable read.
|| 4.0 stars ||
This was a true rivals-to-lovers slow-burn with all the feels and angst!
<b><blockquote>”There hasn’t been a second where I wasn’t wondering what you were thinking and if it was of me.”</b></blockquote>
The story is about two upcoming authors who are both opposites in the type of genre they like to write and spend most of their college workshops hurling insults at each other. They’re genuinely <i>mean</i> and <i>rude</i> towards each other, and do not hold back. I honestly struggled with this a little bit at first, because aside from her inner monologue acknowledging how handsome he was from the start, I truly could not feel any romantic tension or feelings between them at all. I was afraid their romance was going to fall flat for me. However, I shouldn’t have feared, because once I saw their relationship slowly develop and blossom, I actually appreciated that they started out with so much animosity. They genuinely acted like rivals at first and it was a true slow-burn.
<b><blockquote>”I know you prefer what’s in your books, and I pretend I don’t want to be like them, but I do. I want to be the person you picture when you’re reading and dreaming because you’re who I picture every single time. I love you. In the light and dark, in romance and litfic. In this lifetime and the next.”</b></blockquote>
This was not the only reason I appreciated this romance so much though. It was so much more than just that! It was the way I genuinely got so invested in their relationship that I literally felt my heart pang or beat rapidly in my chest whenever something happened between them, good or bad. You know that feeling, when you are so into it that you genuinely have physical reactions to the story? It could be your gut dropping or cramping, or maybe your chest feeling tight, or perhaps even full-blown butterflies in your stomach? Those were the feelings I got whenever one of them said something that really hurt the other person, or if one of them felt deep pain or sadness, but also when they were being insanely gentle and vulnerable and sweet to each other. Their dynamic was so organic and their interactions felt so real to me that I couldn’t help but feel intense emotional (and physical) reactions to all of it!
<b><blockquote>”I’m not yours anymore.”
“Fine. If you’re not mine, then know that I’m yours.”</b></blockquote>
And I don’t mean all this in a way like everything was constantly angsty or emotional between them, because they actually had a lot of really cute and sweet moments as well. I’m honestly pretty hard to please when it comes to domestic scenes, because I tend to find them a little uneventful or even boring quite easily, so you must really believe me when I tell you these scenes were adorable and felt really authentic. It never felt forced or over-the-top; I genuinely felt like these two were having these gentle or cutesy moments together because they loved each other deeply and were the perfect fit for each other, which simply made it incredibly sweet to read. Especially since all of those moments were so nicely written too!
<b><blockquote>”I’ll wait for you, Rosie. I swear it. I’m in it for the long haul. I want all your tomorrows. Every single one you’re willing to give me.”</b></blockquote>
Moreover, I also really liked the unique premise this book presented where we saw fragments of the book that the two characters were writing together throughout this story. The actual book is written from the heroine’s POV, but these fragments gave us a lot of insight into what the hero was thinking too and it was often incredibly swoon-worthy. I always love seeing the parts in a romance where the hero is pining for the heroine, and these fragments gave us that (albeit second-handedly) in a very refreshing and powerful way!
<b><blockquote>The truth was I liked her no matter what she did, no matter what she said.</b></blockquote>
All in all, I was honestly surprised by how much I ended up loving this book. I have to admit that I thought this book would be kind of silly and perhaps even superficial (I’m not sure why, really), yet it felt much deeper and more emotional than that to me. Whether it was the pretty and easy writing, the pleasant pacing, the well-rounded characters, or the angsty, well-developed, beautiful romance; I loved it all!
I am a sucker for stories where people fall in love over writing to each other. I got completely sucked into this rivals-to-lovers romance in which the MCs are grad students who are forced to write a romance novel together. They write a story with alternating perspectives, with characters that represent themselves, write out all the complex feelings that they have a hard time saying to each other in person, and they gradually fall for each other while reading each other's chapters? Be still my heart. It's just the kind of romance I love.
I liked the addition of ending each chapter with an excerpt from their novel, especially the fact that these excerpts were short--it was just enough to make me wish I *could* see more of their novel, and not so long that I got bored with the book-within-the-book like I have with other stories that have a similar setup. The side characters were fun, the language and dialogue were natural and easy to read, and the callbacks to classic romcoms were a joy, especially the When Harry Met Sally references! Katie Holt has a strong debut romance here! I'd recommend this to any fans of contemporary romance, particularly folks who feel they must defend romance as a genre worth reading.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!
It's hard to believe this is a book by a debut author! It is well-plotted with a nice pace. The characters were well-rounded and relatable. I hate the judgement given to the romance genre and feel it is completely undeserved and I could feel the author's own passion on this topic.
While I liked Rosie as a character, she sometimes came across as childish. Aidan was someone I loved. His standoffishness is a defense mechanism and he is a man who is willing to apologise when he's done wrong.
Overall this was a fun engaging read that I would recommend to anyone looking for a new adult romance featuring college student authors.
i received an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review
In Katie Holt's new book, Not in My Book, Aiden prefers literary fiction and Rosie is a long-time romance girl. Their views clash in class with him being her biggest critic. The real battle begins when the teacher pairs them on an assignment to write a novel together successfully. Is the outcome predictable? Yes. Is it still a fun read? Absolutely. Read this quick, perfect for summer reading novel to find out if they manage success!
Thanks, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with the ARC ebook I read and reviewed. All opinions are my own.
I wanted to like this more than I ended up liking it. The chemistry was great, but a romance book arguing for romance books is preaching to the choir. No one who picks up this book needs to be convinced to read a romance book, so it feels like there's a significant disconnect between the intended audience and the actual audience.
Not In My Book ❤️🔥 Katie Holt
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌶️🌶️
My Thoughts: If you love romance, a good enemies to friends to lovers, both of them love books, forced proximity, and a friend group that makes you wish you were part of it, I highly recommend! This was so so cute and I loved getting a writer’s perspective. It can be hard being that creative and some inspirations can be taken from real life experiences. I loved that they couldn’t communicate at first because it made the hidden truths in their shared writing assignment to be more meaningful. I would have been mortified if my classmates had to witness all that sexual tension too 🤣 Aiden was everything Rosie needed and more. After her poor excuse for a man, ex boyfriend Simon downplayed the type of love a girl like Rosie deserves, Aiden came in and brought more than sparks. He brought the fireworks! I loved this book so much, and it just makes the hopeless romantic in me more hopeful. ROMANCE READERS AND WRITERS NEED TO READ THIS ASAP ❤️🔥
3.75 STARS
Okay so to start of, THANK YOU NETGALLEY FOR THIS FREE ARC IN EXCHANGE FOR A HONEST REVIEW
As for the book itself. It took me so long to finish and I hate it bc I have been in a HORRIBLE book slump. I’ve been tired or busy with summer classes or just not feeling it. But I decided that I need to just fucking push through something to kickstart this engine. Did it work? Idk-
I found the conflict to be stupid- I mean like maybe that was just me. I was almost teared up reading it towards the end but I just found the 3rd act break up unnecessary.
We also didn’t get to see any of Rosie’s character development- Aiden had a 180 but Rosie didn’t change throughout the book. She just got more annoying and stuff.
There were also ofc a few spelling errors/holes in the story but I assume those will be fixed.
Great Debut novel tho 🫶🫶
This was an ultimately sweet, sexy, perfectly fine book. There were things I liked about it for sure: Aiden’s dirty bedroom talk was naughty fun. Rosie’s closeness with her family and friends was pure and good.
Unfortunately, I just didn’t get the swoon factor with this one. I could identify the places where I was meant to swoon, but it felt forced and unnatural. Frankly, The Hating Game did this type of enemies-to-lovers *a lot* better in my opinion.
Aiden and Rosie are in a graduate level creative writing class and bicker so immaturely, they almost get kicked out; however, their professor allows them to stay if they write their novel together. Of course, during the course of writing this love story, they end up writing their own. Cute idea, but particularly well-executed.
Maybe I would like this better in audio as I have long believed an excellent vocal narration can elevate the written word for me.
I received an ARC from NetGalley. All thoughts are mine alone.
#romance #contemporaryromance #arc #netgalley #books #bookstagram #notinmybook #aidenandrosie
4.5/5⭐️This was a really fun read! I enjoyed the dynamic between the main characters and thought the “book within a book” was done in a thoughtful and meaningful way. I enjoyed knowing that the characters also knew about the background I gained from excerpts of their book. Thanks to the author for the arc from NetGalley!
Thank you to Netgalley and Alcove Press for allowing me to read an ARC of Not In My Book.
When Rosie and Aidens rivalry begins to disrupt their graduate writing course, their professor takes a unique approach and gives them an ultimatum, drop the class....or write a book...together. Tensions and sparks fly as Aiden, the lit fic guy, and Rosie the romance girl clash both on the page and in person.
I really loved this book! It was super fun and one I read through quite quickly. Rosie and Aiden had great banter and chemistry, and it was really fun to see them work through this both as themselves, and as their characters in the book. The author does a great job balancing excerpts from their book with the main story. I sometimes struggle with this in a book, as I get a little frustrated to take a detour from the main story, but this was done in such a fun and integral way that I enjoyed it. Fair warning for some who pick this up, these two have a lot of back and forth, a lot of will they won't they, stop and start stop and start. If you like that and feel as though it adds to the tension, this book is for you. If that is not your cup of tea and when you come across it you find yourself wanting to rip the book and yell "just get together already!" well....be prepared to maybe feel like that (and don't rip books!).
Not In My Book by Katie Holt
Genre: Literary Fiction, Romance
"Not In My Book" is Peruvian-American Katie Holt's debut novel.
A kind of blend between Beach Read and the latest contemporary novels full of enemies-to-lovers banter, it follows Rosie, a Latina girl (half Peruvian half American, like KH) in her journey from Tennessee to NYC to make true her greatest goal: being an author, a romance writer.
You know, only one bed, swoon-worthy book boyfriends. Stuff like that.
Her dreams literally shatter when she meets Aiden Huntington: she used to have a teeny-tiny crush on him at the start of Creative Writing workshop before realizing he's... a total jerk.
He despises romance novels & he's her worst critic, leading to fights in class like that which sets motion to the plot.
Ida, the professor/course mentor, threatens to expell both of them... but only if they don't try to get along with each other by... writing a novel! Together!
The start is rocky, but gradually they warm to each other at the point they're dangerously falling into some depths that are quite... sentimental.
...
Not In My Book is everything I like in a romance. First of all, it's books in a book.
It has got a kind of college-school setting, a quirky and tough heroine (maybe too much in some cases), a "cold-but-not-so-cold" hero with a remarkable past (who he tries to forget), lots of funny banter, some spicy moments.
Rosie, the FMC, has also got Latina heritage, and honestly I loved everything about Peruvian traditions: you know, Christmas fatcs, sweets, a few dialogues in Spanish (for me it wasn't an issue since I speak Spanish between the languages I know). What I didn't like was her stubborness and the lack of communication (especially in the ending) between her and Aiden.
Aiden, Aiden, Aiden. What can I say other than you're like a boy I know? Tall, handsome... & who makes memes on me for reading spicy romances (like the puns you do on Rosie?). And that I love you both?
Funny enough, Aiden Huntington is one of my romcoms book boyfriends now. I would have given a try with Aiden if he was real, let's be honest!
Rosie Maxwell you're lucky!
The vibes in autumn-winter NYC were chef's kiss. And also the writing was very approachable even for those who are not from English-speaking countries but lack knowledge of advanced English or are not used to read in a foreign language.
In the end, except for some little details (I don't like the miscommunication trope), it was a worthy and excellent read!
I'm looking forward to read another book by KH.
Rating: ★★★★.5
...
I want to thank Alcove Press for the digital ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) via Netgalley. I'm not affiliated to the author, to the publishing house or any other person/agency. My review is honest and based only on my thoughts/feeling while reading the book.
Anais by The Bookish Scorpio
Loved this book! Such a fun academic rivals / enemies to lovers.
Both characters were relatable and dealt with real issues some people can connect with. Loved the side characters as well.
The plot was nice and well thought out, I especially loved the snippets of the book they’re writing together. I found that an interesting and creative way to convey the emotions that the FMC and MMC weren’t able to tell each other.
Overall loved this book and would absolutely recommend to anyone who loves some tension and amazing banter.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the advanced reader copy.
*contains a spoiler
This was a delightful and ambitious (writing a book within a book!) debut. While there were some debut-style issues, especially at the end--(there are several questions that never get answered, like does Rosie ever return to NYU's MFA program (and if she does, how long does it take her to get through it, while paying her way)? Does she go back to living with her friend Alexa?--the book has captivating main characters and fun secondary characters and the New York setting brings lots of life to what the characters do.
This book reminded me so much of a book I adore, which also contains a book within a book — Talk Bookish To Me by Kate Bromley. I remember wanting to read more of the book that the FMC was writing, the good thing here is that Rosie and Aiden's book is very close to their real story so I don't have to keep on wanting for more.
This book is listed with only 320 pages but I feel like it was more than that. I kept feeling that I've been reading for such a long time only to check and find out I haven't even made much progress. Some of the chapters were quite long and I truly believe some of the scenes and dialogues could have been shortened.
There were a few spelling, punctuation, and grammar mistakes I noticed throughout the book, so that needs to be fixed. Also, I wish all the Spanish dialogues provided translations. I could understand a little but I still get annoyed and develop a headache whenever they speak Spanish, so what about those with zero knowledge on the language?
The story was very predictable. I was able to guess the next scenes like 90% of the time and I saw that conflict from a mile away. I love The Hating Game and Beach Read and I wish I could love this book as well but I guess it didn't live up to my expectations. Overall, it was an okay read. Maybe it just wasn't for me.
✨ Thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review ✨
Devoured this in a single day because I loved it so much. With Christina Lauren being one of my favorite writing duos ever the theme and plot for this book was an instant hit for me. Highly recommend reading it.