Thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the advanced e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

2 stars
A contemporary romance between two aspiring writers. Rosie loves romance, Aiden is a literary fiction writer and looks down on the romance genre. Their tumultuous relationship is the talk of their class, their rivalry a problem that disrupts the literary workshop. So when their college professor forces them to work together, Rosie and Aiden will have to finally work through their tension and open themselves up to romance.

This book sadly wasn't for me. To be fair, I was branching out, I was trying to pick up a genre I don't usually read and try something new. However, Holt's book felt unoriginal, with pacing issues and bland characters. Rosie, our heroine, was a frustrating main character. She's stubborn to a fault, so much so, that she keeps on sabotaging herself and Aiden's relationship over and over again. She also reads much younger, though she's supposed to be in her mid twenties. Something that really frustrated me about Rosie is that, even though I know this is a romance novel, she's obsessed with Aiden. Rosie is from Tennessee and she has recently moved to New York. She's broke, working as a bartender, she has a group of friends and she misses her family deeply. Yet, her whole life revolves around Aiden. His name is in every page, every conversation she has mentions him. Her friends feel like they are only there to ask about them. She talks about him constantly to her college tutor/professor when she should be revising her own work. Even when her sister tells her huge news about her life, the conversation turns to Rosie and Aiden after a couple of lines. Though this is a love story, I wish these characters had a life outside their relationship, I wish I could have gotten well-rounded characters. Instead, every conversation is about Aiden, and anywhere Rosie decides to go, train station, bookshop, even the restaurant where she works in, he's randomly there.

Holts works out their relationship using excerpts of the fictional book Rosie and Aiden are working on for their college class. Because both Rosie and Aiden are awful communicators, and they are constantly bickering, every chapter they write, they pretty much copy verbatim from their own interactions. However, they use their fictional counterparts, Hunter and Max, to yearn for the other, apologising and explaining their true feelings. But, because we as readers know they are actually in love with each other, the excerpts feel redundant most of the time.

If you are a romance reader that enjoys contemporary stories and are looking for something lighthearted to read, but nothing extraordinary, I say go ahead and pick this one up. If you know the tropes (forced proximity, academic setting rivals-to-lovers, book within a book, only one bed) and enjoy them no matter how many times you read them, then I think you won't get bored like I did. It's not a bad written book by any means, I just found it lacking. I did not like the characters, so I couldn't root for their relationship and because the relationship is everything in this novel, I sadly couldn't enjoy the work.

Okay, so I liked the tension between Rosie & Aiden but they were both immature and Rosie especially was so childish and acted stupid in the end which really annoyed me. This book had all the right tropes, which I usually love but this one just fell flat for me tbh. Aiden was also mean and condensing at times and I failed to see how he was different than Rosie's ex because he constantly belittled her. It was a fun concept to make people read a book within a book and the writing was engaging too but because of the pacing and the behaviour of the characters, I was disappointed. Also, the third act breakup was pretty bad and I didn't know how to feel about Rosie & Aiden together after that, but I liked that Aiden atleast apologised. So, overall the book had potential but the execution was poor so I had a tough time feeling connected with all the characters.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review

Not in My Book by Katie Holt is a cute romance read.

I really liked the premise of enemies to lover in academic setting, soo good...
Unfortunately it didn't work for me.
The beginning was interesting, banter was interesting, tension started rising, dialogue was intelligent and then all of a sudden it felt flat.
Somehow it became slightly boring and once they became a couple it was quite flat. I simply felt no sparks and no chemistry.
There was also a very low level of spiciness.
I am sorry but it didn't work for me.

**Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!**

4.5 stars rounded up to 5!

Oh my god this book was SO good. It's so simple, yet really well done. The author did a great job at creating such an immersive world that I literally binged the entire book in a day despite the fact that I had told myself when I got the ARC that I wouldn't read it until November since the pub day is in December.

Rosie and Aiden are grad students at NYU, taking a creative writing workshop class that is based around writing a novel over the year and sharing chapters each class for critique from classmates. The book starts out with our main two absolutely hating each other and bickering over their genre preferences and writing styles, but because their animosity gets a little bit too out of hand, their professor forces them to work together and combine genres (romance and literary fiction) on their novel. We get snippets of the book they work on while reading the book, and I loved seeing the novel take form.

It's clear the author took a lot of inspiration from The Hating Game, which I don't necessarily mind because so many books have done that nowadays, and it just worked for this book. I loved Aiden and Rosie's interactions (and just Aiden himself <3) and how they still bickered to no end even as a couple. The two of them had some serious character growth individually and as a couple which really shined throughout. Their friend group was endearing and everyone's personalities and individualities really came through. The conflict at the end of the book wasn't needed, in my opinion, but I understand why and I entirely saw it coming. That is the biggest reason why it wasn't an immediate 5 star read for me, but I was willing to round it up because of how much I enjoyed reading this.

I will say, I'm hoping that between now and final printing, the few typos and formatting errors will be fixed. There's also a couple of plot inconsistencies that I noticed just with minor things that didn't really take away from my reading experience and the editor should've pointed out before copy edits were finalized, so it's probably too late for that now.

In the end, though, I'm really looking forward to what Katie Holt puts out next because I'm sure to read it!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.
This story didn’t really do it for me. They were writing the ‘book’ that was essentially their story just with different names. Relatively loooong story for like a really simple plot and The ‘romantic’ scenes gave me the iiiiick
It might be a good book for others with the friends or enemy vibes, but it didn’t hit the mark for me

3,5 ★

“𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙄 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙣𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙, 𝙣𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙”

Thank you NetGalley and the author for this ARC!

I was so excited when I got this arc bc the cover looked so cute and the synopsis sounded just like what I needed. This really was a fun read and I have so much to say so get in friends 🚗

“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 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠, 𝙞𝙣 𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙛𝙞𝙘. 𝙄𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩.”

Pro’s:
▸ the phasing was very well. Not too slow, not too fast. It was just perfect to keep my attention. How the book started, when they started working together, how the relationship progressed and everything! I was worried it would go too fast for me, but the phasing was very nice.

▸ The writing was done very well. It fit perfect with the story and the characters. It read as an easy romance that doesn’t take itself too serieus, the kind of book you want to pick up after a long day and not use your head too much.

▸ I liked how he apologized at the end, had me all🤭🤭🤭 I don’t care what anyone says, Aiden is a cutie patootie

▸ The lil pieces of their book at the end were GENIUS, bc they basically told us what Aiden was feeling even if we didn’t get anything from his perspective. Really cool🥹

▸ The twists were good and simple making this, once again, an easy read- what I really liked since that’s what I was looking for.

"𝙄 𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙖𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙙𝙖𝙮. 𝙄 𝙝𝙞𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙪𝙯𝙯𝙚𝙧 𝙖 𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝘼𝙡𝙚𝙭𝙖 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙥𝙞𝙙 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩. 𝙄 𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝘾𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙄 𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙮 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙃𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙤𝙪𝙩, 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚. 𝙄 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙞𝙚, 𝙍𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙚, 𝙄 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬."

Con’s:
▸ Rosie was kinda annoying sometimes yk? Being stubborn when she really just could have done the damn task. She also kept getting mad at Aiden when he become distant when she started about his mom and then she goes like “he is so annoying, he can’t be friendly” blah blah like girl, come on, read between the lines. His mom is clearly a sensitive topic, let it go. She also did something that is not okay after the kissing- I’m talking about the way she acted AFTER all that- and then get mad at HIM, girl YOU STARTED IT. She just wasn’t really self aware and it got on my nerves.

▸ SHE FORGOT HER BOOKS AT HIS HOUSE😭😭😭 that broke my heart😔

▸ There were some mistakes like a missing “ in a dialogue and soon instead of spoon. I think I definitely found more than 5 mistakes throughout the whole book.

▸ I needed the Spanish translation so bad😭 I was so confused cz there would be like 3 dialogues back to back in Spanish and I would just be like “😪 no hablo español”

▸ Their fight at the end was kinda… stupid- the scene where she confronted him- Idk how to explain it, it just didn’t feel <i>right</i>, it didn’t feel like <i>them</i>. I really don’t know how to phrase it. The twist was good tho! I just hoped it would have happened a different way.

“𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄'𝙢 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙩𝙚 𝙄 𝙨𝙖𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙢𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙜𝙤. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙄 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢, 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙥𝙞𝙚𝙘𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙄 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚."

I think this is the authors first book and WOW, this is very good for a debut, like, very good. I can’t wait to read more of the authors work 🥹 The book will be out on 10 December 2024!

Smut:
Yes, 4 full scenes and like 2 lil paragraphs. Easy to skip, except the one they wrote, that was a lil tricky 😭

Katie Holt's slow burn, enemies-to-lovers romance between two aspiring writers/MFA students is an addictive read.

Rosalinda and Aiden are two characters you can't help but root for. They are both passionate about their writing - for Rosie, it's romance and for Aiden it's literary fiction. Their teacher and mentor decides that in order to tolerate their constant bickering in class, she must give them an assignment that will bring them together and teach them important life lessons. As Aiden and Rosie start to co-author a romance fiction, based 99.99% on their lives, art imitates life here. Their explosive chemistry impacts Rosie's friend group who are intimately involved in every detail of their budding relationship.

Rosie's a BIPOC character (her mom is from Peru) which added depth and a welcome contrast to Aiden's more austere upbringing - more fraught and a child of divorce.

Highly recommend this. While at times I felt like it was "The Rosie Show," (main character syndrome) and she could have afforded to be a bit more engaged with her friend's lives (and her family's), it also probably accurately reflects the mindset and self-directed orientation of a mid-20-something character.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ARC.

Not in My Book
Author : Katie Holt

This is the typical Enemies to Lovers genre and it really lived upto the expectations.
Rosie, a Peruvian- American budding Romance writer from Tenessee is passionate about writing her first Romance novel and making people believe in the happily ever after..
Aiden - A New Yorker also a writer but despises Romance to the extent possible. He is a literary fiction writer with amazing writing skills and believes that life has harsh truths and there is nothing called happily ever after.
These two are in the NYU perusing the writing workshop and are constantly into verbal battles in the class giving each other harsh criticism for the pieces that they write.
Tired with their fights, their professor asks them to write a book together , if they want to continue at NYU , but the book should have elements from both the genres.
Their hate builds up, but eventually flattens allowing them to enter into each other’s lives, giving their hearts the safe space to open up.
Soon they realise that it was not hate but an implausible pull which both felt since beginning that binds them.
When Rosie stands for Aiden against his father who was giving him a hard time, she realises that he has never seen that respect or affection that will make him believe in love. And when Aiden understands Rosie’s past relationship and sees her family which is filled with Love, he wants to give her the share of love that she is deserves.
Both these characters are strong and when they realise that they are still competing for a career changing opportunity, will their love survive??? Or will hate reignite??
This book has everything.. from slow burn, to fierce and passionate love.. emotional battles and the anxiety.
Supporting characters are used wisely and banter is fun to read.
Recommend to all the lovers of Romance, Enemies to Lovers, Slow burns..🫶🫶🫶

This was very cute, I had low expectations but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it in the end

This was so cute! I enjoyed the story of the two characters writing their own romance novel and using it to share their true feelings with each other. The relationship was believable and authentic. I wish the author gave more insight into the male main character's background with his father or wrapped up that story line somehow. I thought the female main character was likable and relatable until the end when she was obviously choosing to miscommunicate with the MMC. It wasn't necessary and just made me irritated with her. Overall I gave the book four stars.

The book where we get the perfect academic rivals to lovers banter, the stares, the tension, debates, the slow progression towards their relationship, the will-they, won't-they in the romance section. I loved it so much, I couldn't stop smiling throughout the book. I was giggling and holding my breath at so many scenes throughout the entire book. Also the names Rosie and Aiden, perfect!!
The protective, handsome boyfriend with a brownstone AND a peacoat ??! Perfect 💗💗💗
The hopeless romantic girlfriend who tried to romantically connect all potential couples arround her? Lovely 🥰
The friendship group was also amazing, the side characters brought life to the life outside their rivalry.
I totally get the hating game x beach read vibes described in the synopsis.
That being said, I have some issues towards the end, I wanted it to be so perfect but the ending kind of made it difficult. Still the way it made me feel overall is too good.

Spoilery thoughts about the ending:
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I knew a third act breakup was coming and it had something to do with the fellowship from some of the foreshadowing and evasiveness Aiden was showing whenever the topic came up. So it's clearly miscommunication. The way he acted was kind of self righteous when they met after the result. He kind of insulted romance genre and their advisor for suggesting she submit that piece for the application. Then why didn't he even hint at changing the genre just for the sake of application when he reviewed the entry?
I thought they actually were in a relationship as she mentioned they broke up, even though they never really said the words to each other. Anyways he actually took effort and visited daily, went to Tennessee etc. That's nice of him, but did they get a closure about the lying by omission ? They only confessed their feelings again and that was that. Atleast I didn't feel they got a closure. This is just my personal thoughts.

Thanks NetGalley for the arc of this book. This book is definitely a slow burn but stick with it, it’s gets better around 40% in. A definite read for any book lovers out there. Rosie and Aidan are in a literary workshop together and spend their classes arguing. The tutor sets them a challenge to write a book together and the sparks fly. Tropes include enemies to lovers, fake dating and one bed. Brilliant twist of the usual romance with it developing through the book.

The beginning of this book was very similar to Beach Read, by Emily Henry, if Gus and January had still been in grad school. In this version, Rosie is the starry-eyed romance writer and Aiden is her brooding and critical litfic nemesis. After a messy argument in their writing workshop, they're forced to write a romance novel together in order to avoid failing the class. What follows is a sort of meta-romance, where the story they're writing closely parallels their actual relationship.
I think the story had potential, but the second act was much too predictable to be enjoyable. The "novel" they are writing is literally just their own story with different names, which makes the long quoted passages feel redundant and unimaginative.
I enjoyed each of the characters, including side characters, individually, but didn't feel that the story came together successfully.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Romance between two authors of different genres. Rosie is a romance author whilst Aiden is a literary fiction author.

From the start, these two find themselves fighting and arguing often in relation to the genres they write. The 'banter' or 'fighting' sometimes felt younger then I believe it should have however thr characters were well done and felt real.

The writing was easy to read and flowed in a logical sequence. I'd recommend this book for those who enjoyed the hating game and beach reads.

Also posted to goodreads.

3,5 ⭐️

OMGG what a cute book!! 🩷

so I really loved this book and I’m so grateful to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book as an ARC!

I utterly enjoyed reading this female protagonist, she’s so strong but I’d liked to read more about her in detail.

I also liked the male protagonist, but at first it was hard to connect with him because there were some attitudes that I didn’t support. At the end I ended up liking him more and more and I’m so happy for that! His character really grew up to me.

The best part was the quotes! they were outstanding and I wanted to highlight all the book!

Overall I enjoyed this book and I’d recommended it to everyone! I was struggling with university and this was an easy and fast read that really helped me along the way! 💘

First of all, Thank You Netgalley for the ARC granted to me, this could possibly be hands down my favorite book from the semester (I'll have to wait 'til the year is over to confirm if it's the best of the year, but theres a high chance haha) What a delicious story. Actually a story inside another sotry while The first is being written. Seriously! A book always catches my attention and puts me in the mood when the narrative shows the characters writting a story inside another story, because it takes a lot of work to make this happen the right way to convince the reader it is organic. And that is exactly what happens here! A classic enemies to lovers made by two young writters, one romance lover and other one who hates romance (as always haha), with such relatable characters wh has to deal with family issues, self steem, grieving, confience in relationships and much compettition in work environment. Definetely a 5 star book, with great character development, latina inclusion (the female character is Peruvian, country We not ususally see in books) spicy romance and compelling narrative. I almost don't have con's about the story, except that argument scene in the end that has been clearly made to include a conflict that sunded to me superficial, but at the same time, We humans, use to act dumb sometimes, even with some progess when it comes about Our behaviour. So it didin't ruined nothing at all.
TOTALLY RECOMMENDED!

So I’m not really a contemporary romance reader at all so I am not the target audience for this, but the concept of two authors cowriting a novel together appealed to the bookworm in me so I decided to request this arc and give it a try. And it really surprised me how much I enjoyed this! This was a REALLY good read. Even though I don’t generally read contemporary often, this book was actually so witty and funny! If I could describe this book in two words, it would be playful and cute. Just a feel good book, perfect for a beach read. This is just the kind of book I’d love to read while relaxing on vacation! The back and forth banter is hilarious, the college student setting is cozy, and the dialogue was just effortlessly funny. Not to mention, it couldn’t have been easy, writing two books in one, which is what this basically was. Not only do we have the story, we also have excerpts of the story the characters are writing, and the two tie together perfectly.

Aiden starts out so unlikeable lmao. At the beginning he’s just so…..irritating. He’s snarky, rude, and harsh. And the worst part is he has this effortless ability to come off across as better than everyone else, and he knows it too. Honestly, 100% team Rosie at the beginning, and this is coming from someone who shares the same opinion as Aiden when it comes to romance novels and is also a bit of an elitist sometimes with the romance genre (yes I realize I am being a total hypocrite saying this while literally reviewing an arc in said romance genre). He was just overly stuck up about it, like GEEZ. This is an actual line he says: “I don’t think I’m a better writer. I know I am.” Doesn’t that just make you wanna 🤛🏻 And the fact that he’s described as an annoyingly talented writer and physically attractive just makes it even more irritating because of course, he had to be hot too, with that personality? It becomes a pretty standard, guy isn’t as bad as he seems type trope, but it all felt a little cliche. The whole, I liked you the whole time but I was a jerk because I thought I was protecting myself, type trope. It all felt a little unrealistic, because the jerk being a jerk to the main character to protect her feels forced and makes very little sense? But I did like Aiden as a character by the end, even though the whole character shift felt weird and forced to me.

Despite Aiden’s weird character arc, this book was actually so hilarious, which goes back to the whole perfect beach read thing, because this book genuinely is funny. The dialogue is really funny, with their constant fighting and back and forth banter is hilarious though; at the part in the beginning when she’s critiquing his writing and they start insulting each other back and forth in front of the entire class, I couldn’t stop giggling. Plus the text threads between Rosie’s friend group were always really entertaining. Even though I wasn’t exactly the target audience, this was a fun and cute read and I enjoyed it! And the ending was actually so sweet and I loved it!

Thank you to Netgalley and Alcove Press for sending me an advanced copy in return for my honest review.

this was actually such a cute, fun read and i liked this a lot more than i thought i would! the blurb saying it's a mix of hating game and beach read is spot on. i love ida so much she really played cupid here hahaha. i loved their banter and it was so entertaining to read (also chapter 24????? that was SO. HOT.) i am not the biggest fan of pop culture references in books so that kind of put me off a little. also i feel like i needed a little more grovelling and the ending might've felt a little rushed but other than that it was great! and i loved the plot so much.

After a writing workshop turned ugly, wannabe-romance writer Rosalinda, or “Rosie”, has to team up with her literary-fiction-writing enemy, Aiden, to write a romance novel sans Happily Ever After, in order to preserve their places in a sought-after writing course.

This book was right up my alley. I love a good rivals or enemies-to-lovers romance, with a splash of attraction. As the book progressed, I enjoyed how major milestones in their relationship were both foreshadowed and created by the book they were writing together, and how the book provided a sneak peek into Aiden’s point of view without distracting from Rosie. I also enjoyed how elements of Aiden’s and Rosie’s relationship paralleled popular romance tropes.

My main critique is that I wish we had seen Aiden being the one obviously in the wrong a bit more frequently in the beginning. Since the book starts where it does, and we’re in Rosalinda’s POV throughout the whole book, Rosalinda seemed like she provoked Aiden more often, particularly frustrating when he’s clearly trying to be polite. This was rectified as the book progressed, which helped.

In conclusion, this novel has a lot of heart and humor which made me genuinely invested in the characters. I recommend for anyone searching for a good rivals-to-lovers romance.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC. I love the banter of Aiden and Rosie, both authors going to NYU. Aiden is a literary writer, Rosie a romance writer. They keep butting heads in their class til one professor makes them write a story together. Will their book have a happy ending or not?