Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for providing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I’m going to say it now Katie Holt is my favorite debut romcom author of 2024. I 100% went into “Not in My Book” with zero expectations. Now I’m leaving with a desire to blast Taylor Swift music and re-read Aiden & Rosie’s story all over again!

To set the scene for everyone “Not in My Book” follows aspiring writers Aiden & Rosie. Rosie is an aspiring romance writer who truly believes in HEA. Meanwhile, Aiden is a literary fiction writer who doesn’t believe in happily ever afters. They are both polar opposites and bicker constantly in class. Their professor in order to create peace between them gives them the project of writing a book together. Of course what could go wrong with that assessment ;)

Katie Holts writing is really easy to read and at times made it really difficult to put the book down. Rosie & Aiden’s story had me giggling, screaming and crying all in one 24 hour reading journey. I also adored that we basically had two books in one: the manuscript Aiden and Rosie were writing intertwined perfectly with the main book plot.

I cannot say this enough, I highly recommend “Not in My Book” please grab this when it comes out later this fall! I also cannot wait to read what Katie Holt publishes next. She definitely has a fan for life!

What a dreamy debut romance novel!

Thing I loved the most: so, hear me out. I hate dual POV romance novels. I think it really takes away from the mystery and emotion of connecting with one character. Having 2 sides of the story is sweet. but it muddies it down. The fact that you get both POV without it actually being dual POV is *chefs kiss*.

Next thing I loved: the dirty mouth on Aiden. He also never really changed - I mean that in a good way. His personality does show through better as we get to know him, but who he is and his stoicism doesn't disappear just because he gets the girl

Readers experience a captivating blend of romance and rivalry in this sexy and hilarious enemies-to-lovers romance from a debut Peruvian-Tennessean voice. Katie Holt’s debut novel, "Not in My Book," is a delightful rollercoaster of emotions. The chemistry between Rosie and Aiden leaps off the pages, and their witty banter keeps readers hooked. Holt masterfully balances humour, passion, and vulnerability, creating a captivating enemies-to-lovers romance that transcends clichés.

Rosie, an idealistic and passionate Peruvian American, leaves her Tennessee hometown to chase her dream of becoming a writer in New York. But fate has other plans when she finds herself in class with her arch-nemesis and ex-crush, Aiden Huntington. He’s an obnoxious, surly, and gorgeous literary fiction writer who scoffs at the romance genre.

Their verbal battles in workshop classes reach a boiling point, prompting their professor to issue an ultimatum: Rosie and Aiden must co-write a novel that blends their genres. Reluctantly, they embark on this literary journey, weaving pieces of themselves into their accidentally steamy manuscript. As they get to know each other, they attempt to put aside their differences.

Their manuscript becomes an outlet for confession, allowing them to explore their attraction toward each other. But when they compete for a career-changing opportunity, old rivalries flare up, threatening their once-in-a-lifetime love story. The question remains: Can they find a way to end the book on their own terms?

The setting, New York’s bustling literary scene, adds depth to the story, and the cultural nuances Rosie brings as a Peruvian American enrich the narrative. Holt’s prose is lyrical, evoking the magic of the city and the complexities of love.

Rosie and Aiden’s journey is both heartwarming and steamy, making "Not in My Book" a must-read for fans of contemporary romance. Whether you’re a die-hard romance enthusiast or a skeptic, this novel will win you over. Prepare to laugh, swoon, and root for Rosie and Aiden as they navigate love, rivalry, and unexpected passion.

This is a delightful debut that proves love can blossom even in the unlikeliest of places. Katie Holt’s fresh voice and irresistible characters make this novel a standout addition to the romance genre. Don’t miss out on this page-turner because it’s a love story for the ages!

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for a temporary e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The story was a cute enemies to lovers.
I didn’t like the story within a story aspect. It felt almost “jarring” being pulled from one book into another.

What a story! From the very first chapter I was hooked on this enemies to lovers trope. I am not a huge romance reader but this has been one of my favorite reads all year. It was a refreshingly different novel that I hadn’t read any like it. I truly enjoyed the enemies to lovers, single bed, steamy scenes, rom-com, grumpy/sunshine themes. I loved the characters, they were very relatable. Once you learned more about each character the plot thickened. If you’re looking for a read that will make you laugh, hope for happily ever afters and has witty banter this is your book! This novel will release 12-10-24. You’ll want to get your preorder now!

Aiden and Rosie are not much alike. They’re very opposite in fact. Their only shared interest is writing. Aiden despises romance while Rosie can’t get enough. In class the two are paired to write a story. They’re pushed to their limits as they try to tolerate each other but find a break through….hopefully.


Thank you NetGalley and Katie Holt for allowing me this advanced read.

Oh. Em. Gee. I absolutely love, love, LOVED this book! This romance had ALL the tropes. E2L. Forced proximity. One bed situation. Stubborn AF main characters. They had a great dynamic and I loved the supporting characters as well. Katie Holt did an AMAZING job of evolving Aiden and Rosie’s relationship and novel they were working on. The build up of tension for the first half of the book was fantastic and HOLY MOLY that sex scene creation for the novel. WHEW. Will Aiden and Rosie get their Happily Ever After or will their relationship go down in flames? That’s for me to know and you to find out!

Firstly, Thank you to NetGallery, the publisher and author, for providing me with the ARC of Not in My Book in exchange for an honest review.

“Not in my Book” by Katie Holt is the perfect rivals-to-lovers and grumpy/sunshine story that follows Rosie and Aiden, two aspiring authors with clashing personalities and genres. Their heated rivalry in a writing class leads to a forced partnership on a romantic novel project.

Holt captures the essence of their journey with witty banter and the perfect amount of tension. The dynamic between Rosie and Aiden is entertaining, making their transition from enemies to lovers believable and swoon-worthy. This story is a delightful blend of humour, tension, and sweet moments. Holt does a fantastic job bringing Aidan and Rosie to life. Their chemistry is undeniable, and watching their relationship evolve is incredibly satisfying.

Although I felt the ending was rushed, the final conflict between Aidan and Rosie needed more resolution. A deeper conversation about their issues would have made the conclusion more fulfilling. But despite this, the book was a joy to read. The banter, the tension, and the character development were spot on.

This book is perfect for anyone who loves a good romance with a literary twist. The characters are well-developed, the plot is engaging, and the romance is sweet and satisfying. Highly recommended for a heartwarming read!

I love this book! Not only does it remind me of a certain scene in "From Lukov, with love" but it's also amazing in terms the writing.
If you told me one could just cowrite a book about falling in love while falling in love, and not only does come out fucking amazing, but it also makes that love story actually happen I'll sing myself up, no questions asked.
The only thing I didn't quite like is how irrational Rosie can be when it comes to Aiden's money. I understand that he does have money and she does not, but to read about how "rich" he is in terms so desproportionate make it a bit weird.
Apart from that, I hope there'll be more to this characters.

I love a good enemies to lovers, grumpy/sunshine book. I also thought it was so cool that they were both trying to write a book and we sat through classes with them. The only thing I didn’t love was how sudden their fight at the end was.

In this book we follow the story of Rosie and Aiden and their passions of writing.

Rosie is this sunshine, insecure, a happily ever after believer and romance lover and Aiden is her complete opposite, he's harsh, grumpy, a happy ever after skeptic and fiction lover.

This is a true rival to lovers.

They both follow a class of writing, in hope to have one day the opportunity to publish a book. In the beginning of the book, there is no doubt, they hate each other. Every student in the class has to read out loud their chapter and every time Rosie reads hers, Aiden destroy in a matter of a few words her chapter. And no, it is not constructive criticism. He is just plain mean.

When she has the opportunity to do the same, Rosie does not hesitate. She is vengeful. When she does, it is the beginning of a forced partnership. They are forced to work together into writing a book. A romantic one.

In the period of time that they create their characters (who are heavily inspired by one another) and write the dual perceptive, putting down their thoughts, their feeling, writing moments that only they know and their thoughts of the moment...Something happened.
Is the line between hate and love really thin ?

This book was so cute ! It had me giggling and kicking my feet ! Aiden made me swoon and Rosie made me relate to her. I have to say that my personal favorite moments were when they are writing a scene together, you can feel the tension like you never did in a book. The tension was perfect and their banter was everything.

Dare I say it was the best tension filling book i ever read? Yep.

I have to say that the only reason it did not have a five star rating, was because their little fight at the end. It was so abrupt and i feel like it was completely out of character of Rosie to react in the way that she did.

But oh well. It was still an incredible book.

This book felt like Holt desperately wanted to write an Emily Henry novel but she isn't Emily Henry. The banter was good, I felt the couple's chemistry, but I didn't love the couple's characterization, the 3rd act conflict, or the lack of real resolution, and this is a personal thing but I hate a "book within a book". It wasn't bad, it just wasn't for me. I know the reader I'll recommend this to.

This book felt like reading two books at the same time, with way too much of a "book within a book" aspect. It was packed with an overwhelming number of trope references. I know how romance works; I don't need it spelled out for me. The constant commentary on the romance genre and how it's perceived was redundant. It was clear that the author had some unresolved feelings about being a romance writer and tried to bring it up at every turn.

Both characters are frustrating: Aiden for his initial belittlement of Rosie's dream (very much like her ex-boyfriend Simon) and Rosie for her immature behaviour at the end.

Also, I couldn't care less about the book they were writing together and the fact that it was used to basically make them communicate was so annoying. If I wanted to read that story, I would have. The conflict at the end is confusing and childish. Her reaction to him winning something over her was toxic and proved his point about not telling her because she reacted with such jealousy. The idea that he was not meant for her because he won a contest over her was absurd. Her assumption that he was pretending just because he submitted a story is delusional.
The resolution, crammed into a few chapters of another book, is infuriating. And, the fact that everything was all right just because he wrote a happily ever after, is utterly ridiculous. This book is a waste of time.

3.75

Their interactions and banter were really sweet. And I loved that the side characters from her workshop had her back and when her family met him, they saw right through them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ARC.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! When I think of romance as a genre, I think of it as the genre that you come to for comfortable troops and knowing what you will get. This book leans hard into that and gives you exactly what you want from enemies to lovers while exploring why you love that trope and providing a story that feels super original. While the story is told from Rosie's perspective, using their book to show Aiden's perspective was a great device that worked so well in this story. If you are a romance reader at all, please read this book!! Every time I had to put it down, I couldn't wait to get back to Aiden and Rosie and Hunter and Max again!

It officially releases in December and I will be reading it again because it feels like the perfect Christmas read.

A very cute and sweet romance. While I believe Holt didn’t completely resolve the ending bit between Aidan and Rosie, I loved their chemistry.

Aidan and Rosie are grad students who disagree about everything. Aidan writes literary fiction and Rosie writes romance. After a spectacular fight during the feedback portion of workshop, their professor gives them an ultimatum, write their final novel project together (and learn to get along) or drop her class. Both would do anything to avoid dropping her class and they agree to work together. As you can imagine, chaos ensues as Aidan and Rosie fight in out on paper and in person to write their novel. But as time progresses, Aidan and Rosie’s relationship morphs into a swoon-worthy romance.

Holt did an amazing job with her characterization and the vast majority of the plot was well thought out and flowed nicely. The only critique is the rushed ending to resolve the remaining conflict between the Aidan and Rosie. I feel like I needed more than expressions of love between them. I needed some actual conversation about what went wrong and how they are going to get past it and therefore avoid anything like that happening in the future. Sorry for the vagueness but I don’t want to spoil the ending for anyone. Overall, I really loved this novel. I’m just being a bit nit-picky.

The premise of this book was promising. Enemies to collaborators to lovers? Sign me up. And the fact that Rosie and Aiden are in the writing industry? Bonus brownie points. What I absolutely enjoyed were the excerpts of the book they were writing together within this book, as it really allowed me to be immersed in each of their perspectives by knowing what was going on in their hearts. The banter was so fun to read, and the scene where they (or Maxine and Hunter) first opened up to each other during dinner was really well-written!
One of my main concerns from the start of the novel was Rosie’s inner monologue being so redundant. There were only two thoughts that crossed her mind every time she was near Aiden: "Omg, I’m so short next to him!" and "Omg, he’s so broad and hot!" This continued until the end of the novel, and every time she described how petite she was, I felt a little removed from the reading experience.
I also feel like there’s a major misconception about the genre in which Aiden specializes. Literary fiction isn’t just about sad, flawed people being awful and evil and sad together. There can be a love story told through fanciful, elaborate, florid prose that explores themes and characters in depth, without necessarily giving them troubled pasts, but still being reflective and giving the reader a chance to dissect them. The way it was described in the book seemed a bit one-dimensional to me. Understandably so, if the notions came from Rosie and were later cleared up, but they weren’t.
The third-act breakup also just came out of the blue. Rosie being mad about her mentor mentoring another student felt immature, and I expected Aiden’s character to have matured a bit through everything they had gone through, so the breakup dialogue felt a bit childish to me.
This was still a very entertaining read, and I finished it pretty quickly. The steamy scenes were steamy!!! I loved how Rosie spoke about romance and was pretty optimistic throughout, and I loved the conversations about her culture and learning about a lot of food! I also relate to Aiden quite a bit in his love for litfic (and him being a sort of jaded pessimist, oops). All in all, I flew through this book and enjoyed my experience, and the issues I have with it are only something I picked up on because I’m quite picky with my romances in the first place.
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3.25/5 stars!

Summary:

Rosie can’t stand the pompous writer in her grad school class, Aiden; he always critiques her writing more than anyone else’s and has some vendetta against romance writing. When their professor assigns them to co-write a romance novel, can they stop bickering enough to write a worthwhile story? Or is their chemistry something deeper than just nemeses?

Title: Not In My Book
Author: Katie Holt
@readinromance
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️ 2/5


Tropes:
Enemies to Lovers
Forced Proximity
Opposites Attract
HEA


Triggers:
Complicated parent/child relationship
Emotionally abusive parent
Bully-ish romance


Whitney’s Thoughts:
A book about enemies to lovers writing a book together?? Sign me up! I read this book in less than 24 hours long into the night and loved it. The banter, the spice, the sweetness, the inner workings of writing—it was so compelling and a great read!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher, for giving me a free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. I did not know how much I needed a romance book between two writers until the minute I started reading this exact book.

When Aiden and Rosie, arch nemesis' and pretending there is no tension, get into one fight too many in their writing class their tutor offers them an ultimatum: write a book together or drop the class. They choose to write the book. However, with Rosie as a romance writer and Aiden as a LitFic writer who thinks himself above romance, the tension will inevitably break, both on page and off page.

"I wished I could tell her I wasn't mad at her but for her."

This was such an entertaining read. I read it in one sitting and honestly spent so much time giggling and trying not to scream. I had so much fun.

There is so much that worked with this book. I loved the literary element, the way books and writing were such an important part of the story itself. I loved that Aiden came from literary royalty and yet didn't tell anyone about it. I loved seeing Rosie and Aiden go from enemies to friends to lovers to enemies and back to lovers. This might be the first book I've read where a third act breakup actually affected me. I loved that they were blending two of my favourite genres and the arguments and tension between them. Seeing that tension break, from that first kiss to the final one, watching them muddle through their feelings was so beautiful. I loved that their love story wasn't perfect. I loved that they fought and made mistakes and learnt how to love each other.

Aiden was truly a beautiful character. There were so many sides to him - his family, his writing, how he treated his students, and Rosie. Every page there was something new to learn and love about him. I loved seeing him work his way through his anxiety and uncomfortable situations because Rosie wanted or needed him to. And he bought her books!? Be still my heart.

I loved how Rosie spoke about romance. The way she drew Aiden out his shell, her match making abilities, her belief that love always wins. Her endless optimism was really refreshing in a book character. I also loved how much of her culture she kept, remaining true to herself even when people were telling her not to. I loved every interaction they had. The sexual tension and build up was slow, but oh, so sweet. Aiden has a dirty mouth (shocker), and Rosie needs him to. I also really like how Aiden immediately started treating her to what she never got in her previous relationship. There was a beautiful found family element, especially with Rosie's friends who loved and protected her fiercly.

There were a couple of things that didn't work. I think the author was trying to create a starting point of tension for Aiden and Rosie, but Rosie came across as immature quite a lot. The way she felt about her teacher mentoring someone other than her to the way she would lose her temper the minute someone said something negative about her writing made her very irritating at times. her general naivety mixed with how over cautious she was with relationships didn't quoite mesh properly.

That being said, this was a joy to read. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a romance book about books.

4 stars.

i have been in a horrible reading slump the past few months but i flew through this book! although it is technically a single pov, i really enjoyed getting a glimpse into aiden’s thoughts with the little book excerpts at the end of each chapter. this is definitely more of a slowburn, with some push and pull and miscommunication. although this had miscommunication, i do love how the author had them communicate through their writing. i think that was a creative way to dip your toes into the miscommunication trope without it being too unbearable for the reader. the spice scenes were written so well! i find myself losing interest in most spice scenes lately but i was locked in for these. thank you so much to netgalley and alcove press for the arc!

This was really good if you loved beach read I think this book is a good option. I would describe it as January Gus if it was in their college days. Good romance and overall good book. I’m not a big romance reader so I do feel like I need to say a 3.5 is very good.