Classic tropes used in a fun new way. Nothing groundbreaking but I really enjoyed the characters and their banter.

‘I love you. In light and dark, in romance and litfic. In this lifetime and the next.’
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Finishing up this week with such a good romance, very thankful I could read it monthssss before it’s out! Thank you @alcovepress and netgalley for the copy! 💖
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‘Not in My Book’ is a romance book that will soothe even the souls of litfic readers. I absolutely loved the plot and the characters, especially the book within a book element of it.
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Rosie and Aiden are academic rivals who are forced to either drop their favourite class or co-write a book. She talks too much and he’s too quiet, but together they’re perfect. I loved how their project turned into a means of telling each other what they didn’t dare say in person and who doesn’t love a man who falls first and falls so hard?!
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This is for the fans of Julie Soto, can’t wait to read more from Katie Holt in the future!

Enemies to lovers. A story within a story. Forced proximity. A steamy romance. This book has it all! If you are a fan of The Hating Game, this book is for you. Rosie and Aiden are in the same writing class at NYU and they are each others harshest critic. After a truly intense workshop, they are forced to write a romance together and things take off. I loved the banter between these two and the romantic moments set in NYC. I also enjoyed the story they were working on together (and I don't always love a story with in a story) because it added to the tension between the main characters. This was a fun read and I devoured it. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

this book was so cute, idk why but i didnt expect myself to like it😭 considering i did NOT like the hating game at all.(dnf) even though i was waiting to be finished with the book, i liked it. the reason i wanted it to end faster is because of my very intimidating tbr list… my fault, but this might not be every ones cup of tea, since i wouldn’t go out of my way to read this. however, the fmc low key made me give this an extra star, i loved her sm. i love when i see myself in fmc’s, exactly what happened here.

2.5 stars.

A cute academia romance! Overall, I think this has a ton of potential, but it's not quite there for me right now.

What I loved:
- Love the book within a book concept. It’s very fun and changes up the pace of the book nicely.
- The academic, writing intensive setting.
- The quips about the different romance tropes are just fun. It’s like little inside jokes for all of us romance novel loving girlies.
- Aiden and Rosie’s relationship and how it develops through the book is overall just very sweet. I really enjoyed both of them individually and together.

What I didn’t love:
- It definitely needs a good round of editing. There were quite a few grammatical issues and repetition of the same scenario, especially at the beginning (ex. explaining her crush on Aiden, how she became friends with Jess, etc.)
- I wish that there was more tension at the beginning. It is meant to be enemies to lovers, and while they do argue a lot, from basically the first chapter Rosie is talking about how hot Aiden is and how she used to have a crush on him. That took a lot of the tension of the relationship away for me.
- There was a lot of explaining and not showing with peoples' characteristics/qualities.
- I do think the pace of the story still feels a bit clunky. Again, I think the story itself is really great, just a bit of a flow issue for me.

The love story in this book left much to be desired. Instead of charming banter, it often veered into disrespectful territory, making it hard to connect with the characters, particularly the male lead, whose behavior was off-putting and difficult to sympathize with. As the narrative progressed, it became increasingly challenging to stay engaged.

Despite my reservations about the romance, the book did offer an enjoyable tour of New York City, with the author skillfully incorporating numerous notable locations that brought back fond memories. While I appreciated the concept, side characters, and setting, my overall enjoyment was overshadowed by the main characters' dynamic. Although it wasn't quite my cup of tea, I still encourage others to give it a try. Many thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Not in my Book had my hooked with the enemies to lovers. Truly enjoyed reading the love story journey for Rosie and Aiden especially with the writing of their Untitled Book.

Now all I need is the Hunter and Max story!

I thought the enemies to lovers buildup was amazing in this one but once they became lovers, the story just fell flat. Some details were conflicting and the romance just seemed instant after having “hated” each other for so long. Otherwise, a quick and fun read!

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC! A romance novel within a romance novel?! Yes, please! This was so stinking CUTE. I was kicking my feet, blushing, and giggling throughout. I thought this was really well written and I was so entertained by the main characters and their love story. Absolutely beautiful.

We meet two MFA students from NYU at their Creative Writing Class. While one writes romance, the other is a literary fiction writer. From the very beginning we witness a rivalry between them for which the female protagonist, Rosie blames Aiden, the male protagonist.

We star with them in class, hurling insults at each other. Then some things happen and they ended up being forced to write a book together. In writing the books, they became friends, even more than that and finally like any other romance book, we witness the big conflict.

This is where all goes downhill. For a conflict to mean something to a reader, we have to feel for both parties. Sure, for a moment we can be team Rosie or team Aiden, but even after learning both parties reasoning you conclude one party is definitely being an asshole, it becomes less of a romance novel and more of a delusion.

For context, the guy lies about something that is very important to the girl and when she finds out, instead of apologising he gaslights her, doesn’t take responsibility for his action and accuses her of being jealous. Now in the heat of the moment many things are said to hurt the other person and I am not one to hold on to it. But it’s just reason behind his lie was he had daddy issues and the boy needs daddy’s approval. It’s like that Eminem song where he says yes babe i got your sister pregnant but how can you leave now when I need your support when ai down with cheating on you!

No, Aiden doesn’t cheat and honestly up until that point I loved him so much more than I loved the girl. But lying, deceiving for whatever reason is never okay. And if you lied and behaved poorly, what do you next? You show how sorry you are.

What Aiden did and how the conflict resolution went felt like a narcissistic was saying I love you, forgive me but my lie was needed when at any point saying the truth would have been okay, would have been respectful. Because he doesn’t say or show he shouldn’t have lied. That he was sorry for lying, for making a fool of herself in front of her friends.

I am giving it 3 stars in the hope that the last conflict scene and plot would be revised before it goes for printing. And the guy turns out to a decent human being as he was throughout the first and second half of the book. I also hope they show how talented and smart the girl is from the beginning instead of showing it through her writing when Rosie was writing the book with Aiden and it became evident how much better of a writer she is. (I think instead of her being unnecessarily bitchy in the beginning, the same arguments can be written in a smarter way).

If none of this is changed, know that this is. 2 star book for me. But if they make the changes, it would easily turn into a 4/5 star for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed this and their dynamic and the slow burn of it all - the only thing that made me want to give up and throw the whole book out the window was the ✨conflict✨ close to the end. I understand why Rosie was upset but her actions seemed SO extreme and dramatic and unreasonable (trying to not spoil), not even pausing to give Aiden a chance to explain his actions and how he’s been feeling. She’s gonna just decide that NOTHING MEANT ANYTHING even though they clearly were in love with each other??? Okay. Kinda messed things up for me but I enjoyed the bulk of it so I’ll still be nice with my rating. (Also ngl, I’m definitely one of those people who gets a little bored once the characters get together and all the will they/won’t they is gone. The spice was still ✨spicy✨ tho.)

What an enjoyable read! I love a bit of rivals to lovers action and this did it so well. Not in my Book follows the story of Rosie and Aiden, university writing rivals forced to work together and write a manuscript to save their degrees. As they write the romance between their main characters, their real life feelings start to blossom, slowly blurring the line between fiction and reality.

I really enjoyed this! Rosie was funny and driven, and I liked her relationship with Aiden as it shifted from animosity to love. The New York setting was really wonderful and I loved all the bookish elements to their relationship. I do think it really would’ve benefited without a third act breakup, or perhaps one that didn’t make Aiden seem like such an unredeemable ass (sorry!) if I was Rosie, I’m not sure I would’ve forgiven how demeaning and condescending he continually was towards her, and no last minute love confession could fix that for me, sadly. That being said, I still really enjoyed the story and the writing style and will happily read more from Katie Holt!

ARC Review: I didn’t once feel the urge to pause to collect thoughts for this review and I mean that in the best way possible! I love books about books and found myself itching to pick it up throughout the day. Some of the dialogue/scene movement was a little awkward at times but not enough to totally lose me as a reader. I could do without the third act breakup as I didn’t feel it was wholly necessary to any character growth, but it seemed the characters thought so too with their own final chapter “rewritten.” Rosie and Aiden had great chemistry and I liked how both were able to recognize the “judging a book by its cover” they were doing to each other and overcome that. All in all a great romcom I’m glad to have received an ARC for!

3.5

A story about two academic rivals forced to overcome their feuds co-write a novel that combines both of their respective genres. Rosie, our sunshine, and Aiden, or grumpy mmc, write way too many of their own personality, feelings and opinions into their characters, that it’s inevitable that they follow in their characters shadow on a tumoultous love story. The description precisely captures my exact thoughts when I read the opening chapter: this is January and Gus from their college days, criticising each others work every chance they get…but not because they actually hate each other.
The tropes were well executed, however their initial bickering felt too childish for mid-twenties and made me cringe at times thinking how grown-adults had to watch that every workshop week. Absolutely adored them falling in love because of writing their book together (also shoutout to Wibberley &Siegemund-Broka’s The Roughest Draft, which funnily enough is also an author duo) and saying things they couldn’t face to face. However, I was missing the distinct ‘voice’ of Aiden in his chapters and Rosie in hers. It felt exactly like the author’s writing (which is obviously very fine as it IS the author writing it) but more importantly it did not feel like Aiden’s expertise lay in litfic. Similarly to how I prefer songs (and their lyrics) to just be omitted in books, I would’ve liked to suspend my belief by not having read them. Furthermore, some of the chapters felt repetitive as they were mere mirrors of what had just happened to Rosie and Aiden. Overall, this is a very sweet romance, especially for the EmHen girlies with some quirks that didn’t necessarily hit the mark with me.

Thank you netgalley for the chance to read this!
In short: I adored this. First off: its a romance about bookish people. I love that Aiden/Rosie had an incredibly competitive enemies to lovers workplace romance going on, and I loved that they used writing their own unique novels as the backdrop to that. Their chemistry, both in their dialogue and in their writing, just soared. I LOVE a book with an epistolary theme, so the multiple opportunities to explore a "book within a book" just sung to me. The transition from enemies to more was just really believable and the tension between the two of them was so palpably awkward and searing that it made you want to see them get together.
I also really loved that they were two completely fleshed out and unique characters. I don't read alot about Peruvian culture but I could feel it flowing off of Rosie and her family: her need to find and be loved in romance was something I could really relate. I thought Aiden, on the other end of the spectrum as a fumbling man with love, was also just so realistic.
This has some really good spice! As a note: I LOVED that Rosie called Aiden out for some of his 'spicier' language! I feel like so often spicy language is used in the steamy scenes and it almost breaks the character I've dreamt up in my head: this let his spicy side show up but was also used as humor. A+++
I flew through this and just adored it.

This title was a fun enemies to lovers title with some great tropes, including academic rivals, opposites attract, and forced proximity. The MC's had delightful banter and I thought their method of communicating their feelings through their writing was clever and fun. Rosie and Aiden had really endearing quirks and excellent chemistry. Overall, I really enjoyed this title and would recommend it to patrons who enjoy enemies to lovers contemporary romance with some spice.

Did I request this book based entirely on it's title? I did. Do I regret it? Definitely not.

Rosie, an idealistic Peruvian-American aspiring writer, leaves her Tennessee hometown to chase her dreams in New York, only to find her plans disrupted by her arch-nemesis and ex-crush, Aiden Huntington, a surly literary fiction writer who disdains the romance genre. Their contentious relationship leads to constant clashes in their writing workshop, prompting their exasperated professor to mandate that they co-author a novel blending their genres as a condition to remain in the class. Reluctantly collaborating, Rosie and Aiden infuse their personalities into their accidentally steamy novel, which becomes a conduit for their growing mutual understanding and attraction. However, as they vie for a significant career opportunity, their old rivalry flares up, threatening their budding romance and collaborative project, unless they can find a way to conclude their story on their own terms.

I enjoy the enemies to lovers trope, where the grumpy character is secretly infatuated with our heroine. Despite his inability to express his feelings, he would do anything for her.

My favorite part of the book, however, was how they slowly started developing a friendship, which eventually turned into love. We see this progression in their writing as well.

I really enjoyed how the Peruvian family in the movie Rosie was portrayed. I especially liked how the mom had a "Tía Mafia" (auntie mafia) at her disposal to help her daughter find somewhere to live and keep tabs on her. The portrayal of the food and music was just perfect.

This sounds like the perfect book, however the third act breakup was a bit anticlimatic for my taste and ended up flipping the pages to get them together again, but I am a mood reader and I think it has to do a lot with that.

I think this book is great for people who love angsty romances with a HEA where the enemies become more than lovers and the grump gets the sunshine.

Thank you Alcove Press for providing this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This enemies to lovers trope was amazing and the characters were so amazing and interesting, they kept me hooked till the very end of the book.
The writing style was wonderful and the plot was well paced thus it enhanced my reading experience.

Not in My Book, was everything I wanted it to be and more.

A New York City Rom-com between two writers, forced to collaborate on a project.
I could gush about this book for hours! Rosie and Aiden, had the perfect enemies to lovers arc, the tension, the build up and the teasing banter! The fact that they were writing a novel together as collaborators for class while also building their real life connection was such a wonderful plot device. I had thought that this dynamic would overcloud or confuse the narrative of their relationship but I think it ultimately made it so much stronger. Them writing together allowed a deeper level of trust and communication to open up between them, and it added lots of extra tension.

The scene when they’re on the phone, collaborating on a spicy chapter together was so tension filled it had me blushin! They weren’t even in the same room during these scene and it was still one of the hottest scenes in the book for me 🔥🤣

I really loved Aiden’s and Rosie’s individual and joint growth throughout this story. With them both healing old wounds and choosing to move forward in a healthy way. Getting to see a little bit more into Aiden’s mind through the Chapter excerpt he wrote in the story they were working on together. Was a unique way to learn more about his perspective of Rosie, and really helped me understand his character more.

I loved their dynamic and chemistry, so much! I adored this book. I loved the representation in this story. The side characters in this were all well fleshed out and all characters motivations were clear throughout. The dialogue was really well written, and didn’t ever feel forced. The double narrative of the book within a book was super well executed and allowed for this story to really shine.

Honestly one of my favourite romances I’ve read this year, was such a delightful read.

I love a grumpy sunshine romance. The mix of enemies to lovers really took it to another level all on its own. It is also so clear that the author loves romance because it was PERFECT.