Author main characters, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, third act breakup, spicy, they express their feelings through their writing

I am a sucker for enemies to lovers, and I have discovered my love of the microtrope of a writer romance. Pure gold.

I loved seeing them be vulnerable and open to each other through the book they were writing. It was so beautiful and something that I hadn’t seen before in a book. Also the first spicy scene between their book characters was quite possibly the hottest thing I’ve ever read!

I think my favorite part about this book though is the realistic sense of it. Every relationship is going to be rough, it shouldn’t be all sunshine and roses. There will be arguments. But knowing how to work through those arguments and working on being better together is what’s important. I feel in romance books it’s often this idealistic relationship where there’s only conflict before they get together then there’s never anything bad in the relationship, but seeing them fight and continuously working though it makes it more real. It’s still a romance, still has a bit of a rosy tint, but it also doesn’t shy from the hard parts of life.

Review to come…

I really love the cover ❤️
The description is very intriguing.
This is a new author to me.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC

"𝑰'𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆."
"𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒆. 𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰'𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔."

3.75 ✰

♡･ﾟ:*｡.:*･ﾟ

first & most importantly, thank you diksha for buddy reading this with me!!

not in my book is a cute romance about two academic rivals, rosie and aiden, who absolutely despise the other. professor Ida, tired of their constant bickering in class and lack of teamwork, decides to put their skills to the test by forcing them to collaborate on a novel. the catch: if they fail to finish the novel, they will be expelled from the class. both rosie and aiden need this class to graduate, so they attempt to put their differences aside, but as they continue writing, they begin to uncover each other’s hidden strengths and vulnerabilities, slowly chipping away at their initial impressions in the process. just as they're about to make progress, their differing opinions on the story's direction threaten to tear them apart – forcing them to confront the possibility that maybe, just maybe, the other person isn't so bad after all.

i really enjoyed reading this book. it was so sweet and funny, and there were so many good quotes. so let’s get into the review shall we?

✏️🗒️🩷🌃🚉

𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒔 📓
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
✎ rivals to lovers
✎ small town girl, city boy
✎ one bed
✎ “hurt her and i’ll end you”
✎ grumpy x sunshine

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 📓
rosalinda˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
our fmc is rosalinda, rosie for short! i loved rosie’s character so much. throughout the book she was always ambitious and very adamant on getting what she wanted. she had a relatable personality which i loved as well.


aiden˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
the way i need him is ridiculous. he starts out as a grumpy, seemingly stuck up mmc, but the character development with this one is insane. not to mention, he has a way with words 🤭 obviously he does, he’s a writer.

logan, jess, tyler˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
rosie’s friend group) i liked them! they were a solid friend group. they were normally very supportive of rosie.

maria˚ʚ♡ɞ˚
rosie’s roommate) she was so cute and so sweet! i would love to have her as a roommate. the only thing i didn’t like about her was that she was really pushy when it came to rosie and she didn’t seem to care if rosie disagreed or was uncomfortable. this wasn’t an all the time thing though!!


𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒕 📓
overall, the plot was good, but i didn't like that there was a new conflict introduced around 90%. i also wish that there was more included in either the last chapter or the epilogue because i wanted to see more of aidenrosie!

𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒚𝒍𝒆 📓
the writing style was good imo, although there were some typos and formatting issues that at times could be distracting. there were a few issues with dialogue and who was speaking that was confusing as well. other than that, i really liked it!

𝒒𝒖𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒔 <3
“If you loved someone, you’d stay up late even if you were tired.”

“‘Writing’s in the revisions. Nothing’s set in stone, you know. Your backspace works just as well as the other keys.’”

“‘You two lack chemistry.’

‘That’s not true.’”

“‘I don’t want to be everyone else to you.’”

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


𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍 📓
i enjoyed this book! it was so cute and just what i needed after the heartache that was heartless. it came out to a 6.8/10 on cawpile and 3.75 stars!! this was a very solid debut novel for katie holt!


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!

Rosie is in an NYU graduate writing program. Rosie is an optimistic romantic with a passion for writing romance. Aiden is in the same program, but Aiden despises romance. Aiden is a grumpy literary fiction writer. They constantly fight and disrupt the classroom until their professor believes they should be dropped from the class. To stay in the class and possibly get along with each other, they are tasked with writing a book that has both romance and literary fiction.

I found the tension and banter between Rosie and Aiden as rivals engaging. I didn't understand why they initially hated each other so much, but the troupe was written well. Seeing their transformation from enemies to lovers through the characters they crafted in their book was sweet. When they weren’t fighting their chemistry was tangible and well depicted. Rosie and Aiden have layers of complexity that unfold gradually throughout the book, which made my reading intriguing. What stood out to me was the narrative structure, which felt like I was reading two books in one —an aspect that kept me intrigued.

Overall, it was a great romance novel.

Thank you, NetGalley and Alcove Press for the advanced eARC in exchange for an honest review. Not in My Book releases on December 10, 2024.

this is the perfect romance book written for romance lovers and readers. it’s giving Book Lovers by EmHen, but make it The Tortured Poets Department ( no, actually ). there are soooo many cute blips about the reason romance novels need to exist, and what makes them so much more than just a love story. Aiden and Rosie are both so precious to me. i completely fell in love with this story and couldn’t put it down. i can’t wait to add my pre-order copy to my shelves when this releases. this is going to be perfect to cozy up with this December when it releases. Katie Holt writes in such a lovely and tender way, this was a book that made me forget i was reading. an absolutely amazing debut 🦋

the details ✨
- enemies x lovers
- slow burn
- academia / grad school
- new york city
- mean banter

rating : 4.5 ⭐️

I was really looking forward to this one - I unironically love romance novels with characters who love romance novels - but unfortunately this one fell a little short for me. It read a bit like a first draft - some sections dragged, and then the next thing you know we had jumped from NYE to "Spring"?? Not to mention, was their class a semester? A year? Just lots of logic jumps and I am a licensed Logic Investigator so I struggled.

I also got the ick in a big way when Rosie and Aidan were co-writing the sex scene with each other. I truly cannot imagine a less sexy experience than trading off in Google Docs talking about "he slapped his *spoiler* on her *spoiler*" like PLEASE. My entire body froze and I almost passed away.

But BY FAR my biggest gripe with this book is the third act miscommunication. Babes, literally have one singular conversation about the dumb lil fellowship thing and it's water under the bridge? They were really both doing too much and it was irritating.

Others might enjoy! It just wasn't for me. Which was a shame because it started really strong and the premise was fun but I just felt disappointed at the end.

3 stars. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

— 3 stars ★

Thoughts Ꮺ
— This had the plot of things I loved - academic enemies to lovers, book writing, forced proximity and angsty banter! Overall, I thought it was a cute book. The characters were fun and the enemies to lovers was truly ENEMIES to lovers, which isn't done justice most the time. There wasn't anything spectacular about it but it wasn't objectively bad. The plot was exciting but it could have been done better and I think the characters could have been fleshed out more. In the synopsis it talks about Rosie not being honed in on her culture so I expected there to be an aspect of her learning more about her heritage but didn't really get that.

I was also really hoping that the two would subconsciously write their feelings for each other during the novel writing process, and then later the other would start picking a part the pieces that applied to them - or something like that. I was itching for this to be a enemies to friends to slow burn lovers and that there'd be a whole revelation of these feelings coming through their writings but I didn't get that. I was disappointed by the execution - the pair immediately know they were writing the main characters about one another and I wanted to roll my eyes out of my head. The things that would happen to Rosie and Aiden happened to the characters they were writing and it just felt... repetitive.

Beyond that, I think that once the characters became lovers, the story became flat. It felt like the author was rushing to get to the conflict and then VERY quickly wrap up the ending. This book was super spicy towards the end but it wasn't that fun for me as a reader because I literally couldn't imagine either characters talking that way during sexy time. It felt so OOC for them!

The main reason this isn't rated lower was because I did have a lot of fun with it, when I didn't think too much about who the characters were. I had fun with the banter and the academic setting. I think more of my favorite parts came from the pieces from the book the characters were writing rather than the actual book itself.

Overall Ꮺ
Again, I thought it was cute overall but the execution didn't live up to what I had in mind. of course, Things can change between now and publication (sometime in December), so keep that in mind!!!

Thank you NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ARC of this book! All opinions are my own.

I had such whiplash with this book. It was like it was written by 2 different authors. Most of the book was so sweet and romantics and then it would switch to filthy sex scenes with dialogue I couldn’t imagine either character using. Great potential but just very disjointed. Thank you to the author and the publisher for this ARC.

This book had many favorite tropes: enemies to lovers, fake dating, forced proximity, even a shared bed! But it just was not it for me.

I had such whiplash. It was like it was written by 2 different authors. Most of the book was so sweet and romantic and then it would switch to odd and honestly creepy sex scenes with dialogue I couldn’t imagine either character using.

Great potential but just very disjointed and left me disappointed.

i am a little mixed on this book. overall, i thought it was cute. i loved the detail of aiden + rosie co-writing a book as their relationship developed. i thought the excerpts at the beginning of each chapter were sweet, and i loved that in big moments when rosie and aiden were trying to figure out how to communicate their feelings, they used their main characters to do it for them. however, when their character moments started overlapping with their own experiences, it started to feel redundant to me. i understood that hunter and max were a reflection of themselves, but i think when it came to reading scenes for max and hunter, that had literally just happened to rosie and max, it felt very repetitive.

i LOVE a good enemies to lovers. and i genuinely understand developing poor communication skills and unhealthy responses to conflict due to how one was raised. BUT, i feel as though when conflict arose aiden’s character was genuinely toxic. being so quick to put her down, was alarming. i know aiden mentions it’s wrong he reacts in that way and that it is a habit learned from childhood, but i think the only way to be able to pull that off is major character development either throughout the book or in the third act. possibly even have representation for therapy? i just had a hard time getting past the awful things he said to her and his apology, while it was mostly sweet, was essentially him saying “i didn’t mean it. i’m sorry. but i’ll likely do it again. it’s okay though, because we love one another”

near the end of the book “Not in My Book” was placed randomly at the end of sentences and that threw me off because it’s placements never made any sense. i think squeezing the book title subtly into the storyline is fun, but this felt awkward and forced.

all that to say, i think when it comes to publication day, i will likely be rereading to see what has been changed.

I'm in love with this book and Rosie and Aiden!
First off, the characters are great and I built a relationship to them very quick. It's an amazing enemies to lovers story that makes you feel all the emotions out there and I loved that they had to write a book together and kind of used it for communication!

Enemies to co-writing a romance book together for class. Then writing how they actually feel inside their story instead of saying it out loud to each other. It's a love/hate relationship and it takes you on a rollercoaster of a ride. It's funny, sad, sexy, witty and frustrating because they fight over everything when they could be each other's everything.

This was excellent!! Recently the romances I've been reading feel a little too corny. However, this one was just right. I loved the inclusion of the book that Rosie and Aiden were writing. It gave an incredible dual perspective, especially since the main story was from Rosie's perspective. The sex scenes were nicely placed and didn't seem like they were dirty just for the sake of being so. The vulnerability of both characters was a welcomed delight. So so good, cute, everything

Not in my book by Katie Holt was helluva roller-coaster ride. It has its highs which are SO HIGH. I SWEAR I WAS INTOXICATED BY THE WORDS OF THE AUTHOR. and sure it has some lows too (which could have been avoided by making some things better) but well, you don't get everything you want right?

THE PLOT-
So, we have our fmc who is a romance writer. She, like many many other real people, is tight on money. She wants to go to a good college but can't cuz the fees is too high so she could only afford to attend writing workshops there. Now, in this workshop, we have our mmc, who is the typical oh-i-hate-romance and oh-i-didnt-know-how-to-get-your-attention-so-i-was-mean-to-you. Which was kindaaaa boring honestly but lets move on. He is a literary fiction writer who writes (stereotypically) sad boy books. Our MCs fight with each other a lot and try to criticize the other person's book whenever they get opportunity. One they they take it a tad too far (that scene was quite funny btw, in my grand opinion) so their teacher?? ig. oh! yea professor- the workshop professor got angry and threatened to remove them from the workshop. So to avoid it they make a pact of writing a book together. And so the story goes.....

ROSIE AND AIDEN-
okay. so i kinda liked both of them but i have my complaints. Rosie was somewhat somewhat like me with her high regard for love and longing that laughter was a physical thing so we can hold it in our hands BUT sometimes she seemed very... childish to me, which stopped her from being fully relatable to me. And Aidennnnn. i mean this guy clearly clearly likes the gal but idk why is so meannn. Like ok. i get it that you had your reasons and experiences and blah blah but then again really???? like bro just shut uppp if u have nothing good to say.
Also their "fights" 😭😭😭i wished they fought at something else. They didn't make sense to me. Eh. and and and the reason for the "big fight" - was that supposed to be a revelation or secret? idk. But like it mentions in synopsis soooooo yea.

→ their relationship (time spent together-dates etc)
WHEN I SAY THIS WAS GOOD I MEAN THIS WAS *GOOD*
By relationship, i dont mean their whole thing but the moments they had together- the restaurant, bookstore, her home, his home, park, christmas- THey all are so so wholesome like i was smiling the whole time reading those parts and they kind offff saved the book. I am sure i will go back and read those scenes again in the future- they were THAT cute.

Also i loved the excerpts of their book in between the chapters. It make reading them fun!!! the chapters were a bit long but we can move past that.

I guess a solid 3.65 rating <3

Recommended! give it a shot!!!

I loved that this was a book within a book mirrored by the main characters. It was a sweet story with a good enemies to lovers payoff at the end.

Ooohwhee this was a good one! Rosie is a Peruvian Tennesseean who is attending graduate school at NYU (can we all agree that any movie/book/show set in New York City is 50 times more romantic and fun?!) to pursue her dream of becoming a romance novelist at NYU. She hits a roadblock in the shape of her hunky arch rival classmate, Aiden Huntington. Aiden writes, “literary fiction” and scoffs at romance. Ater a huge, knockdown, blow up fight in their creative writing class, Rosie and Aiden’s professor lays down the law. The two must work together for their final project, combining their two writing styles and writing a romance that ends like literary fiction (i.e., someone will be killed off or left abandoned or some other tragedy). Well, Rosie and Aiden learn that working together isn’t as terrible as they thought it would be. In fact, writing a novel together is a great way to declare their feelings for each other!

I loved this set up, I loved these characters and, as you can probably guess, I loved the setting. It was fun seeing Aiden and Rosie write a love story because I got to enjoy their fictional story as well as their real life story. The swoon was swoony, the steam was steamy (so so SO steamy, guys!) and the pining and longing was top notch. Watching Rosie and Aiden write their own feelings, desires, and insecurities into their characters in the book was so satisfying. AND, watching Rosie and Aiden write a spicy scene together was something that I had no idea was missing from my smut-loving heart!

My only critique is Rosie’s reaction during the “3rd act break up.” I get why she was upset, I really do. But her reaction seemed super extreme and took me out of the story for a minute. Luckily, it wasn’t super long and I was able to get back into the story. The epilogue was perfection and I thank the stars that authors like Katie Holt exist to give us a sweet peek into where our beloved characters are now.

Would I reread this book? Hell yes I would! Would I gift it to a friend? In a heartbeat! Thank you so much to Alcove Press for sending me an early copy via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

4.5 stars! I was hooked on this book! The tension between Aiden and Rosie was delicious. I loved how they were forced to write a book together and how that book mirrored their own relationship so closely. At times, I wish the plot moved faster, but I think everything ultimately developed well. I appreciated the New York setting, and I liked when Rosie's family came to visit. This book was cute and sexy!

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for sending me the arc in exchange for an honest review!

5 stars!!

This is a debut novel from Katie Holt and by god, I have no words for this book. I had no expectations for this book but it blew everything out of the water.
I could NOT put this book down and finished this in less than 24 hours. I was not sleeping till it was done!
This was the perfect!

* enemies to lovers
* grumpy x sunshine
* slow burn

Katie had me going through all the emotions. One chapter I would be crying, and the next I would be smiling and laughing.

One thing I loved the most about this book, was the quotes at the end of each chapter on how Aidan was feeling. I swear Aiden (Katie) has such a magical way with words and the way she portrayed the growing relationship between Aiden and Rosie was everything in wanted.

THERE IS A BOOK IN A BOOK!!! And the book is basically love letters to each other.

This is an absolutely must for all the romance lovers out there!

The cover has me in a chokehold alone but the inside matches the outside. This was a really well written book with incredibly enjoyable characters, whitty side characters and I enjoyed it immensely overall

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for sending me the arc in exchange for an honest review!

Oh my god. Where do I even begin…. I loved this book. I loved it so much I was up until 3am reading it. I had to literally force my brain to stop thinking about it and go to bed.

The banter between Rosie and Aiden was some of the best I’ve read in a long time. I was giggling and kicking my feet as they literally insulted each other. This book had the perfect enemies to reluctant partners to friends to lovers. Plus you get to see it happen twice(!!) with the book they’re (basically) forced to write together.

The tension and sexual buildup had me on the edge of my seat. It’s a slow burn done so well that you’re just begging for them to kiss. Nothing was rushed when it came to them actually getting together. And the mouth on Aiden!!! Who would’ve thought.

My only complaint is I wish we saw more of Aiden’s life. We see his family a little, but I wanted his friends or more of his work life. I just loved him so much and I crave more content.

Overall this book hit every mark for me and I won’t be forgetting about this book anytime soon. I cannot wait to see whatever else comes from Kaite Holt. I’m dying to have Not In My Book as a hard copy in my hands. (So excited it comes out on my birthday!!)

I absolutely devoured this book. As a fan of The Hating Game, I knew this was a book that I needed to read and I’m so thankful I did.

Tropes:
•Enemies to Lovers
•Grumpy/Sunshine

The Great:
•I loved the spice scenes. They complimented and added to the story. Spice, but with a purpose.
•Each character was fleshed out well, I learned so much about these characters and their motivations through the dialogue and actions. It felt seamless and not forced explanation.
•I enjoyed the side characters in addition to the main two. It can be easy to forget your side characters and their story progression as a book continues, but Katie Holt did a great job here. Their relationships develop between each other as the story goes along and that made it feel more realistic and help me resonate the characters more.

The Not Great But Not Bad:
•I wanted more closure on the situation with Aiden’s father. Seeing growth from him as a character and their relationship. Or no growth at all, but I would want that shown somewhere.
•Ida felt too “manhandled-ly” in their relationship and that feels weird from an advisor standpoint. The beginning was fine, but as the story progressed it felt a little odd. I’m also not sure how old she was, so maybe that could change my perspective on this.

Again, I would one-hundred percent recommend this book for anyone who enjoyed The Hating Game, Emily Henry, or who loves a good enemies to lovers plot line.