I thought this was slow and the FMC was annoying to me. I tried to get into it but it’s a romance that’s nearly 400 pages and I didn’t find the plot to be intriguing enough.

Initially I was super obsessed with this book, enjoying the concept of academic rivals forced to write a book together by a cunning professor. Watching as Rosie and Aiden sorted through their feelings via their manuscript provided additional insight into either Rosie or Aiden's perspectives and, although a bit redundant at times, it was a clever idea. (Sexting via one of manuscript's chapters was definitely something that made me chuckle a little.)

I still can't help but to feel that the chemistry just wasn't their between Aiden and Rosie. Despite how much they argued, it never translated to that fiery passion that I enjoy from an enemies-to-lovers story. It kind of made the sex scenes a little cringey because they just felt oddly wrong in a not at all sexy way because of the lack of chemistry.

At about 75-80%-ish, I started to really struggled to stay engaged with what was going on. The big "betrayal" shouldn't really have come as a huge shock considering that they're both passionate about writing and, despite having different reasons, have similar career goals. Yes, Aiden should have been up front with Rosie about it, but it shouldn't have turned into the huge fight that it did. If this is enough to make y'all break up, maybe you should stay broken up.

Despite thinking that Rosie and Aiden were not a great couple, I do appreciate that they were able to explore some of their deeper issues through working together on their book. I would have preferred a more bittersweet ending where they decide to be single for a bit to focus on personal growth and healing while also taking what they learned from each other to hone each of their respective writing. Maybe the epilogue could have been Rosie finding one of Aiden's books a few years later and being pleasantly surprised by his growth as a writer.

All of that being said, I am definitely looking forward to reading future books by Katie Holt. I definitely think she has potential and that maybe this book just didn't land for me personally.

Rivals to lovers/grumpy x sunshine are two of my favorite tropes. Add in a bookish focus and Taylor Swift references and I’m IN. I loved the first 60% of this one. The banter and on page chemistry was great.

My one complaint is that I so wish we would have just tied it up neatly after they got together instead of the extra spice and then subsequent 3rd act break up. I thought the book was wrapping up, but then checked and still had 2+ hours of listening left. I just didn’t feel like the drag out was worth the pay off in my opinion. It also felt like a bit of a bashing of both MCs who I had liked up until this point. Suddenly they both came across as unreasonable and manipulative/dramatic.

I really enjoyed the presentation of the audiobook, but I did get a little confused on whether they were talking as the book characters or as the characters in the book those characters are writing, but that may have been purposeful since the two works are supposed to be mirrors, but I did find it a little confusing in places. I’d get “excerpt from” and wonder how long I’d been listening to an excerpt.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and the characters, and I know other people have really enjoyed this one, so it’s possible certain aspects just weren’t for me, but it’s still worth the read/listen!

I really enjoyed this one.
Rosie and Aiden are each other's nemesis in their writing class, with both thinking their preferred genre is better (Rosie with romance and Aiden with literary fiction). Their story starts to evolve when they have to work together on a story incorporating both genres.

The tension between Rosie and Aiden was so fun to read. The way they would argue in class was hilarious, I lived for their banter sessions.
This was a classic grumpy/sunshine storyline, but that didn't make it any less enjoyable. I loved that Rosie was able to get under Aiden's hard shell and pull out his softer side. In turn, Aiden challenged Rosie at every turn and made her strive harder to chase her dreams.

I definitely recommend this one if you enjoy banter and a story with heart. And I really enjoyed the way Frankie Vorzo brought this story to life. It truly was a great listening experience.

★★★★⋆ (4.5/5)

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨💌୧⋆ ˚｡⋆ "𝓘'𝓵𝓵 𝔀𝓪𝓲𝓽 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓡𝓸𝓼𝓲𝓮, 𝓘 𝓼𝔀𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝓲𝓽. 𝓘'𝓶 𝓲𝓷 𝓲𝓽 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓱𝓪𝓾𝓵. 𝓘 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓸𝓯 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓽𝓸𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓻𝓸𝔀𝓼, 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓼𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓵𝓮 𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾'𝓻𝓮 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓸 𝓰𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝓶𝓮." ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨💌୧⋆ ˚｡⋆

Thank you to Netgalley, Alcove Press and RBMedia for the advanced listening copy in exchange for an honest review! ♡ ̆̈

Tropes:
❥ Hate to Love
❥ Grumpy x Sunshine
❥ Forced Proximity
❥ Opposites Attract

What I Liked:
❥ The narration. While I have been spoiled by duet narration, Frankie Corzo brought every single character to life all on her own, and I loved it.
❥ The banter. Rosie and Aiden had such natural, easy chemistry as characters. Even when they hated each other, their conversations were so quick, and had no awkward silences/cringe lines.
❥ The inclusion of Rosie's heritage, and how important it is to her. I loved seeing Aiden learn, and love that culture as well.
❥ Aiden and Rosie's mom getting along. <spoiler> The scene on Christmas morning was so heartfelt, and raw. I loved Aiden's interest in Rosie's full name, and how intently he listened to her mom about the inspiration and story behind it. </spoiler>
❥ The build up of tension. The best part of a hate to love romance is seeing that hate burn so bright until it explodes into what it really is. Katie Holt did a phenomenal job at this.

What I Didn't Like:
❥ The spice. While not all of the scenes were "bad," they just didn't hit for me. <spoiler> I think the amount of times Aiden called Rosie baby threw me off a lot. It was constant, and kind of took me out of it. Granted I thought a lot of the dirty talk was a bit...overdone. But hey, to each his own. </spoiler>
❥ The repetition. There were a lot of phrases and such that were used a smidge too much. We get it, Aiden's eyes are green. (This is so nitpicky but I noticed it enough for it to annoy me)
❥ The third act conflict. While the conflict was understandable, it felt a bit heavy handed. There was no shock to it. Maybe this is just my "anti third act breakup" ideals coming through, but this just fell flat. For two people who claim to be good with words, these two really don't know how to talk to each other.

Final Thoughts:
❥ This was an incredible debut. I loved the audio, and had such a good time with the story and characters. Rosie and Aiden were compelling, they were complex and they were just better together. I love how strong Rosie's support system was, and that she kind of took Aiden under her wing with that. The side characters were all wonderful, and I want a book about Logan finding love because I adore him. All in all, I had such a great time with this and can't wait to see what Katie Holt does next!

Is romantic academia a genre? Because it should be. We all love dark academia, so why not cute fluffy academia? This book is literally a “romance within romance book”. This is an enemies to lovers trope and a slow burn love affair. This book is unique and creative, following standard romance formulas between two stubborn, opposite characters and my favorite tropes—enemies to lovers, forced proximity, opposites attract.

Rosie is a Peruvian-American sacrificing everything to pursue her dream of writing, attending a Masters program at NYU. She is optimistic and loves to write romance, recognizing that while it's not always taken seriously, it's a huge part of the publishing market. Aiden is a snooty writer of literary fiction and with his heavy criticism and dismissal of her work, is her arch-nemesis in class. But when they take their rivalry too far, the only way their professor will let them stay in the class is if they agree to write a novel together! It has to be a love story, but the ending does not have to end happily.

Honestly this is a pretty great setup, and the book they write together is really a thinly veiled repetition of their own relationship. It's very much a grumpy-sunshine dynamic, and I think it works. It's funny, cute, and eventually gets quite steamy (at one point they co-write a sex scene while on a phone call...). This book had so many swoony quotes and as a romance reader they really pulled at my heart EVERY SINGLE TIME. Also as a reader that isn’t a big slow burn girly it had the perfect amount of tension that had me hooked. This book is honestly true to its blurb that this book is Beach Read meets The Hating Game.

Quotes:
“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.”

“Rosie, I can’t do this if we’re going to forget about it tomorrow,” he rasped, backing away from my lips the tiniest bit. “I’ve gotten good at pretending I hate you, but I can’t pretend I don’t know how you taste anymore.”

I heard this book described as “The Hating Game meets Beach Read” and that’s a pretty accurate description. It had the banter back and forth between the rivals as well as the “my type of writing is superior to yours” plot line. Of course they must be forced to write a book together that is both literary fiction and romance!! There’s also a bit of romance book inception as we read little excerpts from the book they’re writing.

It was a single POV but what I loved about the way the book was written was that we got to see the MMCs POV through the chapters he was writing for their book. That was how we got to see the lovely little glimpses of how he was actually super into the FMC, which is what I enjoy the most of a dual POV.

I really liked this. It was cute and fun and sad and angsty and hot. I love a nerdy MMC who is great at dirty talk, and that was Aiden. The characters were loveable and had me wanting them to end up together. More importantly than all that, I didn’t fall asleep during the long commute to work while I was listening to this. So it essentially saved me from a fiery crash on the highway. Which is all I really ask of my books, and why this one is getting 5⭐️

Thanks to #netgallery and publisher for a copy of this book.

Genre: Romance (MF)
Format: Audio
POV: Single
Tropes: enemies/rivals to lovers, group project, rich/poor, grumpy/sunshine, only one bed, diverse characters, has a guy not made you cum before, let’s pretend we’re writing a book about other people but really it’s us.
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ /5
Ending: HEA
Age suggestion: 18+

This book is so fun! The main characters have the best banter, the plot is rom-com worthy, and the feud at the center of the book is electrifying.

Grumpy sunshine novel writing. Sign me up!

The FMC, Rosie, was very relatable. I laughed because as a romance author she clings to unrealistic romance even after her terrible relationship with her ex. Aiden was the classic grumpy nemesis with sex appeal and the mean boy crush. The banter was comical, but serious topics such as childhood trauma were also explored to further character development.

The spice was perfect. It was a slow burn, but truly some of the best spice I've read. It was steamy without being over the top which I appreciated.

I received this as an ARC, and I'm so happy I did. I absolutely ate this up, and I cannot wait for Holt's next book!

4.5 ⭐️
Really enjoyed this book! The plot is original, and the author has done a fantastic job at developing the relationship between the MMC & FMC. Rosie and Aiden are too cute together and some of the scenes just make you want to scream!
We have our girlie who is a romance lover and truly believes in love. We then have Aiden who would rather kill off the characters in the book than see them ending up together. The perfection that you get from pairing these two is fun, funny, and just truly enjoyable!
If you like books, then the plot line of writing a book might really appeal to you, it did to me!
I particularly enjoyed the aspect of having academic rivals, who are not fresh-out-of-high-school 18 year olds, but are mature adults in their mid 20s - relatable!!
The sub-story that Aiden and Rosie create throughout the book is a really interesting and unique approach as well, as you get to see and experience their emotions, desires, and drive before they actually acknowledge them.
Overall a really well written story that had me hooked from start to end - this one was an under 24h read.
I listened to this on audiobook and the narration was great!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for sharing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is perfect for the people who love their books with spice! I found my self drawn to the story and very interested to see how things would play out. I was giggling and I really loved the plot of this book! The banter between the characters was amazing and I loved how it felt like getting 2 stories at the same time! ♥️

First of all, thank you so much to NetGalley for the audiobook ARC! This is my first audio ARC so I was excited for that.

In regard to the narration, I enjoyed the narrators voice! My issue is the inconsistent use of a Tennessee accent. Either give the FMC an accent or don’t. I get there were times when the accent “came out”, but beyond that it needs to stay consistent. Also, I enjoyed the “blurbs” from their book, but it was hard to differentiate at first on audio what was the blurb and what was the story. After the first couple times I picked up on the different voice, but it was confusing at first.

Okay now going into the story. This was your classic enemies/rivals to lovers story. Two people can’t stand each other so they’re forced to work together and then they fall for each other.
The book starts with the two main characters being the most immature and horrible people to each other and, honestly, I almost DNFed at the start of this book. I cannot stand when adults act like children and are just petty for the sake of being petty. Also, during their petty squabbling Aiden says some horrible things to Rosie and about her life’s work that is absolutely horrible and unforgivable (in my opinion) and then he barely apologizes and then it’s fine 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️ idk not my favorite.

🚨🚨 LIGHT SPOILERS AFTER HERE 🚨🚨


But then the middle of the book it gets so good and so cute! You see the way they’re falling for eachother and it’s perfect and just….. cute! Perfect rom-com moments. But then, once they get together, the story totally devolves. It turns into super drawn out smut, which is fine. I love smut, but it was just too much? Like not really adding to the story. And then the inevitable third act break up and some more absolutely unforgivable things are said! Like, there’s no coming back from this imo.

Up to this point the book was a solid. 4.5 stars for me. I don’t see how we’re coming back from this….

Yup. I still don’t forgive Aiden.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

This is a 4⭐️ read for me. Two rival writers are forced to write a romance novel together.

I was surprised that this was only a debut novel! A romance novel perfectly written for a romance lover.



✨Slight spoilers ahead✨

Pros:
-I liked the novel writing aspect
-Rivals to lovers
-I enjoyed the Peruvian elements
-Timeline didn’t seem rushed
-Satisfying epilogue

Cons: (I’m nitpicking here)
•Some scenes and wording felt very repetitive (peacoat)
•Rosie wanting to learn Spanish with her roommate but never actually trying to speak Spanish and it wasn’t brought up again
•They didn’t have healthy communication at all throughout the book

I really enjoyed ‘Not in My Book’ I feel like it had all the classic elements of a romcom and acknowledged it well.
As Rosie and Aiden work together to create their class assignment of writing a book, needing teamwork, and growing closer and closer together you can feel their attraction growing, seeing the reasonable progression of their romance.
Honestly one of the best “only one bed” tropes I’ve read, it felt so much more plausible than “the hotel is out of rooms.” It moved the plot along so well.
I absolutely loved the side characters, I felt like they played such an important role in making sure that Rosie had a support system and they were so fun! Every girl needs the friend that wants to kill her ex.
Overall a very fun read, I couldn’t put it down!

I have listened to so many good books this year and this has become one of my favorites. I enjoyed everything about the audiobook and e-book. It is entertaining, funny, has a perfect narrator and is the best use of the enemies to lovers trope. The situation they find themselves in tests the bounds of fiction and reality.

Frankie Corzo’s narrative performance is perfect. I love how she brings the characters to life. Her tone and voice inflections portray Rosie as both passionate about romance writing and her family. In addition, she smoothly changes her tone and inflections to exhibit Rosie’s feminine and vulnerable sides. Then there is her voice narration of Aiden. Not all narrators portray the voice of the opposite sex well but Corzo is great as the male voice of Aiden. She captures his deep and broody nature along with his own vulnerability.

I could not get enough of this audiobook! I have placed it on my favorites list and I know I will listen to it again!!

Not in My Book was absolutely adorable! It was such a swoony and fun read, and I loved how the author also advocated on behalf of the romance book community in addition to telling a great love story!

Rosie has moved to New York to attend a graduate writing program. She hopes to write romance novels one day. Her biggest academic rival is literary fiction writer Aiden. Their verbal sparring in class has become so disruptive that their professor/mentor is requiring them work out their issues by collaborating on a piece for the class.

I loved Rosie’s character so much. She is hopeful and optimistic and deserves all the HEAs. She is not going to let Aiden (or anyone) put down her dreams or diminish the genre that she loves. Rosie strongly connects to her Peruvian heritage and I really liked how that was woven into the plot.

Aiden couldn’t be more different than Rosie. He is a bit reclusive but is an amazing writer. He has been secretly pining for Rosie the whole time and enjoys fighting with her.

When they had to write together, the story they wrote mirrored their own love story. It was done really well and I got emotional when they wrote their characters doing things that they didn’t have the courage to do or say in real life.

I did listen to the audiobook, which was narrated by Frankie Corzo. I think Frankie did a good job since she had to portray four different characters between Rosie, Aiden, and their fictional counterparts Max and Hunter.
4.5/5 stars

This rivals-to-lovers story about two writers immediately drew me in. I loved Rosie’s strong character. She’s making it on her own in New York City after nearly settling for life in small town Tennessee. She’s someone to admire. I love how both Aiden and Rosie are reclaiming their lives by pursuing writing careers. I also loved the excerpts from the book they’re writing strewn throughout the book. They especially helped be a window into Aiden’s thoughts. This entire book was so swoony. It ranks highly in my top romance books. I am shocked that this is a debut! I look forward to more books from Katie Holt.

The VA was perfect for this role and really brought the book to life, the story is super well done as well, I read the book, but listening to it was a game changer.

3.5 rounded up. I really enjoyed the format in which this was written. It was creative to see Rosie & Aiden find their love for each other through the characters (Max & Hunter) and pages in the novel they are writing together. I think the one thing I didn't love was the spicy scenes. I normally don't mind them but for some reason I couldn't get into them for these two. Other than that, I really enjoyed it.

"People say there’s a thin line between love and hate, and you know what? They’re right. "

Premsis:
Aiden and Rosie bicker constantly in their writing class. Aiden makes fun of Rosie for writing Romance and Rosie makes fun of Aiden for writing fiction stories with sad endings. After their fighting got too much in class, their professor required them to write a book together in the genre of the other person's writing; Aiden has to write romance, and Rosie, Fiction. With this they have to start spending more time with each other, in turn, learning more about each other, and slowly they fall for each other.

Review
This book was so cute and I absolutely loved it. Rosie and Aiden's banter from the beginning was hilarious. They fought like little kids but Katie did such a great job writing it that it was annoying or childish like some banter can seem in books; she made it actually funny and not cringy. I loved that in this book, we also are getting the story that Aiden and Rosie are writing in real-time. Even though the book they are writing is supposed to be a story, they are basing a lot of it on their actual relationship. I think this was such an interesting way to write the story and use it as a way to allow the MCs to show their feelings to one another but not actually.

I recommend this to anyone who loves books with the “rivals to lovers” trope, it’s really worth it!

Thank you, NetGalley for providing me with the audiobook arc to review.