Please take this review with a grain of salt because I, unfortunately, didn’t finish this audiobook nor will I plan to finish it.

After two weeks of struggling to listen to one of my most anticipated novels, Not In My Book, I have to admit that I just couldn’t get into this audiobook, so I dnf 30%.

I don’t know if it was the narration or I simply didn’t like the characters - specifically the MMC, but I couldn’t listen to this book. I think I will read it once it is available in Libby, but I had to tap out from the audiobook.

However, just from the 30% I did listen to, I think the Beach Read comparisons are a bit off putting because I found that this book pales in comparison. I found the MMC too harsh for me to root for. I’m aware that the book will take a turn and I’m sure I will root for him the further I listened but I rather read it.

I think it will be harsh of me to rate this a 1 star when I didn’t even finish it - and I do plan to pick it up again just in paperback format - so I will rate this 3 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and RBmedia for providing the audiobook ARC of Not in My Book by Katie Holt, narrated by Frankie Corzo, in exchange for an honest review.

Not in My Book is a debut contemporary romance that delivers a charming and lighthearted story, filled with classic romance tropes, but with a clever twist. The tropes are playfully embraced, especially since the female main character (FMC) is a romance writer and a hopeless romantic at heart.

The story centers around Rosie and Aiden, two rival writers enrolled in a workshop at NYU. Aiden, a vocal critic of romance, is a literary fiction writer, while Rosie, an unapologetic romance author, can’t help but clash with him at every turn. The tension between them escalates until their professor, frustrated with their constant bickering, assigns them to write a literary fiction piece with a romantic element. Cue the enemies-to-lovers trope. The chemistry between Rosie and Aiden is palpable, and I couldn’t wait for the moment when they finally acknowledged their growing feelings for one another.

Frankie Corzo’s narration was excellent, capturing the voices of both Rosie and Aiden with distinct energy and emotion. Her performance really drew me into their evolving romance. While I found some of the more intimate scenes a bit awkward to listen to (perhaps due to the medium), this didn’t detract from the overall enjoyment of the story.

Overall, Not in My Book is an adorable and refreshing romance, featuring a Peruvian American FMC and offering a unique spin on the enemies-to-lovers trope. It’s a fun exploration of romance book clichés, and a perfect pick for fans of the genre.

rosie is a graduate student at NYU, with big dreams of becoming a romance writer. whereas she knows romance is a wonderful genre, though, not everyone seems to agree, especially when it comes to her archenemy and ex-crush, aiden. she thinks there’s nothing worse than having writing workshop with him…until she and aiden are told by their professor that they have to draft a manuscript together, or else they’ll get kicked out of the class. but as rosie works with aiden, she realizes that maybe he’s not so bad, after all…and that maybe her crush never fully went away.

i was shocked to randomly get the netgalley widget for this one day, but after a friend read and loved it, i was convinced to go ahead and download it. i’m so glad i took her advice, because this was so lovely! although i do enjoy romance, it’s more common for them to get four stars from me, so the fact i gave this one five stars says a lot. i just really loved rosie and aiden🥹 they weren’t perfect by any means, but that’s what made them so real. and although i don’t have the same money problems as rosie, her depiction as a poor graduate student really struck a chord with me. she worked so hard to achieve her dreams, and she had family backing her all along the way (though i would’ve loved to see even more of them).

narration: frankie corzo did a phenomenal job bringing this story to life! there was so much emotion in her voice, which helped me connect with the characters even better. i highly recommend the audiobook!

After constantly arguing in class, Rosie and Aiden get paired to write a book together. However, the book turns into their only personal feelings which I loved! The narrator was great and I really enjoyed the storyline! There was definitely some miscommunication and banter towards each other as well! I do recommend checking this one out!

Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced listener copy! I was so excited to be approved.

GENRE
• Standalone
• Adult
• Contemporary romance

SUMMARY
Rosie is a romantic, in her writing and in real-life. Aiden strictly writes literary fiction, bonus points if the main character dies in the end. Both students in NYU’s MFA Creative Writing program, they’ve become fierce rivals. When they take their verbal sparring too far during a workshop, their professor sets them a challenge: to co-author a manuscript with a romantic plotline and a sad ending. As their characters grow closer, so do they—until a writing competition turns them into rivals once again.

REVIEW
This book was a light and easy listen! It’s fun and silly, with good banter and quirky side characters. That being said, I think sometimes drama was prioritized over character consistency. After Rosie and Aiden put in so much work to grow both independently and within their relationship, it was rather disheartening and unconvincing to see them behave so poorly toward each other in the third-act conflict. Still, the ending did a good job of making up for it.
3/5

I LOVED THIS BOOK.

Thank you so much to RBmedia | Recorded Books for the ALC of Not in My Book! These are my honest thoughts!

Okay, I freaking adored this story. Rosie and Aiden are in an MFA program together, and they are RIVALS. Enemies in the most competitive way. They're battling it out, as one does, because they both have a crush and don't know how to communicate that. The premise boasts "The Hating Game meets Beach Reads," and it's SPOT ON IN THAT ASSESSMENT. I loved both those books and was HUGELY EXCITED to read this book. I'm so glad it didn't disappoint.

There are some complex layers to these characters that I appreciated so much. When their bickering becomes too much for their workshop, they have two choices: drop the class, or pair up (and shape up).

Of course, they pair up, so now we've got this forced proximity situation that DAZZLES. They're required to take turns writing chapters and working through their problems prior to coming to class, and in doing so, they're able to take the criticism and shift it into their work in progress. And at the same time, they actually get to know each other.

Things I loved about this story:
- Conversations within their book in their Google doc
- Using their characters to open up
- Forced fake dates for "writing purposes"
- The Christmas vibes in NYC
- Learning to share (like, literally sharing a table, sharing kind words, sharing their history, sharing the burden of work)
- Opening up after loss
- The way this book feels like a love letter to romance in books
- The way this book feels like a love letter to romance in movies
- The way this book feels like a love letter to romance in real life
- THE ENDING *chefs kiss*
- The family dynamics
- The friend group (Rosie) vs the loner (Aiden)
- The rich history of Rosie's upbringing, and how that shapes her story
- The audio, with the excerpts from the untitled work of Rosie and Aiden, the various family members, friends, classmates, mentors - it was all really well done

Honestly, this gets 5 stars just for the feelies, but also the vibes, the execution, the story, the writing, and the performance... it's all 5 stars. Out next week (Dec 10th), so definitely check it out!

I was not expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. While it is your "standard romance novel" there was also something really fresh about it. I absolutely loved getting a glimpse into the actual book that Rosie and Aiden were writing together. If you are a fan of cute, sweet romcoms with a touch of spice, this will be one you should read!

This was a great book. Turned out so much better than I was expecting. You got the grump and you got the "sunshine". They are supposed to co-write a book, one loves romance, the other pretty much hates it. I loved how they had to work together and their banter.
The book was well written and held my interest. It was a bonus that Rosie was from Tennessee and that Johnson City was mentioned , since I live 90 minutes from there in South west VA.
In all this was a cute feel good book. :)

The audiobook was well made and I enjoyed the narrator.

Good narration showing character emotions.

The story starts out slow but with lots of banter/bickering. It’s truly predictable but so sweet and enjoyable. A little spice towards the end.

I 'read' Not In My Book in audio format. The narration was well done, and the transition between characters/chapters/scenes was smooth and easy to follow. The writing was well done to be read as an audiobook.

The storyline is fun and romantic. The characters are likable. And for those who like spice in their reads, this one has it.

Sweet. Fun. Expected.
Full of all the best romance tropes. It was exactly what I expected to read. The audiobook was sweet to listen to. I would read this again and definitely recommend this to other romance fans.

Thank you NetGalley and RBMedia for the audiobook eARC in exchange for an honest review!!

GOLLY I FREAKING LOVED THIS SO MUCH. The relationship dynamic between Aiden and Rosie, the plot, the protectiveness of Aiden, their character development, and just how freaking cutie this book was absolutely killed me!!! I loved this so much and am absolutely obsessed.

Cute romance of enemies to lovers, some spicy scenes that I didn't expect when I got into this book lol but I enjoyed it a fair bit. I haven't read a romance since getting back into YA books so this was pretty good, other than the story feeling a little cringey and slightly childish at times, but that could just be my taste in books. The relationships and friendships were well-constructed, especially through some character building; I liked the support, warmth, excitement and compassion in each of them. I went through a fair few emotions with this book and it was fun to follow along with. 3/5 stars.

Yes. Absolutely yes.

NYU grad students Rosie and Aiden can’t stand each other—or so it seems. As aspiring authors in the same class, their constant arguments disrupt the flow of discussion. Aiden despises romance and makes sure everyone knows it. Frustrated, their professor pairs them up for a project, forcing them to collaborate. What starts as a clash of egos soon transforms into something unexpected: creative magic.

I absolutely loved this book. Aiden’s determination to defy typical writing tropes hilariously backfires as he finds himself living out every single one in real life.

Enemies to lovers? ✅
Grumpy vs sunshine? ✅
One bed? ✅
Miscommunication? ✅
Dramatic third act? ✅✅✅

Read it and then read it again!
🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

Thanks to NetGalley for this delight of an ARC!

Oh this was fun to read. I enjoyed the book and the story line, though while enjoying, I still had time to find certain things annoying.
I loved the Peruvian background of Rosie.
I was annoyed by the constant bickering of both Rosie and Aidan. Their enemies to lovers trope did not feel realistic, as their enemies stage was very superficial and forced. It was more like a childish tantrum of pre-teens, who like each other and select to pull their braids instead of communicating.
The dialog between the main characters was lacking depth or any meaning at most of the times (if always).
The fake relationship was totally unnecessary and out of place.
The daddy issues of Aiden were very lightly touched and not explained well.
Every word of this book was about telling and no showing.
If you are looking for something very quick and very light you may dive in.

**| received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher RBmedia. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**

This story is supposed to be two adults in their late twenty to early thirties. However, it starts off reading slightly high school with their banter. It is an enemies to lovers and at first I wasn’t into it. As the story picked up I really started to enjoy the relationship between two main people.

I figured out what the problem/ third act was going to be after half way through. I didn’t understand completely how things played out. I also felt like the FMC was unlikable and rash through out the book as well. It was hard to feel sympathy for her character as I felt she created a lot of the issues herself.

There were definitely moments I enjoyed overall but the conflict and how the fmc handled things took away from the book me.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending me an audio-arc in exchange for an honest review through NetGalley.

Okay. There was a lot here that I loved. Rosie and Aiden are both in a writing workshop, and they can't help but tear each other's writing apart. The rivalry between these two is insane. But when they go overboard, it's either get kicked out of that class... or write a novel together. And, as you can assume, things get wild from there. We have some of my favorite tropes in this which I loved: rivals to lovers, fake dating, one bed. Literally, this was an amazing blend and what we get is perfection.

Rosie has moments when she gets a little too crazy, and I kind of want to smack her at one point. But Aiden was absolutely perfect. There were times where her character development felt off, or rather she took one step forward two steps back, but eventually she got to where she needs to be. I feel like his character arc was definitely better/more defined and well done. There was one scene where they're writing and it gets really hot, and I do mean like HOT hot . I won't say much as not to spoil anything, but let's just say I sat here with my eyebrows raised like WHATTT!!!!!

Overall, I enjoyed the audio narration, the plot, the characters... this book as a whole.

Actual Rating: 4.5⭐️

I truly adored this book I was smiling during scenes and laughing out loud. Rival academics who have to co-write a book she's a romance novelist he's a “sad boy” lit fic writer. The chemistry and the banter work so well and it's spicy in the right way. Thank you, NetGalley and the Publisher for an audio-arc of this book for an honest review.

Another FABULOUS debut romance from a Peruvian-Tennessean author that I will now be automatically reading going forward!! I could not get enough of this enemies to lovers story between romance loving Rosie and lit fic writer Aiden who are in the same MFA program and find themselves forced to co-write a book together or drop the class they both want to be in.

Set in New York City, this book takes place over the holidays, has SIZZLING tension and chemistry between the main characters and an awkward grumpy hero with a secret cinnamon roll heart. Rosie and Aiden reluctantly find themselves becoming friends the longer they work together on the book and readers will NOT want to miss the part where they take turns writing a love scene.

SPICY, full of emotional depth and PERFECT for fans of authors like Emily Henry and Ali Hazelwood. Narrated by Frankie Corzo, the audiobook was also a great listening experience and honestly I just having nothing bad to say about this book. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio and digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Unfortunately, this book didn’t quite work for me. While I usually enjoy a good enemies-to-lovers romance, I found the characters in “Not In My Book” unlikable and a bit childish, which made it hard to connect with them. Additionally, the basis of their animosity didn’t feel convincing, which weakened the central dynamic for me.

I also didn’t love the novel-within-the-novel structure, as the excerpts interspersed between chapters felt like a distraction rather than an enhancement to the story.

As for the narration, I found it to be just fine.

That said, I can still see “Not In My Book” appealing to readers who are looking for a lighthearted enemies-to-lovers romcom. I’ll happily recommend it to patrons who enjoy that trope—it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Thank you to Katie Holt, NetGalley, and RBMedia for sending me the ALC in exchange for an honest review.