𐙚 - Enemies-to-lovers
𐙚 - Forced proximity
𐙚 - Academic rivals

Not in My Book delivers a fresh, swoon-worthy take on enemies-to-lovers, blending humor, angst, and palpable chemistry. Rosie, a passionate romance writer, and Aiden, a grumpy literary fiction author, are forced to collaborate on a novel. Their slow-burn build keeps readers hooked as their fictional romance mirrors their own buried feelings. Filled with witty banter, spicy tension, and a love story that leave your heart racing.

Rating: ✰✰✰✰/5

Thank you for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own. ・❥・

Thank you to Netgalley and RB Media for the early audiobook copy!

Not in My Book follows rival writers Aiden and Rosie who just can't get along and drive their professor crazy. Their professor gives them an ultimatum: write a book together blending their genres or leave the class. The two now have to work together to keep their spots and maybe they just might have more in common than they thought. I was initially enjoying this book as the tagline says it gives Beach Read by Emily Henry vibes. However, this book goes downhill in the latter half making all the bonding at the beginning a bit pointless. I would say the main issue is the male lead, Aiden. We are shown that he is not this perfect person very quickly as we see his family issues becoming more prominent. Through his relationship with Rosie, we see him kind of evolve but then the third act conflict happens and it's like he reverts to his former self. When he finally made up with Rosie, I felt his apology was very shallow and lacked accountability for his actions. In the end, I think this still was a fun book and some moments had me laughing but it needed work when it came to the relationship.

What lies on the line between love and hate? This book sure does. A story full of brightness, self awareness, love, hate, and all the hallmarks of a modern romcom make Not in My Book a perfect book for anyone who went through romantic struggles in their 20’s. This book is gripping and fresh, while also using its familiar tropes and romcom story beats to make it feel familiar and classic. A definite must read, but be warned, there is some spice thrown in! An extra kudos to Frankie Corzo, the wonderful narrator of the audiobook, who truly put in a Herculean effort to bring life to each and every character.

3 ⭐️ I really love reading debuts and this book had all the making of a swoony romance that is right up my alley but it just didn’t work for me. This is the story of Rosalinda (Rosie) and Aiden, two writers in an MFA program at NYU. They hate each other, always finding ways to belittle and bring the other down, that is until they almost get kicked out of their program but in order to stay they need to work together on a book. He’s a lit fic guy, who doesn’t respect romance and of course, she’s a romance writer who also pines to find true love in her life. I loved that Rosie was 1/2 Peruvian and 1/2 Southern belle Tennessee, her family was super cute and I loved the Spanish sprinkled in, wish there was a bit more but I’ll take what I can get.

I really did want to love this but the dialogue gets pretty cringy. It went from 0 to 100 instalove, they constantly wrote their fictional story almost verbatim and it felt really repetitive to the story. They also felt supremely immature. I guess it also boils down to me hating miscommunication tropes. Just talk! Ugh, I get really frustrated and then where I should be feeling all the gooey feels, I just end up rolling my eyes at the predictability. Third act break ups are my second worst trope, that’s all I will say about that… I wish this book went deeper overall. I also wish we got Aiden’s POV, he was angsty with a tragic backstory and could have gone deeper knowing his side of the story.

I listened to this on audio and I don’t think that worked for me either because it didn’t have that male POV. The narrators pacing was good but I think I would have preferred to read this. Rosie came off a little too whiny and immature in the audio, which might not have been as bad reading it.

I will be recommending this book even though it wasn’t for me because I have a lot of romance purests out there that would go bananas for this type of book. It just didn’t hit the right tone for me. I will read another book by this author in hopes she finds her stride.

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the ALC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I have fallen in love with a book once again and no one can stop me.
The premise is about dueling writers in the NYU graduate program. Rosie, the hopeless romantic romance writer, and Aiden, the cynical literary fiction writer, are constantly at each others throats in class until one day their professor had enough. In order to stay in the class they must work together on a book. As they work together and grow closer the book becomes a way for them to communicate with each other.
I loved getting to know each of these characters and their thoughts, fears, and feelings. This book had me literally swooning with how the characters interacted as they grew closer and using the book as a way for them to share their real feelings which was not only genius but worked perfectly into the story itself. Rosie was a character I believe any romance reader could relate to and as you learn more about Aiden his cynicism begins to make more sense becoming relateable in its own way. Their dynamic was funny and sweet while creating a tension that drew you into the story making this book an absolute page turner. They weren’t perfect and didn’t always say the right things but that’s what added to the realness of the characters and situations. I was also pleasantly surprised that there were holiday scenes in it giving me a check mark off for the season reading list! It’s a fun romantic story that I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a good romance.

Thanks NetGalley, Alcove Press, and tve author for the Audiobook-ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

I really enjoyed this fun easy read. It was cute the characters bickered with one another, some of the scenes were really cute.

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ there was some really spicy scenes!! They were very well written.

Overall I’m giving this one 4.5 stars because their main argument was really dumb 😅 but everything else was lovely so I have to be fair and still give it that high rating!

Can’t wait to read the authors next book I believe this was her debut ❤️🔥

Rival students forced to write a book together in opposite genres? Beach Read meets The Hating Game?

Rosie is at NYU, set on getting a creative writing degree and become a bestselling romance author. But she ends up in class with her archnemesis and ex-crush, Aiden - an obnoxious, surly, unreasonably gorgeous literary fiction writer. He likes causing the most pain to his fictional characters and doesn’t believe in happy endings. He doesn’t want to give the time of day to the romance genre or Rosie.

However, they are forced to cowrite a novel that blends their respective genres after their professor threatens to throw them out of her class for their disruptive barbed comments.
Honestly, I can imagine my own lecturer doing this and rubbing their hands together.

I also liked how important Rosie’s Peruvian-America identity was, having neglected it in her past but wanting to connect.

I did find that after the 60% mark the plot was overtaken by spice which slowed the book down and I found myself skipping a lot, eager to get back to their actual lives rather than this honeymoon period.

The third act break up was predictable, but I did like how it was handled (and it had a really good resolution).

<b>I’d always preferred fiction, but now I couldn’t wait for the rest of my new reality.</b>

Audiobook arc gifted by RB Media.

I loved reading this book, and loved it again while listening to it. Thank you for the chance to read. Cannot wait to have this book in my hands!

Are you kidding me, this was a DEBUT?! It was so good! This truly was enemies to lovers at it's best and it made me so happy! I had so much fun reading this book, and it gave me so many giggles (especially when they wrote the spicy scene together). The only thing I didn't like was the third act breakup. I know that's kinda formulaic of these types of romances, but it was just very mean. Other than that, this book was absolute perfection!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book (via audio).

This book was so fun! I absolutely loved the main characters Aiden and Rosie.the banter between the two was amazing. It had some 🥵 scenes that were not over the top but just enough. Loved the creativity the author put into this with the two different writers.

I will definitely be getting a physical copy

Not in My Book is a enemies to lovers book with lots of banter.

Rosie is a romance writer and Aiden is a literary fiction writer and they are in the same writing class in grad school. When their bickering proves too much of a distraction, their teacher forces them to write a book together. As they write a romance between their two characters, they uncover the feelings they have in real life for each other.

I was so excited to read this book. I loved the premise and it seemed so up my alley. And at first it was, I liked Rosie's sunshine demeaner and Aiden seemed misunderstood. Their writing together was interesting to watch and developed their relationship well. In fact I enjoyed the first 75% of this book, but then Aiden massively crossed a line and by the end of the book I felt the relationship was toxic and they should not have ended up together. There's grumpy/sunshine and then there's actively being dismissive of your supposed partners dreams and life ambitions. He claimed he just wasn't romantic, but it felt beyond that for me to a point of cruelty.

Another nitpicky thing, with the audiobook it was super hard to tell what was the book and what was the book within the book, and I didn't like that it was one narrator for a dual POV book.

Tropes
* Enemies to lovers
* Forced to be partners on a project
* Secret crush
* Slow burn
* Academic rivals
* One bed

3.5 stars

Rosie and Aiden are arch enemies. Their bickering in class has finally gone too far and their professor insists they drop her course. They balk and the professor comes up with an alternative- write a book- together. As Rosie and Aiden are forced to spend time together, their walls come down.

The beginning of this is rough. I nearly DNFed it because Rosie is a complete brat. She acts like a child, not someone in her mid/late twenties. Thankfully, it did get better. But I never could get that first quarter of the book out of my head.

Frankie Corzo narrates the audiobook.

I received an advance audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

This had me swooning! I love an academic rivals to lovers and this did not disappoint. I loved the building of the relationship between Aidan and Rosie and I loved how their relationship mirrored their work. It was so very sweet and swoony and spicy. So excited to read more from Katie Holt! Thank you so much to NetGalley for the Audio ARC!

I am blown away by how cute this book was! I adored the enemies to lovers/author storyline, but the banter was top-tier! And then that fun, witty banter turns into the spicy scenes and oh GEEZ was I invested. I nearly died when Rosie typed Aiden instead of Hunter when they were co-writing. Halfway through I went to find out what other books Katie Holt has written and I found out this was her debut and I was shocked. This book is an amazing debut!

I loved the audio and was so excited to get a copy of this ALC from NetGalley!

I enjoyed reading this book and getting to know the characters. It was the perfect balance of romance and humor. It was far too easy to enjoy being in this world and relating to the main character. Rosie and Aiden's back-and-forth banter was perfect throughout the book. I am excited to read more books from Katie Holt in the future. I know they will be a lot of fun but still give me the romantic feelings I love.

Both writers. Both with different styles. When they butt heads the sparks fly! This is a really cute romance. That has you rooting for them to get together!

The audio book was really enjoyable and kept me engaged throughout!

4.5 Stars! This book was incredibly cute while also containing some spicy scenes. It was meta in the sense that it is a romance book about a write writing a romance book. I loved the references to other authors, tropes, etc. Also, loved the scenes that correlate to what is happening to the actual characters of the book through the characters in their book. I loved the representation of a Peruvian family, with some Spanish sprinkled in. I loved the cute Christmas scenes as well! We all know how all romances go, in fact that is referenced in the book itself, but the author did it in such a fun and new way that it did not feel clichéd. Personally, I do not like spicy scenes, and that is my only critique as I had to skip a few parts but I know others love them. Narrator was great as well!

The way I ate this book up!! I stayed up late last night to finish this audiobook, because it is that good! The banter, the hate, the swoony love story they put into their joint writing project that spoke volumes about their truest feelings, the sexual tension made this book the perfect enemies to lovers romcom. Many readers may not enjoy the third act breakup element, but I absolutely love the drama and the chase, and I felt it was a good fit in this plot.

The narration by Frankie Corzo was wonderful. I would definitely recommend getting the audiobook as well!

I'm so grateful to receive the ALC over Netgalley!

Thank you, RB Media, NetGalley, and Katie Holt, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Rose is a hopeless romantic and desperately wants to be a romance author. Aiden is her grumpy classmate who prefers a more general fiction. They are academic rivals, and they definitely can't get along. When a fight in their course gets them in trouble with their professor, they are forced to work together to create a novel.
The summary says it's like the hating game and beach read had a baby, and I completely agree with that. Their is forced proximity, academic rivals, and the banter is actually elite. This book was so cute, and it is true rivals to lovers. You could really feel Aidens' love for Rosie. I definitely highly recommend this book.

OK. So…I’m going all in on this one!

Debut novel? ✔️
Enemies to lovers? ✔️ (Never thought I was a big fan of this genre, but maybe I’m changing??)
Will make you both laugh AND cry? ✔️
Totally different backgrounds and upbringing? ✔️
Want to hate a character, but maybe, just maybe, you’ll have to accept him? Maybe even like him??!! ✔️
College/Post-graduate studies with main characters earning a degree in writing, but with very different genres/writing styles, and opinions ? ✔️

Rosie Maxwell and Aiden Huntington HATE each other. I mean they are arch enemies!! They can’t even be in the SAME classroom when the professor is having the students critique each other! (I mean they can, but someone might get slaughtered!) 😮🫣

It’s hysterical! 😬🤣
It’s also heartbreaking …❤️‍🩹

So, after their umpteenth fight, in front of the whole class, their professor is going to have to expel them! From school! UNLESS, they can prove that they can work together…like adults! 😄😩

This is where the story really TAKES OFF! This is where they both learn to SHINE!! ⭐️

As they go along, writing their story, they actually begin to open up a bit…and this marks a changing point…for them both!

🛑 I’m going to STOP here, so I don’t give anything away…. 🛑

This one had me laughing out loud, and also crying real tears…running right down my face… 😭

Also…. 🛑 **** I’m going to put this as a Trigger/Warning! **** 🛑
They. Are. Writing. Sex. Scenes!!
They. Are. HOT!!!
I. Mean. Smoking…. 🔥🔥🔥
If you’re ok with that, please pick this one up!
And, if this is their debut? Holy crap!!!! 😮😮😮

Thanks so much to #NetGalley, #RBMedia and #RecordedBooks for an ARC of the audiobook!!
***** RELEASE DATE IS IN ONE WEEK….12/10/24!! *****
Look 👀 for it then!!

#NotInMyBook by Debut Author #KatieHolt and narrated beautifully by #FrankieCorzo.

4 1/2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 stars for me, happily rounded up to 5⭐️!!!!

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