Aiden’s and Rosie’s emotional depth and growth are what make this story so warm and authentic. Watching Aiden transform from a reluctant collaborator to Rosie’s comfort person was beautifully done, and their slow-burn chemistry felt completely natural. I especially loved the writing-a-novel-together premise—it added a unique layer to their relationship, especially during that spicy scene when Rosie accidentally wrote Aiden’s name. While the plot had predictable elements, it was as enjoyable as watching a good Hallmark movie: cozy, sweet, and deeply satisfying. Their witty banter had me giggling and kicking my feet, and the tension between them was so palpable it kept me turning the pages. Although the book skims over some of Rosie’s deeper struggles with identity as a romance writer, it touches lightly on her cultural background, adding a personal touch. Fans of romance and heartwarming stories will adore this one—perfect for curling up under a blanket on a chilly day!

I worship the altar that Katie Holt writes on. I ate this shit up. It felt so much like the early TikTok romances that I loved reading (ex. The Hating Game) and it made me feel so nostalgic. Not in My Book is the perfect winter-time romance since the majority of the plot takes place during a NYC winter. So atmospheric and lovely. Perfect for fans of The Hating Game by Sally Thorne, Perfect Fit by Clare Gilmore, or Daydream by Hannah Grace.

The relationship between Aiden and Rosie developed so nicely. I started the book unsure of how Katie would ever make me believe the two of them were in love because they were constantly bickering like children. I was ready to smack them upside the head and tell them to get over themselves. I should have had trust in an author so well versed in the romance genre, because Katie served up a romance so rooted in classic tropes. I could feel the love and yearning jumping off the page.

The character development that both Rosie and Aiden experience throughout the course of the book is some of the best that I’ve read. They both learn important lessons and come out stronger characters for it.

It did take me a bit to become fully invested just because of how juvenile a lot of Aiden and Rosie's fights were. The first 20% was rough because I was so annoyed by the bickering. But hey, that's why I'm not the author, because Katie ended up pulling it off brilliantly.

I did listen to the audiobook and I have THOUGHTS! Rosie is from a small town in East Tennessee (coincidentally, the same small town I am from). This presented two issues for me. 1.) The fact that I thought that Rosie's southern accent was too much. It leaned really far into some stereotypes that I don't love, and the narrator of the audiobook overdid it, in my opinion. 2.) Rosie mentions a coffee shop in her hometown that doesn't actually exist there. It may be creative license, but it just bugged me a little.

Overall, I did have the best time with this book and can't wait to see Katie grow as a writer with her next book!

I thoroughly enjoyed the banter between the main characters. Side characters helped the story move forward. My only issue was how obvious the last third break up was in the story. Still cute and worth a read. Narrator was fabulous.

I received an arc from netgalley and the publisher.

Bitterness and hate sometimes feel like a thin line between love and passion. This love story shows that they can genuinely connect when the characters learn to move past their differences. However, if they don’t work on their communication, things can start to unravel—turning a once-loving relationship into something toxic. It's a reminder of how vital good communication is in keeping love alive!

I love that you have a story within a story! For the author to be crafting two pieces that have to work intandem really had me excited for this book.

The plot and story as a whole was executed perfectly and I couldn’t get enough of Rosie and Aiden! This story was so good and I love how things came together for these two and all the amazing secondary characters. It was a very fun and enjoyable read. Aiden and Rosie had so much to overcome, but they did it together. Of course tons of arguing and angst galore but that just added to the book’s charm.

I liked the book-within-a-book angle of this story. I found myself enjoying the book within more than the actual book, but I ended up loving the ending.

What a beautiful debut! I loved Rosie and Aiden. Katie Holt will go on my must buy list moving forward!

Rosie moved to New York to follow her dream of being a romance writer. She quickly made an enemy in Aiden Huntington, a writer of literary fiction in one of her NYU classes. When Rosie and Aiden are forced to write together, Rosie doesn't know how she's going to make it work. Things quickly turn romantic when these two realize there really is a fine line between love and hate.

The perfect enemies-to-lovers! This trope is usually hit or miss for me because you really have to build the chemistry to make it believable. How can someone go from hating them to loving them so quickly? I believed that Aiden and Rosie truly just didn't give each other a chance at first. Holt made me really believe that these two had potential.

Thanks to Alcove Press and NetGalley for the eARC!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC opportunity!

I really enjoyed this. I thought the characters had great chemistry and the slow burn build up of them getting to know each other was great.

I did think the jump between real life and their story project got confusing sometimes. It would jump to the story and i wouldnt notice until partially. That made some details confusing.

Also Rosie was so stretched for cash but refused to work weekends because of mean people? Girl come on. You must not be hurting bad enough if difficult customers will stop you from getting more money to fly home.

Also the spicy writing scene was chefs kiss. It was so tension building and they never even touched. So so good!

I was not expecting this book! It was such a great surprise.
This is a:
- enemies to friends to enemies to friends (again) to fake-date to love
- forced proximity: they have to work on a project together and they were making the project about each other, they were writing a romance novel and they were making the story as it's their own.
- insanely attracted to each other
- one bed
- small gestures
- quiet love
Their banter is very funny.
The push and pull, the slow burn, it's so well done.
There are excepters from the book that they are writing at the end of each chapter - it's adorable.
This book has one of the hottest spicy scenes i think i've read! Not because of the spice itself but because of the way it's built, they are writers and they have all this sexual tension between then and they are together writing a sex scene off their characters that are very very based on them - the level of sexual tension and slow burn, but at the same time not slow burn it's through the roof.

Quotes:
"Love is worth fighting for"
"he was better in person then all characters"
"just us"
"i never have to do anything but with you i want to"

Overall, this is a pretty good read, it took me a while to get into. I was starting to get interested around the 20%/30%.

The aspects I really loved were the setting/structure revolving around the romance. Unlike other stereotypical or cookie cutter romances, this particular romance is centered around two aspiring writers in college where they have to team up for a project, even when they hate each other.

I really enjoyed their dynamic of the main characters, I enjoyed their chemistry, and their slow burn romance. I really enjoyed the fact that they both had to work together and they grew into their romance through their project. It felt like they were writing love letters to each other through their projects. I enjoy how flawed each main character was and how difficult it is for them to love each other and their fears. I really understand how real and raw the author wanted these characters to be and feel like. Not only to us but also to each other.

At the end of the day, I really enjoyed this book but I feel like the whole book was written in the slow burn type of pacing which was great because their was still progress with each page but I felt like the ending was rushed. Perhaps the falling action/resolution at the end felt really rushed so I wish the last few chapters were a bit more slow paced and adding more internal monologue.

Overall, it was really good! I highly recommend with you love a slow burn romance in an academic setting & forced to work together by writing a piece together.

I absolutely adored this story! It had all the best tropes - enemies to lovers, forced proximity, opposites attract— with perfect representation of Southern charm and Peruvian culture. The slow-burn romance between Rosie and Aiden was everything I wanted, with perfect banter and emotional depth.
The humor, friendships, and family relationships were also huge highlights. Rosie's friends—Jess, Tyler, and Logan—were some of the funniest, most supportive side characters, and their group chat was a total riot. I loved how they would instantly invest in Rosie’s love life. And don’t even get me started on Rosie's family. I loved how the author represented a Latin mom to the T.
Then there’s the story Rosie and Aiden write together. I won’t spoil too much but trust me—it was easily my favorite part of the book. It wasn’t just a clever plot device—it deepened their connection in such a unique way. The emotional growth, the vulnerability, the steamy moments—chef’s kiss. There were plenty of moments when they would write through their character that had me screaming, “Oh my god, just talk to each other!” But that’s what I ended up loving most about Rosie and Aiden’s dynamic. They communicated the way they felt safe doing, guarding their hearts from getting burned, even if it meant avoiding the hard truths. Their relationship felt so real—messy, awkward, and full of growth.
On the audio side, I really enjoyed the narrator. The Spanish was perfect, and the southern accent was on point. As someone from the south myself, I felt like Frankie Corzo really captured that southern twang during pivotal moments for the FMC.
Katie Holt did an amazing job writing the Latin representation into her love story. It really made Rosie’s story feel authentic and rich. The way she wrote Aiden-the groveling and heart he would put in his own writing and confession was just the right amount for a romance hero.
Overall, this book was everything I expected—relatable, funny, heartfelt, and completely captivating. If you’re a fan of slow-burn romance, great banter, and Multicultural representation this one’s for you. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Alcove Press for sharing this ARC audiobook with me in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you Netgalley and Alcove Press for the e-ARC of this book, I absolutely loved it!

Aiden and Rosie are rival classmates in MFA Creative Writing Program. They are forced to write together, blending his literary fiction (sad, realistic endings) and her romance (happy ever after). They banter in real life and in their writing, but really they just love each other. The dialogue is fantastic, and I loved the pacing of the relationships. Overall, this book was fantastic!

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.

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!