This is a cute, enjoyable and easy read.

The tension and anger between Rosie & Aiden comes off way too strong in the beginning. That quickly changes throughout the story and they end up being the cutest and kindest couple.
I loved how they’re expressing their feelings while working together, but reading the book in the book, kind of awkward.
The arguing at the end of the book was unnecessary in my opinion.

I read to 45% and just could not finish this one. So vet slow, and I just didn’t feel any progress from page one. Fell very flat for me.

Thank you to the author, publisher and @NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Holy hell, this was so fantastic! I absolutely loved the premise and how talented is Katie Holt that she wrote a romance book INSIDE writing a romance book?!

The TENSION 🥵
This was a slow burn but sooooo worth the wait IMO.

It was fantastic and I can’t wait for y’all to pick this one up! A perfect read for lovers of love and all things romance genre related.

ahhh romance is back guys!! this gave me the same feelings as when i first get back to reading in 2021 with romance books <3 the classic enemies to lovers, forced proximity, one bed, he falls first, secret crush, pining, yearning, fmc defending mmc against his family (very specific micro trope that i adore) was all blend so well together!!🥹

now i won’t like, it wasn’t perfect but i know it’s a debut and she did a great job!! my slight problems were that i found main characters too immature in the beginning. the way they bickered with each other in front of the class was embarrassing tbh😭 and then the fact that they included their kiss and some other personal moments in the book they wrote together and read it in front of the class had me side eyeing🌝 plus the third act😾 but overall i found it super cuuuuute💗

rosie was carrying her heart on her sleeve and aiden was just a shy and grumpy little potato🤭 even though it was a single pov it was easy to see aiden’s love and yearning for rosie from the chapters he wrote in their book🥹 pookie was so down bad for rosie it had me giggling and twirling my hair🤭

definitely recommend this for romance lovers<33

“No matter how bad life got in the romance novels, there would be a Happily Ever After that proved nothing was unfixable.”

Rosie and Aiden are in the same writing class, but all they do is insult each other’s work.
So the teacher gives them two options, leave the class or write a book together. The issue is that Rosie loves to write romance books with HEA and Aiden writes sad literary fiction. They agree to write a romance with a sad ending.

Even if we only have Rosie’s POV, we get some things from Aiden’s part through the chapters that he writes. They comunicate through the book what they are afraid to say in real life.

It is interesting to see how a book could be co-written. In this case they were a bit too much inspired by real life and some chapters included the exact scene that happened before, only changing the names.

I love that her family is supportive of her writing and proud of her but I would have liked to know more about Aiden.

What I did not like is the break up part. Aiden did not need to lie and Rosie should not have left New York.

I liked the writing and have many paragraphs highlighted. These are my favorites:

“what makes romance novels so good is the fact that they’re a complex dive into human emotion. There’s so much more to a romance than just love.”

“The only thing every love story really has in common is that it’s worth it. Love is always worth fighting for. I mean, that’s why there’s all the songs and poems and movies about it. It has to be something spectacular if everyone’s chasing it.”

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Um i'm so obsessed with this book I don't even know where to start- this book is Beach Read meets New York City. When Rosie, a romance writer meets her rival Aiden-a literary fiction writer in a writing class at NYU. They instantly become enemies. they constantly fight and bicker and it isn't until they are forced to pair up and write together, that they start to learn about each other through the book. All the hatred was actually love. it takes you through their first friendship and then their love story. filled with all the emotions there has to be heartbreak and betrayal- can they overcome it or are they destined to be alone? truly such a good read that had me laughing and crying my eyes out. i've never wanted to characters to be together more than Rosie and Aiden.

Not in My Book is a strong debut novel by Katie Holt. I enjoyed her writing style, that it was fast paced, and so romance positive. I’m always an enemies to lovers fan and it gave me ‘The Hating Game’ vibes in the best way. There were moments I loved both Rosie and Aiden, and there were moments they frustrated me. I thought for sure it would be a strong 4 star book for me, but honestly I didn’t love the conflict in the end. It was predictable and didn’t make sense to me. The actual ending of the book was good, though. I’m looking forward to reading more from this author in the future because I think she has loads of potential!

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

It has been awhile since I've read a rom-com this fast and cheers to this enemy/rival to lover trope!

I liked the idea of the excerpt from the books that they both wrote although at first I was confused with the excerpt as not knowing why.

Loved the banter between Rosie and Aiden, also just wishing there would be Aiden's POV too.

I just like this book so much I don't know how to write reviews anymore BUT YES RECOMMENDED

Thank you NetGalley & publisher for this eARC.

Pretty good actually!! I like it very much. I would like to read from this author in the future soemtimes

4/5 ⭐️
2/5 🌶️
Release date December 10, 2024
YALL! This book had me giggling and kicking my feet in the air 😍 a true rivals to lovers with the best banter, it was amazing!!! Two grad students/writers are forced to work together on thei final project after causing too many disruptions during ther workshops. Aiden writes literary fiction and thinks romance books are silly. Rosie is a romance writer and believes in HEAs… what could possibly go wrong??
This book takes place in NYC during the holidays which was just another reason for me to fall in love with this book. 🥰

I devoured this! I ignored responsibilities, I ignored life, I just needed to know what happened next!!!

I loved every part of this, enemies to lovers, authors and competitions, found family, somewhat anonymous letters to each other. Oh the banter! Oh the love! Oh my broken book boyfriend who loves so hard!

I could not put this down and truly loved it.

<b>3.75 stars ❤︎</b>
⤷ one of the cutest books i’ve read in a long time <33

<b><i>🫶🏼 “I’d always preferred fiction, but now I couldn’t wait for the rest of my reality” 🫶🏼</i></b>

this bookkk. the best thing about arcs is that I <b>always go in with the lowest expectations</b> ever because they have disappointed me many, many times. but this.. this is the true exception. 💗 this book was SO GOOD. <u>the banter was everything</u>, the way they were living the romance novel they were co-writing?? and lowkey communicated their feelings to eachother through it? so unique and perfect. 💌

<u><b>📖 plot 📖</b></u>

<b>aiden and rosie are both authors.</b> attending the same workshop. they get paired up to write a book together as one of their projects. doesn’t sound too bad righttt? wrong. <b>they absolutely despise each other, bicker 24/7, and have very different writing styles. </b>😃🔫 rosie is a swiftie, a romantic, and believes every story should have a HEA (so basically me!) whereas aiden enjoys literary fiction, hates romance, and always enjoys killing off his main characters or making them have very tragic storylines (literally wtf is wrong with this man idk😭😭)

so when they are forced to work together <u>it’s kind of a disaster</u>. they don’t even enjoy being in the same room together so how is this gonna actually work?💀 they end up naming the characters as their last names (huntington = hunter & maxwell = maxine) <b>and basically their novel ends up being a story of how the writers fall in love. </b>🥹they describe their feelings for eachother as part of their story and use their real-life interactions for the plot of their book. isn’t that so cool?!!? and they fall in love but no one is shocked there. 🤭🫶🏼

<b><u>🧸 general thoughts 🧸</u></b>

I <u>usually dislike the tropes</u> that were in this book (workplace, enemies-to-lovers) but this book had me hooked! 😋I loved their bickering, it was lowkey so funny. <b>for fans of elena armas, I think you’ll love this. </b>it’s a similar type of enemies-to-lovers as spanish love deception, where they don’t reallyyy hate eachother. but I think it was better executed here personally. 🎀

I think the <b>third act breakup was unnecessary and stupid</b> and basically the last 50 pages of the book could’ve been cut out bc there was <u>no reason for them to break up</u> ❤️‍🩹 but that’s pretty much the only complaint I had, other than that it was very sweet and fun. highly recommend!!

<b>thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me an arc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!</b>

Thank you NetGalley and Alcove Press for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a cute read! I will admit it took me a bit to get into since the conflict between the MCs is very similar to some other books I have read but it grew on me. There were some very cute moments and spicy moments but if you are not a fan of third act breakups, maybe skip this one.

I really enjoyed the New York atmosphere and the way the characters communicated through the writing. Sometimes their miscommunication bugged me but not enough to stop reading.

So cute! I loved this one! The characters were great and I really enjoyed reading the story. I was giggling and feeling what the characters felt. Definitely a good read!

Normally I love a little cringe in a romance book but this book was almost painful to read. It was so awkward to read about the in class interactions and then the way their lives were weaved into their story. Picturing them reading their passages to the class & their professor made me feel the worst kind of ick. I just could never get behind the romance or the situation.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.

The first half of this enemies to lovers was cute, and fun and I was absolutely loving it! Sadly the second half is where I felt a bit of a disconnect with the story. I felt at times the overall plot was lacking and the second half break up felt unnecessary and honestly left me feeling upset/angry. There was some good spice in this book, but the characters felt young and immature which led to the spice feeling odd and slightly out of place. This was not a bad book, but it was not exactly what I was hoping for either.

I really enjoyed this romance novel. Although I think the first half was the strongest.

"Not in my book" is about two characters who apparently hate each other. They are in the same creative writing program and are constantly fighting with each other. This results to them being forced to write a romance novel together, although our MMC looks down on romance novels.
I really loved how the author blended here romance novel and the characters comments about their romance novel. This meta level was really well thought-through. Many times I caught myself chuckling because the characters would comment on something in their romance novel that was obviously also going on in their lives.

The "enemies to lovers" element works really well in this novel and I really enjoyed the banter between our characters a lot.
For all the "spice"-lovers: There are three spicy scenes in this book. While I really enjoyed the first one, (I didn't know it would be so hot to read about two people co-writing a spicy scene while being in the "we hate each other" moment, but damn...) I found the other two to be a little cringy.

All in all this was a great romance and I will definitely check out more books by this author.

I was really enjoying this at first but Aiden was so mean at first and I get it I don't mind these type of mmcs but the way he went to being a prick again when the third act conflict happened at the end it just felt weird and unnatural like he is not the same person who cared for her also Rosie's take on romance felt a bit annoying and the way she thought but overall this wasn't bad at all it was an enjoyable rivals to lovers but I wouldn't really call this similar to beach read in any way this wasn't even close to my January and Gus.

Book Review: Not in My Book by Katie Holt

Katie Holt’s Not in My Book is an irresistible enemies-to-lovers romance that captures the spirit of classic romantic comedies while injecting fresh energy into the genre. With sparkling dialogue, electric chemistry, and just the right amount of literary tension, this debut novel is an absolute delight from start to finish.

The story centers around Rosie, a Peruvian-American romance novelist with big dreams of making it in New York, and Aiden, a brooding literary fiction writer who scoffs at the idea of happy endings. When they are forced to co-write a novel that merges their contrasting genres—romance and literary fiction—the result is equal parts hilarious and heartwarming.

What sets Not in My Book apart is the depth of the characters and the genuine emotional journey they embark on. Rosie is a vibrant, optimistic dreamer who wears her heart on her sleeve, and Aiden is her perfect foil, cynical and emotionally guarded. Their personalities clash spectacularly, creating witty, tension-filled banter that often sparks both humor and sexual chemistry. Holt does an excellent job of developing their relationship, with the progression from enemies to reluctant partners to something more feeling organic and well-paced. Their banter is sharp, often laugh-out-loud funny, but it’s the moments of vulnerability between them that truly resonate.

The novel deftly plays with romance tropes, particularly the enemies-to-lovers dynamic, but it also offers thoughtful commentary on the tension between literary fiction and genre fiction. Aiden's disdain for romance novels represents a broader critique of how literary circles often look down on "lighter" genres, but Rosie passionately defends the value of happy endings and love stories, creating a fascinating meta-discussion about the worth of different types of storytelling.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of the book is how the characters' personalities bleed into the novel they’re co-writing. As Rosie and Aiden work through their differences on the page, the lines between their fictional romance and their real-life relationship begin to blur, adding layers of tension and introspection to their budding romance. The novel-within-the-novel concept is cleverly executed, and the "accidentally steamy" scenes they end up writing together are both humorous and filled with sizzling chemistry.

Set against the vibrant backdrop of New York City and the world of aspiring writers, Not in My Book captures the highs and lows of creative ambition while also exploring cultural identity. Rosie’s Peruvian-American background adds richness to her character, making her journey in the predominantly white literary world a poignant subplot. Holt touches on the challenges of balancing heritage with career ambitions, adding depth to the novel’s romantic core.

In true rom-com fashion, there are plenty of moments where readers will find themselves rooting for Rosie and Aiden despite their frequent clashes. When the stakes rise—thanks to a writing competition that pits them against each other—their personal and professional lives collide in a way that tests the limits of their newfound connection. The question of whether they’ll find their way to a happily-ever-after feels genuinely suspenseful, despite the romance genre’s usual predictability.

Overall, Katie Holt’s debut is a delightful read that will appeal to fans of The Hating Game and Beach Read. With its blend of laugh-out-loud humor, sizzling romance, and thoughtful commentary on love, identity, and the nature of storytelling, Not in My Book is a novel that lingers long after the final page. It’s a love letter to both romance novels and literary fiction, celebrating the magic of stories—and the people who write them.

Verdict: 5/5 A charming and sexy debut filled with sharp wit, sizzling chemistry, and an irresistible enemies-to-lovers dynamic. Katie Holt has crafted a standout romance that’s sure to win readers' hearts.

A sweet and spicy enemies to lovers book! Loved the writing aspect within the book. The steamy scenes worked so well! Getting hotand bothered while writing together? Sign me up!