Holt’s writing was almost too convincing; the hatred Aiden and Rosie had for each other was so strong it made the romance seem unbelievable… The redeeming part was how they wrote the love story together and in doing so got to see a totally different perspective of each other.

Enjoyed the banter and drama, the supporting characters were also adorable. Would recommend as a quick read and quite steamy!
Thank you NetGalley, Alcove and Katie Holt for the ARC

4⭐️

guys! i loved this book oh so much! i absolutely love enemies/rivals to lovers, and this did it perfectly!

this debut novel by katie holt has:
📖 academic rivals!
📖 grumpy x sunshine!!!!!
📖 he falls first and HARDDDD!!!!!

rosie and aiden are academic rivals, and in order to stay in one of their classes, they have to work together and co-write a novel that blends their genres! rosie is a romance writer, and aiden writes literary fiction!!!

i absolutely devoured this book!!!!!! thank you so much to katie holt, netgalley, and alcove press for the arc copy of not in my book!

Loved the excruciatingly slow burn of the rivals to lovers trope. The characters were actually relatable and likable, it was easy to root for them to be end game. It didn’t change my life, but was thoroughly enjoyable!

Not in My Book by Katie Holt 📝

“I want to be the person you picture when you’re reading and dreaming because you’re who I picture every single time.”

I’m sorry but reading a romance book about two people who are writing a romance book with characters that mirror them!? It was done so well. I loved it.

Rivals to lovers and banter are two things I can always get behind. I was hooked on the story from the very start and felt all the feelings.

It was fast paced, easy to read, and had high moments and low moments that had me wanting to know more.

A brilliant debut novel and I will definitely look out for more by this author in the future.

This is going to be all the rage for contemporary romance this fall! The two main characters are academic rivals with two different styles of writing. And when they get paired together, well… let’s just say they bump heads a lot before they do anything else. This is a cute read for sure! Definitely recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for the eARC.

OOOH the tension! Great enemies to lovers read about writers!

Thank you NetGalley and Alcove Press for the opportunity to read this eARC

This was a cute read, I enjoyed the whole book within a book concept, really original. Some common tropes here, enemies to lovers etc. nothing groundbreaking but a cool read all the same. Not a fan of the third act breakup (although I know it adds a level of tension to the read) and some of the spicy scenes were a little cringey. But it was a really cute romance and I do recommend it it to romance readers. Thanks netgalley and the publisher for the read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Didn’t love this one. While the premise and overall plot points had cute elements, the fmc was pretty juvenile and annoying. I didn’t get much growth from her and it disappointed me.

Not in My Book was an okay read! The whole book within a book plot was interesting. I actually found myself more interested in the fake book than the actual one. I thought the fake book's dialogue was stronger. I liked the scenes where the main characters were writing their fake book. I especially liked the first writing together scene after their dinner date. It was cute! The story starts off with Rosie and Aiden as enemies. I personally thought the "hating" each other bit was too harsh and intense. I had a hard time believing Rosie's reasons for "hating" Aiden. As a graduate student in a writing program, Rosie handled Aiden's critiques immaturely. Luckily, the hating each other act got better towards 18% of the book. Once Rosie and Aiden let their guards down, their relationship was fun to read. I liked how the author developed their relationship. Rosie and Aiden had some cute scenes together. I particularly enjoyed the cookie making scene. The classmate side characters were fine. It seemed like their only purpose was to help Rosie with Aiden. Every conversation with them always revolved around Rosie and Aiden...which got old over time. I did find their group chats funny! I wasn't a big fan of how the third-act breakup played out. I didn't like the whole twist or how Rosie handled it. I thought she handled everything childishly. The ending knocked this book down a peg for me. Despite the ending, I had a decent time reading this. Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ARC.

When I saw this had a mix of a beach read and academic rivals, I knew I had to pick it up immediately. While I really enjoyed it, it wasn’t quite JanuaryGus for me. Rosie and Aiden are academic rivals in a writing workshop, forced to collaborate on a manuscript that blends their genres—romance and literary fiction. I loved how real their rivalry felt, with both constantly critiquing each other’s work. The excerpts from their manuscript, mostly in the MMC's POV, were a nice touch, especially since they subtly conveyed their feelings by masking them as their characters' thoughts. However, I found myself getting a bit bored around the 60% mark, and Rosie’s insistence that romances must have a HEA to count as romances felt too stereotypical. Plus, while the MMC’s attitude made sense initially, by the end it was used to justify his behavior, which didn’t sit well with me. Still, I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a writing-centric, academic rivals-to-lovers story with a Peruvian FMC. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book.

I was initially really intrigued by the premise. It seemed like it was going to be academic rivals to lovers, but the story just didn't deliver for me. I found the main character, Rosie, to be incredibly immature and unlikeable. She had a massive chip on her shoulder and lashed out at Aiden even when he didn't deserve it. The third act breakup was really unnecessary and felt forced.

Some of the dialogue was cringe worthy, especially Aiden's dialogue during the spicy scenes. It felt completely out of character from what we had seen of him beforehand.

There were also a lot of issues with formatting, spelling, and grammar, which I found to be quite distracting at times.

Overall, the book had a good premise, and parts of the story were interesting, but it just missed the mark for me.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book absolutely made me melt while reading it! It was the ultimate grumpy x sunshine trope. As the characters fell in love with not only themselves but one another, you started to fall in love with them too! Just adoring the way they started to develop in the story! I really enjoyed this book and it was a quick read for me!

Great tension in the story! Grumpy grumpy must work together for the good of both of their careers, only if they could stand each other. Age old story!

The concept is interesting, but reading about writing is a tad tedious at times 👀 Aside from that enjoyable read.

*”Not in My Books" by Katie Holt**—I absolutely loved this book! The plot, the character development, everything was on point. Rosy, as an author, felt so relatable, especially as a fellow romance lover. It made me hope I could find my own Aiden one day! The chemistry between Rosy and Aiden was incredible, and their journey from enemies to lovers kept me hooked. They first met in a fiction writing workshop, and from there, their story took off. If you want to know more, you’ll have to read the book yourself—it's definitely worth the time!

This was sweet. Rosie and Aiden do NOT get along in class and are forced to write a book together by their professor. Classic rivals to lovers. The excerpts of the book we are shown throughout the novel mirror the growing relationship between Rosie and Aiden.
It took me until about 15% to really get into it, but then I was in it. Unfortunately I wasn't really feeling the chemistry at some point. At times it was great, at others not so much. Overall it was a bit too much flip-flopping for me on that part. I'd say this was great until the 75% mark. The lack of communication and immaturity in the way they handled their relationship made me want to throw my kindle honestly and that somewhat ruined the book for me sadly. Still not bad, just really frustrating towards the ending....

I was really drawn to this book because of the cover. In practice though I struggled to connect with the plot and ended up not finishing it. Thank you for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for giving me the arc in exchange for an honest review!

4.5⭐️
this was so good and i loved it so much. i really enjoyed the plot of Not in my Book! rival authors cowriting a book together??? soooo fun!

Katie Holt’s writing voice was phenomenal! she kept me so engaged and i would have read it in one sitting if i didn’t have work.

i really enjoyed getting excerpts from Rosie and Aiden’s book. it was modeled after them which i liked because you could really see what they really felt about each other. i also loved how they wrote about and too each other.

another part i liked was Rosie’s friend group! they were really well developed characters that actually had personalities and side parts. i do wish we got to see them more throughout. i do think that the novel would benefit with more exploration of the dynamic between Aiden and his dad.

i would definitely check it out when it published on December 10, 2024!

RATING: 4,75 of 5 stars


It is a story about two rival aspiring authors (some would say enemies to lovers, but it is not my opinion) who just despise each other. They are like two different worlds - Rosie is an idealistic dreamer who likes to write about romance. Aiden, on the other side, writes only literary fiction and thinks that romance novels are only a waste of time. Because of their fights, they are forced to write a book together. But not just a book. This book needs to contain both of their writing. Are they able to put they 'hate' on the side to create something?
Will their book be an opportunity for them to get closer to each other without shedding blood?



‘Writing’s in the revisions. Nothing’s set in stone, you know. Your backspace works just as well as the other keys.’



I really, really enjoyed this one. I liked the whole idea of writing book together - i haven't seen it anywhere yet - such an original though!
The banter was great, slow-burn was slow-burning (which i LOOOVED) and the whole academic rivals to lovers thing made my heart ache because i always dreamed of something like that (yes, i was a very proud and very ambitious girl in school and always wanted to find a snarky, intelligent rival who would fall head over heels for me) but it never happened. Sad, i know ( note to my husband: i love, love you very much, do not read that, i am very happy to be your wife).



I would give it a five stars but i took 0,25 points out because i did not like some of the actions in this book (like the attitude on miss Rosie), but i was a very nice story anyway and for it being a debut novel? GREAT JOB!





**I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

This book was typical of what I thought it would be. Rosie and Aidan are in the same writing workshop and when they can't get along and disrupt class the professor comes up with a plan to have them write together. From there we have our typical rom-com.

I did like Rosie and Aidan. They are your run of the mill characters for this type of book. I'm not a fan of the enemies to livers trope but I didn't mind it so much in this book and I liked the way the two told each other how they felt through the excerpts of the book they were writing.

This was a quick read for me and a nice pallette cleanser book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion which I have given.

I liked Not in My Book for a lot of reasons and also found it a little annoying for a lot of reasons. It's often hard for me to suspend disbelief in stories about academic settings because that's where I work, so the whole writing workshop set up here was cute, but also very annoyingly unrealistic to me (mostly the idea that these two could be forced to write together and that people would be writing romance in an MFA at MYU was...silly).

I liked the chemistry (and LOVED the recognition of the flirting possibilities of a Google doc), but the third act break-up was a bummer for me—I never like when the couple is actively mean to each other, which is what happened here. Cute book, would recommend, but not perfect.