I absolutely LOVED the premise of this one - opposites attract AND having to write together? And, on top of that, having a Hispanic main character? You love to see it. However, that's where my love for this book ended. I couldn't get into the writing or Rosie/Aiden's behaviors. It felt a little too childish for what I'm assuming their ages were and made it difficult for me to stay engaged throughout the book.

Thank you Netgalley and Alcove Press for this ARC.

DNF 15%
This book tells the story of Rosie and Aidan who are both working towards a creative writing degree, with Rosie writing romance and Aidan focusing on sad man books (aka litfic). While they're attracted to each other, they don't respect the other person's genre so he and Rosie clash continually in ways that affect everyone else in their novel-writing class. They are given an ultimatum: leaving the class or collaborate on a single novel that features a love story but not a hea. Of course they choose the latter.
For me this book didn't work, and I think there are two reasons for this. First, it's hard to get invested in characters who are so nasty to each other. The way they critique each other's writing is painful to read. I don't understand why it takes the tutor this long to interfere.
Second, the premise feels a little out-dated to me. This may be a me-thing, but I feel we've gone past the ' romance is worthy' shouting. The book just manages to steer clear of the 'books by women for women' claim, but it's a close call. And maybe I'm tired of all the romance books/authors in romance books, especially when it involves MMC reading romance. Of course, I didn't get very far into this book, so possibly Aiden is never converted, but somehow I doubt it.
Anyway, while this book didn't work for me, but ymmv.

Wow! Was this really the author's first book?! This is hands-down one of the best romance novels I have read in awhile! I am a big fan of the enemies to lovers story and this one was done to perfection. The spice in this book was fan-freaking-tastic! Chef's kiss! She knocked this one out of the park on her first try! Well done!
This book had so many moments that really spoke to me and pulled at my heartstrings.
"I wanted the kind of love you treated gently, like it could break. The kind that was intense and real. The kind you fought for, not against. And maybe I was wrong and love like that didn't exist. But I wanted to get as close as I could to that feeling."

Rosie had been through so much and Aiden was this grump, who ended up surprising her. Rosie's past was something that was always an issue when trying to move forward, which I know we can all relate to. Bad relationships can leave their mark.
"Weak guys like that are just intimidated by strong women, Aiden continued, each word a sharp cut into the air. You shouldn't have to beg someone for the bare minimum. He got too comfortable being with someone as wonderful as you and took you for granted." This part of the book really hit me hard. Don't let them take you for granted ladies!

You will not regret reading this book! Can't wait to see what Katie writes next!

Academic rivals to lovers? Sure!

That’s how I thought this was going to go. While I did feel the rivalry and enjoyed it, I did not buy into the relationship in the end. The arguments and fighting felt like too much.

Overall, a fun beach ready type of romance book.

Un très bon premier roman, j'ai vraiment adoré ! ♥ ♥
Rosie & Aiden sont deux étudiants en écriture à New York, mais leurs genres de prédilection sont totalement opposés : la romance pour elle, la fiction littéraire pour lui (comprenez, les romans "sérieux"), ils se détestent et passent leur temps à s'envoyer des saloperies à la figure lorsqu'ils sont en cours. Un jour, ils dépassent tellement les bornes que leur prof leur impose un ultimatum : soit ils écrivent un 4 mains mêlant leurs genres respectifs, soit ils sont définitivement virés du programme.

Nous voilà donc partis à fond sur du rivals/enemies-to-lovers + forced proximity (du fait de cette collab forcée), et en bonus ... du slow burn ! Et put*in que c'était bon !

Leur relation, c'est un pas en avant, trois pas en arrière, ils mettent du temps à se dévoiler, et peinent à communiquer, et c'est finalement à travers leurs personnages qu'ils vont se dire les choses. Car on suit autant la relation Aiden/Rosie que celle entre Max(ine) & Hunter, leurs doubles de papier, et j'ai autant aimé lire les extraits du roman écrit par les héros que la relation des héros elle-même. C'était une belle mise en abîme, très bien maîtrisée par l'autrice.

C'est un roman qui parle d'écriture, de livres (avec plein de réfs à la romance, aux tropes ... trop bien !), mais aussi de relations humaines, de confiance en soi, de la peur se se livrer, de se dévoiler ... J'ai surligné un paquet de passages et je me languis déjà d'avoir le paperback entre mes mains.

Pour un premier roman, c'est vraiment une réussite, même si j'ai parfois trouvé Rosie immature et agaçante, et j'aurais aimé que ses origines péruviennes soient davantage exploitées. Quant à Aiden ... qu'est-ce que j'aime ce type de héros hautain et froid en apparence (hello Mr Darcy), mais dont on découvre peu à peu la sensibilité et la force des sentiments ...

Et puis au cours de cette lecture, il m'était impossible de ne pas penser aux romans de Mariana Zapata et Elena Arma, ainsi que "Comme dans un roman d'été" de Emily Henry, mais aussi aux romcom newyorkaises des années 90, et plus particulièrement à "Quand Harry rencontre Sally".

Vraiment, c'était t♥p !

The book had a lot of potential, and I genuinely appreciated its premise. The writing style was light-hearted and made for an enjoyable, easy read. One standout moment for me was the New Year's scene, where the love interest wore a red sweater. That scene was so sweet, it made me giddy with excitement.

However, the book had more issues that I couldn’t overlook. The love interest is very unlikeable. I know they both fought in the beginning, but he was unnecessarily vicious towards Rosie and her being a romance writer for no reason. Just because you don’t like romance, does not mean nobody else is allowed to! And the thing is, he did not have any development in my opinion in this regard. Rosie’s ex-boyfriend, Simon, looked down upon romance, and Aiden is horrified to think that maybe Rosie thinks of him to be exactly like him, while being exactly like him! Rosie did not learn her lesson from her previous relationship, she stepped into another version of the same relationship with Aiden.

The third act conflict was bad. Initially I didn’t understand why she was mad at him, until he opened his mouth. Without spoiling much, the love interest doesn’t disclose something to the fmc and when she finds out she gets mad, instead of explaining himself or apologizing, he essentially gaslights her, does not take responsibility, disrespects her and her dream of becoming a romance writer (yep, just like Simon her ex-boyfriend, did!) and accuses her of being jealous. Which is fine because he was lashing out because he has his own issues, but the problem lies when he doesn’t apologize for disrespecting her and her dreams? He just explains why he lied and never even touches the topic of still not respecting her as a romance writer and she is completely okay with it because he told her that he loved her! Essentially he had no character development, and the fmc is pathetic enough to not care.

There are some grammatical errors and inconsistencies throughout the arc that I got, hoping they’d be resolved before the book gets published. Just for an example, in one scene they take their tops off, then go upstairs and take their tops off again, unless they were wearing two tops (hey, maybe they were, I wouldn’t know) it doesn’t make sense. There were a few more such inconsistencies that I hope have been edited out before the book is released. Also, the job of their fictional characters didn’t really make sense to me. They had clients, but they also wrote fiction? I was very confused.

Overall, this book has so much potential to be good if somethings were different, and if the love interest was written better.

I honestly really liked this book! It contained all fundamental elements of your typical romcom: banter, spice, enemies to lovers... but I felt like the plot and the development were really original! I loved that the characters were writing a "book in the book". If you are looking for a cute romance read, this is perfect!

There's a little bit of enemies to lovers MAGIC in this debut romance, with feuding that's actually flirting, banter for days, and an epistolary element that brings the swoon. It gave me major Hating Game/Spanish Love Deception vibes, which is absolutely a compliment. It's tough to find romance that delivers those swoony feelings, but I can truly say this accomplishes that much of the time. I loved the story within the story and how this couple was able to express their feelings within the pages of the book they were writing together. We only get the heroine's perspective, but our hero makes his feelings known with his writing, and that part fascinated me. We get to (over)analyze every interaction and look at it from a different perspective, which was actually a lot of fun. It felt fresh and different, while also showcasing the author's love of the genre. There's a ton to love here, but there were also some moments that simply didn't live up to their full potential. I'm rounding up my rating, because anything less than 5 stars doesn't feel quite right. It's Holt's debut, so I'm very excited to watch her writing grow. This felt special.

The story follows Rosie, a graduate student who is taking an intensive writing course this semester. Ever the optimist, she is daydreaming about the opportunities that will come from the course, though there is one thorn in Rosie's side - her classmate, Aiden. Though critique is part of the process, Aiden seems to be particularly harsh when it comes to Rosie. He clearly does not like the romance genre, and his constant frowns have made it clear that he doesn't like Rosie either. After an argument threatens Rosie and Aiden's place in the class, their professor requires them to work together. They'll have to write a book together over the next several months, a love story that doesn't have a happy ending. It's the last thing either one wants, but they're determined to make it work. As Rosie and Aiden work on their book together, their writing begins to parallel their real life circumstances... and things get complicated.

I was really impressed by this debut, and I sincerely hope it gets the thorough edit it needs before publication. I don't usually comment on editing or formatting issues in ARCs, but this was BAD bad. Almost unreadable, the worst I've seen from a traditional publisher. That's not a comment on the quality of the story, so I really hope it's resolved before release day. Holt is clearly very talented, and that shines through. There were a few things that revealed her inexperience as a writer - some missed opportunities, moments when the characters acted like teenagers, and definitely the third act conflict. This was an obvious 5-star rating for me until the conflict, at which point I literally groaned in disappointment. That also tells you how emotionally invested I became in the romance, and how much I got caught up in the story. I've never read a romance that's utilized an epistolary element quite like this, and I loved what that did for the relationship development. We may not get Aiden's perspective, but I could feel the love in his words. They have fantastic chemistry, and the constant banter kept me on my toes. This would make such a great movie, I can easily picture it. Holt clearly has an appreciation for the genre, and that made this a multifaceted, engaging read. If this is her debut, then I can't wait to see what's next from her.

Although this story follows the classic romcom, lovey dovey, 3rd act break up, romance plot… I STILL ATE IT UPPPPP!!!!

At first was confused with what the text at the end of each chapter represented, but eventually caught on that it was their short story the two MC we’re writing throughout, which I thought was really creative!

Loved Rosie and Aiden’s relationship as well ofc and how they communicate their feelings through their writing.

One thing i did find kind of effy for me was the spicy scenes 🌶️ the first one I thought was fairy authentic, but after that I felt it was unnecessary. maybe i’m just a closed door romance girly and not a spicy fanatic 🤷‍♀️

I really enjoyed this romance! It felt fresh and new while paying homage to all the things we love about romance.

I LOVED the book within a book thing that was happening and how we were reading a book about two people writing a book.

I loved the main characters. I loved the development of the romance. As someone who isn’t the biggest fan of enemies to lovers, I thought that this book handled the transition well.

Overall, 10/10 romance.

Not in My Book is an academic rivals to lovers romcom. It's got some meta book in a book action and romance that gave me whiplash. Rosie and Aiden (or Max and Hunter as portrayed in the book they're cowriting) hate each other... Or do they???

I liked this book well enough, but I was having trouble believing in the romance. Aiden was sort of an asshole and his reasoning we later learn about, didn't really feel justified. On the contrary Rosie was a stubborn FMC with sky high expectations. They went from enemies, to friends, to something more, back to friends, to lovers, to broken up, to finally back together (there's that whip lash I was talking about). The pacing of all this felt pretty bizarre too. From one chapter to the next it would go from Christmas to the end of spring semester. And the third act conflict was really jarring...

Aiden got the fellowship over Rosie, but he didn't even tell her that he'd applied, GASP! How is the appropriate response (after, admittedly Aiden was a huge jerk, again for reasons unjustified) for Rosie to move home and quit school..? Idk girl, maybe you're just not that great a writer, or like Aiden pointed out the Lit-Mag doesn't really accept romances, but god forbid she writes something other than romance.

I realize that seemed pretty harsh, but I did have a good time reading this, I was just frustrated after reading the ending and had to rant. After reading the epilogue I guess Rosie has me convinced by their happily ever after.

How could I not give this book 5 stars? I mean, first of all, is a book within a book. The protagonists, Rosie and Aiden are in the same writing workshop. They hate each other and find any opportunity to berate each other. Until their teacher decides to have them work together, writing a novel. Rosie is a romance writer, Aiden hates romance so their assignment is to have the characters of their own book to fall in love but not having their HEA.

This is a single POV and I hate them, but in this one, we get to read excerpts from the book Rosie and Aiden are writing, and we get a glimpse in Aiden's mind, the way he sees Rosie and what he feels about her.

I loved this book so much and their fights, their confrontations and basically everything they did. The way their love story bloomed alongside Hunter and Maxine's was beautiful to read. When they started writing together, deciding to put aside their animosity, was honestly very interesting to read. And the chapters when they were writing intimate scenes between their characters was fantastic.

Ultimately is the constant fight about romantic novels, that are not seen as the great and wonderful emotional train that they are. People need to read more romantice in their lives.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for sharing this meaningful romance novel’s digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts. And don't forget to pick up this book when it comes out on December 10th.

What a fun read! Loved Rosie and Aiden and loved the romcom! Oh and the premise of writers and more just made it even more awesome! Can't wait for more!

This was a really cute story and a fun read! Glad I was given the chance to read it early and I will be recommending it to my friends and family.

Omg!!! This book was the cutest romcom ever. You literally root for Rosie and Aiden from start to finish. I love how it’s a book set up to feel like you’re reading a book someone is writing. It’s so cute how they find ways to tell each other how they feel through their own characters development. One of the best reads of the year for me.

This was so cute!!! The characters and the development and chemistry was too tier!! I would recommend this one

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This was cute but too dramatic for me. The lack of communication and maturity level of the MC’s was frustrating to read.

Okay I am screaming, shouting, yelling to anyone who will listen to me about Rosie and Aiden!!!! This story has some of the most fun banter I’ve ever read, a plot that jumps off the page with life, and most importantly a LOVE STORY! This story really just blew me away. The pieces of Max and Hunter’s story that was scattered throughout the book was riveting. I was so captivated by this that my husband had to bring me back to the real world to tell me what time it was and remind me that I have to go to work. I am so looking forward to reading more from this author.

Enemies-to-lovers fan, prepare to fall in love with your next obsession! Not in My Book by Katie Holt is sure to steal your heart, make you cry, and leave you laughing (and swooning) simultaneously!

Rosie and Aiden hate each other. As graduate students in NYU’s creative writing program, their bickering during workshops is infamous. Why? Aiden is a pretentious literary fiction writer and doesn’t believe in happy endings. Rosie writes romance and would rather die than see her favorite characters unhappy. The only thing they can agree on is their dislike for each other. When a disastrous argument almost gets them kicked out of the program, their advisor proposes a solution; write a novel together and they can stay. Rosie forces Aiden to write a romance based on their rivalry while Aiden ensures that their novel will have a tragic ending. But as the stakes ramp up on the page, the two are left wondering if their chemistry is anything but fictional. 

Not in My Book has every trope romance readers have come to love done to perfection. One bed? Check. Enemies-to-friends-to-lovers-to-etc? Check. Grand gestures and adorable dates? Check. Sexually charged co-writing? CHECK. But more than that, this novel captures what it means to love writing and to yearn for love. Aiden and Rosie are far from perfect, yet being together makes them both better people. It was so easy to root for them (even when they weren’t) and the vulnerability they constantly exhibited made them feel real. 

Strong female friendships and group dynamics elevated this novel above others in the genre. While Rosie was certainly swept off her feet (sometimes in a violent way and sometimes in a grand romantic gesture sort of way), she was grounded by her friends and her close bond with her sister. Family dynamics were also expertly explored throughout the story, as was Rosie’s Peruvian-Tennessee heritage. The romance was amazing (and certainly the central storyline), and I appreciated how layered the characters were. Rosie would have existed without Aiden and vice versa; their personalities didn’t rely on each other.

Not in My Book is a romance that staunchly defends romance readers and writers. Rosie is the writer in the room fighting for her romance books to be treated with the same literary merit as comedy, fantasy, or contemporary fiction, which I loved. Romance doesn’t get the respect it deserves as an art form. More stories like this one are crucial to redefining what the genre can do. 

If you’re a romance fan (or even if you’re not), you will love Not in My Book. Katie Holst is certainly an author to watch and I look forward to seeing what else she has in store!

"Not in My Book" by Katie Holt is an entertaining enemies-to-lovers romance featuring a fiery dynamic between two aspiring writers. Rosie, a romance novelist obsessed with Taylor Swift, and Aiden, a brooding literary fiction writer, distrupt their graduate writing seminar with their bickering and below-the-belt critiques of each other's work. As punishment, they are forced to co-write a novel to bridge their differences. Rosie is a determined Peruvian-American trying to make it in New York City, while Aiden is a grumpy, handsome rich kid who has a serious disdain for romance. Through the “book within a book” of their co-written story, we see a glimpse into their evolving feelings. However, I did find that sometimes the parallels between the two narratives felt a bit repetitive and had some continuity issues.

That said, Holt delivers a fresh take on familiar romance tropes, and the supporting characters add depth to the story—especially Rosie’s charming family and her tight-knit group of friends. The New York setting and the competitive world of grad school provide an interesting backdrop for their rivalry and eventual connection.

Overall, *Not in My Book* is a fun and spicy debut that will satisfy romance lovers looking for a mix of humor and heart. While not without its slow moments, it’s a promising start for Katie Holt, and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for her next release.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.