A true rivals-to-lovers novel! By the end of this book, I ended up loving Rosie and Aiden together! In the beginning, however, I did not like Rosie one bit. She's a 26 year old Peruvian-American student at NYU, with dreams of becoming a romance writer. Aiden is her rival, and it's apparent they hate each other. Rosie's reason for hating Aiden was very childish and reminded me of middle school, where girls used to bully boys because they liked them. Aiden seemed very straightforward and chill from the beginning and gave Rosie honest constructive criticism, which she clearly found it hard to accept. Once Rosie and Aiden started working together and building on their chemistry, I was able to get past Rosie's childish ways. It quickly went from childish to cute and sweet for me and then picked up to spicy! Aiden's a hot character for sure!
Thank you NetGalley, Alcove Press, and Katie Holt for this ARC!

Not in My book is a spectacular enemies-to-lovers novel about two writers who couldn't be more opposite and are forced to write a book together. As pieces of themselves start bleeding into the novel, Rosie and Aiden have trouble piecing together what's real and what's not and grappling with the fact that maybe it's not just their characters who have chemistry.

I looooved everything about this book! From the slow burn of the romance, to the witty dialogue, to the lovable characters, Katie Holt had me engaged from beginning to end!

I really liked how the story was narrated by Rosie, but we also got excerpts from the novel she and Aiden were writing as well. I thought this was an interesting way to explore how the characters (Rosie and Aiden) felt without them having to explicitly say it. They were both complex characters who tended to have trouble speaking their minds, so to be able to still be able to get inside their heads in this way was really interesting to me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ARC!

This was a cute story, especially if you like to read about two people co-writing a book!

I loved the Latinx representation in this book. I especially loved that it was a Peruvian because South America is underrepresented and I loved reading about foods I've eaten on trips to South America and I loved the inclusion of Spanish in the book.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest review.

3.5/5. It's nothing new, but it's pretty good! I'm always up to a good enemies to lovers novel if well written and with an interesting plot. and this one definitely has both elements. I would have loved to read more about the actual manuscript they were writing because what we saw was really interesting. Some parts did feel a little bit boring, but overall it was a good read.

I truly enjoyed reading this book and I was fully pulled into the story. The author managed to hold my interest till the end of the book. I really liked how the author drew parallels between Rosie & Aiden and Max & Hunter. I also liked the idea of book inside a book and how the story continued in 2 places at the same time. Though I felt it a little silly the way Rosie fought with Aiden about the fellowship submission but I was able to get over it quickly towards the end as the author justified it. The characters had layers and the exploration was very good. Going with a 4-star.

I love Aiden and Rosie!! I loved this romance book so much! The TAYLOR swift vibes the author vibes! It was everything I needed after reading a lovely Emily Henry novel! Highly recommend if you like books about authors and books

I loved this book! I love books about books, writing them, selling them, you name it. Throw romance in and I’m there! Ooh and enemies to lovers, even better!!

Very divided on this. I wanted to give it more stars but now I sit at 3.5.

First 50-60% of the book were excellent, just wonderfully excellent. I found myself getting carried away with their rivalry and turning to friends and then to lovers. I almost squealed in public when the first kiss happened, and then I giggled like a schoolgirl reading her first romance ever. The story managed to pull me that much in! And I loved how I could imagine the characters and the places they inhabited, almost like watching a movie in my head. Their bickering even made me laugh out loud several times :) I loved it so much.

But... The sex scenes uh, use the kind of talk that is not my cup of tea. I am aware this is something personal to me and others may find it good, so I didn't let it impact my reading experience and carried on.

However... Then we got to the stupid conflict in the last part of the book and I wanted to scream. This seemed to undermine everything we went through in the book with the amazing character development both from Aiden and Rosie. It just seemed unnecessary - I would have liked it and enjoyed it more if we just got the HEA as if to prove in spite of everything Aiden believed and his need to turn the HEA on its head in the book they were writing and go: See? It can be this good. And you both deserve it this good.

And even if I can understand how Aiden would keep it a secret, I am very miffled about Ida and why didn't she say anything at all? I just hated how it soured both relationships after everything that happened.

So. That impacted my rating sadly, I firmly believe we did not need that final conflict. Since this is the author's debut and I loved their writing and the way they conveyed personalities and built characters throughout the story, I am looking forward to reading more from them.

Charming! Enemies to lovers, writing workshops, New York during the Christmas season, and rediscovering what the characters desire and how they want to start the next chapter.

A book about books, a love for literature, persistence, determination, but also about giving people around us a chance, even if we don’t understand them at first.

If you love a slow burn, this enemies to lovers/academic rivals book is for you. Not in My Book is about two literature students who regularly argue in class until they're forced to team up and write a book together.

Rosie is a romance writer who sees the best in people and Aiden is a literary fiction author whos life has left him jaded and with a distaste to romance. I loved the inclusion of Rosie's Peruvian heritage and her family. Seeing her parents, and their family dynamics gives you an insight as to why Rosie is such a romantic.

As the characters work on their manuscript, they begin slowly building their relationship. Their relationship that starts as a friendship and builds as they use the characters in their book to communicate. I love seeing bits of their book inside this book.

This has got to be one of my new favorite books. I couldn't put it down once I started and it flowed so beautifully. I can't wait to see what comes next from Katie Holt.

Book about books always hit different, and this one truly hit the mark! I loved how it went back and forth between the story and then the book they were writing, and the banter!! Incredible!

The book was really good and I enjoyed that it was a TRUE enemies to lovers. I like that they both write and constantly bicker over that. The book is definitely worth reading and reminded me in some ways of other popular books. The cover and title really caught my eye and describe the storyline perfectly. I’d love to see more that’s for sure

This was a pleasant surprise of a novel! While it started a bit slow and with an over the top enemies to lovers plot, it turned out to be a scorching and emotionally charged romance. The double play with the characters writing together added something interesting to the mix. I d it think the early scenes of the two sniping at each other was over the top and that many if not all their problems could be solved by communication. Overall a really good romance read.

A good book about characters writing a book... it was bookception! I love how Rosie and Aiden's book mirrored and gave insight into what was going on in the actual storyline. Very slow burn, and I personally felt the MMC, Aiden, lacked depth. He's brooding, mysterious, and intelligent (albeit not emotionally..) Rosie, on the other hand, is my bestie. Maybe because the story is told from her perspective, but I really enjoyed getting to know her philosophies on life, her experiences as a Peruvian American woman raised in the south, her parents, her creative process, etc. Overall, I do recommend you read this if you like forced proximity, enemies to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, and academic settings.

Thank you to Alcove Press and NetGalley for the ARC!

Not in My Book by Katie Holt is a unique take on an enemies to lovers romance. Rosie and Aiden are rival Grad students in an MFA program at NYU, Rosie writing romance and Aiden writing literary fiction and with little to no patience for the romance genre. Their constant verbal sparring leads to their professor deciding that if the two wanted to remain in her class, they must cowrite a novel that blend both their genres. Rosie and Aiden begin writing together an enemies to lovers novel that mirrors, in many aspects, their own situation and becomes a tool for them to become friends with each other. The author incorporates snippets from the novel that Rosie and Aiden are co-writing, about Max and Hunter, into each chapter, which allows the reader insights into how Rosie and Aiden are thinking and their reasons for acting the way they do and was a writing tool that really worked well in this book.

Thank you to the publisher, Alcove Press, and the author for an eARC of this book in an exchange for an honest review. It was a great debut novel!

Rosie and Aiden are in a writing workshop together and he constantly attacks her submissions. He hates romance novels and that is what she is writing. Things get so bad in class, that they are almost expelled. However, the professor has an option for them to write the novel together. Rosie and Aiden create a love story between Max and Hunter. The more they work on the novel, the more their relationship becomes very close to what they are writing together. Katie Holt uses this approach to help Rosie and Aiden move their relationship forward. I love the concept and the inclusion of their chapters of the novel intertwined with the plot. I recommend this novel; however, be aware that there are several very graphic sexual descriptions in both the imagined and real relationships depicted.

I don't think I've ever been as impressed with a debut as with this one. Katie Holt really blew me away with this book. It has everything, from angst to happiness and rivals to lovers.

While this book is essentially a standard contemporary romance novel, it's execution really took it to another level. In the book, we get to know Aiden and Rosie, but we also get to know Hunter and Maxine, the characters in the book they are cowriting. Aiden and Rosie are both aspiring authors and always try to find flaws in each others writing. When they find themselves stuck in a situation in which they have to write a book together, they create these characters to reflect each other.

"The truth was I liked her no matter what she did, no matter what she said."

As the relationship between Rosie and Aiden evolves, so does the one of their characters. While I love books about books, this one was so special as we also get to read excerpts about the book they are writing. I loved how we got to know their thoughts about each other this way, without them voicing it out loud, especially Aiden's.

“There hasn’t been a second where I wasn’t wondering what you were thinking and if it was of me.”

The pacing of the book was perfect. The writing kept me wanting to continue and I honestly really liked the characters. Overall, I loved this book and I will literally recommend it to everybody. It was also a lot deeper than I expected it to be, which is something I really appreciate in a romance book.

A major thanks to Alcove Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.75/ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️.5/🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

This was a really cute book about all things romance. It centres around two writers in New York City, Rosie (from Tennessee) moved to New York after a toxic breakup with a long term boyfriend, because she dreamed of being a romance author and set up taking writing workshops with a beloved writer that she admired. Aidan is in that workshop too, cutthroat and stuck in his ways, he believes that romance is frivolous and writes literary fiction that would make anyone basically contemplate their life choices. It was hate at first workshop review, but that fine line between love and hate turns into something more when they cause one too many disruptions in their writing workshops and their lecturer informs them it’s either try to get along and submit their thesis as a joint project or drop out of the workshop and get the dean to assign a new elective. Ultimately they chose to write the book together and this becomes their love story. This was a sickly sweet slow burn that had you going, “please please please just shut the fuck up and kiss already” and when they finally got together you were like “fuckin’ finally!!”. I liked the premise of this book and way it was set, I love reading about romance readers and writers, I relate so much to the thinking and I love the references to different authors and books throughout. This was an easy and enjoyable read. However, there were some small writing errors and some timelines didn’t add up for me, especially in the later chapters, they’d be doing something and then something else happens and I start thinking ‘how is that possible’. Maybe something to look over. I did love the dialogue and the spice definitely added to the story, I’m usually used to reading dual pov but in this book having everything in Rosie’s was a nice experience because you still got a lot of Aidan though the dialogue and the excepts of the manuscript they’re writing though out the novel. The third act conflict was kinda irrelevant especially since it took so long for them to even get together, I can kinda see why it was done but overall could’ve gone about it another way. This was a nice book and I lovely experience, I definitely recommend.

Swifties unite! A fun read with vibes that will fill the hole in your life now that the Eras tour is on hiatus until the fall!

As soon as I realized that our main character was a swiftie I was all for it, and I love how Rosie is just a hopeless romantic! *Queue "This is Love" by Taylor Swift. This book has forced proximity and enemies-to-lover between Aiden and Rosie and that alone made the whole plot even more fun! I liked how the book storyline was over a longer period of time than average, allowing us to see a better character and plot development for their storyline. Seeing how our parent's relationship can impact the way we and the characters view love was eye-opening. Aiden did not have the same example of love from his parents as Rosie does, and that just gets right under his skin which was so fun to read jeje. The banter was such a fun read and I can't wait to see what else this author will write next!