Much enjoyed! Definitely gave Beach Read vibes but in NYC. Authors writing was enjoyable, and will definitely pick up another of the authors in the future

I really enjoyed this rivals to lovers novel. It felt like the perfect mix between lighthearted and sincere. Rosie and Aiden are taking a workshop in writing for their MFA program at NYU. She's a Peruvian southern belle with a desire to make it in the big apple. He is a grouchy, reclusive native with more money than kindness. There's forced proximity, shared bed, and so many more clichés that we all love to see in our HEAs. I liked the meta of writing within a book. The spicy scenes are not for me; I found myself skipping a bunch of scenes. It wasn't problematic for me, but it does limit the demographic for book recommendation in my world. The audio is great and an enjoyable production!

Thank you Netgalley and RBmedia for this audiobook! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

2.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of the audiobook for review.

I honestly really loved the overall plot of this book. Rosie and Aiden are rivals in their creative masters writing program and to ease the tension it creates in their class they are partnered together to complete a manuscript. I enjoyed the way the story played out by including chapters of their manuscript as a way of getting Aiden’s side of the story since it was not a dual POV story otherwise.

My issues with this book lie in the characters themselves. Everything about them was just so immature. Their actions and even their thought processes would’ve made more sense if this was set in a high school as a YA romance. When they mentioned at one point that both characters were at least 25 I actually had to stop and roll my eyes. I was so bummed because I felt like the potential of the idea for this romance was wasted on silly miscommunication and childish bickering that didn’t make sense for grown adults to be a part of.

I was really impressed with the audio narration of the book as well. I listen to a LOT of audiobooks and I picked up on the narrator making the FMC’s southern accent thicker at times and it’s even mentioned later in the book that her accent gets thicker when she’s angry or excited and I loved that it felt like I already knew that about the character because of the narration!

Overall I think this is an AMAZING first showing as a debut novel. Super interesting premise and some really sweet moments that had me smiling, overall I just think it would’ve made more sense if the characters either were set as high schoolers or just acted more mature.

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc and an alc!

this was such a fun romcom about two academic rivals/aspiring authors that write in completely different genres. when an argument between them in their grad class goes too far, rosie and adien are forced to write a book together or else face academic probation. i absolutely ate up the way both rosie and adien spoke to each other through the characters in their book 💗

of course, there were a few scenes that i totally saw the outcome to, but that’s not the point; not in my book was sexy, goofy, and realistic.

however, one thing that truly annoyed me was 85% into the book, rosie comments that she expected to see the students in adien’s creative writing class to leave crying from his harsh criticisms, but was SURPRISED that they were all laughing and felt creatively safe with him. that didn’t sit right with me, ESPECIALLY after rosie has come to learn adien’s background and behaviorisms.

the narrator did an excellent job!

This book was such a good debut novel. I loved Rosie and Aiden so much. If the author releases the novel the characters wrote I’d buy it in a heartbeat.

There was a point where I genuinely thought this was a full five star book, no notes, no complaints….and then at 90% on I wanted to scream. The idiocy of that fight, and how it caused Rosie to completely give up her entire life because she didn’t win???? Someone never played sports AND IT SHOWS. This is the fight of a high school couple not grad students. Just felt so forced and it made me mad because I lovedddddd everything else.

I finished this book in under a day, because of how happy it made me to read. What a smart story, where our heroes write their own fate and a book about their alter egos too. For the first 20-odd chapters it's a slow burning clean romance, then wham come the steamy scenes. Loved the chemistry of the protagonists and how real they were written. Story was wonderful, took me to New York over different seasons, and I felt like I was part of the story too. Bravo to the author and narrator!

this debut novel was phenomenal..

life imitating art, and art imitating life was such a great touch in this story.

i loved all the tropes, i loved that they were writers who were talking in length about their different processes.

the audio was also very seamless and it read very well with the tone of the given scenes.

this is one of my new favorite romances, i haven't read a romance this good and i dont know how long.

everything about this book was amazing, i cannot wait to see what else this author comes out with.

Another favorite romance this year- spicy romance book inception! The characters were well developed and the enemies to lovers / secretly pining tropes were well done. Dual writing the spicy scene together was brilliant 🙌 thanks to NetGalley and RBmedia for the ARC of the audiobook!

What a fantastic debut! Rosie and Aiden couldn't be more opposite in their genres. Aiden writes literary fiction and Rosie is a hopeless romantic. They are forced to work together in a creative writing course to forward their careers. Can they work together to create a collaborative story?

This was such an unexpected delight. Thank you to NetGalley and Katie Holt for the opportunity to review an Audiobook ARC of this book. Also, unexpectedly, a holiday read! I enjoyed Rosie and Aiden's banter as rivals to lovers. Their back and forth was hilarious and fun. As the story progresses, they both have layers that I enjoyed uncovering. For those who read a lot of romance novels, everything you love is here including commentary on writing and the process itself. The narrator did a wonderful job balancing dialogue vs written manuscript text that Aiden and Rosie were working on together. A quick and fun read for those who love the romance genre.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️

I was cleaning everything I set my eyes on just so I could listen to this book in it’s entirely, I was captivated from the first chapter.

You’ve got angst, tension, slow burn. I frothed this up, like a giraffe at a watering hole. I never wanted this story to end.

If you are a fan of Emily Henry, Abbey Jimenez, etc then you definitely get along with Katie Holt.

Big round of applause to the narrators, I was so infused in this storyline and I loved the idea behind this story, you really got to understand both characters backgrounds and childhoods with the details your given.

And that first spice scene, 🥵, I was shocketh, I was giggling, I was squirming 😜😂, I was kicking my feet I was that giddy.

Also I loved the little exerts we got of their book and then got the title of it at the end, made me have the biggest smile on my face.

This book is told in 1st person perspective from the FMC’s point of view.

I will say the only thing that I will say is when the epilogue came up, it wasn’t made clear that it was one year later then part way through the chapter.

Thank you NetGalley and RBmedia for this audiobook advanced reader copy of “Not in My Book”. This romance book was the perfect winter read that beautifully took all my favorite romance tropes and found a way to weave them in so naturally. From enemy to lovers to fake dating to the meta of writing a book about a romance in a romance book, it was all so well done. I found the pacing to balance the slow burn without losing the reader — which I think is very challenging to do! I also appreciated the small references to Taylor Swift (as a huge swiftie myself I was lowkey hoping for even more Easter eggs!!).

You follow Rosie and Aiden through their creative writing workshop where you learn quickly that they are definitely rivals. They are faced with the ultimatum of becoming workshop partners to write a book together OR drop the class. Following their relationship felt fun, low stakes, and easy to believe.

From an audiobook perspective, I found the narrator / performer to be fantastic and I thought she executed the switching of voices so naturally. I was a big fan of the performance- I should also admit that I tend to listen to my audiobooks with a multiplier and this narrator checks those boxes for me too!

If you’re looking for a read for the holidays, Not In My Book delivers an engaging romantic narrative that you can fly through in a couple sittings (or drives if you’re listening).

(4/5 stars)

A quick, sweet, but predictable romance between a budding romance writer and her workshop rival, who's into literary fiction. And also rich. And dark and handsome. And etc. This was a slightly novel take on a very common romance storyline. The writing was a little stiff in places (e.g., "do so" instead of simply "do" during sexytimes). But it was enjoyable, and the narration was excellent.

The premise of the story just wasn't that strong. I've read a few books where co-writers fall in love and this one just doesn't seem as well executed. Both characters seem petulant in the beginning over their writing, even over criticism that is constructive. The writer/character parallels between the two main characters and what essentially becomes their avatars just wasn't working for me. Ultimately, both characters just lacked dimension (which is a shame because I wanted to explore her being Peruvian) and spark.

The narrator was also OK. She did a good job doing a male voice for dialogue but when it shifted to the male POV chapters, it seems like she struggled and it wasn't as consistent.

I received a gifted audiobook ARC from Netgalley. I voluntarily read this book and am leaving an honest review.

I am DEVASTATED that this is a debut novel.... Because I can't binge read 10+ other books by this author right now. I loved this book so much. I couldn't put it down and finished it in one listening session.... At 3:12am when I SHOULD have been asleep for hours already.

The tension was incredible. I feel like I really went on this hate to love journey with Rosie because I definitely didn't think I would end up adoring the MMC and want to protect him. After the way he came at romance readers/authors I was ready to fight! But Katie was able to make me completely do a 180 along with Rosie. It was so believable and the characters felt so relatable.

I'm excited to see more from this author in the future.

This book had me hooked from the first chapter. The banter and the storyline really brings you in quick! The narration was so good I felt I was in NY with them.

Enemies to lovers, slow burn, forced to working together in a book for class, they have been crushing since they met, but were mean to each other. HEA. They both love books and are writers. Different worlds. I ate this uuuup!

Just what I needed book. Highly recommend!

Not in My Book by Katie Holt
I really love this book; it is always amazing reading stories where characters love writing and reading as much as one does. It was a refreshing story, full of love, laughter and chemistry between the main characters.
Without a doubt, it has quickly become one of my go-to books when I need a quick, spicy read. It was easily one of the best enemies to lovers I've read this year. And we can't leave out the friendship aspect where every time something major happens, the group chat changes names - which is so relatable.

Rosie & Aiden

I loved everything about this book. Like so. much. Especially the Christina Lauren shout outs!

Rosie and Aiden are rivals in their writing classes. When their bickering is taken too far, they must choose to either drop the class or co-write a love story without a HEA to gain respect for one another's preferred genres.

Reading books about bookish characters - in this case writers - is one of my favourite tropes. Being required to communicate through the written word is truly what bring these rival writers together. While being tasked with attempting fake dates as their characters as a way to get to know one another better to write more cohesively - said dates start out pretty awkward. Most of their headway of getting to know one another happens while writing their respective chapters following the dates.

Seeing their connection flawlessly transition from dislike to friends to lovers while breaking down one anothers walls make for such an enjoyable read. It had everything I wanted. And, while I typically prefer dual pov, having the excerpts from the manuscript with Aiden/Hunter's pov was enough to satiate that need to get in his head.

There were a couple moments where Rosie started to come off a little bit annoying, but not significantly enough to impact my overall love for the story.

Frankie Corzo's narration was fantastic! She kept me engaged and eager to listen on! So much so, that I finished this audiobook in one sitting!

Thank you to NetGalley, RB Media and Katie Holt for the advanced copy audiobook.

"Tell me how it feels, I hummed in response, but he tsked. Use your words baby you're a writer, aren't you?"

This book was EVERYTHING!!!
Two writing majors
An enemies to lovers story
Enemies writing a love story together
Culture, family, and friendship
TENSION!!!!!!
Opening up to love.
And Christmas in New York!!

I loved this book so much. As a romance girlie, this book talks about all the stereotypes within the genre, the hurdles of writing romance as a woman compared to literary fiction from a man. Grief and vulnerability in relationships and life goals. The two main characters were perfection, and the side characters were the best cheerleaders. If you believe in romance this is your book.

I'm adding this to my favorite romance books this year! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I recently read this book as an ARC and LOVED IT but the audiobook?!?! I don’t know how but I feel even MORE in love with these characters. The only flaw (and this is me just being picky) I would’ve loved it more as a duet, like I imagined Aiden with a deeeeeep voice but the narrator did a phenomenal job!! I appreciated the spoke Spanish because some other books have avoided it. I loved the southern accent that was dropped every now and then. Honestly I couldn’t get enough!!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVEEEEE this book so much!!! SUCH A MASTERPIECE