Katie Holt’s debut novel perfectly encapsulates the magic of the rivals-to-lovers trope in the most romantic and sweetest way. The premise of the book is unique: two rival writers working together as co-authors to write a romance novel with a sad ending. Katie does an amazing job of juxtaposing Hunter and Max’s version of a love story, one with no happily-ever-afters, against Rosie and Aiden’s own rivals-to-lovers journey. It’s romantic and hilarious how they both fall in love with each other while writing their own love story together.

Katie’s narrative is easy to read, and I loved how she wrote her monologues and developed the emotional connection between the protagonists in a way that felt so real. What I truly appreciated was that the story didn’t solely focus on the romance. Katie beautifully expressed every romance lover’s thoughts through Rosie’s deep love for romance books. It’s no wonder this genre resonates so deeply with women, and I loved how the author highlighted the challenges some female authors face when writing “just a romance book with a happily-ever-after.” My romantic heart healed a little there.

Rosie is a romance author who adores reading love stories and believes that everyone deserves a happily-ever-after, even in the real world. The book is written from Rosie’s point of view, and I enjoyed her monologues—even when most of them were about how much she loved Aiden in his peacoat. Rosie is a resilient, hardworking, and bold heroine with a soft heart. I admired how she never hid her love for romance stories and stood up for herself and her passion for the genre, even when others mocked it. Despite being hurt in the past, Rosie remained understanding and open, especially when it came to Aiden. I loved how she cautiously let him into her life, showing immense strength in allowing herself to fall in love again.

Aiden Huntington, on the other hand, is a cynic. He hates romance and loathes happily-ever-afters even more. Writing in a completely different genre from Rosie, Aiden finds himself reluctantly paired with her to write a romance novel with a tragic ending. Ironically, it’s through this project that he finds his own love story with Rosie. Aiden checks all the boxes of a cocky, broody man with a secret crush on the heroine, masking his feelings with animosity to avoid attachment. I appreciated how Katie slowly revealed Aiden’s past, peeling back layers of his carefully guarded personality through Hunter’s perspective. It was endearing to see Aiden’s efforts to make Rosie understand the real him—not the version he pretended to be for her to dislike.

The romance itself was swoon-worthy and undoubtedly the highlight of the book. Rosie and Aiden’s relationship developed smoothly and naturally, progressing from rivals and enemies to collaborators and, finally, to lovers. Watching them blend their writing styles and genres to craft a fictional story—one that felt all too similar to their own—was pure magic. I loved how they explored their vulnerabilities and deeper complexities through their characters, allowing their friendship to evolve into trust, emotional connection, and ultimately love. The way they let their walls come down and revealed how much they truly meant to each other gave me all the dreamy, heart-melting feels. Their dynamic was perfect, capturing the tension, humor, and warmth of their growing relationship.

This is, without a doubt, one of the best debut novels I’ve ever read, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for more books from Katie Holt in the future. As for the ending—it was adorable, heartfelt, and perfectly true to Rosie and Aiden’s story.

The audiobook was amazing as well. Absolutely loved the narration and how well it was recorded.

I absolutely loved listening to this story! I read it earlier this year as an ARC and was so excited to listen to it and experience it for the first time again in a different format! This story is one of my absolute favorites of the year! Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC!

4.5 stars!

"Not in My Book" by Katie Holt is one of my favorite books of 2024! I absolutely loved this story! It's a New York City enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity (in a classroom!!) (even some only one bed, too!!), epistolary romance for the ages. I swooned HARD for this book and these characters. Rosie and Aiden have some of the best banter I've read all year...it's just terrific! This is one of the best "books about writing books" I have read in a long, long time. I have a hunch there will be a section of readers who think the premise is too meta, but I was connected to it from the get-go. The character arcs are wonderful. These characters feel realistic and lived-in. I loved Rosie's family and friend dynamics, and I loved learning about Aiden's past and his life as details are slowly unraveled. AND THE GOOGLE DOC SCENE?! HOOOOOOOLY CRAPOOOOLA, I am going to be thinking about that scene for years to come! It'll live in my head rent-free, as the kids say. I also adore what this book has to say about how many, many authors and readers are snobby about and look down on romance as a genre. Romance RULES, don't get it twisted. I am running out of ways to say how much I was enamored with this book. You MUST read it as soon as possible!! If you don't want to read with your eyeballs, please listen to Frankie Corzo's incredible audiobook narration!! She is brilliant here! I devoured this book!!

Thank you to NetGalley, Katie Holt, and RBMedia for the complimentary ALC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

Started out sweet and was looking forward to a fun will they won’t they listen. It wasn’t exactly that for me. Rosie, a sweet smart, brave optimist from a small town leaves all she knows to enroll in a writing program at NYU to pursue her dream of becoming a published romance novelist. She meets Aiden, a literary fiction writer in her program. He looks at her and her work as if he just drank a glass of spoiled milk and acts as if he is better than…everyone. When their professor pairs them together on a project they are not amused, but have no choice. And so begins their insta-love with along with a terrific project until there is a betrayal that rocks Rosie to her core. There is of course the inevitable big gesture apology and happily ever after, but by that point I was over Aiden and his supercilious attitude. This story checks all the boxes of an opposites attract, hate to love and the happily ever after and yet for me it didn’t work. Maybe there is such a thing as too opposite, maybe not, but I found there to be little to no chemistry between them. It was well narrated.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley.com in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I always love a book about books or the process of writing/creating books so this was a winner for me!

3 Stars Not in My Book is a sweet enemies to lovers, academia, forced proximity romance.

Idealistic Rosie and cynical Aiden regularly trade verbal jabs during their creative writing MFA workshops. Rosie and Aiden could not be more different; Rosie is a Peruvian-American romance writer born and raised in Tennessee, pursuing her MFA part time, while Aiden is a born and bred New Yorker, full-time in the program while writing literary fiction. When their fighting reaches a breaking point, their professor gives them an ultimatum: withdraw from the class or write a book together. As difficult as it is to put their differences aside, it's easy for both Rosie and Aiden to put pieces of themselves into their book and its characters. Working on the manuscript together gives Rosie and Aiden a chance to explore their feelings and maybe have a chance at creating their very own love story.

Not in My Book was a fun and easy read, which characters who are easy to root for. My only criticism is that the book was very predictable and made me just want to skip to the end since it was too easy to tell what was going to happen next. If you are a fan of The Hating Game and Beach Read, I think you'll like this one.

Absolutely adorable! I enjoyed this one so much and really wish I could share this one more. I had the pleasure of reading this one early as the publisher sent me a paperback copy over the summer and then getting the audio to listen to was the icing on the cake. It was just as enjoyable the second time around.

I had heard great things about this debut and decided to pick it up. I am thrilled that I did! I fell right into this enemies-to-lovers story and loved every second. In this story, we have Rosie and Aiden. Both are in an intensive writing class at NYU. Each week, when it comes time to critique classmates' writing samples, the derision comes pouring out of these two. Aiden can't stand that Rosie writes romance, which he sees as unrealistic. Rosie thinks Aiden's lit fic is stuffy and boring. The arguments reach a crescendo until their professor tells them they are being kicked out unless they agree to write their novel together.

I loved every second of these two. Ever since Emily Henry's Beach Read, I have not been able to get enough of reading about writers. Rosie and Aiden are the perfect example of what I love about this trope. The discussions they have around writing, genre, and their craft are fascinating and engaging. The chemistry is off the page. Holt builds the tension perfectly and manages to have Rosie and Aiden remain true to themselves and their beliefs while somehow coming together to co-write and more. The banter is great. There is a visit to The Strand (IFYKY). There is Peruvian family on Rosie's side and a literary genius on Aiden's. There just wasn't anything not to love in this book. Once I picked it up, I could not put it down.

Part of this was due to the narration. Frankie Corzo managed to perform Rosie and Aiden flawlessly. The emotion, the laughter, the angst.....it was all there. I found every excuse I could to keep listening to this wonderful narration.

I'm officially obsessed with this new author and cannot wait to see what she puts out next. In the meantime, I'm glad to have this on my shelf for whenever I need to laugh or swoon. Highly recommend!

Not in My Book ARC Review

Rating 2.75/5 stars. This debut novel from Katie Holt is fun and I am looking forward to reading more from her in the future!

If you love a slow burns then this academic rivals to lovers love story might be for you. Not in My Book is about two literature graduate students who regularly argue in class until their professor forces them to team up and cowrite a book together. The catch is they write two very different genres.

Rosie writes romance and Aiden writes literary fiction. Rosie sees the best in people and believes in happily ever afters. Aiden has been hurt throughout his and doesn’t believe in soulmates. Throughout Not in My Book, we get to see glimpses of their manuscript and see how their characters develop. They don’t want to admit it, but both are mirroring how they feel in real life in their manuscript.


Overall I liked this book!! The narraration was hard to follow at times. Frankie Corzo did a fantastic job, but I did have to rewind a few times to know if what was happening was the story or part of the manuscript. Only thing I would change is a clear distinction or a chapter title from the author for the manuscript sections.

I got about 76% and was sitting at a solid 3.5 or 4 stars out of 5. I loved the banter of the two main characters and how the they grew closer to each other. Unfortunately about 3/4 in I was thrown out of the story completely. The way Rosie and Aiden‘s first sex scene was written was unbelievable to me. I don’t mind if the MMC is dominant in sexual encounters, but in my opinion, it didn’t seem like it fit Aiden‘s personality and character and brought my overall rating down.

*****SPOILERS*****
I really did enjoy Rosie and Aiden’s tension and how they chose to get together the way that they did was beautiful and I was rooting for them the whole time.

My final rating went down to a 2.75/5 stars because the entire book I was so excited to see how they were gonna take the love story that they were writing and create a sad ending for their manuscript, even if their own love story was a happily ever after… When their manuscript was also a happily ever after in their manuscript, I was left wanting a different outcome and more from them.

Thanks to NetGalley, RB Media, Recorded Books and the Katie Holt for the opportunity to listen to this book!
ARC received in exchange for an honest review
2.75/5 stars

💖 A sweet, funny, and utterly addictive romance! 💖

I absolutely loved diving into this rivals-to-lovers story, where sparks fly and emotions run high ❤️‍🔥. The audiobook narrators did a phenomenal job—their performance, paired with the author’s captivating writing, made this such an immersive experience… maybe a little too immersive during the spicy scenes 🤭!

The plot was both original and well-developed, keeping me hooked from start to finish. Special shoutout to the little excerpts from the protagonists’ book at the end of each chapter—they’re such a unique and delightful touch!

And let’s talk about Aiden… How could anyone not fall for him right from the start? With every chapter, I found myself swooning even more. Rosie, on the other hand, was equally lovable. I could relate to her so much, especially her love for romance.

If you enjoy enemies-to-lovers romances with deep characters, a well-crafted storyline, and a pinch of humor, this book is a must-read!

When I saw that this was marketed as The Hating Game meets Beach Read, I knew this would be for me! I was correct and I absolutely ate it up! I found it extremely relatable as I was an English major in college, I love New York, and I am from Tennessee just like Rosie. Not in My Book is a slow burn enemies to lovers book where the main characters are both writers in college in New York City who are co-writing a book and competing in a writing competition. Sign me up! The narrator did a wonderful job narrating the story. I know they are one and the same but I cannot figure out if Rosie and Aiden or Max and Hunter were my favorite couple. I highly recommend picking this one up.

This was a really solid debut, I enjoyed it a lot.

Since it's enemies to lovers, I went into it a bit apprehensive because that’s always tricky to pull off in a romance setting. I do think though that it was well done here. Rosie and Aiden’s banter was fun, and I really liked how they slowly but surely became friends.

I listened to the audiobook and I could’ve finished it in a day had I had the time for it. The pacing was great and made me want to just keep going.

One thing to note about the audiobook was that while I thought the narrator did a fantastic job, parts of the story itself were a bit confusing this way. It contains some elements of a book within a book, and it wasn’t always clear to me when they were writing their story and their characters (Maxine and Hunter) were talking and when Rosie and Aiden were actually talking to each other. Made more confusing by the fact that they were just writing about themselves with different names. The excerpts also felt quite redundant because it repeated what had already happened in the chapter, only seen from Aiden/Hunter’s POV. I’d have enjoyed it more if we had just got Aiden’s actual POV and no excerpts from their story.

There were some spicy scenes in here and I didn’t like them that much, but that might be due to personal preference. Because at this point, literally every mmc is super dominant in bed, and it kind of gives me the ick. Like it’s not hot any more, just weird and overdone tbh.
It also felt out of character to me that Aiden would be like that in bed, when he was kind of sweet and awkward and a bit gruff maybe for the rest of it. Why not let him be this way in bed too? I would find that infinitely more interesting than reading the same kind of sex scenes over and over again. Miss me with the ‘good girl’ and ‘you can take it’ shit..

But that’s just me, and it’s also not a big part of the book.

What really bothered me was the drama at the end. I’ll be honest, it kind of ruined the story a bit for me. Rosie’s reaction was so dramatic and kind of childish. Like why would you throw everything away because a boy broke your heart?? Girl you’re an adult, grow up. Also, you’ve dated him for like 3 months? Made her look kind of pathetic, not gonna lie..

All in all, I still had a good time with this story though.


Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Not In My Book is a spicy, enemies-to-lovers romance in which Rosie, a romance author, and Aiden, a literary fiction author, butt heads in their graduate level writing class to the point that they have to work together on a book or be kicked out of the class. Far-fetched? Yes, but I'm here for it!

Rosie is an idealistic, Peruvian-American narrator and I loved learning more about Peruvian culture through her--something that is desperately lacking in the publishing industry. She wants all of her books to have a happy ending. Aiden on the other hand, wants to explore series topics in his novels and doesn't mind making the reader sad while he does it. Both have to find a way to give and take when writing their novel together, and not fall in love in the process.

Oh this book was fun! While the premise is absurd, how Rosie and Aiden wrote how they felt about each other in real life into their novel added a frisson of tension and yearning. Both have unsaid feelings of attraction that finally come out as they write their novel, and boyhowdy, the scene where they write the lovemaking scene is seared into my memory as one of the hottest scenes I've ever read in a romance novel! I've been recommending this romance novel to any romance reader I know! I look forward to future releases from Katie Holt!

The audio edition was also great and the narrator did a fantastic job differentiating her voice between the characters so there was never a question of who was talking.

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.

Katie Holt’s Not in My Book was a delightful surprise—a cute yet steamy read that kept me hooked from start to finish. The chemistry between the main characters crackled off the pages, making their dynamic both entertaining and heartwarming.

One of my favorite aspects of the novel was the unique story arc centered around the writing class. Watching two writers spar and grow together—both personally and professionally—added a layer of depth to the romance. Their creative collaboration was just as compelling as their romantic journey, making their connection feel well-rounded and real.

Overall, Not in My Book balances humor, heat, and heart perfectly. It’s the kind of book that leaves you smiling, rooting for the characters, and maybe even inspired to dust off your own creative pursuits. I’d definitely recommend it to fans of contemporary romance looking for something a little spicy but still irresistibly sweet.

Rosie, a Peruvian—American, who grew up with not many ties to her culture, leaves her Tennessean town with the New York City skyline in her eyes. Her plans to make it as a writer lie straight ahead of her, even with her exs harsh words running through her mind, or so she hopes. After making it into NYU and slowly going through her masters course, she starts verbally sparring with her arch- nemesis - Aiden Huntington. When their professor finally has enough and offers an ultimatum - leave the class or partner up to write a book - Rosie and Aiden have no choice but to work together. As days turn to weeks and weeks turn to months, they slowly realize that perhaps they may not hate each other as much as they thought they did. While writing their manuscript their feelings come pouring which in turn leads them to exploring each other. Only when it comes out that Aiden and Rosie are competing against each other for a prestigious and life changing award, their love story is once again at risk of crumbling. Can they make it through this stage of life or are they destined for an unhappy ending?

Okay, so I absolutely ate up this book. I was given an ALC via NetGalley and I’m so glad I was able to listen ahead of the publishing date. Frankie was an amazing narrator and I couldn’t wait to listen to the book as soon as I jumped in my vehicle.

Some TWs to mention: death of a parent (MMC), mentions of cancer, mental abuse and manipulation towards MMC (by parent). There are likely others I missed so be sure to look into it. Some tropes include: rivals/nemesis to lovers, forced proximity, enemies to friends to lovers, school (college) romance.

Thank you so much to Author Katie Holt and RB Media for the ALC of Not in My Book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book! I had high hopes since I was obsessed with the cover. I’m so happy that I wasn’t disappointed. I bounced back between the e-ARC and audiobook and I really enjoyed the narration as well. You could clearly differentiate between different characters which is important in an audiobook for me.

The story has enemies to lovers, great banter but was also about much more than their love story. Rosalinda and Aiden made for such a cute pair! There were opposites who with a slow burn romance just clicked. I really loved the story and her writing. The story felt original to me. I am looking forward to reading whatever she writes next!

Got this as an ALC, (thank you recorded books!)
Frankie Corzo was a great casting choice in my opinion!

Not in My Book was a relatively strong debut from Katie Holt . I’ll probably tune in for her upcoming releases.

I’d best describe this as January and Gus (from Beach Read by Emily Henry) if they were a bit more immature and collaborated to produce the most profound piece of romantic literature: The Hating Game by Sally Thorne, of course.

No, but seriously, I really enjoyed parts of this, like their relationship progression. It built slowly, and I found myself internally screaming at them to kiss. Some scenes were genuinely romantic -I swooned and laughed along the way.

That said, some parts were corny. Since they’re co-writers on a litfic/romance mashup (which, based on the snippets, was honestly pretty boring), the story served as a way to show the MMC’s perspective. Essentially, the book they were writing became a self-insert for both characters to communicate with each other. Cute in theory, but it was cheesy and redundant in execution.

I also wasn’t a fan of the MMC’s gaslighting during the third-act conflict or how he used sexist critiques of the romance genre as a jab to the FMC calling him a pretentious litfic writer. It was very off-putting, and I didn’t like how those critiques were positioned as equally valid—especially as the book addresses how academia systematically favours litfic by white male authors. Her writing romance, being a woman (and a non-white one at that), results in her being taken less seriously , since romance is often dismissed as uninspired and frivolous.

This was such a good book! The things I liked most about it are the fact that it has a love story within a love story. I think that’s difficult to write, but the author achieved it really well. Even though the two are intertwined, you could also see the slight differences and I enjoyed seeing the excerpts at the end of each chapter from Aiden and Rosie’s book.

I also enjoyed the little spice that we got. The two characters had so much tension, you could tell that they needed to work it out desperately (and did!)

The friendships and friend characters that we got to see were also fun. Logan was so funny, he made me laugh out loud at something he said towards the end.

Now onto the audiobook aspects of the story, since I read it through the audio format, primarily. I did have the ebook of it as well, but the audio was dominating.

I think the narrators voice fit with each character that was being voiced. I especially loved the Spanish, from the mother and Rosie occasionally. As someone who knows/understands Spanish, it was lovely to read/listen to it spoken so well. I did have to put the audiobook on 2.5x, as opposed to my normal 1.75-2x speed because it was sorta slow, but I didn’t mind it too much.

The narrators voice and the story fit well together in my opinion. I don’t know if I would necessarily recommend the audio format of this book vs print/ebook but it was still well done. I’d recommend it if you didn’t know how to pronounce Spanish, but otherwise, I think it’s better as an ebook or print book.

It didn’t get confusing when there were excerpts read, or when there were scenes of the book they were writing in the book, but I think I would’ve gotten confused if I didn’t see it in the ebook. I would’ve thought the characters were thinking/saying it out loud, besides the fact that the character names were different.

I love third act breakups because it makes the book more devastating to read, but some things said kind of irked me away from their relationship. There could’ve been more groveling in my opinion, but that’s just me. I still enjoyed the book!

I can't believe I just finished this book. Without a doubt one of my favourite books this year.

It's been so long that a romance book has made me feel like this, alive. And the fact that they were writing their story made it ten times better, loved how they would communicate through it. Like where do I sign up for something like this to happen to me plssssssssss.
I also felt so connected with the characters, I laughed and cried a lot with them.