Not in My Book

When I first learned about Katie Holt’s debut, Not in My Book, I was instantly intrigued. Not only do I love books about books, I’m also drawn to anything with Peruvian culture. (My husband is Peruvian and I lived in Lima for a year!) With an enemies-to-lovers romance arc and plenty of discussions around writing, I was sure I’d love this novel.

Rosie Maxwell is an MFA student at New York University, writing the genre she most loves: romance. But the cute, annoying literary fiction guy in her class, Aiden Huntington, always critiques her writing too harshly, and she’s always ready to throw it right back at him. At risk of being kicked out of their class due to the frequent arguments, Rosie and Aiden are assigned to write a novel together. How can they agree on anything, from genre to character names to how it all ends? As Aiden and Rosie spend the school year writing together and getting to know each other, their relationship starts to mirror that of their characters. But can they have their own happily ever after despite their differences?

Tropes & Narrative Devices:

• Enemies to friends to lovers
• Forced proximity
• College romance (grad students)
• Fake dating… for research!
• Book excerpts!
• First-person POV (Rosie)

What I Liked:

• Blurring lines between reality and fiction. As Rosie and Aiden get started on writing a novel together, they quickly find that they need to get better acquainted and learn to work with each other. Their advisor suggests they go on fake dates as their characters. They’re effectively getting to know each other via their characters. But how much is real and how much is their own creativity?
• Writing discussions! Romance vs. literary fiction! Rosie is a romance writer who loves happily ever afters; Aiden is a literary fiction writer who doesn’t believe in happy endings or true love. They butt heads a lot, and even more so when they have to write a book together. I loved getting to hear their different reasons for liking their preferred genres and learning how they draft together. I’d love to be an author someday myself, so these peeks into the writing process are so fascinating for me.
• Playlist for books! I was so giddy to learn that Aiden makes playlists with perfect transitions between songs… and that he makes them for the books he reads, too. I’ve been doing this for years! He went up a few points just by discovering this about him!
• Peruvian culture! One of the biggest reasons I was interested in this book is because the main character is Peruvian American. I have a personal connection to Peru: My husband is from Lima! As such, I always love reading about Peruvian characters. Here, Rosie’s mom is from Peru, and that culture is represented throughout the novel. From various foods (papas a la huancaína, lomo saltado, ceviche, alfajores, chicha morada, and so on) to restaurants (Pio Pio; I’ve eaten there!) to their Christmas traditions, so much here felt familiar and real to me.
• Their rival dynamic. Whether as enemy classmates or a couple in love, these two are argumentative to the end! They have chemistry from the beginning, and I enjoy seeing how they never fully get over their stubborn, slightly quarrelsome ways. They’re so silly.
• Excerpts from their WIP! As Rosie and Aiden work on their novel together, we get to see snippets of what their characters are up to. Those characters’ lives greatly mirror what’s happening with Rosie and Aiden, offering an extra layer through which to view their relationship. I love that it remains untitled… until the end.

Audiobook

Frankie Corzo narrates Not in My Book, primarily from Rosie’s first-person POV, but also as her and Aiden’s characters, Maxine and Hunter. The narration is full of personality, making Rosie really come to life. I also appreciate the pronunciation of Spanish words throughout. (A big pet peeve of mine is when narrators don’t do secondary languages justice! Thankfully that’s not an issue here.) This whole audiobook is wonderfully done and amplifies the story beautifully.

Final Thoughts

I absolutely loved Not in My Book. As excited as I was to read it, it exceeded my expectations. This is an enemies-to-lovers romance done perfectly! This is one of my favorite contemporary romances ever and is sure to be a novel I return to again and again. I already bought the paperback and look forward to revisiting these characters. Not in My Book is a fabulous debut and I can’t wait to read Katie Holt’s next novel!

Special thanks to Alcove Press, RBmedia, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy Not in My Book here – it’s available as a paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

Not in My Book by Author
Audience	Adult
Genre	Contemporary Romance
Setting	New York City
Number of Pages	320
Format I Read	Audiobook and Ebook (NetGalley ARCs)
Original Publication Date	December 10, 2024
Publisher	Alcove Press; Crooked Lane Books

Official Summary

DECEMBER 2024 INDIE NEXT PICK!
LIBRARYREADS TOP PICK FOR DECEMBER!

Rosie writes romance novels and listens to Taylor Swift on loop. Aiden is a literary fiction writer who doesn’t believe in happy endings. They’re about to write a book together—what could go wrong?

The Hating Game meets Beach Read in this sexy and hilarious enemies-to-lovers romance from a debut Peruvian-Tennessean voice.

Rosie, an idealistic and passionate Peruvian American, leaves her Tennessee hometown to pursue her dream of making it in New York as a writer. But her plan is derailed when she ends up in class with her archnemesis and ex-crush, Aiden Huntington—an obnoxious, surly, and gorgeous literary fiction writer who doesn’t have much patience for the romance genre or for Rosie.

Rosie and Aiden regularly go to verbal battle in workshop until their professor reaches her breaking point. She allows them to stay in her class on one condition: they must cowrite a novel that blends their genres. 

The reluctant writing duo can’t help but put pieces of themselves into their accidentally steamy novel, and their manuscript-in-progress provides an outlet for them to confess their feelings—and explore their attraction toward each other.

When Rosie and Aiden find themselves competing against each other for a potentially career-changing opportunity, the flames of old rivalry reignite, and their once-in-a-lifetime love story is once again at risk of being shelved—unless they can find a way to end the book on their own terms.