Book Review: "Not in My Book" by Katie Holt

Rosie dreams of becoming a romance novelist, even though her own love life has been less than stellar. She leaves her Tennessee hometown to pursue her masters degree at NYU, and hopefully launch her career.

But in her writing workshops, she has to deal with Aiden, who is not a fan of romance. Or Rosie’s writing. It doesn’t help that he’s a tremendously talented writer of literary fiction—as well as insufferably handsome. In every class, he tears her writing to shreds, which infuriates her, and leads to them arguing in every class.

When their feuding becomes too much to bear, their professor steps in with an ultimatum: either they write a novel together which blends both of their styles or they have to leave the class. So they reluctantly start to work together, and of course, they bring elements of the things they dislike about each other into their characters.

All of their friends and classmates think they should just sleep together already, but they both use their writing to express their feelings for one another. Little by little their barriers come down and collaborating becomes less of a chore.

But when they both wind up competing for a prestigious fellowship, it ignites their rivalry once again. Can they finally be honest with each other and admit their feelings, or will their collaboration collapse for good?

This was definitely a fun read. I think it would have benefited from a dual narrative, to get Aiden’s perspective. But the banter between the two was definitely enjoyable.