Book Review: Not in My Book by Katie Holt

Rating: ★★★☆☆(3/5)

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Introduction:

I want to be Rosie. Or Katie Holt. Rosie is an aspiring writer living in NYC getting her MFA in writing. Katie is a published author writing about Rosie.

I have a degree in Radio/TV and English and then a MA in English with an emphasis in Film Theory. I looked into a creative writing PhD and found a program but it only took 5 people. I was 23 and not one of the lucky 5. So I took a gap year and tried teaching. It’s now been almost ten years (still teaching) and the idea of being a full time writing student is all but a pretty pipe dream.

But I still love to read about the Rosies of the world.

Quick Facts

• Release: December 2024 Read: April 2025
• Reading Time: 6-8 Hours
• Pages: 316 Pages
• Perfect for: People who enjoy Beach Read meets the Hating Game.
• Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️
• Trigger Level:💀

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Summary: A Brief Overview (Without Major Spoilers)

From Good Reads:

Rosie, an idealistic and passionate Peruvian-American who has grown up without strong ties to her culture, 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 arch-nemesis 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 co-write a novel that blends their genres.

The reluctant writing duo can’t help but put pieces of themselves into their accidentally steamy novel, and as they slowly get to know each other, they try to put their differences aside. Meanwhile, 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.

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What Worked for Me:

The plot. The concept of boy and girl forced to work on class assignment togehter because they can’t get along sounds like a troup that I could pick out of any book store. What worked for me though was the setting and the idea of the two writing a story within a story. I have written like this before so I connect with it.

Subtly breaking down ‘What is a romance?’ Holt has Rosie talk about why she likes to write Romance books and through that she talks about what a romance is. For Rosie, it’s the Happily Ever After. I loved when her professor discusses her having to write a love story with Aiden that’s not a romance. Love stories don’t always get the happily ever after. I love films that are love stories and not romances. Books though I can’t help but want more of the Cinderella spin. Not sure why that is but this story got me introspective and I can appreciate when a book can do that.

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What Didn’t Work for Me: Trigger Warnings and Criticisms

Rosie’s age vs maturity. She is supposed to be 26. By 26 I was married and had been teaching for 3 years (4 if you count the one I did in grad school). She’s supposed to be a post grad student in her mid headed to late 20s but she acts like she’s 21-22. Little things like how she reacts to critisism and bad news to her obsession over a boy makes her seem a lot younger than she’s supposed to be.

The plot within a plot: While I do like the idea of writing a story within a story, towards the later half of the book it gets to be too much. Rosie and Aiden are writing out their issues through their character Max and Hunter instead of just communicating directly. The lack of communication between characters when it could easily fix a dramatic plot point always annoys me.

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Final Thoughts:

I struggled with finishing this book even though I liked the concept of it. When I got about half way through I just started to lose interest. It seemed like I could already tell what was going to happen and it made it hard to keep going. I would say that it would be smart to try and read this one in one sitting or two or else risk getting bored and wanting to start another book.