Not in My Book
Ratings8
Average rating3.7
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.
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This book is such a fun read, especially if you took some creative writing classes yourself! It follows two writing students who can't stand each other - Rosie's all about romance novels, while Aiden's a literary snob. After their rivalry gets out of hand in critique, they are forced to choose: write a book together or drop the class. Neither of them can drop the class, and literary hijinks ensue.
Tropes-wise, this book has Enemies-to-Lovers/Slow Burn/Rivals/Forced Proximity/Grumpy x Sunshine. Spice-wise, I would rate this a 3/5
2.5 stars.
The smut was cringe huhuhu. I listened to the audiobook that I couldn't just close the book and roll me eyes. This started strong for me, I like the MA setting and the range was okay, but in the end, Aiden has so much to work on, and I don't think I can forgive that easy like how Rosie did.
And girl, in this economy, just accept it when a guy is so willingly desperate to pay for your food.
I experienced this rivalry in high school, except there wasn't any romantic tension beneath it. At least, not on my side. I still refer to him as “my bully” to people today. I'll never know what was going on in his head. Anyway, that made the first section of this book so hard to read. It was so real. I had flashbacks to the cruel things that were said to me, making me the class entertainment when I just wanted to be left alone. And I got so angry thinking about all the people in high school who thought it would be such a riot if we showed up at a reunion married with kids.
I was determined to hate this book. But it made me cry. Their vulnerability, taking the chance on each other. It felt real in the right way, and I stopped projecting my trauma on them. Genuinely enjoyed this one.
