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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
Here me out, it's a good book. I'd say it has great dialogue and strong characters, but the author could've take her own suggestions.
It's about two fiction-writing graduate students bickering in class throughout the semeters. They only bicker with noplit building or romance foreshadowing until 50% into the book. Nothing happens until the 70% mark. There's a third act breakup that was low-key lame by 80%. There is exactly a few lines of grovelling and that's it all's forgiven. So...
What to expect:
Hate to love
Bickering & yearning
Third act breakup
Four smut scenes
Good dialogue
"Slow burn"
So much potential.
It's about two fiction-writing graduate students bickering in class throughout the semeters. They only bicker with noplit building or romance foreshadowing until 50% into the book. Nothing happens until the 70% mark. There's a third act breakup that was low-key lame by 80%. There is exactly a few lines of grovelling and that's it all's forgiven. So...
What to expect:
Hate to love
Bickering & yearning
Third act breakup
Four smut scenes
Good dialogue
"Slow burn"
So much potential.
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
DNF’d at 6% because the conflict between the MCs was not for me.
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was so cute. Two rival authors end up having to work together on a book project. They are writing the book together throughout the book and it was fun to see how the book progressed and their real life relationship progressed with the book. Like a book within a book. Super fun concept and great execution.
Grumpy sunshine novel writing. Sign me up!
The FMC, Rosie, was very relatable. I laughed because as a romance author she clings to unrealistic romance even after her terrible relationship with her ex. Aiden was the classic grumpy nemesis with sex appeal and the mean boy crush. The banter was comical, but serious topics such as childhood trauma were also explored to further character development.
The spice was perfect. It was a slow burn, but truly some of the best spice I've read. It was steamy without being over the top which I appreciated.
I received this as an ARC, and I'm so happy I did. Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books. I absolutely ate this up, and I cannot wait for Holt's next book!
The FMC, Rosie, was very relatable. I laughed because as a romance author she clings to unrealistic romance even after her terrible relationship with her ex. Aiden was the classic grumpy nemesis with sex appeal and the mean boy crush. The banter was comical, but serious topics such as childhood trauma were also explored to further character development.
The spice was perfect. It was a slow burn, but truly some of the best spice I've read. It was steamy without being over the top which I appreciated.
I received this as an ARC, and I'm so happy I did. Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books. I absolutely ate this up, and I cannot wait for Holt's next book!
2 ⭐️
So much in this book is poorly developed. I don’t even know where to begin.
The premise is essentially Beach Read if it was set in a grimy NYC apartment instead of a beach front vacation home. Two authors who write different genre’s are “forced” to work together on a book that combines both of their genres.
The series of events that cause Rosie and Aiden to work together are super dumb. The teacher wants them to work together to write one book. Alternating chapters? Already an incredibly hard task for any author. Also no other students in the class have to do this. In college isn’t that kind of frowned upon? Also the teacher essentially forces them to go on a date together “for research”. What the actual fuck? If a teacher forced me to go on a date with a man I hated for a class I would report them to the Dean. That has to be illegal. Yes I know that romance novels usually have a silly and unbelievable set up to get the ball rolling but this required suspending my disbelief more than I could. Maybe it’s because I just got out of college.
Moving on to their actual personalities. Rosie comes off as spunky and confident. We never hear about her insecurity in her internal monologue or in discussions with her friends. We know she is distrustful of men because of her history with her ex but that is not the same as insecure. All of a sudden in the first sex scene she is super insecure about her body, her looks, her stretch marks, her weight, everything. I don’t understand? It felt like it was included because women would find it relatable and not because it fits with the character. I think that it’s fine to include but why did Rosie not even think about it once until that moment. I hated that. One ounce of foreshadowing please.
Aiden is pretty boring. He what, has divorced parents? That’s his tragic backstory. His dad is comically evil. I hate when people are caricatures of evil instead of actual people. Think of all the best villains in stories. They are almost always relatable or at least you can understand their actions. Aiden’s dad is an asshole because?? We don’t know. And none of that story is ever resolved.
I liked Rosie’s family but everyone just kind of annoyed me. Rosie in particular was very annoying. It is quite literally the novelization of the two most annoying people you know fall in love. And by the 10 hour mark I was DONE. (I think if I read this book on my kindle I maybe would've liked it more since I would've only been subjected to 3-4 hours of it instead of 6+ on the audiobook)
Also the narrator, she cannot do a decent male voice to save her life. It was bad.
Aiden is an objectively better writer than Rosie sorry. We get excerpts from their book as epigraphs and all of Aiden’s chapters are better lol.
I hate pea coats.
Aiden is ugly on the cover.
They somehow fucked up making chocolate chip cookies, twice? I’m a horrible baker and can manage to do cookies. And they’re both like 6 years older than me.
Don’t get me started on all the dumb miscommunication. It is the only plot this book has. I’m pretty sure at no point Aiden says he doesn’t like relationships or isn’t the type to fall in love but Rosie has convinced herself that this is the case. He basically only said he doesn't like romance novels because he finds them unrealistic. Which is 100% valid. From about the 20% mark to the 85% mark the main conflict is Rosie not thinking Aiden is serious until that is resolved and ANOTHER miscommunication shows up. Cannot stand when miscommunication is this blatant and dumb.
I did like the early chemistry the characters had. The banter was pretty good.
The sex scene written through the book 🤤😮💨. That was probably the best part of this book. But that’s kinda sad because I want to enjoy the romance and not just the physical elements.
So much in this book is poorly developed. I don’t even know where to begin.
The premise is essentially Beach Read if it was set in a grimy NYC apartment instead of a beach front vacation home. Two authors who write different genre’s are “forced” to work together on a book that combines both of their genres.
The series of events that cause Rosie and Aiden to work together are super dumb. The teacher wants them to work together to write one book. Alternating chapters? Already an incredibly hard task for any author. Also no other students in the class have to do this. In college isn’t that kind of frowned upon? Also the teacher essentially forces them to go on a date together “for research”. What the actual fuck? If a teacher forced me to go on a date with a man I hated for a class I would report them to the Dean. That has to be illegal. Yes I know that romance novels usually have a silly and unbelievable set up to get the ball rolling but this required suspending my disbelief more than I could. Maybe it’s because I just got out of college.
Moving on to their actual personalities. Rosie comes off as spunky and confident. We never hear about her insecurity in her internal monologue or in discussions with her friends. We know she is distrustful of men because of her history with her ex but that is not the same as insecure. All of a sudden in the first sex scene she is super insecure about her body, her looks, her stretch marks, her weight, everything. I don’t understand? It felt like it was included because women would find it relatable and not because it fits with the character. I think that it’s fine to include but why did Rosie not even think about it once until that moment. I hated that. One ounce of foreshadowing please.
Aiden is pretty boring. He what, has divorced parents? That’s his tragic backstory. His dad is comically evil. I hate when people are caricatures of evil instead of actual people. Think of all the best villains in stories. They are almost always relatable or at least you can understand their actions. Aiden’s dad is an asshole because?? We don’t know. And none of that story is ever resolved.
I liked Rosie’s family but everyone just kind of annoyed me. Rosie in particular was very annoying. It is quite literally the novelization of the two most annoying people you know fall in love. And by the 10 hour mark I was DONE. (I think if I read this book on my kindle I maybe would've liked it more since I would've only been subjected to 3-4 hours of it instead of 6+ on the audiobook)
Also the narrator, she cannot do a decent male voice to save her life. It was bad.
Aiden is an objectively better writer than Rosie sorry. We get excerpts from their book as epigraphs and all of Aiden’s chapters are better lol.
I hate pea coats.
Aiden is ugly on the cover.
They somehow fucked up making chocolate chip cookies, twice? I’m a horrible baker and can manage to do cookies. And they’re both like 6 years older than me.
Don’t get me started on all the dumb miscommunication. It is the only plot this book has. I’m pretty sure at no point Aiden says he doesn’t like relationships or isn’t the type to fall in love but Rosie has convinced herself that this is the case. He basically only said he doesn't like romance novels because he finds them unrealistic. Which is 100% valid. From about the 20% mark to the 85% mark the main conflict is Rosie not thinking Aiden is serious until that is resolved and ANOTHER miscommunication shows up. Cannot stand when miscommunication is this blatant and dumb.
I did like the early chemistry the characters had. The banter was pretty good.
The sex scene written through the book 🤤😮💨. That was probably the best part of this book. But that’s kinda sad because I want to enjoy the romance and not just the physical elements.
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
God I really loved this book!! The premise was super cute and provided lots of interesting and unique twists and turns in the story. It was utilized extremely well, giving the reader insight to Aiden’s, the male love interest’s, thoughts and emotions despite being written solely in Rosie’s POV. I’m a sucker for a ‘hopeless romantic/doesn’t believe in love’ trope, and Not In My Book did it meticulously. I’m super excited to hopefully read more of this authors work!!
“…no two love stories are alike. I mean, sure, most of them get their happy ending. But no one meets the same way and falls in love the same way … The only thing every love story really has in common is that it’s worth it. Love is always worth fighting for. I mean, that’s why there’s all the songs and poems and movies about it. It has to be something spectacular if everyone’s chasing it.” 📘🩷🌃
“…no two love stories are alike. I mean, sure, most of them get their happy ending. But no one meets the same way and falls in love the same way … The only thing every love story really has in common is that it’s worth it. Love is always worth fighting for. I mean, that’s why there’s all the songs and poems and movies about it. It has to be something spectacular if everyone’s chasing it.” 📘🩷🌃