This review was originally published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Dec. 8, 2024
Earlier this year, author Casey McQuiston wrote an essay in Time magazine called “Romance Novels are Literature.”
“If we expect a great novel to tell us about humanity, romance holds a mirror to our wants and needs. If we want to study works that sit within a greater literary tradition, romance has one of the richest,” they wrote.
When one of the best, and best-selling, romance authors of this generation decides to throw down the gauntlet to book lovers everywhere to pick up a romance novel, readers take notice.
The protagonists of romantic comedies have been fighting this fight, defending the genre as if fending off a (happy, optimistic) country from war. “Come at us,” they seem to say, “but we will change your mind about the negative stereotypes of romantic comedies or die trying.”
“Not In My Book” is a smashing debut from renowned Bookstagrammer Katie Holt. The rom-com within a rom-com nods to the various tropes within the genre, especially “enemies-to- lovers.”
Rosie, a Peruvian American from Tennessee, moves to Manhattan to enter NYU’s creative writing program only to be paired to write a novel with class nemesis Aidan Huntington. Rosie has mastered the romantic genre but Aidan is drawn to literary fiction. The professor tasks them with the assignment after growing weary of their constant bickering in class.
Much of the fun in this book is their verbal volleying back and forth — Holt deserves a gold medal in writing snarky banter. The fact that other classmates take sides makes it even more fun and one expects them to pull out the real-life equivalent of the eating popcorn GIF.
Aidan has no patience for romance, and Rosie is a one woman verbal billboard for the genre, evoking it in her own life often. She sometimes wonders if she possibly lives in her head — and books — too much.
Rosie’s classmates and friends are such a well-formed group, with distinct characters, that readers will want to magically summon a group of friends just like them. At times a love letter to both New York and the state of Tennessee, this book also sings with the splendor of Rosie’s Peruvian- American heritage.
Well into the book readers might think this is a closed door romance, then — bam!
That door is kicked wide open. One might trip over a salacious sex scene they did not see coming. This happens regularly throughout the book, which readers will either embrace or find jarring.
And the “rom” part of this rom-com is strong.
“A lot of people called them overdone or predictable, but readers (including me) loved them,” Rosie narrates early in the book.
Sure, from page one readers hope/think that the main characters will get together, but it’s the journey that makes it delicious. Many rom-com haters reject the genre because of the predictability, but those that love them enjoy the journey more than the outcome.
So much in life is unpredictable and readers can’t all write their own stories. Picking up a book where the ending is easily anticipated can offer something different, something relaxing. “Not in My Book” gives exactly that — a fun read with a little spice thrown in for kicks.
With stellar pacing and warmth, this romance novel will sweep readers up as it makes the case that a cheesy love story reveals as much about human desire as any literary tome.