When Rosalinda “Rosie” Maxwell and Aiden Huntington can’t help but constantly disrupt their grad school writing workshop with their incessant bickering and disdain for each other, their professor gives them a choice. Learn to work together by co-writing a book with each other, meshing their preferences for romance and literary fiction, or be forced to drop the class entirely.
I enjoyed this book. The premise is quite meta - rival writers forced by their grad school professor to co-write a book within the book. I thought it was a fun format to close each chapter with an excerpt from their fictional work. As the story progresses, the excerpts follow the development of our main character’s relationship to each other. The tension build to the breaking point in this slow burn was right on the edge of painful. We know where we’re going to end up, but it’s going to hurt a little getting there, and I love that for us.
I also loved the peek at the author’s Peruvian by way of Tennessee heritage through Rosie’s family and holiday traditions. It’s a fun way to showcase her culture as we get to experience it alongside Aiden for the first time.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys snarky banter and a good enemies to lovers slow burn.
Thank you to NetGalley, Alcove Press, and Katie Holt for the opportunity to review this ARC.