This one was a really good slow-burn missed connection story. Leigh and Will were in the same high school writing class and Will had given Leigh hypercritical feedback during class, basically derailing her crush on him. We fast forward ten years later and they’ve just started the same Masters of Fine Arts program together and it’s a pretty small cohort. Things are awkward between them, as expected, especially when we learn that they had seen each other once six years ago (also ending badly). It was interesting to see these two people continuing to skirt around their feelings for each other and not quite communicate directly. Everything is sort of hiding in their poetry and creative work and they’re both deeply insecure. It was fun seeing the dynamic with all their classmates and working through their career aspirations. Overall, the book kept me hooked, even if all the poetry went over my head.

god this book hurt SO GOOD!!!! angsty romance books are my favorites and katie’s debut was promptly added to the list.

leigh is finding her footing after her parents’ separation and feeling restless at her ad agency job. she applies for a spot in a mfa program and, to her surprise, gets accepted. the surprises keep coming when will, her crush from high school who rejected both her writing and her 6 years ago, is also in the program. when their cohort is up for a prestigious fellowship, they try to stay away from each other. they try to just get it out of their systems. it doesn’t work.

I adored this book so much. leigh is messy, imperfect, and so god damn relatable. will is soft, quiet, and unreadable. but in the little moments in their interactions, we get to see him. and how much he cares for leigh. there’s an undercurrent of nostalgia woven into the pages that hits so hard. the yearning between leigh and will had me giddy, frustrated, sad, happy, and every emotion possible. the two of them are perfectly imperfect and their journey was angsty and beautiful and healing.

leigh’s mental health journey was so well done. she is THE pathological people pleaser and her therapy scenes were so real. her character growth had me misty eyed and I loved every second of it. will’s journey with his insecurities and challenging relationship with his dad hit so hard. it was so complex and moving and I would protect him and his softness forever!!

this book was easily my favorite of january. the two imperfect poets messily falling in love and figuring their shit out are gonna stay with me forever. the two of them saw each other, learned to be vulnerable with each other, and refused to shy away from the hard stuff. even if it hurt. even if it was scary.

thank you so much forever publishing for the arc!

what to expect
⟢ so much delicious angst
⟢ mfa poets, and sort of rivals
⟢ so much yearning
⟢ anxiety and therapy rep
⟢ finding your people and learning to be vulnerable

A truly original romance! Such wonderful tension in this story. This will be a welcome read to warm hearts in the dregs of winter. Will be looking forward to reading whatever Katie Naymon comes with next!

A book about poets that felt like poetry while reading it. There are so many lines throughout that felt like they were plucked from the deepest part of emotion and had me rereading them multiple times. A story about yearning and not just for another person (though yes and hard) but about yearning to be accepted. Leigh and Will’s insecurities are so real and felt like a personal attack at times. The moments of clarity from Leigh with her therapist had me crying and made her feel so human even when she was flawed.

I couldn't put this book down once I picked it up - I was so drawn in to Leigh and Will's history and their present, being flung together as rivals in a small MFA class. I felt like the connection and the pining was so palpable between these two and every time they got close and then pushed each other away, I could feel the tension between them. I loved seeing Leigh's work on herself mirrored in her work, in the way she learned to give more of herself to the people around her and to the page. You'll gobble this up if you've ever found yourself thinking a poem about Ohio has prose that's sublime, you competed in power of the pen in middle school, or you've secretly been hung up on the salutatorian from your high school graduating class (Or if Beach Read by Emily Henry really spoke to you - perhaps a more common occurrence!)

Solid 4 star book.

I don't know that I was smart enough to read You Between the Lines. So much of the poetry/English stuff sailed right over my head. It's clear Katie Naymon knows what's she's writing and doing. What I did understand was beautiful, but I lost a lot in the jargon. As an accountant, I wouldn't start out using accounting terms without first giving a real life comparison of what I'm discussing for those that don't have accounting degrees.

I really enjoyed the friendships, Kacey and Gen were top tier. I loved the moment with Gen during spring break where Leigh was lashing out and Gen, who would have been totally justified popping off, just... didn't. So much respect for that, that takes a strong confident person to listen and recognize what's being said comes from a place of hurt.

There were a few lines I highlighted because the author wrote them so beautifully. When they were in the bedroom during the Halloween Party and she wrote "...his thumb dragging up and down in a constellation so perfect, it's as if he already knew my body's cartography." WHAT?! Get out of here with that poetic beauty (no pun was intended there) I loved that. And of course, she got me in the corn maze with, "I will hold on so tightly," *Sigh* So good.

I didn't love Leigh's parents. I know that's the whole entire point, but I really just wanted to slap them around. Going to a huge event for her and bringing their drama with it? No, you shouldn't have even come. Wait until she's done and FaceTime her later to tell her, once she's completed one of the bigger moments off her life. Of course, then we wouldn't have had all that we did and the book would have gone in a different direction, but I was SO MAD at them.

I immediately ran to request this arc when so many of my friends have been raving about it!

I actually put off reading it because I was so nervous. It wouldn’t live up to the insane expectations. I had in my head over it. I’m so glad to say that I had the best time reading it!!

Starting the book, I was nervous because Leigh felt a little conceited hanging onto one negative comment by a cute boy in high school. But putting myself back into my old high school shoes I probably would’ve done the same thing. And that exact cycle continued throughout the entire book. Leigh doing something questionable and me, realizing I would have or do the exact same thing.

Leigh struggles with anxiety, people pleasing and feeling good enough in her craft. Leigh is me. I am Leigh. How Katie could crack my brain open and put everything on the page without ever meeting me is crazy.

I’ve never read a romance that orbited poetry like this book has. I loved reading poetry in high school and because of this book I’ve checked out a few poetry books from my local library to get back into it. This book was inspiring and frustratingly relatable, beautifully written, and just absolutely lovely.

Thank you to NetGalley for this early copy for an honest review!

Tomorrow is Katie Naymon’s book birthday!! I was so lucky to get a copy of YOU BETWEEN THE LINES earlier, and it didn’t disappoint! You can still preorder today, or grab the book from your local bookstore tomorrow!!

A former sorority girl starts a prestigious poetry MFA program only to discover that one of her classmates is her high school crush-turned-nemesis—​and he can’t stop writing about her.

I died over this pitch! It’s giving January and Gus, the grad school years, and the tension was beyond delicious! Leigh’s growth arc was amazing, and it was so much fun getting to know all the side characters. Will and Leigh’s journey to each other was amazing, and there was a mirror scene that will live rent free in my mind forever!

Can’t wait to see what Katie comes up with next!

3/5 ⭐️

What a disappointment. This had a strong start - Leigh and Will are both in a MFA program for poetry (they have history back from high school) and they are competing for a prestigious fellowship. Leigh and Will had great chemistry and I was pretty invested in the story. But there were aspects that just slowly started to grate on me.

Leigh got on my nerves. I can understand feeling insecure and having imposter syndrome in a graduate program but Leigh was acting like someone in her early twenties and not someone who was almost 30. She barely seemed to learn from her mistakes, there was some growth at the end but not enough. She went into the program writing poetry that centered mostly around pop culture (which is cool, own it) and she just spent the entire time complaining about how her classmates "didn't understand her" and how she "didn't want to write like or read anything that was 'elitist.'" She used this interchangeably with not wanting to read anything from 'white, straight (weird that she is assuming sexuality) men.' Which like ok you can do that, but then why are you in a MFA program and why completely disregard when you could just read more diversely?

Leigh's insecurities coupled with Will's inability to communicate and his own baggage made for the most frustrating miscommunications and problems. They honestly seemed pretty toxic for one another and I did not believe that they would or should have stayed together.

I think this could have been better if we could have seen more growth from Leigh (and Will) throughout. It was just too frustrating for me and I no longer was rooting for Leigh and Will to be together by the end.

Thank you to NetGalley, Katie Naymon, and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for my early access to this.

haven’t been obsessed with a book in a long time but I am OBSESSED with this one. Leigh and Will who haven’t seen each other in years end up in the same MFA program. While not necessarily enemies their relationship is strained. Watching their relationship evolve throughout the book was beautiful but also frustrating in a good way. I LOVED all the Taylor Swift/One Direction references. Leigh overcoming how she sees herself and her relationships with her parents and others was a difficult journey but one that I felt deeply. Will having to sort out his feelings for Leigh while also dealing with his unresolved feelings over his father was an incredible journey to watch.
The only thing I struggled with was Leigh’s situation with Lucas. It had, what I felt like, a rushed/incomplete ending. It didn’t detract from the book, but I felt something was missing.
Loved all the side characters in the MFA program and Gen!

I thought the writing in this book was really great—Katie Naymon’s storytelling is beautiful and there were a lot of moments that resonated with me. I wanted to love this book more than I did but a couple of things held me back.

Since this book follows two poetry MFA students, there’s a lot of poetry woven into the story. I think this is just a me problem but poetry doesn’t really resonate with me. I don’t fully understand it and because of that I feel like I missed out on a deeper connection to the story. If you love poetry though, I think you’d really appreciate this aspect of the book.

I also found Leigh, the FMC, to be incredibly sensitive, constantly assuming others were judging her while also judging them just as harshly. I think a lot of readers will relate to her struggles with self-doubt and I can recognize parts of my younger self in her but at this point in my life I just found her frustrating. Will, the MMC, was also difficult for me to connect with at first because he was so indecisive. But in the second half of the book he felt much more invested, thoughtful and like a true book boyfriend which made me enjoy him a lot more.

This book is definitely angsty, which I usually love, but these characters were so deep in their own heads that it felt like they were constantly self-sabotaging. Still, the writing was gorgeous and I’d absolutely read more from this author. Even though the story didn’t fully work for me I think the right reader is going to love this.

Infinite stars 💫

You know when you read a book that reminds you of when you first fell in love with reading? It brings you right back into the world of fiction and hits your heart straight on? This was that book for me. I cannot believe this a debut - but WHEW if it doesn’t go viral and become a best seller I’m gonna be rioting. Katie deserves all the praise and acknowledgment for this absolutely beautiful and stellar work. I haven’t read a romance novel this intricate + compelling in a long time. I absolutely love Will and Leigh… I will miss them so much!! I didn’t want this book to end. I felt every possible emotion here. Idk what Katie put in this, but man it’s just literature CRACK.

* I want to start by thanking the author and publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. Pretty cute!

You Between the Lines by Katie Naymon is a beautifully written story about love and self-discovery.
This is one of those books that feels very realistic but also provides a great escape from reality at the same time. If that makes sense. I will definitely be reading more from this author!!

This was a gorgeous, romantic and healing read. A second chance romance that me turning pages and held all my attention til the end. I adored the setting, Leigh and Will’s banter and arcs. Both characters sharing their vulnerabilities tugged at my heartstrings. It is a fabulous read for book lovers and poet lovers alike.

This book is a delightful blend of academic rivalry and unexpected romance. Leigh, a former sorority girl, steps into the intimidating world of a prestigious poetry MFA program, only to find her high school crush-turned-nemesis, Will, among her peers. Their journey is a back and forth of competition and undeniable chemistry, set against the backdrop of poetic expression and personal growth. There is tension that comes off the page and the will-they-won't-they energy. I love a good former crush to lovers story and this one delivered. I did an immersive read of this book and think that the narrator definitely adds to the story and I enjoyed that. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the free eARC. All opinions are my own.

Instagram post will be live 17Feb25.

I absolutely adored Katie’s writing, and this book! 🥰

⭐️: 5/5
🌶️: open door, a few scenes

💭 overall thoughts:
I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this one. Poetry isn’t really my “thing” - I have nothing against it, I’ve just never really been interested/into it.

I really appreciated the way it was used in this story, showing the development of both main characters. It was a big part of how they got to know each other, in both their own writing & the feedback they gave.

Leigh has this sort of imposter syndrome for who she is - she likes “girly” pop culture, but feels that makes her less of a “serious” writer.
She’s drawn to men like Will, who make her feel validated - or not.

Leigh spends a lot of time doubting herself, and relying on others’ opinions. She (thankfully) has a lot of growth throughout the story.

I think the main theme of You Between the Lines is what it means to be vulnerable, to be yourself, whether in writing or just in general. That was certainly relatable, and I enjoyed reading both characters working through this.

I generally prefer dual POV, but single really worked well here.

*side note - I seem to strongly have a thing for Wills 😅
(Beautiful Player, Perfect Fit, In Spades - to name a few)

🎧 audiobook thoughts:
I haven’t heard Sarah Beth Goer before, and I loved her narration!
She really worked for me as Leigh, and I didn’t mind her “male” voice (which can really throw me off with others sometimes 🙃).

read if you love:
📝 MFA students (poetry writers)
🏫 academic rivals to lovers
📓 former high school classmates
🥹 longtime crush/pining
🧠 mental health rep
🫶🏼found family
💖 single 1st person pov

✨ books/authors with similar vibes:
♡ Clare Gilmore (reminded me of Perfect Fit but I’m not sure why!)

Thank you Forever, Hachette Audio & NetGalley for advanced copies. All opinions are my own.

I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH! I loved it so much I preordered it and as a recovering people pleaser, I could relate to so much of Leigh's struggles and being able to accept that she is enough. Her push and pull had me hanging on to the very end to see if they'd end up together and when they proposed to each other it was so cute I had happy tears in my face. Can't wait for what this author will write next!

“I can’t write a single poem where you don’t exist.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you forever for the gifted eARC and early copy!

The vibes of this book were just immaculate 🥹 it’s so cutesy but also so real and surprisingly spicy! I adored the mental health rep and the character growth 🥰

Leigh is seriously me ✋ I am also a people pleaser who struggles with anxiety, so I related to her so much. And her growth was just 🤌 it was so beautiful watching her learn to love herself and her words!

“I constantly read the room and cater my movements, words, thoughts, which-comma-goes-where to other people.”

Will was a very vulnerable character and I really enjoyed it! You can see him struggle to live up to the persona her puts on and seeing him finally letting that go was so sweet 🥹

The build up to this romance was so friggin good!! They’re both too nervous to admit their feelings and they’re constantly trying to avoid being hurt, which leads to a lot of complications. I was fr starting to get so upset with Leigh bc she was self-destructing, but oh my gosh it ended SO WELL 😭

“I love everything you’ve been, everything you are, everything you could be.”

Overall Impressions: "You Between the Lines" is a solid debut novel. There were parts I really enjoyed, though there were also a few aspects that didn’t quite resonate with me.

The author's writing style is engaging, though the poetry and Taylor Swift references didn’t fully capture my interest.

The romance, while full of tension, wasn’t quite what I was hoping for. I appreciated the dynamics between the characters, but their constant disagreements and back-and-forth were a bit repetitive at times, reminding me of some of the more dramatic relationships often seen in high school.

On a positive note, the book addresses mental health in a thoughtful and meaningful way. It provides an opportunity for readers to reflect and build greater empathy and understanding around these important issues.

In conclusion, while “You Between the Lines” has a lot of potential, it didn't quite reach the five-star level for me.

A big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.