If it doesn't write poems about how he dreams of my writsts... I don't want him

God, this was a FANTASTIC debut! I was so engrossed from the beginning with the beautiful prose and imagery. The tension between Will and Leigh was so sooo incredibly palpable and I ate up every single interaction. I'm not really a big poems person, but I absolutely devoured every single poem in this book. They were so beautiful. This book is a bit reminiscent of Beach Read by Emily Henry and You, With a View by Jessica Joyce. I loved every second!

Hello! Meet the new favorite book that I binged in 4 hours last night. I started with the audiobook and then I was completely obsessed I stayed up an extra hour reading this e-book. I normally do not care for poems in novels and skim/skip them but I really enj0yed these. I connected a lot to the main character-my artwork was always seen as kind of "bubble gum pop" compared to the deep artwork of my peers-along with her people pleasing tendencies. The romance was so swoony and the buildup/push and pull of it all was so perfect. Really loved this one!

The audiobook really helped draw me in. I liked how the narrator read the poetry in the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for my ALC!

You Between the Lines’ premise is enticing with the enemies to lovers and chosen family tropes. While Leigh and Will have sweet, scattered moments, their romantic connection is not convincing enough and has an underdeveloped feel. The issues that caused Leigh and Will to drift away from each other in high school seemed exaggerated, and neither appears equally lovable, vulnerable, or fallible enough to keep a reader engaged.

The book could have benefitted from having a dual point of view (Leigh and Will’s) instead of just Leigh’s. I really wanted to swoon with this title, and sadly, it did not work for me.

This is romance at its finest, true and utter perfection. It is a love letter to people pleasers and thought daughters, and men with glasses, sweater vest, and sluttly little tote bags. This masterpiece has captivating prose, relatable characters, and did I mention the male yearning?? Will is absolutely a goner for Leigh, and I love him so much. I felt personally attacked by how much I related to Leigh on a cellular level. I loved getting to see on page Leigh’s therapy appointments, who doesn’t love free therapy? I loved her character growth and reflection throughout the novel as she learns to be vulnerable. I’ve never been a poet or in an MFA program, but the problems Leigh dealt with felt so specific yet so universal that I felt myself reflecting and growing as a person while reading this book. I loved getting to see all of the ways that these two characters challenge each other and make each other better. Their chemistry was everything I could have asked for. Naymon managed to make grabbing a wrist seem like the most hot and physically intimate thing, if you know, you know.
I cannot sing enough praises for Katie Naymon. I look forward to reading anything she writes.

Side note: I read and annotated this while listening to the audiobook, and I highly recommend doing that. The audiobook narrator, Sarah Beth Goer, was fantastic! Her “Will” voice was so hot??? It was everything!!! 10/10!!

⭐ 2.75 stars ⭐

You Between the Lines had all the makings of a great will-they-won’t-they romance, but the drawn-out tension and frustrating main character tested my patience. That said, the audiobook narrator completely saved this book for me. Their performance brought the story to life, engaging even the most exasperating moments. The side characters were a delight (honestly, I wanted more of them!), and while the ending tied everything together nicely, it took a long road to get there.

The audiobook version is the way to go if you love slow-burn romances and fantastic narration.

📖 Full review here: https://thesoftandslowlife.com/you-between-the-lines-audiobook-review/

In this debut, late twenty-something Leigh enters a poetry MFA program in North Carolina, only to discover that her high school crush-turned-rival is also in the program.

Strap in for plenty of poetry, the pretentiousness that can be found in academia—the characters even admit to this, issues stemming from parental and parent-child relationships, longstanding grudges, fear of commitment, and imposter syndrome.

This is told in single POV, so we get lots of Leigh telling us that she can’t be with Will.

Throw in a highly coveted fellowship position that they both want, and Leigh’s distrust of Will grows even more.

I did like the notes they make for each other in the margins on poems and appreciated that, in the end, Leigh does show growth and Will opens up more. Ultimately, though, this seems like a case of a book just not being right for my mood when I read it.

Sarah Beth Goer narrates the audiobook, and I feel like she was well-cast for the character. Since this book is written in single POV, we have a single narrator situation here.

I received an advance copy of the audiobook from Hachette Audio. All review opinions are my own.

Can we take a moment to talk about how cute the cover art is?! Buying to display on my bookshelf immediately!

You Between the Lines is the debut novel from Katie Naymon and is a great introduction to her writing style. If you are a fan of Taylor Swift and her lyrics, the poetry in this novel was very much Taylor Swift coded.

Our FMC, Leigh was at times unlikable so I think a dual POV would have greatly improved the story for me. I wanted to see things from Will’s POV and understand him more.

Lastly… so I was not a huge fan of the narrator of the audiobook and it took me awhile to get used to her voice >.< That might just be a me problem though. Might have had a better experience reading the poetry versus listening to it.

Overall, I would give it a 3.75 and consider reading the physical book to see if my rating changes.

Thank you to NetGalley and HachetteAudio for the ALC!

oh man I'm so sad about this one

the weirdest thing about being the cartoon outline of the protagonist (a people-pleasing engl major and sorority girl turned corporate lackey, who unabashedly loves commercial fiction and taylor swift's lyricism) is that supposedly the author is as well (i stalked her on linkedin, like an adult), but I think the protagonist she created ,,,,,,, cannot possibly ,,,,,,, exist?

literally during her very first day of her very first class of her MFA, leigh self-admits that she doesn't know how to do literary criticism of published work. the line was something like, "a block goes up in my mind. i just dont know how to do it."

babe. what do you mean.

overall, leigh felt like a booktok version of a "book girl" - meaning a completely inaccurate creation that was built off tropes and whims. she's mad at her male classmates for not taking contemporary poets seriously and calling them "instagram poets," and then one paragraph later will talk about how she hates the straight white male canon (go off queen) but she has only ever skimmed them - meaning she hasn't actually read faulkner or hemingway or steinbeck or any of the other authors shes's railing against. she just hates them as a concept.

babe. that's the same thing. you're doing the same thing. but i guess i shouldn't expect more from you, because you don't know how to do literary criticism?

basically she’s all hot takes and hashtag girl power and fuck the patriarchy keychain on the ground. but also she has debilitating self doubt. but also she's hung up because when she was 16 a cute boy in her creative writing class called her poem "all surface with no substance," and this novel wants you to think that's a totally valid reason to still hold a grudge ten years later when they land in the same MFA program.

alexa, play "this is why we cant have nice things"

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Forever Publishing, and Hachette Audio for this ALC in exchange for an honest review. AND THANK YOU KATIE FOR WRITING LEIGH AND WILL 🫶🏼.

I don’t know what was in this but I DEVOURED IT. I keep asking if I finished it or if it finished me because it has essentially ruined me for other romance books right now in THE BEST WAY! It hooked me from the jump and I pretty much read it straight through.

I just love a book where the characters feel real and fleshed out.

Here is what you need to know: Leigh is who you would picture if your bestie/sorority sister who is a swiftie got into an MFA program and Will is the literary hottie who carries a tote and wears slutty little glasses, and they just happen to know each other from high school. Oh did I mention Leigh had a HUGE crush on Will? Bring out the forced proximity. ;)

I have gotten more into audiobooks the last year and when I saw this one on NetGalley I had to request it. Sarah Beth Goer did a phenomenal job with the audio.

Audiobook details:
- one narrator
- was able to clearly distinguish between each of the characters
- the voice acting was excellent, I could feel the emotion behind her performance
- I did not mind her man voice- this is always tricky with only one narrator and SBG killed it in my opinion
- Leigh's portrayal felt real and raw- and let's be honest Leigh is going through it in this book and I felt like Sarah did her justice
- if you are an audiobook person I think you will truly enjoy this one!

You Between the Lines was a great listen! The narrator was perfect for the book and did not affect but accentuated the story!
I enjoyed the storyline tremendously and fell in love with Leigh and Will, rooting for them to make it!! I hurt for the both of them, as well, with their family struggles! They were really the perfect match for each other!

This was a fun, quick read! It felt very literary in an approachable way. The love story was fun, if a little drawn out at times and the epilogue was my favorite part! I did think the spice felt a bit out of place a couple times in an otherwise very "smart" book, but I still enjoyed the whole thing overall!

As a huge fan of Katie Naymon's debut, I was thrilled to add to the experience via audio. Sarah Beth Goer brought Will and Leigh's story to life, especially highlighting the back and forth emotions that Leigh felt throughout her MFA. I laughed, I highlighted parts I had missed through my first read and I swooned over some remarkable one liners- which especially happened at the end of each chapter.

Narrator: Sarah Beth Goer
Length: 10h 3m

I listened to this book at 1x speed for the first time in ages 😮😮 and honestly, I loved the pacing. It was slow at times, but it felt intentional. Hearing the poems spoken with the perfect cadence and intonation gave me goosebumps. The narrator’s voice for the side characters was also a highlight. I think the audiobook is definitely a great way to go for this one.

5 Stars
2 Peppers
✨The Highlights✨
• Rivals to Lovers
• Former High School Classmates
• Poetry Throughout 📝
• Swiftie Love 💖
• “Get it out of our system”
• Mental Health Rep 💚
• Single POV

✨The Feels✨
This book completely stole my heart. It made me feel seen in ways I didn’t even know I needed. The way mental health—especially anxiety and depression—is portrayed is done so well. It’s a book that makes you feel, but it’s not heavy in a way that drags you down. The balance is just perfect. The themes of insecurity, people-pleasing, and shame are handled with such care, and they hit so close to home.

But the magic is in the chemistry between Leigh and Will. I could feel it radiating off the pages! Their tension is so palpable that I was literally holding my breath during every scene they shared. Each interaction left me breathless. And the writing! The poetry woven into the story is breathtaking, and I found myself marking entire pages because I couldn’t get enough of it. I’m still in awe of how beautiful the prose is. I would share so many quotes if I could, but trust me—you need to experience this for yourself.

✨The Spoiler-Free Details✨
Leigh, a former sorority girl with a passion for Taylor Swift, unexpectedly lands a spot in a prestigious poetry MFA program in North Carolina, despite her insecurities about her writing skills. But her world is turned upside down when Will, her high school crush-turned-rival, shows up as a fellow student.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Two poets who met in high school find themselves enrolled in the same Mfa program. On one side is Will who is recovering from the death of his father and his lifetime of trying to meet his father’s expectations. On the other side is Leigh who is desperate to prove her worth and overcome her self doubts while also dealing with the divorce of her parents.

This was not quite as chipper of a romcom that I’d hoped, and in fact I would call it a romcom lite. Did I enjoy it? Yes, but I was in the mood for something much lighter and, well, more romcommy.

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I was thankful to receive both an arc and audio copy from NetGalley.

I had a concentration in creative writing for my undergrad, and I know the workshop space. While I enjoyed the romance, I could not reconcile with the fact that Leigh could not take constructive criticism. The whole point of workshop is to receive feedback. I can sympathize with sensitivity to rejection, but if you are so affected by it, why would you sign up for many classes where you’d feel just that? I’m glad she was in therapy, because boy was it needed.

I also hated the fact that she judged literally everyone. Which, again, she was working on in therapy, but dang she really projected her own insecurities onto everyone. She did have these realizations and changed her behavior; but she had overhwelming stereotypes about writers.

Will was sweet and somewhat dynamic and honestly deserved someone who put more effort into him, who was kinder to him.

Overall, the book was okay. I wish the main character wasn’t fairly insufferable. The vibes were alright, though.

In regards to the narration of the audiobook, it was pretty much the only thing keeping me engaged. Sarah Beth Goer really did a great job.

2.5 stars rounded up

This was such a stellar debut and I loved it! It’s perfect for fans of Emily Henry and Jessica Joyce and I can’t wait for others to read it and to recommend it to some of the regulars at the bookstore I work at that I know will devour it.

*3.5 Stars*

This is a different romance story than I am used to. I have never read about poetry before this, but I can say that this aspect made for a great romance. I loved the different styles of poetry throughout this book and loved how it incorporated into Leigh and Will's love story. I loved listening to this book and the narrator does a fantastic job in bringing the story to life. My only downfall with this book is the lack of commitment for each character. Both Leigh and Will seemed to go back and forth on wanting to be in a relationship so much that I was getting whiplash. I did enjoy the overall story but definitely got frustrated in some areas.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the opportunity to review You Between the Lines. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

There are for sure going to be people who love this book. Setting the story in an MFA program was fun. - I almost always find it interesting to read about writers. But there were a couple reasons it didn't work for me. First, Leigh is extremely immature, and I would have liked more time dedicated to her growth. Honestly, it felt like a huge amount of her getting over her issues with Will was solved by his decision to rethink his trajectory. Second, the audiobook narrator's reading felt well-matched to the book in that it was kind of dreamy and poetic, but it was also really breathy and soft in a way that made me feel icky.

Another close reading compared to another of two poetic lovers & I didn’t like it at all. I felt like Leigh was very immature and whiney, especially for her age & her reactions to some events that happened YEARS ago & holding over her & Will’s head… ugh….

Thank you to NetGalley for my audiobook arc.

4.5 stars, rounded to 5

What a wonderful debut novel!

I found this to be a moving and beautifully written exploration of the imposter syndrome that often comes with creative pursuits.

Leigh and Will are different sides of the same coin, both incredibly talented poets dealing with self-doubt during their first year in a prestigious MFA program. As someone who’s sat through a good many art and writing critiques, I found myself relating to these characters on a meaningful level. In a field that is so subjective, so ambiguous, it can be hard to trust your gut.

I loved Leigh and can’t relate to the reviewers who find her “whiny”. Yes, she is riddled with insecurities. But you know what? Characters without flaws, without texture, are boring. And to call out Leigh for this behavior without calling out Will for the same comes awfully close to the kind of internalized misogyny this book aims to call out.

And, oh! The romantic plotline. I’m such a fan of well-written, second-chance romances. The angst! The pining! That poem Will wrote. Oof. The only issue I had was that Leigh and Will’s shared history was just shy of enough. I wish it had held a little more weight.

Before I end this review, I’d like to take a moment to praise the writing, both on the micro and macro levels. There were some really beautiful turns of phrase here. Too often I’ve read books about poets that don’t work because the character’s “talent” exceeds the actual author’s capabilities. Not so in this case. I wasn’t at all surprised to see that Katie Naymon herself graduated from an MFA poetry program.

The audiobook performance was excellent. Reading poetry aloud can be tricky, easily coming off as pretentious or overwrought. Sarah Beth Goer did a fantastic job. I listened to the audiobook version first, and then immediately bought a copy to read. I can’t wait to see it in print, to highlight it and mark it up.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for providing an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.