You Between the Lines by Katie Naymon
on March 18, 2025
Genres: Fiction / Feminist, Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Romance / New Adult, Fiction / Romance / Workplace, Fiction / Women
Pages: 368
Format: Hardcover
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No one’s more surprised than Leigh when a prestigious MFA program in North Carolina accepts her. A former sorority girl, Leigh’s the first to admit she knows more about the lyrics of Taylor Swift than T.S. Eliot, and she’s never been able to shake the “all-style-no-substance” feedback her high school crush made in their poetry workshop. Bad enough that her tattooed, New Yorker tote bag-carrying classmates have read all the right authors and been published in the country’s leading literary journals, Leigh’s insecurities become all too real when Will, that same high school crush-turned-nemesis, shows up at orientation as a first-year in the program, too. And now, he’s William, exactly the kind of writer Leigh hates, complete with his pretentious sweater vests and tattered Moleskine. Leigh’s determined to prove herself, and William, wrong by landing the program’s highly-coveted fellowship. But Will’s dead-set on it, too, and in a small cohort, they can’t keep apart for long. When Will submits an intimate poem (that’s maybe, probably, definitely about Leigh) to workshop, they’re both forced to realize there’s more to the other than what’s on the page. And what’s between the lines may be even more interesting.
The novel started off strong; the prologue set the tone nicely. The first argument, I thought: okay, yeah, that makes sense . The second time the same argument happened (think – we’re not good for each other, let’s stay friends), I thought: okay, sure, I don’t love it, but I get it. The THIRD time the same argument happened, I thought: are you KIDDING me???? Mind you, the same argument happened 6 years in the past, so in essence, the same situation presented itself 4 or 5 times. And I was over it. This book just felt too childishly written. I just wanted to tell the main characters to get over themselves. I cannot for the lift of me resonate with someone who is still upset over something someone said to her in high school, which was over 10 years ago!
I gave this novel three stars. Ultimately, this fell a bit flat for me. Leigh was unbearable and Will had some endearing moments, but at one point, I stopped caring because it just felt like we were going in circles. Maybe, if you’re an English major, this will resonate with you more.
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