{"id":6823,"date":"2026-07-17T04:48:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T04:48:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6823"},"modified":"2026-07-17T04:48:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T04:48:57","slug":"extracurricular-by-rachel-lynn-solomon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6823","title":{"rendered":"Extracurricular by Rachel Lynn Solomon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ramona Wilder walks into her first college lecture having already scraped her professor\u2019s car in the parking lot and called a classmate something unprintable. It is a cold open worthy of a season premiere, and it tells you exactly what kind of ride Extracurricular by Rachel Lynn Solomon<\/em> is going to be: sharp, a little chaotic, and far more tender underneath than that opening scene lets on.<\/p>\n

The Premise, Spoiler Free<\/h2>\n

Ramona is twenty-six, a former child actor turned arena-filling pop icon who has just walked away from fame for the sake of her sanity. She enrolls at UCLA hoping for something close to a normal life, whatever that word even means for her. Nick Navarro is the recently divorced psychology professor who rations himself exactly ten minutes of self-pity a day and treats his introductory class like the best part of his week.<\/p>\n

They clash on day one. Then a private moment of panic pulls them into each other\u2019s orbit, and the friendship that follows keeps threatening to become something neither of them is supposed to want. That is the engine of the story, and Solomon runs it with real confidence.<\/p>\n

Two Leads You Actually Believe In<\/h2>\n

Ramona, past the tabloid version<\/h3>\n

The best thing about the novel is how completely it refuses to treat Ramona as a punchline about spoiled celebrities. Her panic attacks are written from the inside, all grounding exercises and the quiet counting of what she can see and touch. Her wealth is real and so is her loneliness, and Solomon lets both be true at once without begging us to pity her. Ramona is prickly, funny, guarded, and slowly, carefully brave. She reads like a person, not a headline.<\/p>\n

Nick, the optimist with a dent in him<\/h3>\n

Nick could have been a bland nice-guy foil. Instead he is quietly one of the best parts of the read. His dad jokes are groan-worthy in exactly the right way, his bond with his niece Audrey and sister Lexi gives him a warm found-family gravity, and his grief over his marriage is handled with unusual generosity toward everyone involved, his ex-wife included. He is decent without being dull, which is harder to write than it sounds.<\/p>\n

The Craft: Banter, Emails, and Present-Tense Heat<\/h2>\n

Solomon works in alternating present-tense points of view, which keeps the push and pull immediate. You are always right in the room with whoever is trying not to blush. The real charm accelerant, though, is the epistolary layer. Emails between \u201cMs. Wilder\u201d and \u201cProfessor Navarro\u201d crackle with dry, escalating formality, and the text threads (there is an entire running bit about Ramona\u2019s obsession with unhinged online product reviews) do more relationship-building than pages of description ever could.<\/p>\n

If you have read The Ex Talk<\/em> or Business or Pleasure<\/em>, you already know Solomon can make two people falling for each other feel like eavesdropping on your funniest friends. That skill is on full display. The romance earns its heat too. This runs spicier than some of her earlier work, and the physical chemistry tracks with the emotional stakes rather than standing in for them.<\/p>\n

Where Extracurricular by Rachel Lynn Solomon Shines<\/h2>\n

A quick rundown of what lands hardest:<\/p>\n

Voice: witty, warm, and specific, with pop-culture texture that feels lived-in rather than name-dropped.
\nEmotional honesty: mental health, therapy, and the wreckage of fame are treated as substance, not set dressing.
\nSupporting cast: Audrey, Lexi, and Ramona\u2019s real friends give the world weight well beyond the central couple.
\nFormat play: the emails and texts are a small joy and a smart way to fuel a slow burn.<\/p>\n

Where It Wobbles<\/h2>\n

No book landing around four stars is flawless, and Extracurricular by Rachel Lynn Solomon<\/em> has a few soft spots worth naming honestly:<\/p>\n

The professor-student premise. Even with an adult heroine and Solomon\u2019s obvious care around consent and power, some readers will find the setup uncomfortable, and the story spends real energy managing that discomfort rather than making it disappear.
\nTonal gear changes. A heavier reckoning with the way the industry treats young women arrives partway through. It gives the book its spine, but it sits a little unevenly next to the flirtier rom-com register surrounding it.
\nA tidy back half. Once the obstacles start clearing, a few resolutions land more smoothly than the messy, high-stakes setup seemed to promise.<\/p>\n

None of these sink the book. They are the reason it reads as very good rather than perfect.<\/p>\n

Themes With Real Weight<\/h2>\n

Underneath the flirtation, this is a book about autonomy: who gets to decide what your life looks like, and what it costs to take that decision back. Solomon threads in parasocial fame, the slow violence of being treated as public property<\/a>, pressure around food and body image, and the long shadow of being exploited as a child performer. It is more substantial than the premise suggests, and that is meant as a compliment.<\/p>\n

Content Notes for Reader Discretion<\/h2>\n

Surfacing these so you can decide for yourself rather than folding them into the praise: on-page panic attacks, references to coercive sexual assault (described rather than depicted), emotional parental abuse, and pressure tied to disordered eating.<\/p>\n

Who Should Read It<\/h2>\n

Reach for Extracurricular by Rachel Lynn Solomon<\/em> if you love academia-set romance, a slow burn with genuine banter, and celebrity-in-hiding stories that take their heroine seriously instead of laughing at her.<\/p>\n

If You Liked This, Try Next<\/h2>\n

The Love Hypothesis<\/em><\/a> by Ali Hazelwood, the reigning campus-romance comp and an easy next pick.
\nThe Idea of You<\/em> by Robinne Lee, for the pop-star fame and age-gap tension handled with heart.
\nFunny Story<\/em><\/a> by Emily Henry, for warmth and wit sitting beside real emotional bruising.
\nThe Ex Talk<\/em> by Rachel Lynn Solomon, her radio-booth enemies-to-lovers charmer.
\nBusiness or Pleasure<\/em> by Rachel Lynn Solomon, spicy, tender, and very funny.<\/p>\n

About the Author<\/h2>\n

Rachel Lynn Solomon is a New York Times<\/em> bestselling author who writes romance for both adults and teens. Her adult titles include The Ex Talk<\/em>, Weather Girl<\/em>, Business or Pleasure<\/em>, and What Happens in Amsterdam<\/em><\/a>, while her young adult work includes Today Tonight Tomorrow<\/em>, See You Yesterday<\/em>, and Past Present Future<\/em>. Originally from Seattle and now based in Amsterdam, she has built a loyal readership on banter-heavy, emotionally grounded love stories. Published by Berkley in July 2026, Extracurricular<\/em> is a natural next step for anyone who has followed her from radio booths and weather desks into the lecture hall.<\/p>\n

The Verdict<\/h2>\n

Extracurricular by Rachel Lynn Solomon<\/em> is a smart, sexy, big-hearted romance that mostly earns the high bar its fans hold it to. It stumbles a little where its lighter and heavier halves meet, and the central premise will not be for every reader. But the leads are worth your time, the banter is worth quoting, and the emotional core is worth the occasional wobble. Come for the hot-for-teacher hook. Stay for two guarded people learning they are allowed to want a real life, and each other.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ramona Wilder walks into her first college lecture having already scraped her professor\u2019s car in the parking lot and called a classmate something unprintable. It is a cold open worthy of a season premiere, and it tells you exactly what kind of ride Extracurricular by Rachel Lynn Solomon is going to be: sharp, a little […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6823"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6823\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}