The main character was so whiny throughout the entire story. I enjoyed the plot but didn’t really root for the romance of it all. I kind of hoped it didn’t end happily because of how the two treated each other.

Leigh and Will were the perfect romance! Sweet, sexy, and heartwarming, this book is perfect for fans of Emily Henry and book lovers.

DNF - I had high expectations for this book, but after starting it, my attention was not grabbed in the way I prefer. This is not necessarily a bad book, but I'm not interested in finishing it at this time.

Who doesn’t love a good slow burn? Waiting…
Seriously this book was good and such a good read. It was however a little slow to get into for me and I found Leigh a little less likable than I’d of liked. Overall 3.25.

The narration of this book was good - I tore through it in two days at work. As an MFA grad, I loved the setting/setup, and as a fellow native Ohioan/Clevelander who also competed in Power of the Pen, I adored all the Cleveland/Ohio references. I thought the world of the MFA program was well-drawn.

Unfortunately this one didn’t resonate with me. I feel like if the story would have fully taken place at the high school age I would have liked it better, but overall the FMC was pretty insufferable and immature for her age.

The story starts out with the MCs meeting in high school, having crushes and then it doesn’t work out due to the feedback of a poem that one of them wrote. Flash forward to them now remeeting at a writing fellowship and the FMC has been holding onto things for YEARS that just don’t make sense to me.

The FMC was frustrating at times to me too. He felt very back and forth and i just couldn’t stand that.

The story line of the book was good, i liked where it was going but I just couldn’t stand either of the MCs, so i didn’t resonate with the characters at all.

I did like the narrators of the story, but i just couldn’t get passed the MCs.

This man!!!!!! this man. Oh god god I cannot get over how good this book is. and for a debut too??? absolutely masterful, gorgeous, a f*cking dream. also leigh is me, i am leigh and i’m not ready to talk about it. gusjanuary truthers this book is for US!!!!

A promising debut! I will keep Katie Naymon on my radar in the future. I would have given this story 4 stars, but the audiobook narrator drove me crazy (sorry!). Way too breathy and dropped the second half of sentences. I love the emphasis on writing, poetry, and self-discovery. At some points, the romance felt underdeveloped and like it was taking the backseat. I would have loved to learn more about Will & see more of him and Leigh in a healthy spot.

I felt a little too giddy listening to the audiobook of You Between the Lines. I can totally myself reading this book multiple times.

I felt obligated to like this book because the publishing date was my birthday, but luckily it's even good without that as a caveat. I am hard to please with romance books, but this one actually worked relatively well for me. There were definitely some things that annoyed me, and I can't say that the characters are my favorite romantic couple of all time, but I did still truly enjoy the story.

Having slightly older characters who are going back to school felt fresh and enjoyable to me, and I really liked all of the side characters. Leigh is sweet, but also SO self-conscious (while also having a superiority complex??) that it made it hard to feel for her at times... but I think that may also be because I am like that sometimes. Will was fine, but felt a bit too boring to be pined after so much by so many people. A nice, quick read if you're looking for a decent love story that doesn't feel too farfetched!

Thank you to Katie Naymon, Hachette Audio, and NetGallet for a ALC of You Between the Lines!

This listen was just ok for me. I didn't love it, but I also didn't hate it.

I thought the narrator did a great job, but the book and the love story wasn't super engaging to me. I found William and Leigh's interactions to be lackluster and I didn't really find myself rooting for them.

While there were some laugh out loud moments and I thought the characters were relatable - who doesn't have imposter syndrome? - I felt like Leigh harped over and over about not being good enough and was a bit too passive aggressive to be super likable.

3 out of 5 stars.

I really enjoyed YOU BETWEEN THE LINES by Katie Naymon. Two high school classmates who both thought they had unrequited crushes on the other are reunited in an MFA program. He’s your stereotypical lit fic cis white male and she’s a former sorority girl and swiftie with major imposter syndrome. And then they fall in love, duh. This came out a few weeks ago so you can read it now.

A Tension-Filled Academic Rivalry

You Between the Lines is a sharp, well-written romance that thrives on longing, miscommunication, and literary competition. Katie Naymon captures the intensity of an MFA program, the weight of imposter syndrome, and the complicated dynamic between two people who seem destined to orbit each other—sometimes colliding, sometimes pulling apart. While I enjoyed the book overall, it did feel about 100 pages too long, with a back-and-forth that became frustrating at times.

Leigh is an engaging protagonist, full of self-doubt but determined to prove herself, especially to the ever-serious William (formerly Will, her high school nemesis/crush). Her voice is witty, her insecurities relatable, and her journey toward believing in herself as a writer was one of my favorite aspects of the book. Will, on the other hand, remains more of a mystery. We get hints of his struggles, but his emotional walls make it difficult to fully connect with him. It’s clear he’s always liked Leigh, but his reluctance to be open about his feelings—combined with Leigh’s tendency to assume the worst—leads to a lot of unnecessary miscommunication.

The tension between them is strong, and some moments absolutely deliver on the slow-burn payoff. But the constant cycle of almost getting together, then pushing apart, started to wear on me after a while. I wanted more clarity from Will and a little less self-sabotage from Leigh. The writing itself is excellent, though, and the academic setting adds an interesting layer of competition and personal growth.

If you love rivals-to-lovers stories with plenty of angsty, intellectual longing, You Between the Lines is worth picking up. Just be prepared for a bit of a slow burn—both in the romance and in the pacing!

I read this as an audio book and the narration was great!

(Thank you to NetGalley for the audio ARC!)

This was really good for a debut novel. When Leigh and her high-school crush turned nemesis, Will are selected for a prestigious MFA program in North Carolina, how will it turn out? Sparks and poetry will fly... Sarah Beth Goer was a great narrator for this story.

Publication February 18th, 2025

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Katie Naymon’s You Between the Lines is a unique and introspective story that blurs the lines between fiction and reality. The narrative is both thought-provoking and emotionally engaging, offering a fresh perspective on self-discovery and storytelling. Sarah Beth Goer’s narration adds depth to the experience, capturing the nuances of the protagonist’s journey with skill and emotion


Thank You NetGalley and Hachette Audio

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Unfortunately this book was a DNF for me. I tried a few different times, and never made it past 50%.

First the story just didn't reel me in. I felt the main characters lacked depth and pretty much all likability. There didn't seem to be anything drawing me into their personal stories or rooting for them to get together. The plot was also so heavily about writing, and felt a bit repetitive.

Beyond that I unfortunately really did not care for the narrator. Truthfully the way that she made her voice all breathy and hyper sexual when anything remotely intimate was happening gave me some serious ick. I listen to a lot of audio books with sexy scenes and I've never cringed so hard. It honestly made me have almost second hand embarrassment feeling even though what was being read wasn't embarrassing. Really not a good choice for this book.

DNF @ 40%. I really gave "You Between the Lines" by Katie Naymon proper time to change my mind about it, and unfortunately, it didn't. I really did not like Leigh at all! She is SUCH an annoying, immature snob, almost irredeemably so. She is constantly saying that she's not a good enough writer for her MFA program even though she was accepted into it in the first place. It's not like they'll take just anyone!! Leigh's deep-seated insecurities about her writing abilities stem from an incident in high school when the guy she liked, Will, was a vocal critic of one of her works. They have plagued her ever since. Years pass, and she eventually crosses paths with Will again because, what do you know, they are in the same MFA program! Leigh proceeds to make assumptions about Will and his life with little to no frame of reference about who he is now. She keeps stating that "all he likes to read is material written by only white men," which is ironic because Leigh has approximately one personality trait: she is a sorority girl, and she'll use ~*any~* excuse to tell *~anyone~* who will listen that she is ~*the black sheep~* of her MFA program and that she's ~*sOoO different and not like other girls~* because she was in a sorority and all the other people in it are cool and emo and edgy and she's just soOoOooOOo preppy and loves pink and Taylor Swift, you guys!! VOM!!!!! I rolled my eyes so hard they nearly fell out of their sockets. Beyond this, I didn't think Will and Leigh had any chemistry, and I did not particularly want them to get together in the end. I found all of the minutiae about poetry pedantic and uninteresting, and I usually *love* books about writing and the writing process. I didn't enjoy listening to this, either, as Sarah Beth Goer was not the best audiobook narrator. She did not pull me in, and I was not particularly interested in finishing this story. I gave it a fair shot, and sometimes, that's all you can do. I feel bad about it, but this was definitely not the book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Katie Naymon, Hachette Audio, and Forever for the complimentary ALC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

I loved the story of Leigh and Will. Though both characters’ actions frustrated me at times, I appreciated the focus on mental health and the character development was outstanding. The language and poetry in the book was truly lovely. I loved how Leigh’s and Will’s relationship unfolded throughout the book. The narrator was outstanding, and I loved her voice for Will as well as the female characters.

💜 academic rivals to lovers
💜 Longtime crushes
💜 Poetry writers
💜 Found family
💜 Single pov


Unfortunately I really struggled with our FMC in this one. I found Leigh to be extremely whiney and just plain rude at times. I didn't connect with her whatsoever. Maybe I grew up too fast and had a completely different life then her but her reactions to her parents divorce at the age of 27 😱. She was flat out toxic for a good portion of the book. Not being able to connect with her really didn't help me feel the relationship and live with Will.
I did however love Will. I think if we had his pov it would have helped things as well. He was what kept me reading.



Thank you netgalley, forever and hachette audio for this ALC

I loved everything about this book! The character development of each of the characters was both believable and endearing. The diversity of characters was also very enjoyable. I deeply resonated with the main character and found myself rooting for her success throughout the book,. This was a different kind of romance book - with the characters being involved in literature themselves. It felt as if we were almost breaking the fourth wall, but we never did. It was such a unique take on a romance book. I absolutely loved it!