Yael is a librarian at the high school she attended, and has started filling her time and life’s purpose by leading a queer book club at the school and talking about classic high school texts in a podcast. Her roommate’s jerk of a hookup ends up volunteering for the book club - and they are constantly at each other’s throats.

Meanwhile, Yael’s podcast grows and she hires an editor and ends up developing a connection neither of them expected. Little do they know, they’re also running a book club together…

I love a double identity story, and I love the way Rachel Runya-Katz did it. Though I love the tension, the blowup often is such a big betrayal that it twists my gut. Without spoilers, Runya-Katz twisted this up a bit and I am so grateful for it (and if you’re a bit of an anxious kid like me, you’ll be grateful for it too!)

The humor, however, wasn’t to my taste. I could tell what was supposed to be laugh out loud funny, but all I did was crack a smile. And the characters’ relationship didn’t feel super deep to me like the way they experienced it. Objectively, all these things were there, but my subjective experience didn’t include those. It could very well be a different experience for someone else!

**Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC!

A cute plot! I can see many readers falling in love with Yael’s and Ravi’s story. For me, I didn’t quite buy their email exchanges / immediate divulging of personal info and did not connect to the characters.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

I appreciated the diversity in this book but , unfortunately, it didn’t quite connect with me. I found it to be very slow and took awhile to read as I was not invested in the characters.

I'm always here for a bi4bi romance as well as a secret correspondence situation so obviously I ended up liking this one. I did find the slow pacing to be problematic particularly in terms of the identity reveal taking so long - it strained credulity even for me, a lover of this trope.

This was a fun little Romance book. The story was cute and easy to read. I highly recommend this book.📚

This was a very fun enemies to lovers (or more like annoyance to lovers) rom com. I think I forever and always will struggle with how the couple initially met. However, once the heat of the story actually laid itself out, I really enjoyed it and liked it.

Both Yael and Ravi were amazing characters that I adored the whole time and just wanted to see more of. I really enjoyed the book overall.

thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I loved the slow burn and how diverse the characters were! it was definitely a read you just wanted to gobble up! the ending was resolved a little too fast for my liking but overall i enjoyed the story!

In a twist on the classic You've Got Mail trope, Yael, the school librarian, is a secret podcaster who criticizes famous classics. At least she's finally found a volunteer to help her run the school's queer book club! Oh, wait... that volunteer is Ravi, the guy she had just caught sneaking out of HER bedroom window while trying to escape her roommate after a one-night stand. Oh, and he's the new editor for her on-the-rise podcast, except both of them are unaware of each other's true identity.
I devoured this book in one sitting. Fast-paced and utterly captivating, I fell fast for Yael and Ravi (and Mia). I love a good enemies-to-lovers trope, especially when the tension is so thick you're on the edge of your seat, waiting for hate to turn into love. Whenever Ravi insists on helping Yael shelve books that are too high for her? AHHHH! In love. I love how the students root for them too.
I was rooting for Yael and Ravi individually as well. Ravi co-parents with his brother as his brother is a single dad with the most adorable child, but Ravi upended his life and moved coasts for Suresh and Mia. They sometimes clash, but as siblings do, they always come back to each other.
This book also switches POVs throughout each chapter, but it's obvious when the switch occurs, which I thought was a unique way of doing it. It took me a little bit to get used to it at first, but I really appreciated seeing both sides. Overall, I was so in love with all of the characters and the romance. So perfect.

As a fan of diverse authors AND You've Got Mail, I was really excited for this book, but it felt just a little disappointing. It's hard to say exactly what I struggled with, but I felt a little hard to connect to the characters and like there was a lot going on that there didn't seem like enough time for all the subplots to work. The friends-to-enemies part felt a little contrived for me. I wanted to like this one, but it was only okay for me.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the eARC, this review is wholly my own

Rating: 4.5/5 stars
It can be extremely difficult for me to get sucked into a book that's written from 3rd person POV, especially when I am in a reading slump. So when I first started Isn't It Obvious?, I was extremely nervous that my personal style preference combined with the aforementioned reading slump would make me enjoy the book a whole lot less. However, once I got about 3 chapters in, I think I read the rest of the book in one sitting. The characters and story were just SO good, that I suddenly didn't even notice the POV style anymore.

I absolutely loved the representation seen in this book. Both main characters are bisexual. The MMC, Ravi, is from Trinidad and the FMC, Yael, is Black and Jewish, and she has bipolar disorder and her father is married to a man. Yael is a high school librarian where she runs a queer book club and she also hosts a secret podcast that critiques high school required readings. The book club is one of the best things I've ever read about and it made my heart so so happy and the podcast was 10/10 amazing, especially the episode titles.

Not only was there intentional inclusion of varying identities (racial/ethnic, sexual, and gender) in this book, but the author includes some very important discussion between the characters about these identities and how they affect themselves and how they live/view their lives.

TLDR: I laughed, I cried, it was excellent.

A romance that I had high hopes for but that just didn't work for me. I think on paper the premise of this book appeals to me, but in terms of execution I just couldn't buy into it. The fact that the main characters were sharing these super personal emails with each other when one of them was the other's client was just not believable to me. I couldn't buy into the fact that someone would be sharing that much personal information with some they essentially have a professional relationship with, and then the "enemies" part of the plotline wasn't believable to me either. The You've Got Mail storyline is very hard to pull of, and I just don't think it was done very effectively here.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC! This book was so heartwarming and enjoyable to read, I literally caught myself smiling a few times. Yael is a school librarian by day, podcaster by night, and hires an editor to help her manage her rapidly growing podcast. The editor in question is none other than Ravi, a one night stand of her roommate who she caught sneaking out of her window and swore to hate forever. But since they are both using alternate names and solely corresponding through email for podcast business, neither of them know who the other is. “Elle” and “Kevin” slowly fall in love over email while Yael and Ravi find it harder and harder to stay away from each other in person. This book was delightful and romantic and I couldn’t put it down!

The good:
-The main characters were so well written and felt like real people, with struggles and strengths and relatable emotions. Even though I don’t have a ton in common with either of them, both perspectives were so beautifully detailed and distinct that I could feel all of the emotions they were
-The secondary characters were also really well written, and very easily distinguishable from each other
-The focus on LGBTQIA+ perspectives was wonderful to read, I loved the diversity in this book
-I loved the dual perspectives of Yael and Ravi, and the dual storyline of their real life and alter egos falling in love with each other, it was such a cool unique way to tell a story

The bad:
-Mia sometimes veered into “precociously unrealistic child in a book” territory which is a pet peeve of mine, but she’s in the book a small enough amount that it didn’t affect my enjoyment much
-The ending was a bit quick, it felt like all of the problems were solved in one conversation
-Sometimes it was a bit difficult to keep track of who was emailing who

The swoony:
-This book was so dang romantic and I loved the slow-burn tension Yael and Ravi had, the payoff felt earned
-I loved the support Yael and Ravi gave to each other, virtually for a good portion of the book, and then in person towards the end
-Since the book is dual perspective and so well written (I cannot emphasize enough how well written this book is) I found myself falling in love with both of them
-It had perfect amount of spice for me, it never overtook the plot

This was my first book by Rachel Runya Katz, but it will definitely not be my last!

I have been obsessed with "You've Got Mail" retellings since I read Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett in 2016. Have I ever seen You've Got Mail? No, LOL, but that's besides the point. I LOVED this book. It is unapologetically and casually queer. The MCs are both bi. Yael is a school librarian and runs a queer book club (I loved that they discussed actual queer books, many of which I've read!). I loved Yael's podcast, especially her podcast titles. Like Rachel Runya Katz's other books, there's BIPOC-Jewish representation. Ravi is from Trinidad (he's Afro-Caribbean and Indo-Caribbean); I assume Katz had sensitivity readers to help accurately represent this identity, but I personally can't comment on it. Yael also has bipolar disorder, and she goes through one or two mini episodes in the book.

I thought the third act dragged after the reveal. The pacing up to that point was great, but the third act breakup felt long.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the e-ARC of this book!!!

Cute, fun read but not incredibly memorable. Others have said they had a hard time connecting to the characters and I felt similarly. Good for a quick romance read but not sure I’d return to this.

I wanted to love this but had trouble connecting with the story! Wished the characters were a bit more developed.

Yael es una bibliotecaria escolar y creadora de un podcast literario, y Ravi es un diseñador gráfico freelance que acaba de mudarse a Portland para ayudar a criar a su sobrina después de que su hermano se separara.

La historia arranca con un encuentro inusual y bastante incómodo: Yael se despierta una mañana y descubre a Ravi intentando escabullirse por la ventana de su habitación tras pasar la noche con su compañero de piso. Lo que parece una anécdota aislada se transforma rápidamente en una convivencia forzada cuando Ravi se presenta, sin saberlo, como voluntario en el club de lectura queer que Yael dirige en su escuela.

A través de esa cercanía forzada, van desarrollando una relación llena de tensión, complicidad y un crecimiento emocional mutuo.

__

Hay un detalle que me resultó difícil de pasar por alto y que me impidió disfrutarla al 100%: la aventura de una noche de Ravi no es solo con el compañero de piso de Yael, sino que es uno de sus mejores amigos.


Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest

Isn't it Obvious? was a cute, easy read that I'd recommend to a friend. I love the fact that there is plenty of diversity and representation and it is done in a way that feels natural and not forced at all. The characters all had layers that were explored and a depth to them. I would honestly love if it were a series because I'd be down to read a book about Charlie or Gina or Suresh! There was a bit of spice but nothing too over the top. Easy enough to skim past if that's not your thing. Overall, just a fun book to read and looking forward to more from this author!

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

i really enjoyed this book. the author is a new discovery for me! i will be checking her books for sure!!

I loved this book so much! Amazing queer rep, spicy romance, an enemies-to-lovers trope with a little added twist, and touching on super important topics of identity like race, sexuality, and gender. I highly recommend ISN’T IT OBVIOUS to anyone who enjoys a good romance with some substance. I couldn’t put this one down!

This was SO GOOD. I love a queer love story. I appreciated how well the characters developed and fell in love with them.