You Between the Lines by Katie Naymon

YOU BETWEEN THE LINES is the brand new contemporary romance novel by debut American author, Katie Naymon and selected as a February add-on pick for Book of the Month.

Centred around a will-they-won’t they relationship, the novel is full of tension, stolen glances and undeniable chemistry – and a protagonist who goes on a journey from being desperate to please others to finding her own way, and embracing her uniqueness. It also features some brilliant original poetry in the same tone and style of The Tortured Poets Society, and is perfect for (the many!) fans of Taylor Swift.

Poet-at-heart Leigh Simon’s high-powered ad agency job has left her sobbing in the bathroom and dreading Monday mornings. Burnout is imminent, so after learning of her parents’ separation, Leigh’s therapist urges her to do something just for herself for once: get an MFA and become the writer she’s always dreamed of being––the kind that writes pop culture-inspired free verse, not manifestos for diapers.

No one’s more surprised than Leigh when a prestigious 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 shared in their workshop when she was 17. 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 another first-year in the program…only now, he’s William and exactly the kind of writer Leigh hates, complete with his casual-academic menswear and tattered Moleskine.

Leigh’s determined to prove herself—and William—wrong by landing the program’s career-jumpstarting 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.