You Between the Lines

Naymon makes a promising debut with this contemplative contemporary whose sensitively drawn characters express themselves through poetry. Feeling stifled by her advertising job, Leigh Simon is both delighted and nervous to upend her life by moving from Boston to the North Carolina mountains for an MFA program in poetry. The “Taylor Swift–enthusiast sorority-girl Ohioan” doesn’t fit her own preconceived notions of what a serious poet might look like, but her high school crush–turned–fellow graduate student Will Langford does. Leigh is torn between scorning his pretention and longing for his approval. As their rivalry intensifies, they each work to parse the meaning from every line the other writes—wondering which pieces are about them. Their forced proximity necessitates more trust, and they slowly open up about what drove them apart after high school and help each other cope with complicated family lives. Naymon keeps the poetry accessible, and it’s a lot of fun reading between the lines to understand the protagonists’ true feelings. Second-chance romance fans will find this hits the spot. (Feb.)