Isn't It Romantic?

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Back After This by Linda Holmes
Published by Ballantine Books on February 25, 2025
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Goodreads

From the New York Times bestselling author of Evvie Drake Starts Over and Flying Solo, a podcast producer agrees to host a new series about modern dating—but will the show jeopardize her chance at finding real love?

Cecily Foster loves to make podcasts. She fiercely protects her colleagues, dearly adores her friends, and never misses dinner with her sister. But after a disastrous relationship with a colleague who stole her heart and her ideas, she’s put romantic love on hold.

When the boss who’s disappointed her again and again finally offers her the chance to host her own show, she wants to be thrilled. But there’s a catch—actually, two catches. First, the show will be about Cecily’s dating life. And second, she has to follow the guidance of influencer and newly minted relationship coach Eliza Cassidy, whose relentlessly upbeat attitude seems ready-made for social media, not real life.

Cecily would rather do anything other than put her singledom on display (ugh) or take advice from the internet (UGH). But when her boss hints that doing the show is the only way to protect a friend’s job, she realizes she has no choice.

To make matters more complicated, once she’s committed to twenty blind dates of Eliza’s choosing, Cecily finds herself unable to stop thinking about Will, a photographer she helped to rescue a very big and very lovable lost dog. Even though there are sparks between the two, Will’s own path is uncertain, and Eliza’s skeptical comments about Cecily’s decision-making aren’t helping. On the one hand, Will seems great. But on the other hand . . . don’t they all?

As Cecily struggles to balance the life she truly desires and the one Eliza wants to create for her, she finds herself at a crossroads. Can Cecily sort through all the advice and find a way to do what she loves without losing herself in the process?

In an effort to save her job and get her own pilot, Cecily agreed to host a self-help podcast. She hated self-help, but after years of rejected pitches, she wanted her shot. So, she agreed to partner with an influencer who would arrange 20 dates for Cecily and help her find love. What could go wrong!

A hit from page one, I swear! I just love Linda Holme's style, wit, and humor. It really is her writing that has made all of her books hits for me, but I also adored the story and characters.

I learned early on that someone did Cecily wrong, so I raged but also funneled this rage into hope and wishes for Cecily to find success and get her show. It didn't hurt that this road to success was paved with hilarity. I never knew a podcast could produce so much rom-com gold, but Holmes made it happen. Cecily's dating escapades were what you would expect and resulted in some side-splitting laughter for me. Her personal journey was also noteworthy. It's incredible how deeply some things wound us and we are unable to really see the damage they have caused. Though it was not gentle, I was glad to see Cecily come to that healing place where she was ready to assert some authority over her own life and career.

But it was The Waiter aka Will, who won my heart. He and Cecily had quite the adventurous meet-cute as they raced through DC trying to capture a runaway great dane. I felt like Cecily was fated to have something with Will. When some random person keeps crossing paths with you, accept that the universe has a plan. When I learned more about Cecily, Will, and their past, I wanted them to be together even more. If you can find someone who likes and accepts you, as is, you must seize the moment and make that happen.

I haven't listened to podcasts in quite a while, but I really found my deep dive into this world enlightening. I rather enjoyed learning all the behind the scenes and ins and outs, and my appreciation for the format has definitely grown.

Overall, this was a fun and charming tale which made me laugh, smile, and want to listen to some podcasts.

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You Between the Lines by Katie Naymon
Published by Forever on February 18, 2025
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Goodreads

A former sorority girl starts a prestigious poetry MFA program only to discover that one of her fellow grad students is her high school crush-turned-nemesis—​who can't stop writing about her.

No one’s more surprised than Leigh when a prestigious MFA 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 made in their poetry workshop. 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 first-year in the program, too. And now, he’s William, exactly the kind of writer Leigh hates, complete with his pretentious sweater vests and tattered Moleskine.

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

When aspiring poet Leigh was accepted into a highly selective MFA program, insecurities were amplified when she found herself face-to-face with her former crush who crushed her. But Leigh was ready and determined to prove she deserved her spot in the program, and now she just needed to keep those old feelings at bay.

Confession - I almost DNFed this book. First there was the raging about white straight men by a white straight woman, and then there was all this talk about how Leigh isn't a "serious" person, just some former sorority girl. I don't know what the Delta Gamma chapter at Tufts is like, but the one at Rutgers was comprised of some fierce women who I know went on to be doctors, lawyers, engineers, and even profiled in business magazines. I know because they were my sorority sisters.

So, yeah, those comments were working my last nerve, but then I got to the meat of the story. I found myself very invested in Leigh's personal journey. I wanted her to reunite with Will and allow those old feelings to sweep her away. I liked spending time with their crazy cohort as they worked on their craft. And I allowed myself to fall into this story which (no surprise) was beautifully written (even the non-poetry parts).

I feel this book falls into women's fiction territory more than romance. Though both Will and Leigh had some issues to comes to terms with, the story was told from Leigh's point of view and focused on her personal growth more than anything else. I was very pleased with all the progress Leigh made, and I think that's why I was able to tolerate a level of angst that was very high for me (I am more low angst/drama), but this was a high pressure situation with a romance that had started and stopped multiple times for whatever reason and involved feelings that had been simmering for a decade.

I was thinking that this was a solid story for me. I loved Will and Leigh was growing on me as she tamed her demons, and then, the last 10 percent of the book, my heart grew two sizes. There were a few things that happened in that final part of the book that pushed this up a notch for me. I was smiling through my stupid tears as I tried to keep my heart from exploding. It was just lovely and perfect and it made me happy.

Though this had a bumpy start for me, I found myself pulled into Leigh's story and was glad I got to be part of a personal journey where she was able to find love, her voice, and belief in herself.

*ARCS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER

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