High school librarian and part time podcaster Yael Koenig never expected The Sophomore English Agenda, her podcast exploring the high school reading list, to gain any traction online. But seeing as it’s her side gig and its popularity has skyrocketed, she now needs to hire someone to help in its production. Enter Ravi “Kevin” Kissoon, a freelance editor and producer who recently moved to Portland to help his brother Suresh raise his four year old daughter. Working together on the podcast remotely, Ravi and Yael communicate entirely via email, which soon spirals into non-work related chats as the two strike up a friendship. Unbeknownst to the two of them, Ravi and Yael have met before, when he made a desperate escape out of her second story window after a disastrous one night stand with her roommate, Charlie. When Ravi turns up at her afterschool queer book club as the new library volunteer, Yael is certain nothing could be worse, but her hatred is short-lived as Ravi is surprisingly charming and his presence is good for the students. Just as Yael and Ravi fall hard in person, their online identities are revealed, and reconciling two identities into one may be impossible, even where true love is concerned.
I needed a book that was proudly pro library in these trying times and Isn’t It Obvious answered the call, while asking the question, what if we romanced each other over email while hating each other at queer book club? Yael, a librarian with a secret podcast critiquing the high school reading list, with witty titles such as “A Lack of Reading Comprehension Is a Prerequisite for Serving in Congress,” grates against her new library volunteer. Ravi, a freelance editor precariously balancing a new life, is more than a tad desperate to convince the roommate of his latest hookup that he isn’t an asshole, even continuing to volunteer at her queer book club. With hidden identities and exquisite tension in the library, Isn’t it Obvious puts romance on the books and every single page sings with hate to love goodness. Rachel Runya Katz was a relatively new to me author as of this year, but she has quickly become an unrivaled talent and one of my favorite romance authors in the contemporary romance scene. Isn’t It Obvious, her third novel, is undoubtedly the best romance of this year. Not just the library representation we deserve, but a reminder of the power in these spaces especially for the queer youth of today, and how much we stand to gain from reaching for love in spite of our supposed shortcomings.
Isn’t It Obvious details the love story between a librarian and her new book club volunteer and overall nuisance (who she hates if you didn’t know) while they unexpectedly fall for each other online. Rachel Runya Katz takes the concept of a secret identity and gives it a queer You’ve Got Mail twist, but set primarily within a library that screams out a profound love letter to these spaces. Over the course of just one romance novel, Runya Katz follows two individuals juggling their mental health, familial, and career responsibilities, all while falling hard for the last person they should ever want. Characters Yael and Ravi pretty much immediately charmed me—with their incessant arguing as one of them dangles precariously out of a second floor window while attempting to flee a misguided hookup. Hating each other in person, flirting over email, Yael and Ravi build trust and vulnerability with humor and tremendous feeling. In fact, as we get to know these characters, the correspondence via email gets even funnier. Like Ravi, my sweet summer child, signing off an emotional email with “best wishes,” which is so on point for him I cried laughing. Isn’t It Obvious deftly balances all the best aspects of the romance novel, the humor, the depth, the longing, and it brings new meaning to the word “romance” entirely.
In Isn’t It Obvious even mundane actions somehow manage to be so exquisitely agonizingly hot, and that is for one reason and one reason only, two people that hate each other so very much. Ravi and Yael wanted absolutely nothing to do with each other and god if that wasn’t a palpable feeling from the start. Rachel Runya Katz takes every opportunity to make these two confront each other, with exquisite interactions that straddle the line between love and hate. With a background like theirs it’s no wonder every interaction hinges on something more. Even helping each other shelve library books was terribly sexy and had my jaw on the floor. And wrist touches may be the new hand flex because Ravi made that into a whole art. So much of what I love about the hate to love trope is someone seeing you at your worst and still deciding you are worth the effort and that is the crux of the story Rachel Runya Katz designs. Yael, a young woman living with Bipolar disorder has always been treated as “too much” and newly minted Portlander Ravi is convinced he has taken on too much to ever have a serious relationship. I love the idea that we don’t have to be perfect to reach for the love we deserve at any time, which is essential to Yael and Ravi’s romance arc. These two really bring the chaos together and I’d expect nothing less from two bisexuals who got off to a rough start.
I could easily wax poetic about Isn’t It Obvious until the end of time. It is that good of a romance. It gladdens me to know that these kinds of books exist—unapologetically queer, neurodiverse, BIPOC, and jewish all at once. So many scenes from this novel will stick with me for all time, like the drag performance scene, Ravi and Yael talking in the car after taking Leo home, and Ravi’s love confession. In hand with her romance, Rachel Runya Katz devotes significant attention to the importance of libraries in creating community for queer youth. Ravi and Yael both get to be elders for the next queer generation which honestly made me tear up a little, particularly during the epilogue. The book club scenes in this made me want to pull up a chair and offer my thoughts on the current queer book and argue on the next one (clearly I just need to join a book club). Rachel Runya Katz has written one of my all time favorite romances and books to ever exist. Period. Isn’t It Obvious rightfully romanticizes the wrist touch, the book club rivalry, lit crit podcasts, and of course, libraries and falling for your nemesis. It is a beacon for anyone out there longing for love but determined to be perfect to have it. Know that your time is now.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me the advance review copy.
Trigger warnings: homophobia, parental abandonment, mental health disorder
Literaryrobin 