I will always read Rachel Lynn Solomon and this has to be one of my favorites. I love the chemistry and the individual character journeys here! Extracurricular is a book I devoured! Keep reading this book review of Extracurricular for my full thoughts.
Summary
Ramona Wilder has spent her whole life in the spotlight. After a hit kids’ TV show, she transitioned into music, singing in arenas around the world and becoming an icon for millions of teenage girls. Now at age twenty-six, exhausted by the inhumane lack of privacy, she’s done—with all of it. She wants a chance at normal, whatever that might mean for her. And she’s starting with college.
Professor Nick Navarro is recently divorced but determinedly optimistic, allowing himself a very reasonable ten minutes per day to wallow. When his department calls a meeting about a celebrity enrollment, he plans to treat whoever it is like any other student. Except when Ramona blazes into class and causes an uproar, the typically easygoing professor is rattled, maybe for the first time in his career.
Ramona loves the way she flusters him, taking every opportunity to push Nick’s buttons, though what she really wants is to unbutton them completely. When a crisis brings them closer outside of class, they begin a tentative friendship amid an undeniable attraction. But Ramona can’t be so easily finished with her old life, and they’ll both have to confront their pasts if they want a chance at something real.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Once I got over the whole student and professor – I have never had a crush on any of my professors and at first I was like eek, but then I got around it for Ramona and Nick – I fell heads over heels in Extracurricular. I loved the way Ramona’s character journey shines through. As she manages her anxiety as well as the way she was robbed of choices. Her whole life was planned out for her and when she had problems she was guilted into being grateful. Her second chance allows Ramona to figure out who she wants to be and the people who will choose to stay with her. But because of the toxicity of the media and her family, she doesn’t trust anyone to stay with her.
But in Extracurricular it’s a story about being trapped. About not realizing it’s soured and when we do, how do we escape? And who do we become? Seeing Nick’s perspective allows us to see the ways in which we fall without wanting to, without realizing, and kicking and screaming. But Ramona’s journey made me cry. How she has seen intimacy as a performance, relationships which are transactional, and her navigating her own past sexual assault. In Extracurricular, Ramona builds herself up from the ground up as she finds friendships, support, and her own voice again. Extracurricular is steamy, vulnerable, and heartwarming about embracing happiness when it’s hard and despite the obstacles.
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Find Extracurricular on Goodreads, Storygraph, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.