Definitely Not a Love Story: A Runners Handbook

by Claudia Recinos Seldeen

Ana has big plans to be an important writer. But not a romance writer, like her mom, because she’s seen what love does to people. From her parents’ constant bickering to her sister’s endless string of broken hearts to her best friend’s on-again, off-again relationship, love is messy and Ana wants no part of it. When a school writing contest pairs her up with Alejandro, a notorious serial dater, Ana is annoyed. Alejandro is everything she can’t stand—romantic, sentimental, and idealistic. But Ana is willing to put her qualms aside for the sake of the big prize: publication. As the two work together to create a winning story, Ana finds herself impressed with Alejandro’s writing. But despite their new connection, there’s no way she can fall for him. After all, she’s sure this is definitely not a love story.

Genres: Romance

190 pages, Library Binding

Published April 16, 2024

Reviews

[Cherlynn | cherreading · Rating 3 out of 5]

A highly readable novel-in-verse that sees its flawed protagonist navigating family, friendship, love and more.

Although I think this book is more suited for a younger audience, I appreciate how it explores various themes such as love for the written word, love in its different forms, family dynamics and others issues that teens will be able to relate to.

It was an easy read even though the plot was not the most compelling and the romance was weak. I would also have preferred a stronger and more complex conflict, but I liked all the parallels and how everything came together in the end.

I've read a few books by the author and look forward to more from her.

Thank you West 44 Books for the Netgalley ARC.

[Channing · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was cute! It was labeled as YA, but I do think it feels a bit more upper middle grade in the character's narration. Ana dislikes the idea of love after seeing how her parents' relationship is struggling and seeing how being in love/wanting to be in love affects her older sister and her best friend. She is paired up with an old friend for a writing contest and has to figure out how to make love fit into her story. She learns that love can exist in many meaningful ways beyond just romantic love. Some parts of this book are definitely relatable. I feel like this was something I experienced when I was younger, having divorced parents and divorced grandparents. The idea of having to learn to let love in instead of rejecting the possibility of it is addressed in a very nice way. This book has a good message and I would recommend it especially for kids around 12-14 years old.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, West 44 Books, Rosen Publishing Group, and Claudia Recinos Seldeen for the opportunity to read Definitely Not a Love Story in exchange for an honest review.

Definitely Not a Love Story is a young adult hi-lo novel-in-verse, making it both interesting and easy to read.

This novel follows Ana, a high school students who is also an aspiring writer. When she is paired with Alejandro, a friend in childhood but distance grew between them, she is determined to have them win the short story writing contest.

Alejandro wants there to be some kind of romance or love in their story, but Ana doesn't want any of that. She has seen what love can do between the experiences of her parents, her constantly-dating sister, and her best friend. Love is just something that tears people apart in the end.

But love is also a key element to being human. Ana must learn how to face her fears when it comes to love and the possibilities of loss therein, for what is life without love? Maybe she'll find it's worth the risk.

This novel has an "Enjoy the now and don't worry about the future" message to it. After reading some of Seldeen's other works, such as Catch Me If I Fall and Everything I Know, I knew I would not fear falling in love with yet another one of her novels. Her stories are diverse while being written in verse, making an enjoyable array of choices for young readers. Definitely Not a Love Story is yet another hit, and I can't emphasize enough how amazing Seldeen's novels are.

[Denise Ellison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought I wouldn't like this book when I opened it and saw that it looked like the poetry books telling a story through verse. While it looked like one of those, it read like a story.

In this story, Ana has built up walls to protect herself from being hurt by love. For a writing project, she is paired with the boy who has a new girlfriend every other week. But, he's a pretty good writer. So, they hit it off, and it's not long before the sparks begin to fly.

At the same time, Ana's parents' marriage is falling apart. You can imagine how this reinforces her fears.

Love is definitely messy...and beautiful. Parents love. Sisters love. Friends love.

Note: her best friend is in a same sex relationship.

[C.H. Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fantastic story from Claudia Recinos Seldeen ☺️ ... I LOVE how the author can capture so much emotion, and have me rooting so hard for her characters in such a compact story. I especially loved the exploration of friendship dynamics - it took me right back to my teen years - when I drifted apart from some people, and rekindled friendships with others. It's such a turbulent time, and I feel this story truly captures the essence of that specific time in a person's life. And of course, with this being a YA novel, I'm certain it'll appeal to teen readers just as much as it does to a very much not teen reader like me 😅
.
P.s. I want fairy hair!!

[Born To Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a really original book by Claudia Recinos.
Ana's dream is to be a writer so she decides to take part in a writing contest. But her teacher says it must be teamwork. And Ana is paired with Alejandro, his childhood best friend.
But they are not best friends anymore. They rarely talk.
I liked this book a lot. It's written in verse so it's very easy to read. It can be read in just an hour. It's a beautiful book about life changes.

[Jenni Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Claudia Recinos Seldeen does it again! Her way of telling a story through verse that pulls at your heartstrings is truly magical. This story has it all: teenage angst/confusion, how love looks different at every age, very relatable family drama, and the power of friendship (and writing ♥️). Amazing work from an amazing author!

[Eleanor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is swoony to say the least. I love the fight between the main character's head and her heart. Loved it.

Closed-door ❤️

[°•jen•° · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good quick read and honestly I liked it and there was good development in the characters and it was a fun one sitting book.

[Bridgitt Witherspoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The plot twist that he broke up with his girlfriend because he loved the main character was Crazyy!

[Joey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you so much to Rosen Publishing / West 44 Books and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

Ana is a writer, but not like her mom who writes romance books, Ana doesn’t like love especially as she sees how her parents fight all the time, her sister get heartbroken over break ups constantly and her best friend is always bickering with her girlfriend. When a writing contest arises she is paired with Alejandro the romance writer in her class, but she doesn’t want to include any love in her story.

I really loved the relationship between Alejandro and Ana, they were really cute together, they fit together so nicely, like you could tell they had a past, a connection they’d formed long ago and being paired together brought that connection back and heightens it more. The two then ended up falling slowly for each other regardless of the fact Ana didn’t want any love in her life. I loved that aspect of the story.

I really liked this story it was full of reality of how life and love is, how scary, how messy, how unexplained and unexpected it can be, but no matter how much you resist it, it will always be there in what ever form it may arise in. Ana hated love but as the story progressed learnt to understand love a little more and accepted it for the first time in her life.

This was a really beautifully written verse book, it flowed so naturally, the story was so realistic, the connections, the relationships, the characters were all amazing and I really fell into the story quickly. I enjoyed reading this one a lot.