NOT EXACTLY LOVE tells the funny and moving story of a precocious, word-happy girl named Leda Johnson who suffers from a secret and severe case of semi-requited love - meaning she has a friend who is a boy but not her boyfriend, but she wishes he was. With "Rolling and Rocking," St. Luke's first annual Valentine's Day roller skating party, rapidly approaching, she wonders what will come of her unspoken dream.

Through the diary Leda resolves to keep, we see the world from her delightfully unique perspective. Along the way to resolving the discrepancy between what she has and what she wishes she had, Leda befriends a mysterious gray cat, becomes a semi-expert on love songs from the 60s, 70s, and 80s, faces many ups and downs, and learns valuable lessons about what real love is.