I really enjoyed "By the Book" by Julia Sonneborn. Set in academia, these two ex-lovers are now co-workers. Baggage from the past, complications and misunderstandings comes together in a wonderful modern day love story. Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

Simply delightful! Julia Sonneborn delights readers with this homage to Jane Austen. All the feels and modern day perfection.

This was a fun, light, easy read. I always love books that take place about readers, libraries, bookstores etc and this fit right in with a protagonist that is an English Lit professor at a small college

I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I received this book and read it (2018!) and completely forgot to review it which is insane to me because, if memory serves me right, it’s cute..
I think it’s a Jane Austen retelling because it has the same hilarity one of Ms. Austen’s has...Anne is busy trying not to go insane, between writing her book, taking care of her stubborn dad (dementia?) & trying to make tenure, the last thing she needs is another bump in the road...which is exactly what she gets when her ex-boyfriend is named President of the university she works at.
If I had to sum it up, By the Book is a light breezy romance, perfect for the beach.

I started reading this one but didn't hold my interest. I though the concept was good but I wish I could have connected with the characters more.

I adore a good re-telling of a classic or fairy tale, and this is a top notch adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. The setting is a small liberal arts campus in a California town and the setting couldn’t be more perfect. The characters are a little quirky but never ridiculous. Main character Anne must deal with some big shocks, including feelings about her ex-fiancé, while her best friend Larry gives us some comic relief. Whether you’ve read the original or not, this novel has enough tension to keep you wondering if Anne will end up with her true love.

Read also: anything by Jane Austen, The Storied Life of AJ Fikry (Gabrielle Zavin), The Code for Love & Heartbreak (Jillian Cantor), and books by Allie Larkin, Taylor Jenkins Reid, and Sally Rooney.

Thanks to Gallery Books and NetGalley for my copy!

Enjoyable casual read but I will likely not recommend it highly since I feel like modern day renditions of classics are common and not groundbreaking.

I love Jane Austen; I studied her extensively in college. And I enjoy a good retelling of a favorite story. However, this one just missed the mark.

First, the set up didn't ring true for me. Maybe it was poorly communicated, but somehow it appears our main character went from being a 22-year-old college student to teaching college immediately. No Masters, no PhD... just boom, she was teaching upon graduation. That alone was enough to break me out of the story and set my mind to trying to figure it out. Which is bad for keeping me engaged.

I couldn't connect with the main character--she was too scattered, too insecure (in a very different way than Anne Elliot, to be sure, in the shaky, annoying way), and the family set-up seemed weak.

Honestly, there are too many good books out there, so if I can't connect, I abandon a book pretty quickly. I gave this one two chapters and then I just couldn't bring myself to keep reading.

Yes! Yes! Yes! Sonneborn delivered everything I want in a romance book. I read this novel in one sitting. My wife came in moments after I finished and asked me what I was reading. According to her, I had a satisfied smile on my face.

A modern version of Jane Austen's Persuasion. A English Literature professor is trying to get her book published so she can get tenure. She finds out the new president of her college is her ex-fiance from 10 years ago. Perfect beach read.

An update to Pride and Prejudice set at a college campus in California. An excellent retelling. In this edition the main characters are a college professor deep in a debt and an old friend who takes a job as the new chancellor of the university.

This is the first book I have read by this author and I was pleased to do so. I love a good story that incorporates romance and reading. This book had me smiling and loving the story line from the start to the finish. I can not wait to read more by this author.

Such a fun, feel good story about a woman named Anne Corey. This is a retelling of the book by Jane Austen, Persusion. Anne is a professor who is trying to get tenure, when her ex fiancé becomes president of the college, talk about awkward! This book has so many laughable parts that just in the end made me so happy that I read. Highly recommend!!

By the Book didn't seem to capture the emotions of Jane Austen's "Persuasion". I didn't feel the chemistry between the two main characters and I didn't care for the changes the author made in the subplots.

I had a love/hate relationship with By the Book. It's a very easy read and enjoyable, but I found the characters and plot to be fairly immature in execution. Anne, the heroine and narrator, in particular, was very unlikable for the majority of the book. She seemed much younger than she should considering her age and her profession, though this seemed to be the case across the board for all the characters, except perhaps Adam. The story seemed to be bogged down with celebrity scandal rather than the growth that Anne was experiencing off page. That said, it was engaging and I particularly liked the subplot between Anne and her father.

My Thoughts:
Persuasion by Jane Austen is my favorite of all of her books. (I know there aren't a lot, but the competition is steep) So I love to find re-tellings of that particular story. This one most definitely didn't disappoint. Located in the Ivory Towers of academia and with characters that lend themselves close to readers hearts I read this in one sitting. Should I have been doing other things such as laundry, homework and housework...yes, but as most readers understand, the book was just too good.


I loved Larry, Anne's dear friend who also was facing love troubles of their own. As I was reading all I could think of was Peter MacNicol from his time in numbers. The dedicated professor with a few little quirks. I'm not sure if that's who Sonneborn was thinking of when she wrote him, but I found him to be endearing - even with his clandestine affair.
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I think this is a book that I will return to again. It's a great feel good book - you know the end from the beginning (at least you do if you read the original story) and it carries a sweetness that was a perfect way to spend a Saturday.

This was a charming read! Fans of Jane Austen will enjoy the updated story. The author stayed true to the story line but also refreshed it so that new readers can follow along, and familiar readers will find enjoyment in the new additions to the story.

Gallery Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of By the Book. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Anne Corey, an English professor at Fairfax College in Southern California, is desperate to snag a book deal in order to earn tenure. Despite being a specialist in some of the first women romantic writers, like Austen and Brontë, Anne has been unlucky in the love department herself. When her ex-fiance abruptly shows up, as the new President of Fairfax, will Anne be able to focus her attention on her pressing needs rather than regrets from the past? Will a new love interest bring trouble for Anne in ways that she did not imagine?

By the Book is the kind of romance that I like - the story comes first and the love interest is added in as the book progresses. Readers are able to get to know Anne Corey - the woman she is, her values, along with her strengths and weaknesses. Although the ending is almost foretold, considering that Anne is a specialist in classic women's literature that has a romantic bent, I still enjoyed getting to know Anne. By the Book was an enjoyable read and one that I would recommend to those who like women's fiction and clean romance.

By The Book was a fun read. Jane Austen's Persuasion set amidst the backdrop of a small liberal arts college in Southern California (which was especially fun for me because that's where I grew up). I've read my fair share of retellings but never one of Persuasion. The plot is evergreen and I loved this version's bookish nature. For me this missed a little on the romantic tension between the Anne/Wentworth characters but overall it was a pleasant, quick read.

Though I liked the book, I made the decision at the time I finished not to review it on my site. Maybe in the future I will include it in a book list post or another article.