So, this was a pretty interesting read. I mostly liked the characters, but I wanted Anne to have more backbone.

A book with a main character that loves books is 1005 up my alley.

I would recommend this, light reading, entertaining. Even though I read it in one session, I wouldn't say that it's a "page turner".

A fun second-chance read. I enjoyed the academic setting and found myself wanting to read Jane Austen afterwards.

A sweet romantic book with a few unexpected twists. Anne Corey is hoping she receives tenure as an English professor but that is dependent on her being able to have her book published.

In the meantime, welcome Anne’s exfiance Adam to the college as President. Imagine Anne’s shock at such news. With a few run ins it appears Adam has forgotten about his past relationship with Anne and moved on but through the course of events it’s apparent he has done anything but forget Anne.

Instead of falling for Adam right away, Anne falls for another colleague but he isn’t all he’s cracked up to be in the end.

Will Anne and Adam rekindle what they once had or will they end up as coworkers and friends?

A wonderful modernization of Persuasion, my favorite of Jane Austen's books. I often find that Persuasion is often forgotten in remakes and this book is just what one needs to feel justice is done. The characters come to life and I couldn't help but cheer this Anne on throughout the entire book. It made me smile from cover to cover! A full review will be available online at Girl-who-reads.com on Feb 6th, 2018.

I enjoyed this story. I did however felt like the ending was rushed. Maybe Sonneborn just wanted the book over, but whatever it made it, so I just liked the story instead of being able to love it. I hate to say it, but a reality check may be needed for this story. I'm not writing this author off because this was my first book by her and everyone always gets a second chance.

By the Book was a delightful surprise : strong flawed characters that make you love them more, good pace so the story isn't boring and make you want to read it in one sitting, and tons of classics' references... What's not to like?

The only negative point I found is the rushed ending. The whole book was a journey we made in Anne's shoes, how at 32 she still doesn't have her life together and it's okay, especially with a friend like Larry (I need a Larry cookie in my life right now). The story was going smoothly until the reconciliation part... It felt forced and not coherent at all, which is a shame seeing as I started reading yesterday and couldn't put it down.

Still, all in all, By the Book is definitely a read that I strongly recommend !

I don't mind Austen-inspired retellings. I'm not a purist at all, and sometimes they're really good. But if it's going to be clearly Austen-based, it needs to have witty subversive humor and an electric slow-burn lovestory. This book had neither. Frankly, I felt it had some offensive stereotypes on top of that, so I enjoyed it even less.

This book. ❤️ The acknowledgements say the book is a love letter to book lovers, and it’s absolutely correct. As an avid reader, I loved everything about this book. The love story wasn’t cheesy and over the top, it was actually believable (until the end..but I'll get to that).

I loved Anne. She didn’t hopelessly pine after the men in her life and was very real and down to earth. I saw a lot of myself in her. The friendship between her and Larry was also so real, from the wine drinking to the forwarding of emails and snarky comments. I loved it.

I did feel like the ending was rushed and a little unbelievable, but I loved the rest of it so much that it didn’t phase me. I mean, I am a completely different person than I was in college, so I would think Anne and Adam would need a little time to catch up before jumping into an engagement.

My only other dislike was Larry’s relationship. It was odd and a little distracting. Maybe if there was more explanation of how it came about and how it progressed I would've found it more appropriate. I think I needed just a little more details.

Overall I loved this. I hope to see more of Anne and Larry.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Gallery books for this advanced copy.

A fair attempt at a retelling of Austen's Persuasion that also provides wish-fulfillment (and a touch of reality check) for any devotee of literature who might have considered an academic life.

Successful reinvention of classics requires more than modernization of settings, language, or social constructs. The author needs to honor the spirit of the original work and character while still offering reinvention enough to make it his/her own. In other words, show readers you love the work as much as they might, but also demonstrate you respect them enough not to pander. This work comes closer than many, but it fails to recognize the maturity, insight, and wisdom attributed to the original heroine. Also, when the chemistry with the (sigh) gay best friend is more entertaining than the few interactions with the love interest, that might have been the opportunity to break further from the inspiration and invest additional creativity.

Julia Sonneborn's By the Book is a gently paced coming of age novel about a college professor striving to get a book contract so that she can keep her job. Thirty-two year old Anne Corey had a PhD. She has just written a book on eighteenth century women fiction writers. But despite her intellectual achievements, the rest of her life was pretty much undergraduate immaturity. She still pulled all-nighters, lived in her pajamas on days off, drank heavily to cope with heartbreak, and ate ramen noodles for their convenience. Anne Corey is a pleasant character. She has predictable friends and pseudo-friends. Anne's story is nicely told. I enjoyed the book as a fine vacation read.

Persuasion is one of my favorite Jane Austen novels, so you’d think I wouldn’t want to read a modern retelling of it, but I’ve always wanted to and yet there aren’t many of them. I picked this up from NetGalley because the premise sounded great and it was! If you go into it, knowing it’s just a fun, fluffy, doesn’t-take-itself-too-seriously read then you’ll enjoy it. If you’re hoping for something serious, with a deeper meaning, you’ll be disappointed.

The characters were updated in a believable way. Anne is the one who remains mostly the same, which I appreciated, and I loved that she was a big bookworm, a writer, and a professor. It’s very much a modern day Anne of Persuasion.

All of the characters felt believable and real, and I rooted for all of them, cheered them on, and felt miserable when things didn’t go their way. I especially loved Larry. He’s so sassy and charming.

I wish there were a more scenes between Anne and Adam, and less with Rick though. It made the romance feel a little rushed at the end.

Overall, I enjoyed reading it and following Anne’s story!

Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC of By The Book by Julia Sonneborn. I had a little trouble getting into the story in the beginning and I found myself getting repeatedly distracted but I soldiered on and by the end I was really enjoying myself.

The story follows professor Anne Corey as she works to become a published author and obtain tenure at the university where she is employed. Anne has given up many things to make it to her current place in life, including her chance at love. She is given a second chance when the new school president turns out to be none other than her former college fiancé.

In my opinion this story is not a romance because Anne’s romantic relationships were not the main focus but rather her overall life. We the reader get to experience her feelings of frustration as her book proposal is repeatedly rejected and her feelings of loneliness and inadequacy in regards to having a relationship and lack of a family. There is ample humor in the book provided by both Anne and her best friend and fellow professor Larry. Everyone needs a Larry in their lives, he made the story for me. I found myself laughing out loud multiple times during their interactions.

This was my first book by Ms. Sonneborne and I would definitely be interested in reading more of her work.

Always a fan of chick-lit and a good Jane Austen reference, this book fulfilled every dream I had for my winter vacation. It was engaging, fun, tugged on the heart strings and had a happy conclusion. A modern retelling of the story of Persuasion by Jane Austen, we follow the story of Dr. Anne Corey as she struggles through her life as a professor at beautiful Fairfax College. I immediately fell in love with all of the characters and was tickled by the wonderful references to modern media. The author succeeded in making my week with this wonderful and sweet story!

Anne Corey is attempting to get a book published so she can get on the tenure track at the university where she is a professor. Things are thrown a bit off course when her ex-fiance Adam Martinez is announced as the new president of her university. She attempts to navigate this snafu with the assistance of her best friend and fellow professor Larry. Her plans go even further off course when she starts dating a visiting professor and famous novelist, who happens to have a contentious past with her ex-fiance as well. (Loosely based on Persuasion by Jane Austen!)

I'm a sucker for second chance romances. (I just finished another one called Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes that I really enjoyed.) So I tend to forgive any quibbles I might have with the rest if the ending makes me feel good, which this one definitely did. Spoiler alert: Anne and Adam end up together. The blending of present with the threads of the past, showing us pieces of Anne and Adam's previous relationship, really worked well for me. I started out feeling like I wasn't being given enough information, but gradually seeing pieces of their past infused into related moments in the present was a nice device.

Even so, despite the good feelings, it did seem like the ending was a bit rushed. I know they were already engaged before, but it had been twelve years since they last saw each other, and they hadn't talked at all in the time in between. So though Adam is there for Anne when she needs him, the rekindling of a relationship with only a few months of getting to know someone again is a little quick for me. But then again, that's true of basically every romance book ever.
Another issue I had with it, which is also true of many other romance books, is that I don't really know what draws Adam to Anne. Adam is there for Anne when several catastrophic things happen in her life, he does everything he can to be supportive and helpful, and all Anne does is yell at him and accuse him of jealousy and treachery. Maybe it's the memory of who she used to be that initially attracts him and then...nope, I got nothing. Regardless, it was sweet.

Some of the characters were pretty one dimensional. Larry was Anne's GBF, who starts up an affair with a married movie star. Anne's sister was a terrible, self-centered bitchy upper class housewife who treats her sister like shit. Rick is the predictably vapid and egotistical author. But considering the source material, and the prevalence of delightfully cartoon-y villains (and sometimes heroes) in Austen's work, I saw most of these choices as an homage.

Important to note: while I would definitely consider this a romance, there's nothing super gratuitous or steamy when it comes to sexy times, which would be good for someone who likes a love story but maybe has a high blush factor and doesn't want to read all the blush-y material. If that's the kind of romance you're looking for, this one isn't it. (Though the one I mentioned earlier, Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes would be closer to that.)

Overall, I gave it a four out of five stars, although I had a few issues with it, because it was just such a feel-good read. And it's loosely based on Persuasion, and I'm a sucker for Jane Austen. (I know, I'm basic. I don't care.)

On a completely unrelated note...I don't remember there being a bicycle anywhere in this book. Not sure why it's part of the cover art. But it certainly got my attention, and that's the power of a good book cover!

I am not a fan of this novel and felt it lacking. The characters were under developed. The setting and plot were not developed and seem to fall flat middle ways through the novel.

Enjoyable and lighthearted! Anne's best friend Larry provided great comic relief. Ending felt a little rushed--but overall it was a fun read!

I received an ARC from Netgalley. I enjoyed the storyline of this book but it dragged on forever. The true love story did not begin until the book was almost finished. Just too much dragging on of other relationships before getting to the point. Not my favorite but I would give the author another chance. Three stars because I would give the author another chance.

As a fan of Jane Austen’s retelling, this is one of the best I’ve read so far! I was able to connect with the character of Anne and the suffering she goes through. It is full of loss, hope, and chances. This is a must read for fans of Jane Austen!

I was THRILLED to read By the Book. It made me laugh out loud so much, and it was just generally a very feel-good, entertaining story. And of course, I am completely obsessed with the cover. It is so bloody gorgeous!

A modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Persusión, By the Book centers on Anne Corey who is an English professor trying to be granted tenure at the college she is working at. All of a sudden (!) her ex-fiance becomes president of the college. Throw in a very attractive writer as the college’s new writer-in-residence and we have one drama filled book folks!

I loved Anne as a character, and I though the book was HILARIOUS. Books that can make me laugh out loud are my favorite. Plus I loved the emojis! I hope they make it to the finished copy because it was something I have never seen before in a novel and it was very unique. Especially fitting for a contemporary book in a time where everyone is on their phone, and Apple is constantly coming out with new emojis.

The end made me tear up, and even though it may seem a little “rushed” to some, I loved it. It was the perfect ending to this novel, and there were even a couple of surprises that I didn’t see coming.

When I actually had time to read it, I flew through this book. So I would definitely consider it a fast read as well.

One small caveat I had was with the emails that are dotted throughout the book. I loved them in concept and they were enjoyable to read, but at times they were a little confusing. The characters they involved aren’t all known ahead of time, then you find out who they are right after. I got used to it, but it would have been better for me if I had known all the players before they ended up showing up in emails. Because of nicknames and such, I also didn’t always know who the email address was referring to. I still loved that they were in the book though; it added a little something different from other books besides just the emojis.

Final Thought: Loved and adored this modern retelling of a classic, and I highly recommend it. I have never read the Austen version, but this book was fantastic and so funny. I will most definitely be buying my own copy once it is released!

This is more than a romance or a retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion. While it is obviously inspired by Persuasion, this book has its own unique plot that explores several love stories, friendships, family relationships, and the main character's career. In between the chapters there were several emails written to the main character, which was a creative way to tell bits of the story. Unfortunately the ending felt rushed. The book needed more development between the two main characters before the book's conclusion. Overall though, it's a good read.