I really enjoyed this title, and I think it belongs with the likes of Jenny Han's To All the Boys I've Loved Before series. The literary references were not too hard to grasp onto, and I felt the author did an amazing job in breaking down their themes and connections to contemporary references. I love the relationship that Mary, the protagonist, has with her friends, and I'm so glad they did not end up being mean girls. Overall, I think By the Book is a charming read.

By The Book is a regular YA romcom, but with the fun of literary references to satiate us nerds. A very fun read, I had the best of times. Great characters and story.

Mary has always compared her life to the literary classics she adores. From Jane Austen to Charlotte Bronte and Tolstoy, she can always find comfort and answers between the pages of a book. After a particularly bad first day of public school where her only friend jilts her for being too literary, Mary finds herself giving the popular girls some literary examples of men who they should try to avoid in real life. One things leads to another and not only does she have a new group of friends but they start their own “Scoundrel Survival Guide” to help avoid the mistakes heroins make in books when choosing their leading man.

I loved everything about this book. It was so over dramatic but in the best of ways. Mary is this well read girl who knows all the classics and therefore knows some classic jerks. She was pulling out all these references and I was just astounded. I was actually googling her references to find out what books she was even talking about. It was so funny that her and her friends could just find these same traits in the guys they went to school with.

Mary herself was really endearing. She wanted people to like her but wasn’t willing to compromise on who she was or what she loved to get them to like her. That being said she was very use to seeing things as black and white, like the characters in her books, which kind of comes back to bite her in the butt later. I think she learns some important lessons though, like not to judge a book by its cover and that there’s more to someone than meets the eye.

The girl group dynamic was my favorite part about this book. You’ve got Arden the read headed outgoing bombshell, Lydia the type A always has your back might bite you lawyer, and Terry the wannabe forensic pathologist who always has the perfect crime one liners. They each brought something to the friendship and I found myself laughing quite a bit at things they said and just how serious they took these literary references that Mary was dishing out no questions asked. Her friends took her seriously and never mocked her for her knowledge or passions.

There was a tiny bit of romance. Our main guy Alex Ritter, aka Vronsky, gets a tough judgement at the beginning of the book by Mary. We get this meet cute and some great interactions between him and Mary. He was able to keep up with her pretty well in the wits department which surprised not only Mary, but me as well. I like a boy with some substance who isn’t afraid to be smart. I would have liked some more moments between him and Mary overall, but we still knew him pretty well.

If you’re looking for a fast-paced classic literature packed book I highly recommend By the Book. It’s full of friendship, family dynamic, some literary downfalls, and a great main characters who learns from her mistakes.

By the Book is charming, funny, and totally relatable--I wish this book was around when I was in high school! When Mary finds out that she will be going to a public high school for the first time, she's understandably nervous. When her long-time friend inexplicably ditches her, Mary finds a new friend-group of "it girls" (who are oddly receptive to her frequent summaries of classic literature). While Mary teaches them about the classics, her new friends help school her on the ins and outs of dating. There are also so many wonderful scenes with Mary's large, academic family, who seem to be inspired by the characters of Little Women--the dialogue in the book is so witty! Read this book to find out if Mary finds true love outside the pages of a book--highly recommended for book nerds of all ages! Thanks so much to Netgalley and HMH for the librarian preview.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

I knew I would enjoy this book as soon as I heard about it last year, but my god, I was not expecting to love it as much as I did. I couldn't put it down as soon as I had started, and it's my favourite book of 2020 so far this year! Mary is in love with books, but especially classics. She is definitely of the What Would Lizzy Bennet Do? camp, and uses what she has learnt in her reading to help guide her future, especially when it comes to love. Mary has been coddled slightly in her upbringing, being the daughter of two professors, and been in a sort of university-come-school education programme that has now been cancelled. At 15, she has to go to public school, and that's when she starts to make friends, especially with Arden, Terry, and Lydia, and uses what she knows of Alex Ritter, who everyone at school loves, and she thinks he's a Whickham like character, to help guide the girls use the books. As they grow closer, Mary loses some of her naivete, and might just learn that Alex isn't as bad as she initially thought he was.

This book was so friendship based. We start of with Mary knowing only Anjuli, a girl who went to the same school programme as she had, who basically drops her as soon as they start at school, and treat her horrendously, and then she meets the girls at her favourite bookstore/cafe, and Arden, Terry, and Lydia are like her family. They have such an amazing relationship with each other, and there isn't really any drama, that could've happened. Yeah, some angst appears later in the book, but not because of bitchiness or anything.

Mary also has a fantastic hate-to-love relationship with Alex. She knows of Alex because of his appearances in her elder sisters Shakespearean company, and first impressions tell her that he is a player, and thinks himself above everyone else. As they get thrown in more and more situations together, she thinks she may have been mistaken in her first impression (does this remind us of a certain Austen heroine, perhaps?) but her initial vehemence towards him, especially when she was speaking with the girls, makes her worry that she's not doing the right thing. Their chemistry together is fantastic though, and I was rooting for them from the first few encounters together. Their growth and characterisations was unlike what I've seen before, and as this is Amanda's debut, I'm dying to see what she releases next - it'll definitely be on my wishlist!

The best part of this book is the Dear Diary enteries at the start of every chapter. They are hilarious and feel genuine.
Unfortunately the rest of the novel fell super short for me. I was really looking forward to this one as I love anything to do with books and interpretation and such.
This just felt like a teen girl who was so lost in the past and delusional about how life works that you feel sorry for her.
I think I cringed more than enjoyed this book.

Very well versed take on YA romance wherein the heroine sees everything except what it right in front of her face.

The daughter of two college professors and the fourth of five children, Mary Porter-Malcolm loves books. Particularly books written in the 19th century. Jane Austen, the Brontes, Gaskell, the works. Mary is contently in her comfort zone... Until her on-campus school gets shut down. Until she starts attending public school. Until her best friend dumps her and humiliates her on the first day of school.

But then when she willingly gets out of her comfort zone to prevent another girl from going out with a playboy, Mary finds herself making three new friends. Together, they embark on a journey of meeting teenage milestones (ranging in everything from going to parties, attending sport games, and going to formal dances), and creating a blog about how to avoid Scoundrels based off of Mary's beloved books. Mary just wishes playboy would stop hanging around her and getting on her nerves. But is he really as bad as she first thought? And what does that mean for herself and her friends?

Adorably swoony and bookish, Mary and her friends (mystery loving Terry, fantasy reader and future judge Lydia, and obsessive organizer Arden) are a delight. Any girl (or guy) would love to have a friend group like this. This is much more of a book about epic friendships and handling problems within friendship relationships than it being a romance book, the romance is also wonderful and ties the story all together in a neat little bow. Then there's Mary's wonderful parents (why is it so hard to write good parents in YA novels? I adore Mary's parents!) and her array of siblings--the Shakespeare obsessed twins Van and Addie, sporty Cam, and obnoxious little brother Jasper--who further add a layer of liveliness, drama (literally and figuratively) and snark. Add in a whole bunch of bookish puns and literary references, and you've got a book so full of life you feel like everything and everyone should be palpable.

"By The Book" was such a fun read! The book reads like a 19th century novel but set in the present which lends itself wonderfully to the theme and main characters narration. Mary was a very honest and relatable character who I fell in love with. Her sibling interactions while a little flowery were so authentic that you could tell Sellet comes from a large family. I also noticed that the way Mary is makes her read like she is on the spectrum. I don't know if this was intentional but I'm delighted by the fact that others may relate to her in the way of having a special interest like she does.

The ending was a little clipped and I wish I had gotten a little more of the friends all together plus Alex, I think that would have been so fun to see. The friends dynamics were fun but I wanted to hear more about Terry as well! I felt during the story she was cast aside a little.

The best part of the story was the coming to terms with making mistakes and being brave enough to say you're wrong and apologize. It sets a great example for readers of all ages that is important in all relationships (family, friends, romantic.)

Hope to grab a copy for myself and my library!

This is a modern-day twist on Little Woman with numerous references to other romance books like Anna Karenina , Wuthering Heights and others. Since I have read many of the books and movies referenced, I enjoyed the book. However, for someone not familiar with the literary references I would think this book would seem sort of silly and hard to follow.
For instance, her friends accept her and her ideas of courtship with excitement and reverence. Hard to swallow in this day and age.
All in all, a fun read. And it might make some readers pick up the classics.

Thanks so much to NetGalley for this review copy!
This was adorable! It was a little slow to get started, but I ended up loving our literary heroine and her new friends and how she tried--and failed--to govern her social life by the rules of Victorian novels. Too cute.

I'm not typically one for romances but I really ended up loving this one! I think Amanda Sellet did an awesome job making this book charming and nerdy (but in a very fun bookish way). The voice of the main character sounded very authentic to me and I really loved all of the literary references even though I'm not super well-read in the classic romance genre. This would be such a fun read to devour during Valentine's Day. I would recommend to teen girls (maybe more suitable for the younger end) as a first step into the romance genre.

I thought this was super cute but also had moments where it dragged on a LOT and I found myself getting bored. By The Book is very much a YA novel of romance, but it is also about finding friendship when you need it most. I loved the girls coming together. Alex and Mary's dynamic didn't feel believable for the most part. I definitely think that this book has potential but there is 100% work that needs to be done to fill in the gaps.

I thought some of this book was really cute, other parts kind of dragged and I had a hard time with Mary at times. She just was so clueless. I was grateful she had her family to help point her in the right direction.
Being a librarian I did like all the book references.

While Mary can be a little frustrating in her obliviousness, this is a very sweet story of new friends and first loves and the complications of using classic literature as a template for contemporary life. There were lines that legitimately made me laugh out loud, and the story was full of well fleshed out and unique side characters. A romp for any bookish teen reader.

Like an updated version of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, complete with witty exchanges, hard lessons for a naive protagonist, a swoonworthy love interest, and a wonderful cast of family and friends. Almost certain to become a comfort read for me for years to come.

This took me awhile to get into. It dragged and dragged but it finally hooked me and I blew through the rest. I ended up really enjoying it. The main character's naivety was a bit frustrating at times but she worked through it. Thank God for her brother, honestly, he seemed to be the only member of that family living in the real world. I'm not sure if I'd recommend this to just anyone, I think it would be quite the gem to those lovers of the classics. All in all, it was a good read.

This was cute and fluffy, as much about friendship and family as romance. Mary is a huge reader, particularly of classics, and I loved all her references to various classic books, but I think the book works even for readers who aren’t as well-read as Mary and who may not be familiar with her references.

Mary learns about the ins and out of friendship, romance, and family in this oh so adorable young adult romance.

I saw this book when I attended YALLfest in November. It was on display at the publisher table, but they did not have any physical copies to give out at the time. I was happy to find it available on Edelweiss days later!

I’m a huge lover of romance, and the romance in this book is super, chocolaty, gooey cute. But guys, the friendships. THE FRIENDSHIPS. Mary’s growing relationship with Arden, Lydia, and Terry are perfection. Their banter, their support, and their quest to categorize every person is life. This book shows the importance of friendships – from those friends you outgrow to those friends you find when you least expect.

Back to the romance – it’s subtle, but really sweet. Alex and Mary’s relationship is not the focus of much of the novel, but he is very much the leading man. I adore how the book turns Mary’s perceptions of a hero and villain on her head. It’s an earned moment when Mary comes full circle – is she the hero, the cad, or somewhere in-between?

tl;dr An utterly adorable book focused on friends and family with a sweet twist of romance.

Mary Porter-Malcolm has not been raised in the traditional way. Her parents are academics who have kept out technology and encouraged the reading of classics by every child they have. And, until this year, they have also had Mary enrolled at a small, charter school with an emphasis on Socratic seminars and independent study.

Now MPM must attend the local high school and learn how to navigate the halls of the campus and the social orders. Luckily, she at least knows how to avoid the scoundrels because she's read about all kinds.

When she meets three girls who need a little guidance to avoid one of those scoundrels, MPM is happy to join them and they are happy to return the favor by giving her every possible high school experience by the end of the year.

What MPM didn't expect was for that very first scoundrel to end up being the very person she might want to spend time with.

Final thoughts: This one was hard to get into because it felt like Sellet was trying her best to either show off all the classics that she had read and/or to try and convince her readers to go out and read them. So much of this book ended up being long discussions about book after book and all of the scoundrels contained in those pages. Even the first few chapters felt like Sellet was trying to write using the same language as those classic authors. That may have been a narrative choice as that language was toned down over the course of the book as MPM became more accustomed to modern interactions and kept her nose out of the books. The problem with that is that it makes it more difficult for the reader to get into the story from the start. The ending was also a little flat and sudden so, while Alex was a pretty cool character, we didn't get to know him and that brought the overall story down.

Rating: 2.5/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC