if you love beauty and the beast then this is going to be a MUST read for you!

this book started off a little slow for me but it won me over as the story progresses. it's a fun and quick romantic comedy and I enjoyed myself reading it. was it a little cheesy? yes! did I mind? no!

the third person pov took me a while to get adjusted to since I normally never read it but I got used to it at the end.

loved loved loved how their are letters included!

a sweet and cute read! would recommend <3

I’m a sucker for Beauty and the Beast reimagining and since I’m a big fan of Jasmine Guillory, I had to check this out. I did enjoy the Easter eggs that are spread throughout the book and especially the library. What bookworm doesn’t dream of having a huge library with a rolling ladder?

I just felt like something was missing for me throughout the story. Perhaps a point of view from Beau as well for the whole story and not just at the end. I would have really liked to see how he felt about Belle from the moment they met and how his feelings progressed.

Overall it was a cute romance and would make for a good beach read.

This book took me a little longer to get through as it was a bit of a slow burn and the progression of the story took a while. I enjoyed the authors writing style, but it left me wanting more. I believe it a more "it’s me not you" situation.

I want to thank NetGalley, Jasmine Guillory and Hyperion Avenue for this audiobook. Opinions expressed in this review are honest, my own and left voluntarily.

Read if you like: fairytale retellings.
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Isabelle works for a publishing company in New York, but when she is in LA for a work conference, she is sent to check in on Beau Towers, who has been MIA and her boss wants an update on the book he is supposed to be writing. Isabelle is convinced to stay with Beau in his mansion and help motivate him to finish the book.
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One thing I enjoyed was that this retelling was centered around books, which is a nice nod to Belle, and overall the book was cute and enjoyable. The book was cheesy and I felt like the middle dragged a bit, and some of the Beauty and the Beast references were kinda silly, but overall a good book!
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CW: sexual content, sexism, misogyny, racism, emotional abuse, grief, death of a parent.

THIS BOOK WAS SO STINKING CUTE! I was nervous to read/listen to it because I’m obsessed with Janina Edwards, and she’s been the narrator for all of the Jasmine Guillory books I’ve listened to, but Sarah Hollis did a WONDERFUL job!
There is just something about Jasmine Guillory's novels that are just absolutely wonderful!!!
Besides the fact that this is a retelling of my FAVORITE fairytale (Beauty & the Beast), it made me heart melt time and time again. This book came through with the beauty and the best references and I adored it! I really enjoyed it.
Isabelle (aka the beauty) is such a wonderful character, literally a ray of sunshine, and I loved how her relationship with Beau (aka the beast) progresses, and how we see them as grow as individuals!
The end MADE MY HEART SO HAPPY. Wow. My heart! Definitely one to read, and right up to the standards I normally hold for JG!

DNF at 27%. It hurts me to stop this one. I love Jasmine Guillory. I love Beauty and the Beast. I was so into all the fun references like the Tale as Old as Time book publishing house. However this one just isn’t working for me. I’m not sure if it’s YA but it’s reading extremely young to me. It isn’t getting me in my feels and instead I find myself dozing off each time I pick it up. This may be a case of wrong reader but this wasn’t for me. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

Loved finding all the similarities to the original fairy tale sprinkled within. The romance was cute, but the back and forth felt repetitive. Not very much depth to the plot.

In By the Book, Izzy takes it upon herself to help a celebrity finish their memoir so that she can prove to her boss that she is a good editor. When she stays with him to help him finish his memoir, they also fall in love. As this was a Beauty and the Beast retelling, it didn’t feel like a completely original take on it. I appreciated the rom com aspects of the story and how writing and books were so influential to Isabelle.
Thank you to NetGalley for the digital ARC and the opportunity to share my opinions on the book!

By the book / Jasmine Guillory. A sweet little romance. Isabelle works in the publishing industry, volunteers to work with potential writer Beau Towers to help him write his memoir. As they live and work together, romance ensues.

I've never been disappointed in a Jasmine Guillory novel. Her characters are always memorable and though the plot changes, you will always be left with a warm feeling at the end. When you want a good beach read, you absolutely cannot go wrong with her work. This one made me want to quit my job and become an editor...or just visit sunny Cali. I am glad I didn't read it during the winter as I would have been even more jealous of Izzy!

By the Book is an exciting retelling of Beauty and the Beast with elements of an epistolary novel. The romance is sweet, and I finished this book in less than a day. Do you really need to hear anymore? Read this now!

4/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I LOVE Jasmine Guillory's work, so I was thrilled to get an advance copy of this book to read. I also really like books about books, and this one did not disappoint. Isabelle is feeling really discouraged with where she has ended up at age 25, and when given the opportunity to work with Beau, she hopes this will be her ticket to the top. She finds out quickly that this client and relationship will soon become much more than she bargained for, in the best way. Thank you to NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Jasmine Guillory is an "auto buy" for me. I devour everything she writes. I was so excited to hear about "By the Book" because Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie ever! I loved how this book had subtle similarities to the Disney classic, but it wasn't obvious. I loved it so much and can't wait to read more in the series!

A perfectly fine retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I think that I liked this book more than other reviews that I have read because I have not loved the other Jasmine Guillory books in the past, so if this is not quite her usual writing style then that doesn't bother me. I appreciated that the traditional "just freaking talk to each other and this slight issue could be immediately resolved" part of the book was very quick and was entirely in Izzy's head, so Beau never really knew about it and it could be wrapped up simply with an actual conversation.

Jasmine Guillory can do no wrong! By the Book--her latest book--is a must-read. A book about the publishing industry that also re-imagines one of my favorite fairy tales? Yes, please!

ARC Review: By the Book by Jasmine Guillory ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is book two in the Meant to Be Series of Disney fairytale retellings as romances for adults. I really enjoyed book one (If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy) but I was nervous for this one. I love Beauty and the Beast and even played Mrs. Potts in the stage play in high school, but had only read one of Guillory's books and wasn't a huge fan of it.

Fortunately, I really enjoyed this one as well! The MC is an editor's assistant in New York with authorial and editorial dreams who goes to California for a conference and to check in in an author who is notoriously beastly to work with. She ends up staying there to help him work on his next book and gets to know the man he really is.

Release date was early May so I'm a couple of weeks late, but I definitely recommend you pick it up! Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

#BookReview #AmReading #ByTheBook #BeautyAndTheBeast #FairytaleRetelling

By the Book was my first Jasmine Guillory novel- I know she has a pretty big following for her romances so I wanted to give her a try. This one was also intriguing because it is a part of a series of authors who are writing modern day fairy tale retellings, By the Book being Beauty and the Beast. Overall, this book didn't quite do it for me and I don't think it was necessarily the books fault. It was just a little too fluffy and predictable. I ended up heavily skimming the last 20% because I wasn't super invested yet did want to see how it ended.

I could not finish this book -- the characters and plot felt completely contrived and stunted. There was so much dull buildup for not a lot of payoff as a reader. Ultimately very disappointed with this!

I absolutely adore Jasmine Guillory, I have all of her previous books signed and sitting pretty on my shelves. Imagine how excited I was to hear that she was writing a Beauty and the Beast retelling in a bookish world! outstanding.

The romance was character-based, which is something I love about Jasmine's books. The payoff when Izzy and Beau finally got together was immaculate.

I adored the nodes to Beauty and the Beast with the massive library, quotes, and little bits throughout the book.

The cover is beautiful, the book was beautiful and it made my 90s baby heart so happy.

I'm super grateful to NetGalley and Hyperion for the e-galley of By the Book, the second book in Jasmine Guillory's Meant to Be series. Which consists of fairy tale retellings. This one was Beauty and the Beast retelling, which is one of my favorites! Contains the grumpy guy with an anger issue and prone for blow ups and the female MC staying with him in his mansion. I think Guillory did a great job in terms of retelling the well-known fairy tale. And I LOVE Guillory's The Wedding Date series!

However, this book fell short for me. I like the supportive relationship between the two love interests but I found their romantic interactions lacking. To be honest, I think they'd be a great platonic relationship and more believable. I also had a tough time believing that this Beau was secretly this GREAT guy but just yelled at everyone, treated everyone around him rudely (apart from his assistant). The whole thing between Gavin and Izzy's boss also seemed lacking, like it was only thrown in to keep dragging the plot along.

P.S. I have all the desire to get myself By the Book's level of a snack cabinet..