DNF at 20%.

I am not the audience for the book. This would be a great transition from YA novels to romance novels, but it was altogether too juvenile for me. I found myself getting annoyed at everything.

The Beauty and the Beast references were painful conspicuous. ("Kettle" being a character's nickname?)

This is a very different story than what I'm used to from Guillory, yet her voice still rings true, and I still enjoyed it. If you love Beauty and the Beast, you will love this. There are some other Beauty and the Beast retellings that I thought were just fine, but I enjoyed every page of this. It's a fresh take on a favorite tale, and book lovers in general will love the characters and the story here.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book for review purposes.

This was my first book by this author. I’ve been curious about her work for some time now and was glad to finally jump in with this book. This is a contemporary Beauty and the Beast retelling featuring an editor’s assistant and a petulant author. I love a bookish premise which is another reason I was keen to try this book.

I loved Izzy from page one. There was just something about her optimism and drive that made me smile. While I wish she had been a more confident heroine, it was nice to see her arc develop. Beau as a LI was intriguing, infuriating and (eventually) sweet in my opinion. His internal struggle was much more interesting to me than Izzy’s and I kind of wish we had gotten to see things from his perspective more.

I liked the writing well enough though there were passages that I found bothersome because they were a series of questions building on unsubstantiated suppositions by the MC. If this was an attempt at showing anxiety and chronic overthinking I didn’t find it convincing. The cast of secondary characters kind of fell flat for me. I did not feel emotionally connected to them or invested in Izzy’s relationship to any of them.

The pacing of the book was fine though there were many tiny time jumps which were jarring at times. I understand why they had to be used though. They just felt clunky I guess. Overall I thought the romance was cute but because we only get Izzy’s point of view it took a very long time for the tension and chemistry to build up which was a bit of a shame. Once it did happen though I enjoyed it. Overall a pretty good book and I’d be glad to read more from this author.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy! I have read a lot of Jasmine Guillory, but this is my first in her “Meant to Be” series. Though a different feel than her “The Wedding Date” series that brought her to fame, the comfort and sweetness of Guillory’s style remains the same. “By the Book” is a fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast modern retelling set in New York City and Santa Barbara, California. Isabelle (Izzy) is an editorial assistant at a fast moving, competitive publishing house. To move her career along and get out of a funk, she agrees to help a tormented and grumpy author/celebrity Beau, who is trying, but not succeeding, in writing a memoir. While staying at Beau’s charming mansion, romance and self discovery follow. This book sneaks up on the reader, with a very pleasant and warm feel woven throughout the story. I think that Guillory’s writing gift is that she showcases the regular aspects of relationships and falling in love, such as snacking together, staying in to watch a movie or binge a show, and gently and affectionately getting to know one another and falling in love over time. This book is also about the joy of writing and storytelling, which though not always thrilling, is well done by Guillory. A side note about reading Guillory: I read “The Wedding Date” on paperback, but then read many others in that series through audiobooks. The narrator of her audiobooks is usually Janina Edwards, and listening to these stories is delightful. I think this series and this book would be great in audiobook format as well. Overall I recommend this book for lovers of Guillory’s other books, enemies to lovers, and sweet romances.

I'm conflicted on my feelings about this read. I have enjoyed Guillory's books immensely in the past. This just didn't feel like her normal material.

Perhaps that is in great part to the fact that this is a Disney publisher, but it just felt very watered down.

I will say that the OG Beauty and the Beast ties were in point!! I cackled often at the obsurd ways she added in those tidbits!

The love story between Izzy and Beau was great. Also, I love the inclusion that was presented here.

Overall, I'm conflicted. I liked much of it. I disliked some of it.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest feedback

I loved everything about this Black contemporary Beauty & the Beast. captured my attention from the first page. wonderful character development and pacing, bolstered by a creative plot.
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brief synopsis: Isabelle works as an editorial assistant in New York, struggling with grunt work & low wages, till she finds herself in Santa Barbara, helping author Beau Towers complete his memoir. Beau initially comes across as angry, bitter, even spoiled, but their relationship evolves with the spirit of ‘something there that wasn’t there before’ from Beauty & the Beast. it’s so sweet.
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I’m now a big fan of this series. IF THE SHOE FITS and BUY THE BOOK are two of my favorite recent contemporary romances. fitting that while Cinderella works in fashion (and offers fat representation), Belle works in publishing (and offers Black representation). books are magical in BY THE BOOK, and the protagonist is a princess of books.

4.5 stars

Light, fun, fluffy, satisfying, happy…those are all good adjectives to describe this contemporary fairy tale. It’s not super original in all ways, but it’s also not supposed to be; it’s a bit of a unique twist on a tale as old as time with fun (and sometimes subtle) nods to the original story. I liked the characters, the plot, the setting. I already knew I enjoyed Jasmine Guillory’s romance writing, and although it’s toned down in ways from a lot of contemporary romances (ex. virtually all sex takes place off the page; I’m guessing that’s because it’s a Disney publication?), it’s still very sweet. I enjoyed this modern, feminist retelling of one of my favourite magical stories.

I’m really liking this series. We had a plus-sized protagonist in the first book, and now we have a Black couple in the second book, so it’s nice to see more true diversity starting to show up in Disney stories, although there’s still a lot that needs to be considered for meaningfully diverse representation. I’m looking forward to the next addition to the series and can’t wait to see who will be writing it. Personally, I’m hoping for the next one to feature a queer romance. Fingers crossed!

By the Book is the second book in the Meant to Be series, but you don't need to read If the Shoe Fits first in order to follow and enjoy this story. This book is a modern twist on the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast following protagonist Isabelle and her journey in the world of publishing. After years of work she is still an editorial assistant and the only Black employee at Tale As Old As Time Publishing so when she overhears her boss complaining about an author who has failed to submit his manuscript (or even respond to emails) she takes it upon herself to go to his house and give him a pep talk. Isabelle soon realizes there is more to Beau Towers than just his beastly reputation and they discover they have more in common than they could have imagined. There is a lot to love about this romance: the characters are dynamic and entertaining, the settings make the reader long for vacation and there are plenty of hidden Beauty and the Beast gems. If you want to read a book full of more books then this is the book for you.

Special thanks to Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I'm always down for a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, especially set in sunny Santa Barbara with glorious bookworm overtones! The pacing was slow to medium, and it certainly felt like a much smaller cast of characters than normal, however for the story, it worked. The romance part felt a little flat to me, but I had similar notes for the first Meant to Be book.

Overall, a lovely, sweet read about finding yourself and finding your space.

2.5/5⭐️

I was thoroughly bored throughout this entire book but it was just interesting enough to read to the very end.

I didn’t like how to author would just throw in small arguments from out of nowhere and make it go from 0 to 100 real fast. They were mad at ridiculous stuff imo. Also they laughed at the most unfunniest things. There was only one time I thought what they laughed about was funny.

There was some cutesy moments but the book was just meh for me. Definitely not my cup of tea but I think other people would enjoy it.

Jasmine Guillory’s sweet, charming new novel, By the Book, is a modern-day retelling of a beloved fairy tale that is sure to delight fans of the author - and make her some new ones.

This novel is listed as the second in the Meant to Be series which are novels based on various fairy tales. While I absolutely loved book one - Julie Murphy's If the Shoe Fits - and would highly recommend it you absolutely don’t need to read that volume to enjoy this one. There is no real cross-over between the two tales.

Isabelle – Izzy - Marlow began work at A Tale as Old as Time publishing with a spring in her step, a smile on her face, and hope in her heart. Two years later, the spring is practically a limp, the smile is fake and she's pretty much given up hope. She’s overworked and underpaid, and as a result of the latter, forced to live with her parents at the ripe old age of twenty-five. She’s not sure what she wants to have happen but she knows something’s got to change. While at a conference in California, opportunity knocks in the most surprising of ways. Her boss has been working hard at getting Beau Towers to write the memoir he contractually agreed to. Beau is:

A former child star, son of two celebrities, famous first for being a teenage heartthrob, then for his general rich-kid dirtbag-type behavior -fights in nightclubs, crashing sports cars, smashing paparazzi cameras, etc.

Beau is autobiography gold. His tell-all will definitely top bestseller lists if they can just get him to turn it in. But they can’t. Phone calls have not worked. Begging has not worked.  Increasingly candid, charming emails from Isabelle, entertaining, enlightening, and dang helpful to a struggling writer, have not worked. But since they’re in California anyway, her boss decides Izzy can spend some extra time in the golden state, head to Beau’s place, and give him an in-person pep talk. Izzy’s thrilled about the opportunity, convinced working with Beau will be a big step in the right direction come promotion time.

When she arrives at Beau’s mansion, she meets his amiable assistant Michaela but the man himself refuses to speak to her. Dejectedly heading to her car, with a watchful Michaela escorting her off the grounds, Izzy is hopeful she can at least score some decent tacos on the way out of Santa Barbara so the trip isn’t a complete failure. But Michaela trips, Izzy winds up taking care of her, and Beau Towers is grateful enough to let Izzy spend the night there. He’s rude and mean and obstinate but Izzy’s combination of charm and blunt talk soon have the savage beast very nearly tamed. By the next morning, Beau has decided Izzy is just the tonic his writer’s block needed. Arrangements are made for her to stay and thanks to Izzy, Beau starts the hard work of writing a candid, surprising tale. One that shows a guy who's much deeper than expected, the kind of man who could easily win Izzy’s heart.

There are a ton of Beauty and the Beast references, specifically the Disney version, in this novel but this isn’t much of a variant on the original. Yes, Beau starts out unfriendly but beast-like he is not. Maybe I’ve seen the movie too often to think of anyone who doesn’t lock you in a tower as truly heinous, but to me, it was clear from the start that our beast was all bark and no bite. The nice part is that Izzy isn’t the kind of beauty who puts up with either barking or biting - the few times Beau snaps at her, she makes it clear that behavior is intolerable and repeats that lesson till he learns it.

In fact, I thought Beau was pretty fabulous. Beneath his occasionally gruff exterior is someone who is generous, kind, caring, and talented. I love how diversified his interests are - he surfs, he bakes, he loves to read - his surface hobbies reveal a person who is, internally, very multidimensional. He (mostly) treats Izzy with an amazing amount of respect and kindness and his few temper flare ups  re never violent - he can be cutting but he is equally quick to be apologetic.

Izzy is equally fabulous. Life has beaten her down a bit in recent years but she uses her time in California to regroup, think through what she wants, and then go after it. She’s got a very positive, upbeat personality without being a Pollyanna, and she is tolerant and forgiving of others’ foibles and mishaps without being a pushover. For example, her boss has a rather acerbic personality but Izzy is able to see through that to the person who lies beneath and recognize the difference between someone who has a quirky, prickly nature and a person who’s a genuine jerk. I liked that Izzy has such a keen sense of discernment.

The secondary characters here are very secondary. We get little information about them and they receive equally sparse page time. The concentration is on the growth of Beau and Izzy as individuals and as a couple. I would have expected that to result in a deeply romantic tale but this story is actually more women’s fiction/general fiction than romance.  A lot of time is spent on them dealing with their individual issues/personal growth and the rest of that time is spent on Izzy and Beau building a friendship and working on the issues he is having writing his memoir. There’s no kissing till the 70% mark and not even a lot of lustful thinking. They keep things very professional, and while each finds the other attractive, neither does anything about that until we are almost all the way through the book. In some ways that really works - these two have such a terrific friendship that when the heat does appear it’s a foregone conclusion they will have an HEA. They are just too fantastic together not to. For those who like sexy romances, this might be a negative, however.

Jasmine Guillory is a terrific writer who pens an absolutely lovely tale whether it’s a hot love story like While We Were Dating or a much more subtle and sublime narrative like this one. I thoroughly enjoyed By the Book and would recommend it to anyone looking for a friends-to-lovers romance.

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Enchanting. By the Book by Jasmine Guillory is a brilliant modern retelling of the much beloved Beauty and the Beast. Isabelle is a literary connoisseur with dreams of being an Editorial Assistant. Her first challenge is to get Beau Towers to write something down of his long anticipated memoir. And quickly she finds herself very committed to his project and in doing so, finds her own passion. An absolute must read for those seeking a happily ever after.

By the Book follows Isabelle as an editorial assistant as she attempts to get a celebrity author to finish his book. The story highly follows the Beauty and the Beast storyline so there are no surprises. There are some cringy references such as talking to inanimate objects and nicknames such as “Kettle.” But overall it was cute and I will read every book in this series.

A BIPOC retelling of BATB set in the publishing world, this really should be everything I wanted but it sadly did not deliver in the ways I wanted it to. While there are several nods to Disney throughout the book some of them were done in quite a cheesy way. There were times when I felt the chemistry between Izzy and Beau and other times when it fell flat for me. And I’m just sad that this book did not work out for me in the end, especially since I really enjoyed the first book in this new series.

Thank you to Hyperion and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

From the start, Jasmine Guillory's protagonist is charming as heck - so excited to break into publishing, and so filled with bubbling joy! Of course she is immediately beaten into submission by the hard cruel world of NYC publishing. She is questioning all her live choices, and so jumps at the opportunity to escape for a bit to sunny California. Her last ditch effort to turn a "beast" of a recluse into a published author gains her entry into a gorgeous estate and of course....his heart.

Man I love JG's style, and you will too.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read in advance.

Isabelle is an assistant at a New York publisher, she loves books and writing and aspires to be a writer. Every week she writes an email to an author- Beau Towers who is very behind in his promised memoir. Beau is the son of a Hollywood screenwriter and is known to be a wild child and heartbreaker. When Izzy is in LA she drives to his house in Santa Barbara to coax pages out of him and ends up staying for a month.
By the Book was a great read.

I've really been looking forward to the second book in the Disney Meant to be series written by Jasmine Guillory. The first book was a Cinderella retelling and this newest one is a Beauty and the Beast retelling. The clever references to the Disney movie were great but overall I found this a little too much of a sloooooow burn.

The parts I did like though included:
- BIPOC leads
- a grumpy/sunshine trope
- forced proximity
- editor/writer workplace romance
- writing tips

This book was also a close door romance with only on page kissing. Overall I would recommend this for fans of Emily Henry, Must love books by Shauna Robinson or Meet me in the margins by Melissa Ferguson . Much thanks to NetGalley and Disney for my advance review copies!

Beauty and the Beast with a twist — Izzy is a hopeful writer who is biding her time as an editorial assistant. Beau is a wealthy heir with writers block. It is Izzy’s job to get Beau writing, before she loses her job and he loses his book deal.

The modern twist on a classic fairytale is adorable. Guillory weaves in the names and themes of Beauty and the Beast is a fun and relatable way. The book doesn’t feel contrived or farfetched… and no one is trapped (bonus points for that one). I loved the relationships in this novel, but I feel like Gavin could have been a bit more menacing. He was mostly just annoying.

Thank you Hyperion Avenue and Netgalley for this ARC. I will definitely be buying the physical copy to add to my collection.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4662465237

Jasmine Guillory seems to be hit or miss for me. I loved Royal Holiday, especially the fact that it was not steamy/spicy - I'm not into that. The Wedding Date was just OK, with a little too much spice for my taste. This one was very PG rated but I just didn't connect with the characters. I loved the Beauty and the Beast aspect of the book, and I loved the first book in this series (If the Shoe Fits). I would say I enjoyed the beginning and end of By the Book. But they spent sooooo long in the middle building it up. The characters don't even kiss until 70% of the way through. The ending was great, and sweet, but overall it was just too slow of a build for me and got too repetitive.

Jasmine Guillory is back with her newest contemporary adult romance novel BY THE BOOK, a reimagining of Beauty and the Beast and the second in the MEANT TO BE series — Hyperion Avenue’s update of classic Disney princess stories. I loved the first book in the series (shoutout Julie Murphy!), am ob-sessed with everything Guillory has written, and am physically incapable of turning down a book about books, so it was a no-brainer that I’d be picking this story up!

Isabelle (Izzy) Marlowe is two years into her dream job at Tale as Old as Time Publishing and she’s starting to wonder if publishing is really the industry for her. The grind, a demanding boss, and being one of the only Black employees in a very white office has Izzy burnt out and all but abandoning her dream of becoming a published author herself. So when she hears her boss complaining about her inability to get pages out of notorious bad-boy Beau Towers, she jumps at the chance for a change of scenery and offers to check up on him.

But when Izzy shows up unannounced at Beau’s Santa Barbara mansion, she quickly realizes that dragging the overdue memoir out of him is going to take way more than a few quick pep talks. Beau isn’t reluctant and standoffish, as she’d thought. He’s lost and hurt. And as the two spend their days working together, Izzy begins to wonder if she wants their time together to come to an end after all.

For my romance fans: BY THE BOOK is giving grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity, enemies-to-lovers vibes without leaning too heavily into any one trope. (Also it is very closed door — I’d give it a 2/10 🔥 rating). For my Disney fans: there are enough nods to the original to be satisfying and fun without overdoing it. For my non-Disney fans: what are you doing here?! Just kidding — it’s not too much, I promise. BY THE BOOK is a charming retelling of one of Disney’s most heartwarming messages — to truly know a person you have to dig a bit deeper.