This is really sweet, and those of us who were oldest daughters born in the '80s and identified hard with Belle will find lots of delightful little easter eggs.

Although this is part of a series, it can completely be read as a stand-alone. This felt a little less like a romance than the author's other books. There is more narration about the main characters, their separate work and writings, their jobs, than there is about the two of them. The eventual relationship didn't feel powerful, because there hadn't been much on-screen pining. The heat level is low, with a fade-to-black scene and no explicit repeats, so this is more appropriate than some of the author's other works for readers who like a PG-romance.

I was worried this would feel same-y with several other publishing-related romances this spring ([book:Book Lovers|58690308] was cute; [book:Meet Me in the Margins|58429255] needed more work). If readers were going to pick only one, this would be my top suggestion.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for the digital ARC of this book!! *4.5 Stars*

By The Book is a retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast story with a bookish twist. Isabelle Marlowe, employee of the Tale As Old As Time publishing company, is challenged by the difficult Hollywood star Beau Towers to stay at his house for a week to help him get his memoir up and running with one on one workshops and motivational speeches. Feeling up for a bit of a challenge and hoping to get the leg up at the company, Izzy accepts...and from there, well who knows what emotions may rear their heads!!

I won’t lie, when I first started reading By The Book I was a little skeptical. I had never read a book by Jasmine Guillory, so I had no idea what to expect. The beginning was rough, and the sort of ham-fisted Beauty and the Beast references were more than a little cheesy to me. Honestly though? That might be my only complaint. My god, when the main action of the plot was put into motion I was ON BOARD for everything!!

I saw so many little hyper specific elements of my own personality in Isabelle, I thought I was losing it. I thought the relationship was done incredibly well in this, first building up a trust and friendship between the two protagonists that served as a great foundation for the long awaited romance. There’s a certain category of romance I have in my head where if I outwardly squeal at how cute a moment or set up is the book is a stunner, and By The Book did hit that mark!

A very lovely, at times downright adorable romance novel. A fairly solid 4.5 stars. Can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy!

By the Book by Jasmine Guillory is such a charming book. As soon as I found out it was even being related to or inspired by Beauty and the Beast I was in! Also who doesn’t love a Book about books? YES! Isabelle (Izzy) comes to California to encourage Beau to deliver his book realizing he needs help writing Izzy stays in California, where she is expected to give pep talks to Beau. Can what starts out as a struggle turn into a Fairytale? Even though this is book two, this can definitely be read as a stand-alone as I read that way.
I will definitely be going back and reading book one and any other books that Jasmine Guillory wrote that I haven’t read.

Thank you Netgalley and Hyperion Avenue for providing me with a eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Ugh, why is this book over? I didn’t want it to end. By The Book read like a fairytale, complete with characters to love, perfectly convenient circumstances, and a little magic all mixed into one.

We are first introduced to our princess, -er, protagonist in her world of publishing. It’s a story we all know or experienced: an overworked assistant trying to balance getting ahead with getting her dream. The opportunity presents itself when she’s traveling for a conference. Isabelle overhears her boss complaining about an author, holed up in his own world, refusing to write anything: no emails, no texts, and definitely not the memoir that is now overdue. Without even realizing, Isabelle volunteers herself to reach out and make some progress.

Making progress with Beau Towers isn’t as easy as she expects. He’s rough, angry, and has no idea why this random woman decided to show up on his doorstep. It makes sense, but somehow, through divine intervention (or maybe a fairy godmother…actually wrong story) they get stuck working together.

This book was adorable. I found myself grinning at the pages more than once. Isabelle and Beau are both so loveable. The reader watches them grow as the story goes on. Someone once said, “both a little scared, neither one prepared,” and it’s true. They don’t know what to make of each other; they don’t know if they can trust each other, so they take it one day at a time. It’s easy to understand their hesitations, so we’re rooting for them to work them out.

I appreciated the adaptation for reading like a fairytale. I’ve recently learned a bit about magical realism and there’s a bit of those touches throughout the book. The events that transpire tend to work out so well, you know that it’s fabricated, and that’s part of the fun. The little whispers throughout the house, the serendipitous moments, the snack closet? All seem too good to be true, and it’s lovely.

This was the first novel I read in the Meant to Be series, and I can’t wait to read the others. If you want a feel good, happily ever after, this is the perfect book. We all need a little joy and a little more magic in our lives.

This was fine, but not up to what I expect from Guillory. The protagonist read very young for a 25 year old

I actually read the first “meant to be” novel (If the Shoe Fits) and liked this one a lot more!! First book was a complete stand alone and written by another author.

Beauty and the Beast retelling- worked in the amazing library, grumpy love interest, and talking inanimate objects

No spice

African American representation (some mention of it- race wasn’t written as a main factor in the book/ love story like I thought it would).

This was such a sweet and inspiring story. Beau has to work through his issues and Izzy is supportive and understanding. I don’t know how she put up with all of his attitude. There seemed to be a lot packed into such a little book (multiple surfing scenes and the baking scene)- just seemed like more than one cheesy RomCom love bonding scene. I liked all of the lessons that Izzy helps teach Beau and the ones she learns for herself. The grand gesture/revealing their love was SO cute and touching.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Hyperion Avenue publishing for the digital ARC.

By the Book by Jasmine Guillory (Meant To Be #2)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was such a fun and sweet romance! I was not familiar with the Meant To Be series before receiving this ARC. The novels in this series are modern-day retellings of some of our favorite classic Disney fairytales! This is a dream come true for me, because I’m a Disney fanatic and a huge romance enthusiast! 🤗

By the Book retells everyone’s favorite “Tale As Old As Time” in a new and refreshing way through the story of Isabelle, an editorial assistant for a big-time publishing company who finds herself living in the home of a reclusive and difficult celebrity author (who also just happens to be incredibly handsome) to help him write his much anticipated memoir . While Izzy works with Beau to help him conquer his inner beasts, she faces her own insecurities and finds her voice, her strength, her courage, and maybe even some romance! ❤️

I loved the allusions and connections to Beauty and the Beast in the story. It was fun to pick out the Easter eggs sprinkled through the book paying homage to my favorite childhood Disney movie, but the story was still new and unique enough that it did not get boring.

Izzy and Beau’s romance was a slow burn, and I had a little bit of difficulty getting invested in them, but when it picked up they immediately had my heart. If you are a fan of the grumpy/sunshine trope, or forced proximity, you will really enjoy this book! Now I need to head to the book store to get the first in this series!

Don’t miss By The Book by Jasmine Guillory, available May 3! A huge thank you to @netgalley, Hyperion Press, and @jasminepics for this wonderful ARC! 🥀❤️

Written by Jasmine Guillory, A sequel to If The Shoe Fits (which I should now go and read…), By the Book follows Izzy, an editor’s assistant at a publishing house, as she tries to get a famous recluse, Beau, to write his memoir through sheer encouragement. Did I mention that it is a non-fantasy Beauty and the Beast retelling?

Well, it is. And it does a great job of capturing the overall feeling of Beauty and the Beast without pushing into the fantasy realm at all.

This book was well written and is definitely a nice beach read with a fun, sweet romance. It gets a bit serious, but overall has a light feeling that I think could appeal to anyone who has been looking for a book that does a good job of being a sweet, cozy-style romance and takes an approach to look at how we should communicate to each other.

I will say, this isn’t a deep book, and some of the actions of the main character just made me very annoyed, such as staying at a stranger’s house just to prove them wrong. That just feels so… dangerous, to say the least.

I did receive a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a lot of fun. It's very much a retelling of Disney's Beauty and the Beast and has deliberate and obvious nods to the movie. I loved those references. Izzy and Beau are thrown together because of unique circumstances: Izzy works for Beau's publisher and she's been sent to his mansion in Santa Barbara to get him to submit pages of his celebrity memoir. It's a charming romance. I loved the character development the reader sees in Izzy-she learns to speak up for herself and creates huge positive change in her life.

I want to start by saying I am a huge Jasmine Guillory fan. While We Were Dating is one of my favorite rom coms followed closely by The Proposal. I love her novels. By the Book, however, let me down.

Here’s what I liked:
- The general story is there from Izzy’s desire to become an author to Beau’s pursuit of not only discussing his past trauma, but addressing and sharing his side of the story with the world.
- There’s really interesting information about how to write a novel provided throughout.
- The ending was great and the premise was enjoyable.
- I like how the resolution with Garrett (Gaston) was concluded.

Here’s what I didn’t like:
- The Beauty and the Beast retelling is incredibly clear, but so much so I spent more time trying to figure out which character was which than I did actually getting to know these characters for who they are.
- I normally love Guillory’s novel for her mature character descriptions and dialogue, but it’s simply not there in this novel.
- There are entirely too many exclamation points -- so many that it completely threw me out of the novel because I was annoyed by how emphatic all these characters were about everything.
- The dialogue is not well done. Normally Guillory has great dialogue, but in this novel it’s stiff and formal and sounds generally awkward between characters.
- I’ve always appreciated the mature discussions and relationships between characters, especially women, but in this novel the conversations between Izzy and her best friend, Priya, are punctuated with so many exclamation points, words in all caps, and overly enthusiastic verbiage that I was more annoyed than engaged by their interactions.

I am going to continue to read Guillory’s other work, but this one wasn’t as enjoyable for me.

Izzy is frustrated because she feels stuck in her job. She volunteers to go see a writer whose memoir is long overdue to try to help fix whatever the problem will be. He initially tries to get rid of her before challenging her to stay with him and give him daily pep talks. She moves into Beau’s huge house and helps get him on track, but soon finds herself struggling with feelings for him. Will she be able to set them aside and get him to write about the painful stuff he’s avoiding or fail and prove that she doesn’t belong in the publishing business?

A fun take on Beauty and the Beast with likable characters and a sweet story.

By The Book was a cute Beauty and the Beast retelling. This book features Izzy and Beau. Izzy works in the publishing industry and takes on the task of Motivating Beau into writing his Memoir. This book had so many hidden Disney references that are super fun for the Disney lovers. This was a quick read that put a smile on my face. Thank you NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for the free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great version of Beauty and the Beast. I loved that this version exemplified a “beast” who is truly struggling with relatable and real mental health issues, along with strong emotions like grief and regret.
I thought that the heroine was great—she had all the great qualities of Belle from the movie, like positivity, maturity, and lots of empathy.
I’d feel very comfortable recommending this to a romance reader looking for a sweet comfort read.

I really loved the first book in this series from Julie Murphy, and as a life-long fan of Beauty and the Beast had high hopes for this. Unfortunately By the Book did not deliver. This was mediocre at best and sadly wasn't a very enjoyable reading experience. In this rendition, Belle (or rather Isabelle) is a book editor and the Beast (Beau) is a difficult celebrity who is struggling to write a contracted memoir.

Full disclosure, Guillory has been hit and miss for me as a romance author. That said, I have loved a couple of her books so I was hoping this would be in that vein. Instead we got a super slow burn that spends too much time on writing craft to actually have the "burn" and a "Beast" who is incredibly bland and one dimensional. Not to mention nods to the original Disney film that were both too on the nose (like Isabelle working at Tale As Old As Time Publishing house) and missing the point entirely (like Gavin as a Gaston stand-in who is just kind of a basic jerk and isn't remotely like Gaston).

I liked the concept here, but the execution felt so surface level. I felt far more passion about the food descriptions (many!) than I did about the romance. Which is unfortunate. The books spends a LOT of time on the nitty gritty of how Isabelle helps Beau write the memoir. I probably have a higher tolerance for that than most readers and I still found it to be very overkill, boring, and detracting from what we are actually here for which is the romance.

None of the characters felt fully developed and there wasn't much romantic tension until very late in the book. Then towards the very end, Guillory makes this very odd choice that I can only imagine is try to retcon that tension into existence. Beau sends Isabelle a copy of this notebook where he had written his feelings and reactions to her in the first weeks they were together. Now if this had just been about the first day or two, fine. Cute. But it went ON and ON for pages! WHY wasn't this just put in as his perspective back when this whole sequence of things was actually happening? After it's all over doesn't really work and I don't understand that choice.

I might sound like I hated this and I really didn't . While reading most of the time it was just meh. Not particularly good, but not terrible aside from a couple of specific places. But taken as a whole, I found the book to be so very underwhelming. Which is a shame because the idea had potential and Julie Murphy's take on Cinderella was everything I ever wanted. I received an advance copy of this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This is my first Jasmine Guillory novel. I love fairytale retellings and Beauty and the Beast is one of my faves. I enjoyed reading about writing and the publishing industry. I live in SoCal so the L.A. / Santa Barbara setting was fun to read about. Izzy and Beau had chemistry and I rooted for them to get together. The romance was very slow burn and the ending was sweet and satisfying. There wasn't as much conflict as I thought there was going to be and it was a bit slow at times. Overall, a fun, light-hearted read.

First let me say I haven’t been this excited to read a book I was gifted in so long. This is the second installment in the meant to be series (If the Shoe Fits is a favorite of mine) and I was so stocked to see I was given the opportunity to read it. Jasmine Guillory does a beautiful job of making her writing vivid without being so descriptive that you can’t let your imagine conjure up the characters in your head. And from the beginning of the book I had such a clear picture of the main characters I loved reading about them. (For anyone wondering I totally picture @colormecourtney as Isabelle and I totally hope someone else sees that and it's not just me)

Where I felt this book fell flat was in the main characters thought process. The whole book she underestimated herself which is not totally uncommon or unbelievable but when her decision making makes no sense to her it’s almost aggravating. She makes progress in admitting she wants to stay and then two paragraphs later she’s saying I can’t believe I did that I have no idea why. It’s so common for main characters to say no no I didn’t stay for the guy I stayed because of the career advantages this opportunity had for me. They are fooling themselves and we see through it clearly as the reader but where is logic. This main character makes a decision and instead of saying no I don’t have feelings I did it for the opportunity she says “What?! Why did I agree? Who do I think I am? Did a body snatcher come and take my place?!” (Paraphrasing but you know what I mean). It’s frustrating for the reader and makes you feel like not only is she not in tune with her feelings but she’s not in tune with herself at all.

That being said overall it is a sweet story with tons of Disney Easter eggs. Any fan of Disney will probably really enjoy this book. You might be wondering how a modern day retelling of Beauty and the Beast can work but it is fantastic. The romance is there the tense between the love interests keep you from being able to set the book down. It's a solid read and I definitely would recommend. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this!

By the Book is a modern retelling of the fairytale, Beauty and the Beast. Izzy works in book publishing and loves to read. Beau is a troubled rich guy who has spent the last year in seclusion in his Santa Barbara, California mansion. Izzy ends up staying with him to help him get his memoir written. Perfect setup for Beauty and the Beast! The story is predictable, but very cute and fun to read.

Jasmine Guillory's books are like eating candy--sweet, satisfying, and impossible to put down. Published by Disney's imprint and part of the Meant to Be series, By the Book is a modern take on the classic fairytale Beauty & the Beast. I loved that the book was set in the publishing world, which felt perfect for a story featuring a book lover as a heroine. Isabelle is an overworked editorial assistant who is tasked with searching out a reclusive celebrity author who hasn't delivered pages for an overdue book deal. But when Isabelle arrives at Beau's Santa Barbara hideout, she realizes there's more to the story than she expected. This was a fun read if a little predictable. As is always the case with Jasmine Guillory's books, the characters were charming and the story engrossing. Sometimes with romance, plot points can get bogged down with overwrought emotion and motivation, and I liked that this book was straightforward and easily digestible. The perfect escapist read.

Isabelle "Izzy" Marlowe loves to read and leaves her bookstore job for her dream of working in publishing at Tale as Old as Time (TAOAT). Her job ends up being less than ideal and she hides her unhappiness behind a super sunny, upbeat mask. Her dream job is at publishing rival Maurice.

Izzy's hopes of promotion after two years seem bleak, which makes her daring. When her boss says they need a new tactic to deal with nonresponsive celebrity Beau Towers, she volunteers to visit his house in Santa Barbara to convince him to finally finish his memoir.

When Izzy offers to give Beau a pep talk to help his creative process, Beau accepts and says she can stay with him and give him daily encouragement. Izzy is floored but agrees to impress her boss and enjoy the warm Santa Barbara weather. As the memoir is written, Izzy and Beau feel their attraction intensifying.

By the Book is the second novel in the Meant to Be series, which are modern retellings of Disney fairytales. This novel is a reimagining of Beauty and the Beast and reading the first book in the series is not necessary to enjoy this one.

Belle and Beau literally both mean beauty, so here the beast is a super hot guy with a gruff and antagonistic demeanor. Izzy feels like she is imprisoned in a hostile environment while living with Beau at first, but she has her freedom and isn’t subject to Beau’s whims. Her parents are safe in New York City. Izzy’s job could also be considered a prison of sorts. Minus Stockholm syndrome and magical singing household items, the story didn’t feel much like a retelling of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.

Recommended for romance fans who enjoy a diverse cast and the forced proximity trope.

Representation: African-American main character, Indian-American

Jasmine Guillory is the queen of cute romance. The main character works with books and gets stuck working with an unruly author. While this one isn't as wonderful as The Wedding Date, it fills the Guillory sized hole in my heart.