I’m a longtime JG fan and haven’t read one of her books in years. I enjoyed the behind the scenes look at the publishing world, beautiful scenery, and Black love story. At times the writing style felt forced or unrealistic but I enjoyed the escape. Thank you for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a big fan of Guillory's books, but this one read almost as if someone else wrote or edited it. It lacks her typical banter and is very closed door. The only thing more frustrating than the lack of physical contact is the frustratingly detailed accounts of the writing process. Overall, the book felt like nonstop food, angst, and word counts, and by the middle was starting to make me feel stressed reading it. When they finally did kiss, they stopped MULTIPLE times to go get snacks, which was the final straw for me. (Except if either of them heard me say "the final straw" they probably would have got up to go make a milkshake, transporting us straight to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.)

I'm still a Guillory stan and can't wait to read whatever she reads next, but the cuteness of the Beauty and the Beast adaptation wasn't enough to counteract the tediousness of this book for me.

A modern Beauty and the Beast? Written by Jasmine Guillory? YES, PLEASE!

This was wonderful, and definitely continues these great, modern retellings of princess stories, first with a plus-sized Cinderella in Julie Murphy’s If the Shoe Fits, and now with Guillory’s Belle as a Black woman in the publishing world. Princesses come in all shapes and colors, and I LOVE these retellings. I’m so thankful that Disney/ Hyperion is publishing these, because all women need to see that they could be princesses, too. And it’s refreshing to see the princesses have real world problems and roadblocks to their “Happily Ever After.”

Anyone that loves Disney princesses, loves Belle, loves books, loves contemporary romances that come right up to the edge of spicy but make you feel all the feels- you need to read this book.

You do not have to read Murphy’s book in the Meant to Be series to read By the Book, but they’re both so wonderful that you should.

This is absolutely a five star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ or five Princess tiara 👑👑👑👑👑 book.

** Many thanks to #NetGalley and #Hyperion / #Disney for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. This princess’s opinions are her own.**

Sigh --- this review pains me because I love Jasmine Guillory and I love Beauty + the Beast. I was so looking forward to this modern day retelling but sadly there just wasn't enough here. Like many Disney productions this book had a PG rating and it felt more like Beau + Izzy were good friends than in a romantic relationship. Was hoping to see Izzy stand up for herself more and be bold with what she wanted outside of her work with Beau and with her entire career.

Jasmine is still an auto-buy author for me but the constraints of this collab limited everything I love about her books.

<i>By the Book</i> is a cute contemporary retelling of <i>Beauty and the Beast </i>. I'm a big fan of Guillory's books so I was really excited to get an advanced copy of this one. Guillory's retelling features 20-something Isabelle ("Izzie"), an assistant at a publishing company who is unhappy with her job thanks to a boss that never seems to notice her and a coworker who seems only too happy to put her work down. When a difficult writer (Beau Towers) needs someone to force him to meet his deadline, Izzie jumps at the opportunity to finally show her boss that she has what it takes to be an assistant editor. But Beau turns out to be more of a beast than cranky writer, and Izzie finds herself stuck at his mansion trying to prove that she belongs in the publishing world just as much as her colleagues.

If you're a fan of the Disney version of the story, this version will not disappoint. It's a nice update that doesn't stray into cheesy. The modern tweaks to the story work really well, and readers will have fun catching all of the little references to the fairy tale.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC of this book.

I highly anticipated this novel, because I love Jasmine Guillory books. This one was not my favorite, though. I thought the Beauty and the Beast theme was cheesy and not carried through. Also, I didn't find there to be a climax or a high point of the book. It was just, meh. Liked the characters of Izzy and Beau, but I wouldn't choose to read it again.

I received this book free in exchange for my honest review.

By the Book by Jasmine Guillory was a nice romance novel. Jasmine's writing had a certain something special, but it was not as memorable as others.

Jasmine Guillory does it again!

Izzy is an assistant working in publishing and after two years in what she thought was her dream job, she’s feeling burnt out. Suddenly she finds herself working with a disgruntled new author and along the way, finds her inspiration again.

From the moment I started reading this book I could not put it down. Is it predictable? Yes. But the story hit me right in the feels and I was so drawn to the characters and the story I had to know what happened next. Plus you can’t go wrong with a book about books. In case you couldn’t tell, I would highly recommend this book!

As the polar opposite of a Disney adult, this book was an adventure in discovering whether I like Guillory’s books more than I dislike the House of Mouse. Turns out Guillory won. This one was full of her usual charm, good food, and California sunshine. It was a little tamer in terms of the romance to the point where I had to check to see whether it was a foray into YA (it’s not).

Some of the cutesy references didn’t work for me, but I get why they’re there and I’m sure less cold-hearted people will enjoy them.

My only lingering question: is Beau’s foundation-having friend Anna Gardiner?

I’m a huge fan of Jasmine Guillory and fairytales so this book was right up my alley. A modern take on Beauty and Beast, this sunshine/grumpy troupe Izzy and Beau nailed the classic telling. Guillory puts her own twists on it with her magical writing. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and anticipate another modern fairytale story. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

By the Book was a charming modern day retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I absolutely loved finding all of the little easter eggs throughout the story. I really liked Isabelle as a character. She was charming and smart and showed real growth as the story progressed. Beau was also an interesting mystery of a character, and I found the secondary characters to be well-developed and interesting. *Potential spoilers* I wasn't a huge fan of the ending because it wasn't as "happily ever after" as I expected. More of a "happily ever for now". But overall, I thought this was a charming little romance novel and you should definitely add it to your TBR.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved the whole beauty and the beast vibe and that he actually used the term are you trying to escape, Beau and izzy were just so cute I loved their give and take and how she softened him to make him an actual person instead of this monster noone liked I love how he made her want to start writing again and their relationship was just so fun to watch I guess read in this case

Another wonderful book with a modern twist of a classic fairytale! If your favorite Disney princess is Belle, then this is a must read! I fell in love with the character Izzy and Beau and watching their story unravel. Can’t wait to read more books like this in the future!

I was very excited to get the chance to read Jasmine Guillory’s upcoming book as I have loved and adored her others in the past. However, I unfortunately was a little disappointed that I didn’t love this one as much.

It took me a while to grasp the concept of this book and really get into it. I think It’s kinda hard to make Beauty in the Beast a light story in modern day lol I really did like their relationship throughout the book but at times it was a little slow and repetitive. Then by the ending I feel like I didn’t get enough from the relationship as I wanted to. I did love the little references from the original fairytale, it was a fun thing to look out for.

This is your typical Beauty and the Beast story, but Ms. Guillory's writing style has a way of keeping you hooked and loving the characters and wanting to read more about what happens next with the characters. It was a very cute story and I think she did a great job. I didn't love it as much as her book The Wedding Date or the other Disney book If the Shoe Fits, but it was enjoyable and I would recommend it to a friend.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read By the Book. As a fan of Jasmine’s I was looking forward to this retelling, but this book was not a fit for me. I thought it was a little too young for the books I tend to pick up and I also had a hard time connecting and unfortunately ended up not finishing the book because of this.

A fan of Jasmine Guillory books since The Wedding Date, I was so excited to receive an ARC of By The Book, but was disappointed. Though I expected it to be different because of the ties to Disney, the story and characters felt flat to me. The voice of Izzy was overly happy-go-lucky in a juvenile rose-colored glasses way. Even just the prologue made me cringe with the “everything is wonderful” attitude that didn’t seem to match Belle’s character. There was no passion or depth to Izzy’s character that I would expect of a Belle. I could not connect with her or any of the other characters. I also felt there were very minimal beauty and the beast references.

I did like the discussion of books, the publishing industry and the writing. Overall? This one was not for me

I have to DNF this one, it's nothing like Guillory's other romance novels. I was excited for the publishing setting and Guillory's usual fun romps featuring some great sexy moments and lots of food. However, I didn't realize this was published under a Disney label, and the Disney-ness is oppressive. The plot points are so dumb and trite, I honestly think this was ghost written.

I was the tiniest bit worried when I started this book that it would be too much like Beauty and the Beast and would be played out. But I was proven wrong.
This book was so cute and fun and just the right amount of whimsical. I really loved all the subtle nods to fairytales, Beauty and the Beast in particular. Izzy and Beau were relatable characters and had a great dynamic and even better character development.

This story was really sweet and I enjoyed reading it a lot. It was a fun and fresh spin on a story that we all know and love.

This was a wonderful book! I wasn't sure how I was going to like it, since I realized it was a Disney adjacent book, being a take on Beauty and the Beast, but not only did I enjoy it, but it made me want to re-watch the movie as well! Jasmine Guillory is just a wonderful author and I'm glad to spend time in her worlds.