👸🏻ᗷOOK ᖇEᐯIEᗯ👸🏻

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
By The Book by Jasmine Guillory

By the Book is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast but in modern time. Izzy, works in the publishing world and even thought she thinks it’s her dream job she is realizing is not a dream any longer.

Beau can be annoying, rude and unpleasant. Things change when Izzy decided to help him finish his book and stay in his Santa Barbara home. Things turn around when they get to know each other and spend time… Izzy realizes that he is different than what he portrays.

Their sessions turn into a friendship and a romance they didn’t think could happen. The way they help each other find themselves and their voice is special.

Although I love Disney stories and love The Beauty and the Beast I don’t enjoy retells as much. I feel like even though they are modernized, they lose that touch all the stories have. I did enjoy the book and the story line and I’m looking into her other books as well.

Do you enjoy the Disney original books or do you enjoy a retell as well?

Thank you @netgalley and Hyperion for the ARC.

I loved this modern version of a fairy tale! So many cute similarities to Beauty and the Beast with very likable characters. Isabelle and Beau are a fairy tale couple come true!

I absolutely adore Jasmine Guillory. But when I read one of her books, I expect it to bring a certain amount of heat. This one does not. It’s a Disney-fied version of her. I loved Izzy and Jasmine Guillory provides representation like no other in her descriptions. But Beau was too odd and reserved for me to like him as a character. Definitely four stars for the happiness I feel just cracking open a Jasmine Guillory book.

I'll be honest, I DNF'd this book. Something about it didn't work for me and I couldn't put my finger on it until I realized that it was a play on Beauty and the Beast. It's not a trope that I can get behind and neither is the power dynamic and disparity between Izzy and Beau. Her career depends on him writing his book and he takes advantage of that and of her.

This was a great retelling of beauty and the beast.
I absolutely love Belle and just had to go out and buy a copy for my
collection. I just recently bought another book by the same author.
completely in love

📚 My review for By The Book by Jasmine Guillory. First shoutout to #NetGallery for giving me an advanced digital copy

Swipe for synopsis

Guys, I love love love me some Jasmine Guillory! It’s something about the light hallmark feel of her books, that restore my faith in all of humanity lol. This book was just ok to me, it was a slow burn with no spice at all. I was kind of prepared for this, because its a Disney retelling, but it did really make the book drag. For me it gets a 3.5/5 .

Read this book if…
💜 You love Disney retellings
💜 You love an adorable female MC
💜 You love a grumpy male MC
💜 You love hallmark movies
💜 You’re obsessed with all things snacks
💜 You love a slow burn romance

SN: Slowly, I’ve been collecting funko pops! They are so adorable and a little addictive.

QOTD: Do you collect funko pops? If so which one is your favorite?

4 out of 5 stars. If you ask me, I'll tell you to read it.

This was a fun retelling of "Beauty and the Beast". The story and characters were engaging, and the story was mostly light and fluffy (which was just what I needed).

I loved this book. Jasmine is a master at writing romance and this Beauty and the Beast retelling was so fun!

I've read most of Guillory's novels now, and this one ranks towards the bottom. It was just okay. While I like fairytale retellings, this one felt lackluster. It could have been the younger age of the characters that ,made this feel like new adult rather than adult contemporary (NA is not my cup of tea).

Love love loved this one soooo much!! I adore this writing style and story telling, permanent smile on my face kind of romance.

This was a cute retelling of Beauty and the Beast. A bit predictable and it missed the spice I’ve come to expect from Jasmine Guillory but overall it was a fun, low stakes read

As a child Disney movies were my jam, and Beauty and the Beast was one of my favorites. I absolutely this retelling. Guillory captured the magic without making it creepy with holding hostage vibes.

Izzy works in publishing and is tasked with getting a wild famous person's memoir. After a publishing event in CA Izzy drives to his house to confront him in person and ends up staying to help him through the writing. Beau has a lot going on, and has basically secluded himself for the last year. Guillory winds this through the story quite well, giving away hints before the big reveal. Once it's all revealed you can see why he hid himself away.

Izzy and Beau develop a relationship over the 6 weeks or so that they are together, it's a much appreciated slow burn. Beau also helps Izzy work through her own work and writing issues. They are so cute together it's impossible not to root for them.

If you like Beauty and the Beast I highly recommend this one! (I also recommend even if you don't because it's cute and fun.)

Jasmine Guillory creates such adorable characters. I really like her books. I can’t wait to read more.

To be honest if I'd paid more attention when requesting this book and realized it was both a Beauty and the Beast retelling and somehow connected to/published with/endorsed by the Disney corporation I almost certainly wouldn't have requested it. But I did, and I decide to power through reading it even when it became clear it wasn't the book for me. As the many good reviews demonstrate, this is a great book for a great many people, I'm just not one of them. I didn't find the characters or plot engaging and I found the Beauty and Beast references to be groan worthy. I will definitely keep this in mind to recommend this to patrons, it just wasn't the right choice for me personally.

It was ok, the writing and plot were basic but enjoyable. If you’re in the mood for a fluffy romance book, then this is for you

Once again, another book I had no idea was a sequel.

🤦🏾‍♀️
But hey, that didn't stop me.
It did have a start that really didn't pique my interest, made it really close to a dnf the first 2 chapters, but I managed to pull through. I love books about other books, so this definetely was within my radar. This book was a book lovers dream come true and it could not have been more well written. This romcom was perfect! Loved the characters and the chemistry.

By the Book - Jasmine Guillory

This is the second book in the meant to be series, which is a romance series of fairytale retellings, written by different authors. This one was inspired by beauty and the beast!

Izzy is an editorial assistant at a publishing house, and she’s recruited to try and get Beau to deliver the book he has promised. This starts off as a hate to love, kind of a misunderstanding. Beau is closed off and is initially a jerk to Izzy, and then she takes everything he says the wrong way. But once they clear that up, they begin to develop a friendship and start working on his book together. I thought this was a really sweet romance and I enjoyed it a lot. It’s probably one of my favourite books I’ve read by Jasmine guillory, and I’ve really enjoyed both books in the series so far, so I can’t wait to see what’s next!

This was a departure from other of her novels. A fun play on the beauty and the beast theme but not for me personally.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

i was so surprised by this one — a fairytale retelling didn’t *seem* to be something id love this much. i haven’t read any guillory before, but her work is so well-loved that maybe i shouldn’t have been so surprised. but this book is such a delightful retelling of what is an arguably problematic story. this take on *why* izzy is stuck at beau’s is so brilliantly done, and i loved all the references to the house being alive. beau is a great love interest, and their chemistry is amazing. i love the subplot with his mother and all the drama with gavin at the publisher. this book is so good that it just might convert me to fairytale retellings. this is a delightful read with fascinating, relatable, three-dimensional characters and a whole lot of heart.

taylor swift vibe: today was a fairytale

recommended for: beach days, cozy thunderstorms, winter nights, and a morning coffee companion. somehow this book is perfect for any vibe.

thank you for the advance copy!

This was a light, well-written rom-com loosely inspired by Beauty and the Beast. While the book had a slow start it quickly grew on me once it really got going. I could relate to Izzy's dreams and her love of books so much that I found myself highlighting entire passages. I did find that this was a very, VERY loose Beauty and the Beast inspired story but honestly Beau was more of a perfectly imperfect man working through some things rather than a Beast.