By the Book by Jasmine Guillory
Publisher: Hyperion Avenue
Special thanks to Hachette Books for sending a copy for review.
Summary:
Isabelle is completely lost. When she first began her career in publishing right out of college, she did not expect to be twenty-five, living at home, still an editorial assistant, and the only Black employee at her publishing house. Overworked and underpaid, constantly torn between speaking up or stifling herself, Izzy thinks there must be more to this publishing life. So when she overhears her boss complaining about a beastly high-profile author who has failed to deliver his long-awaited manuscript, Isabelle sees an opportunity to finally get the promotion she deserves.
All she has to do is go to the author’s Santa Barbara mansion and give him a quick pep talk or three. How hard could it be?
But Izzy quickly finds out she is in over her head. Beau Towers is not some celebrity lightweight writing a tell-all memoir. He is jaded and withdrawn and—it turns out—just as lost as Izzy. But despite his standoffishness, Izzy needs Beau to deliver, and with her encouragement, his story begins to spill onto the page. They soon discover they have more in common than either of them expected, and as their deadline nears, Izzy and Beau begin to realize there may be something there that wasn’t there before (Goodreads).
Thoughts:
By The Book by Jasmine Guillory is a rom-com retelling of the well-known fairytale, Beauty and the Beast. There’s something intriguing about recognizing a classic story’s spirit in a contemporary one and reading a book with bookish characters. This is why I absolutely adored this book.
Izzy has such a bright personality that makes her the ideal contrast to Beau’s unpleasant, gloomy demeanour; these two characters are the perfect sunshine and grumpy trope. From a really unpleasant first encounter to something so endearing, I truly enjoyed reading this seamless, well-written book. I liked how they both still have an interesting past to support their current romance; for example, we see how they each had their own challenges that were woven together to make them appear similar and connect. Izzy is a charmingly-enthusiastic young woman who cannot wait to prove herself and move up the corporate ladder. Unfortunately, achieving the success she dreams of is slow. Some of the challenges Izzy faced was having trouble with writing her personal book, and her multiple attempts to get a promotion. Her first job out of college is as an editorial assistant at Tale as Old as Time publishing house. Beau’s issue was also having no motivation to work on his novel. Even though By the Book was written from a third person perspective, I enjoy slow-burn romances. The romance may be a little boring for some readers considering that it took a while to develop, but that wasn’t an issue for me.
What I really loved about this novel were the references to the original fairytale; such as the magic kettle, the Wi-Fi password (lum1re), the rose garden, as well as the stunning library. They were seamlessly inserted into the story, and I think it will remind readers of the original tale.
A very important topic discussed in this book was diversity. When I first watched the movie Mulan as a little girl, I was overjoyed because seeing Asian representation on TV did so many positive things to my mindset. I looked up to Mulan when I saw how she had her own thoughts, unrivaled power, and took great rebellious action, and I’m sure many others felt empowered by her character too. That’s how I think black girls would feel reading Izzy’s story: empowered and confident in themselves through Izzy’s character.
Overall, Guillory did a fantastic job of retelling and adapting this traditional fairy tale into a light-hearted romance novel that reflects today’s issues.
Reviewed by Janessa R.