By The Book is the second installment in the Meant To Be series and is a modern-day retelling of Disney’s Beauty And The Beast. If you’re looking for a fairytale story, this one hits the nail on the head! The retelling is super accurate and sweet.
Isabelle (the modern-day version of Belle) is an editorial assistant who is severely underpaid and is looking for her big break. When she hears her boss complaining about a big-time author who isn’t delivering, she pops over to his house to get the manuscript and hopefully impress her boss in the process. Beau Towers, the “beast” in this retelling, is really a big emotional softy underneath, though he puts up a good front as Izzy tries to work her magic on him.
There are some really wonderful elements in this book. For starters, the retelling is on point. One of my biggest pet peeves is when a retelling has virtually nothing to do with the original story. Luckily, Guillory manages to make it super clear that we’re reading Beauty And The Beast without making the characters dark or controlling; the plot fits in well with the modern-day world.
Plus, there are SO many fairy-tale references that I just couldn’t control my excitement. Obviously, there’s the book aspect (which is really how Belle and the Beast first start to fall in love – over the library), but there’s also a rose garden, “magical” household items, and more that I won’t spoil.
By The Book also features some of my favorite tropes: enemies to lovers AND sunshine/grumpy. And they’re done well – you can feel the chemistry between the characters jumping off the page, especially when they don’t like each other. The “hatred” is perfectly paced and doesn’t feel too aggressive, nor is it unrealistic.
A few elements felt less welcome for me. First of all, the tale sticks almost too closely to the original fairy-tale. I would have enjoyed a few surprise elements thrown in while keeping all of the cheeky references. After a bit, I already knew what was coming and the plot just couldn’t hold my interest. It definitely needed more.
But the bigger problem (at least for me) is how much the author tells. Almost every line she’s telling us how the characters feel, what they think, what they want to do, or what they’ve already done. I wanted to see a lot of this through their actions, words, mannerisms, etc. Each “telling” line jolted me out of the story and made the characters feel less real.
Lastly, the sizzling scenes are all behind closed doors, an unwelcome surprise for me. I don’t need my romances to be crazy steamy (though that’s never a bad thing) but I do want to see some connection between the characters on-page, if only to advance the plot. Even kissing is barely mentioned. I wanted to feel the tension between the characters on a visceral level. Like, even if the sex scene isn’t described word for word, I would still enjoy a bit more sexual tension – a flirty touch here, an accidental brush, etc. It felt more like the characters were growing from enemies to friends.
Overall, By The Book is a cute Disney retelling if you’re looking for a darling little fairytale. It filled my “happy” quota for the week and is definitely a great comfort read.
A tale as old as time—for a new generation… 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. Best-selling author Jasmine Guillory’s reimagining of a beloved fairy tale is a romantic triumph of love and acceptance and learning that sometimes to truly know a person you have to read between the lines.
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
