This book was just so CHARMING. As a book lover, I fell in love with it so quickly. I loved the literary references. I liked the dynamics between characters as well. Such a wonderful YA romance!

This is perfect for booklovers/librarians/litmajors etc. so many great literature references. Love it.

This new YA release reminded me of a scavenger hunt. As Mary painstakingly picks her way through her first year in a public high school, she smugly assumes she can avoid the pitfalls that she has read about in books. Surely she will not fall into the traps that lead to misery. While giving advice to some girls she runs into after school, she finds herself cast as the fixer/literary expert. They begin to rely on her and that makes it even more difficult for Mary to realize when she might be on the wrong track. She is oblivious to her "Emma" tendencies. What I appreciated about most about this book was the reminder than when you are IRL, you will make mistakes. Feeling remorse and making things right is how we grow ourselves and our relationships. The book is filled with endearing characters and moments when you want to reach into the book and give Mary advice. I especially loved the Appendix with the "answers" to all the veiled book references throughout. I had guessed some, but not all and perhaps I will to add some of the ones I did not recognize to my TBR list.

Thank you to Houghton Mifflin and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was absolutely sweet and heartwarming! I finished it within a day and it was everything that I needed. The characters were dynamic and I loved all the different kinds of relationships present throughout the story. The banter between the protagonist and the love interesting was on fire! Super cute and fast read, I can't wait to read more from Amanda Sellet.

My only concern with "By the Book" is if you don't want to be spoiled about the ending of MANY popular and classic romantic novels, read with caution. This book is filled with spoilers to major twists and ending to classic romantic literature. I didn't mind it at all, but I know others may. Just be aware!

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this book! It was smart, well written, and literary. It had references to numerous classics, which as a bibliophile, I really enjoyed.

Navigating the ups and downs of public high school proves to be difficult for bookish Mary Porter-Malcolm. On the first day of school, Mary is dumped by her only friend for not being ‘cool’ enough to hang out with anymore. But then suddenly Mary finds herself with a new group of friends. These friends come to rely on Mary’s book knowledge to develop the Scoundrel Survival Guide, full of literary rogues to avoid. Everything is going well until one of those “rogues” doesn’t appear so roguish anymore to Mary.

Thank you to NetGalley for another great read!

Charming, feel-good story with smarts! One of those fast reads that instantly transports you for a moment, and then you feel better after reading it.
I love this cover, and the story did not disappoint. If you are a lover of literary things, you are going to want to meet Mary. Mary is 15 and is trying to navigate her way through her Sophmore year of high school with the help and advice from all her favorite classic novels.
This story was refreshing, it was a wonderful story of freindship!

I really wanted to like this book because the premise is what really sold me. But as you can see by the rating, this book fell flat for me. My main issues with the book was that there were too many characters for me and that the romance wasn't really there. Maybe it's just me, you might have a completely different opinion and that's great. Half the time I had to pause and think about who is who whenever a name is mentioned. The romance was basically nonexistent for more than half of the book and I didn't really get to know Alex that well.

Besides those things, I enjoyed the writing and the incorporation of classic books in the story. I probably would have rated this book higher if I read more classic books, idk.

This was a really fun and relatable read for people who love books, like me! Mary is definitely me in middle school/high school - very introverted, loves reading, tries to use the lessons from the books she reads to navigate life, and has a hard time making friends. Her new found friend group kind of falls into her lap and they are just a lot of fun. Arden, Terry, and Lydia help Mary navigate high school and Mary helps them stay away from the scoundrel boys that act just like the men in her classic romances (aside from a few plot points).

This book was enjoyable and breathes new life and love into old classic novels. The romance is slow burn and easy the way all first loves should be. I found myself reading this one slowly to really enjoy the story.

A cute, light ya romance. Sometimes the dialogue felt forced between the friend group, and a lot of the literary mentions seem a little much, and the vocabulary gets a little out of hand, but I think the romance is actually very fresh and kept my attention the most. I felt this was where the dialogue really shone. I would recommend to any teen who loves reading the classics and also loves romance, otherwise it might feel a little overbearing with all the literary mentions.

I had really high hopes for this book, but unfortunately it fell flat for me. There are a ton of characters and it is hard to keep track of all of them. Along with that, if I found my mind wandering for even a couple sentences I was thoroughly confused as to what was happening. They also referenced a lot of classic books, which other than Jane Austen I have never read. There were just a lot of factors in this book that did not work for me.
There were aspects of the book that were cute and drew me in, but overall I just found myself not really caring about the characters or what happened in the ebook.

2.5 stars
I received this book for free in return for an honest review.

By The Book is a charming novel about a bookish teen who uses classic literature to help her new friends determine which guys are players in her new high school. Mary comes from a big family and she's always been happy to blend into the background both at home and in school. When she finds out she has to transfer to the public high school, her world is totally turned upside down and she has to make new friends for the first time. I love that this book features a strong group of friends who easily welcome Mary into their circle. It's nice to see realistic friend groups that support each other. This book has a rom-com vibe as it becomes obvious to the reader who Mary will end up with even though she seems blind to it. Teen fans of classics will love this fun take on literary boyfriends.

Call me out for “judging a book by its cover” but ever since the cover for this book was revealed, I have been dying to read it. Of course, the synopsis made me even more intrigued in picking it up. And the ARC gods were nice to me and granted me an early copy of this book.


I’ll start off by saying that this cover gives off a vibe that this book will be heavily a romance. And yeah, it is a romance. There is a main couple as well as a few side couples as well. But as I finished this book I realized something: yeah, romance is what carries the plot in many ways. But it’s not the main topic of this book at all. This book is about friendship. And funnily enough, it was one of my favorite things about it.

I never am shy about my love for strong female friendships, and I gotta day I just loved the friendship between the 4 girls in this book so much. I felt like their personalities complemented each other so well, and they made for such a fun little group. Their interactions were one of my favorite things.

I do want to say I loved the romance between Mary and Alex, and I kind of wish we could’ve gotten more scenes between them and a little more build up. They had so much chemistry, and their scenes were adorable.


I think this falls into the “these characters are a little bit too young for my taste” category in YA contemporary though, and because of that I had a hard time connecting to the main character and the side characters, even though I felt like it was still a very cute book! Mary reminded me a bit of Lucie Herondale from Chain of Gold, with her love of books and the way she talks sometimes, and I enjoyed that about her.


Overall, I feel like this was a cute book that was sweet and fluffy, but not something that will stay with me in the long run. If you’re looking for a fast paced and cute book with a great friendship between a few girls, I recommend!

A personal anecdote for you that, I swear, relates to this book: I work with a lot of ivy league graduates of the scholarly nature and our main character, Mary’s parents are so painfully, triggeringly, pin-point-perfectly depictive of those types of people.

I truly wondered if I would make it through this book with all the eye-twitching I had going on any time her parents spoke.

Mary’s parents have the uncanny ability to overcomplicate when communicating and they are in need of constant validation and awe with their usage of SAT words in normal conversation.

Honestly, that goes for everyone in Mary’s family. Including our narrator. I tolerated it because her voice makes total sense given her upbringing and obsession with classic novels.

The narrator honest-to-goodness threw in the word “erstwhile.” As soon as I read that, my eye started twitching because I have a vivid experience at work in which my boss’s boss tried to come at us with a communication using that word, and we (in the marketing/communications department) immediately vetoed it.

As I hit the 50% mark, I began to find Mary charming, funny, and observant, which made for a great reading experience and I fell more and more in love with her big, quirky family. Yes, even her parents whose arms must hurt from all the self back-patting.

I grew up in a big family (3 siblings, lots of cousins) and seeing it depicted in books and movies always warms my heart - especially when done well. It’s why I tear up watching Little Women and why I adored To All the Boys I Loved Before. This was no different.

I say the following with both praise and warning:
The writing style is very nobody-talks-like-that-but-we-love-to-see-it Dawson’s Creek meets SAT prep with a lot of Gilmore Girls, but with classic literature references instead of pop culture references. There is even a glossary of literature references made at the end of the book.

You know how there is a Rory Gilmore reading challenge? I totally could see a Mary Porter-Malcom reading challenge stemming from this book.

All that being said, I think this book is very self-aware. I believe (and hope) that it is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, in which case, it is done incredibly well.
And now, I shall gush, because it’s what I do best:

I loved seeing how Mary’s world clashed with contemporary high school - how she interpreted everyday high school drama and how everyday high schoolers interpreted her.

The friend group in this was so, so refreshing. All three girls has such vivid personalities with little focus on looks, which I so appreciated. I seriously WISH I had friends like those in high school. I’m many MANY years out of high school and I even wanted to hang out with them.

And who would I be if I didn’t talk about the romance in this book? YA romances can be pretty predictable, but I’m going to be honest, this one wasn’t nearly as predictable as most YA novels I read. There were SO many sweet, swoony moments. The type of tiny moments that are significant simply because of the build-up.

The inclusion of Mary’s diary entries were not extra fluff. They directed the story in significant, but subtle ways. They weren’t boringly long, they were short and sweet, but packed a punch.

When I closed this book (figuratively speaking because I read the eARC for this), I felt exactly how I hope to feel every time I open one… a little giddy, a little nostalgic, and a lot satisfied.

A cute, light read. I appreciated the inclusion of family scenes and - importantly - a focus on female friend relationships, alongside a romance. I did feel that the characters weren't super well-rounded, instead having somewhat basic categories to fit in or simple/singular interests (e.g. sister Cam is The Sporty One, Terry is pretty and likes forensic science). It also seemed pretty unrealistic that the other girls would immediately accept Mary as some sort of relationship guru based on having read a lot of classic literature, and overall I found the narration and Mary's personality to be perhaps too quirky. Still, a quick, sweet, fun YA contemporary.

This story started off a bit concerning to me, because of the relationship between Mary and her friend Anjuli. However, as the story progresses, it was fun to read about a bookworm who is embraced by a group of friends who want to help her grow and have those quintessential high school experiences. The references to classic romantic literature made for a fun guessing game, though I do wonder how many teenagers will be well enough read to catch many of the references. But who knows, maybe it will encourage them to pick up a classic!

A refreshing and hilarious romance!

Mary has been living her life with her nose stuck in a book And classic novels are her passion. When she discovers that she will begin her sophomore year of high school in a public high school she hopes that the skills she’s learned from reading her beloved books will assist her in navigating a new school, making friends and identifying bad boys who should be avoided at all costs.

I loved how well developed Mary was as a character even down to the details of the phrases used in her thoughts and speech. It felt like her character was pulled out of the past and plopped into a modern high school with little understanding of what other high schoolers are into today. I also adored the friendships she developed. Having a groups of girls who support one another and find ways to build each other up are always fantastic to read about. Plus, they were highly entertaining as a group with Arden’s charisma, Lydia’s skepticism and Terry’s constantly being on the lookout for potential danger. Then there was Alex Ritter. The bad boy who Mary cannot seem to stop running into. Their interactions were hilariously awkward at times and I loved how he kept her on her toes. I really enjoyed this book and I can’t wait to read more from this author in the future.

I was given a free copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

By the Book is a Young Adult Contemporary read that follows Mary, a sophomore just starting at a new high school. She had been going to school in a small, experimental school so she has no experience with "typical" high school life, and at this point has no friends. She's the second youngest out of 5 children, and she knows everything there is to know about classic literature. Mary is timid and quiet, but can have some sass to her. She meets a group of girls to befriend, and they start classifying the guys in their schools as some of the villains in European literature, but no one is worse than Alex Ritter. He is a senior and a huge player who will hit on any girls around.... or is he?

The story line is sweet and has a fun group of friends. It's also interesting to see the family dynamic with 5 kids who are all literature and theater inclined. The love story is sweet, a kind of enemies to lovers in a PG rated way.
I loved the LGBTQIA aspects and the nod given to other characters who aren't hetero.

Frankly, Mary is my least favorite character in the book. I just think she came across as very flat, whereas other characters were given a lot of dimension. There was mention of her feeling slighted and ignored in a huge family, but there was never anything done or said about it. I wanted her to have more life in the book than she did.

Overall, I felt this book was sweet but could have gone deeper with the MC.

Mary Porter-Malcolm is ready for an adventure where she is the main character of the story. Little does this literary fanatic know, in order to get her happy ending, she'll have to write her own story.

There were so many things to love in this story, and as Elizabeth Bennett once said, I was incandescently happy the whole time I was reading. The literary puns and references only endeared this book even more to my heart, the characters were well-rounded and charismatic, and once I started reading I couldn't stop! I especially liked how the book focused on friendship in addition to the splash of romance, although I definitely would not have complained had we gotten more of our leading man. While this book was written for younger readers and was a bit predicable at times, it did not detract from the story that any reader in love with books is sure to adore.

Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Group for the opportunity to review an eARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
I found this story a bit hard to get into at first. The literary references were a lot in a YA novel, but I got used to it as I kept on reading and got into the story. I loved the big family and their dynamic and the friendships that developed over this story.
Mary’s relationship with Alex was so nice to read. It was obvious reading it that he liked her and was doing his best to get her to see past her preconceived ideas about relationships. Their story progressed nicely as the book went on, and I was rooting for them the whole time. The book certainly has some drama between the friends that was a bit much, but since it’s YA I felt it added to the experience of being in high school and helped me remember what that felt like. I loved this debut from Amanda Sellet and look forward to more. I would recommend it to anyone that likes romance or bookish stories.

By the Book is an adorable read, and will be well-liked by Jane Austen fans, and teens looking for romance novels. Mary loves classic stories, and she's using what she's learned from them to navigate public high school life. In theory. this is a great plan - it helps her secure a great group of friends, to forgive some old friend, and to steer clear of rogue scoundrels. Or will it? A mostly predictable story, that stretches a bit long, thanks to Mary's rather boring inner thoughts, the cast of adorable, quirky characters, paired with strong positive messages, make this worth reading.