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.

This was just okay! I was expecting it to be more quintessentially Jasmine Guillory but that’s okay! Still a quick read

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review

I love Jasmine Guillory books but this was not quite what I was expecting. I'm not sure if because it's the second book of the series, but I felt like something was missing.
I feel like I needed another character to hold the storyline together. But overall I liked the premise of this!

Always a fan of Jasmine Guillory and her writing, and also Beauty and the Beast I was looking forward to reading By the Book.

In this modern day Beauty and the Beast retelling, Isabelle works in publishing, with a not so great boss in NYC. Beau Towers is an author, whose memoir Izzy and her company have spent almost two years waiting for. Izzy jumps at the chance to prove herself to her boss and visit Beau in hopes she can get some answers or pages from him. If nothing else she can enjoy the California weather for a bit. But Izzy may be just what Beau needs to get started and put his words on the page.

Guillory did a great job of weaving the Beauty and the Beast references and characters all throughout the novel. It was such a great modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast, with extra focus on the books and the library, but the journal was the best part for me (iykyk).

So an editorial assistant has to spend a vacation at a Californian drama queen man child’s manor because of a ridiculous situation where she tried to call his bluff but it didn’t work. Now she has to spontaneously spew annoying pep talks whenever he commands to help him write his stupid memoire that he clearly hasn’t even started. Could romance bloom is such a random context? No. I’m telling you now, there’s no romance worth reading in this book.

On one hand, I hope the author had an editor, but on the other hand I also hope she didn’t because this is not a text that went through editing. This is a raw unedited work that might have been passable to post on wattpad in 2013. I cannot believe someone gave the green light for it to be published as it is. I stopped counting the amount of times I physically recoiled and cringed at the incredibly awkward writing and the even more awkward dialogue. I’d say the first half or so is especially hard to get through because it’s just that bad.

By The Book is most likely the worst romance book I’ve ever read. No chemistry. No build up or tension. Nothing. Even worse, it’s supposed to be a Beauty and the Beast retelling, if it wasn’t already made obvious by the many non subtle references to it throughout the book, which was so annoying. The characters were very forgettable. One dimensional personalities with your typically overdone grumpy boy x sunshine girl dynamic. It was corny and cheesy. The romance genre is so oversaturated with this trope, I can’t stand it.

Also, by the look of it, this is supposedly the second book in the Meant to Be series, but from my experience you don’t have to read the first one. Nor this one. Just don’t read it. It’s a waste of time.

This book is insanely cute! As the second installment in the Meant to Be series, which are romances inspired by fairy tales, I thought I knew what to expect. This book was much more adorable than the first in the series! Inspired by Beauty and the Beast, we follow Izzy who works in publishing as she spends some time sequestered in a large fabulous home with a curmudgeonly author, to encourage and inspire him to finish his latest book. There are a ton of references to her talking to the furniture and household objects and feeling like they are friends, which I chuckled at each time. The romance is closed door, so there is nothing explicit here. Overall, I really enjoyed the characters and their relationships, the dialogue, and the adorable flirting!

Jasmine Guillory strikes again in another fun romance story, this time set as a modern retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" between two characters, Izzy, who works in book publishing in New York City, and Beau, her celebrity client in California who she's tasked with helping convince him to finish writing the book her agent has signed him on to do. Sent to California to do so, Izzy has her hands full with the reclusive and surly Beau, but as their relationship unfolds, she also learns to stop hiding her own dreams too.

This was a really fun, light read from Guillory that fans of her previous work will likely enjoy!

I wanted to love this book. I made it about halfway but it didn't keep me engaged. I had a hard time getting past the MC's too-cheery persona. It was definitely a me-thing.

3.5 Stars

This was a sweet book! I am not a huge romance reader and can quickly be put off by many romance tropes and over the top story lines. I really enjoyed this one though, especially with the subtle nods to Beauty and the Beast (though they didn't feel overdone, luckily!). I will definitely be reading more in this series.

This was such a cute, delightful retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I loved the enemies to lovers story, I loved the characters, and I was rooting for them. This book was a breath of fresh air and I have already recommended it to others. Can't wait for more books like this one.

When I think of romance, I think of books just like this one, that gives all the feels and satisfies every romance junkies' heart. This is a perfect book to snuggle up with on any day.