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cady_sass's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Books about books are my love language. This is perfection. I’m not even upset that there’s no spice, it’s so good. Brought tears to my eyes! Grumpy/sunshine done right
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Grief, Cursing, Bullying, Mental illness, Racism, Death of parent, and Sexual content
anniereads221's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying and Grief
kyrstin_p1989's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Such a sweet enemies to lovers romance. Not spicy at all but it was cute. I loved the characters & the fact that they were writers/editors. I always like books about people who love books as much as I do. I also really enjoyed that it was a loose, modern retelling of Beauty & the Beast featuring Black characters, since that’s my favorite Disney movie.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Car accident, Confinement, Death of parent, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Body shaming
jadehusdanhicks's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A book about a book with a love story woven around the pages as they come to life this book was so easy to fall in love with. With diverse representation with BIPOC characters as well as addressing societal/ structural issues of racism at parts and portrayed important messages while doing so this book is so thought out and well written.
Izzy and Beau enemies to friends to lovers arc is so engaging and the way the book is used to reveal the depths of the love at the end honestly brought tears to my eyes. Couldn’t reccomend more. A great intro to romance too as it isn’t anything to much , more just some kissing and hugging etc when it does elaborate
Izzy and Beau enemies to friends to lovers arc is so engaging and the way the book is used to reveal the depths of the love at the end honestly brought tears to my eyes. Couldn’t reccomend more. A great intro to romance too as it isn’t anything to much , more just some kissing and hugging etc when it does elaborate
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Grief, Racism, and Bullying
victoriousbookworm's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent and Bullying
zombiezami's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Going into this, I didn't realize it was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I just wanted to read Jasmine Guillory's latest book. Once I did realize that that's what was happening, I thought it was cute, but some of the references were a bit on the nose (like, why would a publishing company be called "Then Somebody Bends"?). Still, it was cute, and I can tell that Guillory is growing as a writer.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Bullying, and Mental illness
Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Sexism, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Car accident, and Racism
meganpbennett's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I loved The Wedding Date series by Jasmine Guillory, and Beauty and the Beast was one of my favorite Disney movies as a kids, so I was really excited when I saw that this book was coming out. And I adored about 85-90% of By the Book.
It was a fun modern take on Beauty and the Beast, though there were bits that seemed forced, as though Disney Press was unwilling to let us forget for even a paragraph that this was a modern take on their movie version of Beauty and the Beast. Michaela being called "Kettle" is one of them and Izzy's room that may or may not be magical is another.
But those were relatively easy to overlook. My issue is with the ending, as it seemed that too much action was stuffed into about 40 pages, when it needed about 80 pages to do what it needed to do.
It's not just this book; I've noticed that it's become a very common trope in romance novels, that everything is going really smoothly, and then, with about 50 pages to go, everything happens at once, without enough pages remaining to solve everything. I've read books that condense it down into 10 or even 5 pages, which is most assuredly not enough pages. It feels like the publishers want angst and conflict in their stories, and tell the author to add some, right at the end. But there's almost never enough time to explore that conflict, and get it worked out to be reasonable within the context of the story.
And those rushed endings always effect how I rate books, as they take away from the story, and cause me to take a full star off of my original rating
It was a fun modern take on Beauty and the Beast, though there were bits that seemed forced, as though Disney Press was unwilling to let us forget for even a paragraph that this was a modern take on their movie version of Beauty and the Beast. Michaela being called "Kettle" is one of them and Izzy's room that may or may not be magical is another.
But those were relatively easy to overlook. My issue is with the ending, as it seemed that too much action was stuffed into about 40 pages, when it needed about 80 pages to do what it needed to do.
It's not just this book; I've noticed that it's become a very common trope in romance novels, that everything is going really smoothly, and then, with about 50 pages to go, everything happens at once, without enough pages remaining to solve everything. I've read books that condense it down into 10 or even 5 pages, which is most assuredly not enough pages. It feels like the publishers want angst and conflict in their stories, and tell the author to add some, right at the end. But there's almost never enough time to explore that conflict, and get it worked out to be reasonable within the context of the story.
And those rushed endings always effect how I rate books, as they take away from the story, and cause me to take a full star off of my original rating
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Racism
thefatpaperback's review
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Bullying, Death of parent, and Grief
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