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courtreadsalot 's review for:
By the Book: A Novel of Prose and Cons
by Amanda Sellet
Overall- this was a decent book. Its perfectly engaging and I found myself relating to the main character at points. However, most of Mary's emotions and the circumstances she finds herself in seem surface level and cliche. One of her main motivating points for most of the book is a scene that lasts barely a chapter and is a common experience for most teen girls- yet Mary repeatedly refers to the event as "devastating" and "humiliating", whereas it does not read that way in the moment.
I found myself getting bored as I read this book- Mary's avoidance of the supposed "bad boy" love interest feels shallow and petty. As a result, nothing interesting ends up happening between the characters, thus making the book feel like its being pushed forward by almost nothing. The creation of the Scoundrel Survival Guide is only referenced a couple/few times throughout the novel, even though it was explicitly mentioned in the synopsis on the dust jacket and meant to propel the friend group forward as they navigated high school. As I was reading the book, I realized none of it came to life nor was it believable (coming from a high school girl herself). It was a nice read, but it's going in my donate book pile and it won't be particularly missed.
I found myself getting bored as I read this book- Mary's avoidance of the supposed "bad boy" love interest feels shallow and petty. As a result, nothing interesting ends up happening between the characters, thus making the book feel like its being pushed forward by almost nothing. The creation of the Scoundrel Survival Guide is only referenced a couple/few times throughout the novel, even though it was explicitly mentioned in the synopsis on the dust jacket and meant to propel the friend group forward as they navigated high school. As I was reading the book, I realized none of it came to life nor was it believable (coming from a high school girl herself). It was a nice read, but it's going in my donate book pile and it won't be particularly missed.