A review by life_full_ofbooks
By the Book by Jasmine Guillory

hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-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

3.5

This is part of the Meant to Be series which much like the Improbable Meet Cute series is a collection of different authors who write their own book that goes with the theme of the series, though the books don’t go with each other. Meant to Be is a series of modern retellings of the Disney Princess stories and Jasmine Guillory has retold Beauty and the Beast. 

Isabelle Marlowe is an editorial assistant at A Tale As Old Time Publishing but her dream is to be promoted to a Junior Editor. When she overhears her editor, Marta, talking about the long awaited memoir by Hollywood bad boy Beau Towers, Isabelle immediately jumps at the chance to show Marta she has what it takes and offers to go to Beau’s house to encourage him to start writing. Beau is a monster of a man both in physique and personality and Isabelle can’t believe she’s gotten herself into this situation. As days turn to weeks and weeks turn to months, Isabelle starts seeing the man inside the monstrous exterior and what starts as animosity in both parties turns to love. 

This book really is quite cute and it’s a fantastic modernized retelling of Belle and the Beast’s story. The love story between Isabelle and Beau is beautiful and flows so nicely, but certain side characters felt  really forced. I think the book would have done better to just leave this with Isabelle and Beau and the few Beauty and the Beast Easter eggs and not try to include certain characters that were in the original Disney movie.