A review by kori_krc
By the Book by Jasmine Guillory

5.0

I have such a love/hate relationship with Jasmine Guillory books and was really nervous about a Beauty and the Beast retelling in her style, HOWEVER, this was a quick fun read. I loved the dynamic between Izzy and Beau. I loved their character development both individually and together. This book still had a lot of elements that are a signature of Guillory's, such as the two main characters bonding over some sort of food or food in general, a very rich and handsome man being head over heels immediately for a plus sized woman of color in a random tax bracket (here it happened to be in a lower one), and then the over production of PC expressions that borderline people who are chronically online. While these are critiques I've had of Guillory in the past, this book didn't feel like I was being beat over the head with the information or beat over the head with the fact that these people are good people. I felt like we got to see that more than we were told those things. Overall, it was a fun and quick read loosely based on Beauty and the Beast. I could see the resemblance but it's not following it to a T.