By the book

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Title :

By the book / Jasmine Guillory.

Title:

By the book

Author:

Guillory, Jasmine

Format:

Books

Series:

A meant to be novel

Meant to be novel.

Physical Description:

313 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

ISBN:

9781368050395

9781368053389

Production / Publication Information:

Los Angeles : Hyperion Avenue, 2022.

Summary:

A young, black woman working in publishing makes a surprise connection with an author who has failed to deliver his highly anticipated manuscript.

Language:

English

Genre:

Romance fiction.

Novels.

Subject Term:

African American women -- Fiction.

Publishers and publishing -- Fiction.

Authors -- Fiction.

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Item Barcode	Location
Book	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	FICTION GUILLORY	31330009202718	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Amesbury Public Library	FIC GUILLORY	32114002714906	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Billerica Public Library	FICTION/GUILLORY	33934004519451	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Boxford Town Library Storage	FIC GUILLORY	32115002175659	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Burlington Public Library	F GUILLO	32116003894009	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Carlisle - Gleason Public Library	F GUILLORY/PB	32117002124638	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Chelmsford Public Library	FIC/GUILLORY	31480011562748	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Dracut - Moses Greeley Parker Memorial Library	FIC/GUILLORY	31482003051003	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Dunstable Free Public Library	GUI	32118001075870	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Georgetown Peabody Library	FIC GUILLORY	32120001375045	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Groveland - Langley-Adams Library	FIC GUILLORY	32121000935342	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Hamilton-Wenham Public Library	FIC GUILLORY	30470001994309	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Haverhill Public Library	FIC/GUILLORY J	31479007115032	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Ipswich Public Library	FIC GUILLORY, JASMINE	32122002946733	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Lawrence Public Library	FIC GUI ROM	31549004936661	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Littleton - Reuben Hoar Library	F GUILLORY	39965002376134	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Lowell - Pollard Memorial Library	FIC GUILLORY	31481005609040	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Manchester-by-the-Sea Public Library	FIC GUI	32124002070241	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Merrimac Public Library	F GUI	32125001379970	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Methuen - Nevins Memorial Library	FIC GUI	31548003424307	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Newbury Town Library	GUI PBF	32127001316424	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Newburyport Public Library	FIC GUILLORY J	32128004066503	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... North Andover - Stevens Memorial Library	F GUILLORY	31478010202050	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... North Reading - Flint Memorial Library	FIC GUILLORY J	31550002493507	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Rockport Public Library	FIC GUILLORY MEANT TO BE 2	32129002511193	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Rowley Public Library	FIC GUI	32130001027793	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Salisbury Public Library	FIC GUILLORY	32131000948161	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Tewksbury Public Library	FICTION GUILLORY	32132003318808	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Topsfield Town Library	YA GUILLORY	32133002619998	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Topsfield Town Library	FIC GUILLORY	32133002621994	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Tyngsborough Public Library	FIC/GUILL/PB	32137002162438	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... West Newbury - G.A.R. Memorial Library	YA GUI	32135001609656	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Westford - J.V. Fletcher Library	F GUILLORY	31990005111328	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Wilmington Memorial Library	FICTION GUILLORY, JASMINE	32136003634239	Searching... Unknown

"By The Book is in my hands and I could not be any more excited to celebrate it! Jasmine is on a short list of my tried and true comfort-read authors. I don't know how she manages to weave such depth into her characters while still making the whole reading experience feel SO GOOD AND NICE but she does, every single time."
--Emily Henry, #1 New York Times bestselling author of People We Meet on Vacation and Beach Read

Accolades

USA Today Bestseller
An Amazon Book of the Month
An Amazon Best Book of 2022
An Apple Best Book of 2022
The Root Books We Can't Wait to Read
Bustle Most Anticipated Book
Buzzfeed Best Book
Harper's Bazaar Best Romantic Books of 2022

Sometimes to truly know a person, you have to read between the lines.

Isabelle is completely lost. When she first began her career in publishing after college, she did not expect to be twenty-five, still living at home, and one of the few Black employees at her publishing house. Overworked and underpaid, constantly torn between speaking up or stifling herself, Izzy thinks there must be more to this publishing life. So when she overhears her boss complaining about a beastly high-profile author who has failed to deliver his long-awaited manuscript, Isabelle sees an opportunity to finally get the promotion she deserves.

All she has to do is go to the author's Santa Barbara mansion and give him a pep talk or three. How hard could it be?

But Izzy quickly finds out she is in over her head. Beau Towers is not some celebrity lightweight writing a tell-all memoir. He is jaded and withdrawn and--it turns out--just as lost as Izzy. But despite his standoffishness, Izzy needs Beau to deliver, and with her encouragement, his story begins to spill onto the page. They soon discover they have more in common than either of them expected, and as their deadline nears, Izzy and Beau begin to realize there may be something there that wasn't there before.

Best-selling author Jasmine Guillory's achingly romantic reimagining of a classic is a tale as old as time . . . for a new generation.

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Bestseller Guillory (the Wedding Date series) throws together an aspiring editor and a brooding author in this bland retelling of Beauty and the Beast, the second in the multi-author Meant to Be series. Editorial assistant Izzy Marlowe is ready for a promotion. To prove herself, she crashes former child star Beau Towers's home in hopes of getting him to finish a memoir he's years late in delivering, having ignored all of her emails. After earning a bad reputation for being plain old mean, Beau has been holed up like a hermit in his Santa Barbara home. Despite his not-so-warm welcome and grouchy demeanor, Izzy refuses to turn tail and run, and, with a little nudge from his cook, Beau agrees to start writing if Izzy moves in and gives him regular pep talks. Beau's bad temper hides a good heart, and Izzy's patience and understanding nature quickly endear her to him, but the pair's chemistry never quite comes through, partly due to the lack of Beau's point of view. Their relationship feels like a friendship more than a romance, even as Izzy develops self-confidence and Beau learns to forgive himself and make amends for past mistakes. This is lukewarm at best. Agent: Holly Root, Root Literary. (May)

Kirkus Review

Sparks fly between a bad-boy celebrity and the harried editorial assistant charged with helping him to write his memoir in this updated version of "Beauty and the Beast." Two years into her job at Tale as Old as Time Publishing, Isabelle Marlowe isn't so certain she's working in her dream industry anymore. The minutiae of her role--not to mention a very demanding boss--are starting to impact her lifelong love of reading for the worse, and what's more, her secret and eternal aspiration of becoming a published author herself has been put on the back burner. To make matters even more irritating, her day-to-day life also involves hounding celebrity heartthrob Beau Towers for updates on his memoir even though the man has gone effectively AWOL after blowing past his initial deadline. A chance trip to California, however, puts Izzy in the perfect position to impress her boss and find out what's taking Beau so long to finish his book, but when she manages to locate him at home, where he's been hiding out, the initial response she gets is rejection--until she's able to wear him down with sheer optimism, that is. Convincing Beau to let her stay and help him get past his writer's block, as well as whatever deeper issues might be preventing him from writing about his past, marks the first step in a new professional relationship. Of course, as these two begin working together, and in particularly close quarters to boot, the circumstances are perfectly engineered to develop a more intimate connection between them. The book boasts enough playful nods and easter eggs to satisfy the most die-hard Disney fan without overdoing it, and this particular Beast has less bark than Disney's and certainly no bite. As a result, this retelling doesn't have the melodrama of the original but more than makes up for it with an endearing story. A fairy-tale reinterpretation that's more a sweet read than a dramatic tale. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

What could a people-pleasing editorial assistant, one of very few African Americans working for this publishing house, still living with her parents, have in common with a rich bad boy known for bar fights, fast cars, and dating supermodels? Guillory's contribution to the Meant to Be series, which re-imagines fairy tales, following Julie Murphy's If the Shoe Fits (2021), explores this unlikely relationship on a deeply emotional level with warmth and tenderness and, in so doing, provides a glimpse behind the glamour of splashy celebrity memoirs. In a bid for a promotion to assistant editor, Isabelle Marlowe decides to tackle recalcitrant playboy Beau Towers and get him to deliver his long-overdue memoir--and his book turns out to be the making of them both. His belief in himself as a writer grows, as does his belief that his life is worth sharing with others. She reaffirms that her love of books does truly support her career choice. Witnessing Beau overcome huge emotional obstacles to his writing, she finds the courage to pick up the pen again to write her own book. Best-selling Guillory delivers a charming Beauty and the Beast tale of looking beneath the surface to find the genuine heart of another. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Avid fans of Guillory's Wedding Date series will rush to read this brilliant variation on a classic love story.

Library Journal Review

Guillory's (The Wedding Date) new enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy is a contemporary retelling of Beauty and the Beast with Black and multiracial protagonists. Izzy has always wanted to work with writers and help them craft their books. She has her foot in the door at the publishing house Tales as Old as Time, but so far her job has just been grunt work. When she hears her boss discussing the long past-due memoir of recalcitrant notorious playboy Beau Towers, Izzy offers to track Beau down and remind him of his deadline. When Beau finds curvy, Black, beautiful Izzy in his kitchen with his housekeeper, he is scathing and rude. In return for turning in his manuscript, he dares her to give him her best motivational speeches every day for a month, and Izzy agrees. Can this beauty tame her beast and secure her place in publishing, or is this fairy tale doomed from the beginning? VERDICT Izzy is quirky, likable, and relatable, and her relationship with Beau is a hard-won slow burn that morphs naturally, if quickly, from combative to friendly to romantic. Her realistic frustrations as a Black woman in publishing add depth to the plot. Guillory's fans will clamor for this book, the second "Meant To Be" novel (following Julie Murphy's If the Shoe Fits).--Heather Miller Cover