By the Book is a modern re-telling of Austen’s Persuasion about a young English professor and her lost love. Anne Corey has a tenuous position at Fairfax College, hinging on the publication of her first book. She’s juggling student loan debt, struggling to get her book published, caring for an ailing elderly father, dealing with an overly judgmental older sister and, of course, the pressure of being a single 30-something woman amongst her peers. She gets a blast from the past when her ex-fiance, Adam Martinez, shows up to assume the position of new president at Fairfax. Anne tries to ignore her buried feelings and regret for Adam throughout the school year, even getting involved with the new heartthrob writer-in-residence at the college. But Anne’s responsibilities and distractions quickly begin to weigh on her and she finds herself unable to put her feelings to rest for her lost love.
This is a feel good romance story, plain and simple. A great book to get lost in when you are looking for something good in the world. This is not a genre that I often read, but I wanted to check this one out because I love any book that is described as being a book for book lovers. I wasn’t disappointed with this one! Anne’s love for reading really shines through in this book and I love the intimate look we get at her life and struggles towards becoming a published English professor. Anne’s character was charming and relatable. She was flawed but in a cute and quirky way, rather than an annoyingly “I don’t know why everyone likes me because I’m just so inept” kind of way!
I particularly liked the way the author utilized the email format at the ends of chapters to portray certain frustrations and events in Anne’s life, like her book proposal rejections. It was a creative way for her to show Anne’s frustration and not just have the character continuously be discussing it.
However, I did feel like I ended up enjoying the character of Larry, Anne’s best friend, much better than any of the other characters! He was charming and quirky, and caused me to be more invested in what he had going on than Anne’s problems!
Overall I think this was a great feel-good romance novel about lost love, as well as being a nod to the love of reading itself.
Rating: 3 1/2 stars
This is a feel good romance story, plain and simple. A great book to get lost in when you are looking for something good in the world. This is not a genre that I often read, but I wanted to check this one out because I love any book that is described as being a book for book lovers. I wasn’t disappointed with this one! Anne’s love for reading really shines through in this book and I love the intimate look we get at her life and struggles towards becoming a published English professor. Anne’s character was charming and relatable. She was flawed but in a cute and quirky way, rather than an annoyingly “I don’t know why everyone likes me because I’m just so inept” kind of way!
I particularly liked the way the author utilized the email format at the ends of chapters to portray certain frustrations and events in Anne’s life, like her book proposal rejections. It was a creative way for her to show Anne’s frustration and not just have the character continuously be discussing it.
However, I did feel like I ended up enjoying the character of Larry, Anne’s best friend, much better than any of the other characters! He was charming and quirky, and caused me to be more invested in what he had going on than Anne’s problems!
Overall I think this was a great feel-good romance novel about lost love, as well as being a nod to the love of reading itself.
Rating: 3 1/2 stars