By the Book
by Guillory, Jasmine






A young, black woman working in publishing makes a surprise connection with an author who has failed to deliver his highly anticipated manuscript, in the second novel of the series following If the Shoe Fits. 35,000 first printing.





Jasmine Guillory is a New York Times bestselling author of novels including The Wedding Date, the Reese's Book Club selection The Proposal, and While We Were Dating. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan, Bon Appétit, and Time, and she is a frequent book contributor on The Today Show. She lives in Oakland, California.





*Starred 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. Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.





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 Kirkus 2022 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.






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