By The Book: A Meant to Be Novel by Jasmine Guillory

 

About

A tale as old as time—for a new generation…

Isabelle is completely lost. When she first began her career in publishing right out of college, she did not expect to be twenty-five, living at home, still an editorial assistant, and the only Black employee 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 quick 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 He is jaded and withdrawn and—it turns out—just as lost as Izzy.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.

My Thoughts 

A nice light romance, a feel good novel.

In this Beauty and The Beast retelling we meet Isabelle (Izzy) a young writer trying to make it in the publishing industry. When she lands a job at TAOAT publishing company, she thinks her career dreams are finally coming true. But working in publishing is proving harder than Izzy realised. She finally gets her chance, when she volunteers to stay at the home of former child star, now author Beau Towers in order to get him to write his highly anticipated novel.

Izzy soon finds out that Beau Towers is no easy person to deal with. But as the weeks go by they began to connect on levels they never imagined would have been possible.

A great love story and a wonderful retelling of a timeless classic.