Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - By the Book

I didn't realise this was a Disney retelling when I picked it up. Probably wouldn't have stopped me but I would have been more prepared.

This was cute but I didn't feel any real chemistry between the characters until suddenly they were together. I almost stopped reading after the first few chapters because I was not a fan of the writing. It felt very clunky. I gave it a chance though and it was a nice easy read. I liked the little beauty and the beast references.

I think part of my lack of enjoyment came from the specific edition I had being very poorly formatted. Sometimes scene changes were paragraph breaks, sometimes it was just an indent so it was hard to work out what was going on at points.

I probably would have rated it higher but I've heard a lot of great things about Jasmine Guillory and was excited to read one of her books finally and this just didn't meet my expectations. I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I'd known it was Disney, I'd have picked another of her books.

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kendal_reads's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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amberinpieces's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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cady_sass's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Books about books are my love language. This is perfection. I’m not even upset that there’s no spice, it’s so good. Brought tears to my eyes! Grumpy/sunshine done right

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sophieamreacher's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Read this in one sitting. Super cute retelling of beauty and the beast with Black characters and set in the publishing industry. I liked the dialogue and the conflict resolution, as well as the undertones of self esteem and sabotage. My copy had weird things happening with the font size for some reason?

I found the first few chapters very different from the rest of the book, a bit amateur in writing. I really enjoyed it once I continued on though.

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