By the Book by Amanda Sellet

e-ARC, 384 pages
Release Date: May 5, 2020
Published by: HMH Books for Young Readers
Read from: May 9-10, 2020
Stand-alone
Source: Edelweiss (I received a copy of this book from Edelweiss and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.) 
TW: N/A
For fans of: Realistic Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Romance, YA

     As a devotee of classic novels, Mary Porter-Malcolm knows all about Mistakes That Have Been Made, especially by impressionable young women. So when a girl at her new high school nearly succumbs to the wiles of a notorious cad, Mary starts compiling the Scoundrel Survival Guide, a rundown of literary types to be avoided at all costs.

     Unfortunately, Mary is better at dishing out advice than taking it—and the number one bad boy on her list is terribly debonair. As her best intentions go up in flames, Mary discovers life doesn’t follow the same rules as fiction. If she wants a happy ending IRL, she’ll have to write it herself.

*MY THOUGHTS*

When I first saw this book, I KNEW I needed to add it to my TBR. Any book about books is normally my jam. But sometimes I run to one where I don’t feel that I’m the actual audience.

I thought this was going to be a contemporary book about a girl who finds that books aren’t as helpful in real life as she thought. That may very well be the case, but I didn’t make it very far into it to find out. I made it only about 12%.

If you’re a fan of classics, you will like this. You’ll get all the references and you’ll like the way Mary talks, like she’s from the 19th century. But to someone like me, someone who doesn’t like the classics, I didn’t care for it. I felt more like it was trying to hard.

Like I said, I barely started reading it when I decided it wasn’t for me. It really reads like a classic, so be forewarned, if you don’t like that, this may not be the book for you. BUT if you are a fan of things like this, go for it because you will love it.

Other than that, there wasn’t really anything wrong with the book. I just wasn’t the audience. If you like things like this, go for it and let me know what you think.Just because it didn’t work for me, doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.

Overall, I give this,