By the Book—Julia Sonneborn

I was granted an ARC of this book via NetGalley. I was attracted to both the title and the cover. (Side note: I really have to start actually reading synopses for books I request on NetGalley and Edelweiss so that I'm actually aware of the content, and not just judging them based on their covers...)

Anne Corey is attempting to get a book published so she can get on the tenure track at the university where she is a professor. Things are thrown a bit off course when her ex-fiance Adam Martinez is announced as the new president of her university. She attempts to navigate this snafu with the assistance of her best friend and fellow professor Larry. Her plans go even further off course when she starts dating a visiting professor and famous novelist, who happens to have a contentious past with her ex-fiance as well. (Loosely based on Persuasion by Jane Austen!)

I'm a sucker for second chance romances. (I just finished another one called Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes that I really enjoyed.) So I tend to forgive any quibbles I might have with the rest if the ending makes me feel good, which this one definitely did. Spoiler alert: Anne and Adam end up together. The blending of present with the threads of the past, showing us pieces of Anne and Adam's previous relationship, really worked well for me. I started out feeling like I wasn't being given enough information, but gradually seeing pieces of their past infused into related moments in the present was a nice device.

Even so, despite the good feelings, it did seem like the ending was a bit rushed. I know they were already engaged before, but it had been twelve years since they last saw each other, and they hadn't talked at all in the time in between. So though Adam is there for Anne when she needs him, the rekindling of a relationship with only a few months of getting to know someone again is a little quick for me. But then again, that's true of basically every romance book ever.
Another issue I had with it, which is also true of many other romance books, is that I don't really know what draws Adam to Anne. Adam is there for Anne when several catastrophic things happen in her life, he does everything he can to be supportive and helpful, and all Anne does is yell at him and accuse him of jealousy and treachery. Maybe it's the memory of who she used to be that initially attracts him and then...nope, I got nothing. Regardless, it was sweet.

Some of the characters were pretty one dimensional. Larry was Anne's GBF, who starts up an affair with a married movie star. Anne's sister was a terrible, self-centered bitchy upper class housewife who treats her sister like shit. Rick is the predictably vapid and egotistical author. But considering the source material, and the prevalence of delightfully cartoon-y villains (and sometimes heroes) in Austen's work, I saw most of these choices as an homage.

Important to note: while I would definitely consider this a romance, there's nothing super gratuitous or steamy when it comes to sexy times, which would be good for someone who likes a love story but maybe has a high blush factor and doesn't want to read all the blush-y material. If that's the kind of romance you're looking for, this one isn't it. (Though the one I mentioned earlier, Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes would be closer to that.)

Overall, I gave it a four out of five stars, although I had a few issues with it, because it was just such a feel-good read. And it's loosely based on Persuasion, and I'm a sucker for Jane Austen. (I know, I'm basic. I don't care.)

On a completely unrelated note...I don't remember there being a bicycle anywhere in this book. Not sure why it's part of the cover art. But it certainly got my attention, and that's the power of a good book cover!

By the Book has an official publish date of February 6, 2018, but you can learn more and preorder here, if you're so inclined.