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. You can learn more at www.DisneyBooks. You can find more of my reviews of Guillory's works here.
Isabelle is completely lost. When she first begins her career in publishing after college, she did not expect to be twenty-five, still living at home, and one of the few Black employees 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 prove her worth and finally get the recognition she deserves. All she has to do is go to the author's Santa Barbara mansion and give him a 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 He is jaded and withdrawn and—it turns out—just as lost as Izzy.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 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. Bestselling author Jasmine Guillory achingly romantic reimagining of a classic is a tale as old as time...for a new generation.
Beauty and the Beast is such a tricky story to retell, for so many reasons (kidnapping, for one). And there are already so many lackluster retellings (A Court of Thorns and Roses, for one), that Jasmine Guillory would definitely be the only author up for tackling something so large. And tackle it with grace she does. Guillory has clearly understood the need to take care with the elements of Beauty and the Beast that need to be present in order to make it a retelling, while also emphasizing modern twists to make it acceptable for a wide array of audiences. As I was reading, I also appreciated the feeling that I got, as if Guillory was stretching out the original storyline of Beauty and the Beast like a rubber band, in order for the entire novel to encapsulate more than just a love story between two people. For, indeed, each of those two people ending up falling in love with their own character and their own writing before falling for each other. More than anything, it demonstrated Guillory's expert writing skills, and made this retelling all the better.
I am obsessed with all the novels recently being published about publishing itself. Must Love Books by Shauna Robinson first comes to mind, but also Emily Henry's Book Lovers and Beach Read, and Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka's The Roughest Draft all fall into By the Book's immediate bookish family. What By the Book and all these other lovely novels do well is show the realities of working in publishing—whether as an author, an agent, or an editor like Izzy herself, none of these authors shy away from the brutality of the industry. Guillory herself doesn't shy away from a dark portrayal. Sure, the book opens with a charming, sweeping view of Izzy's fascination with her own life that is certainly reminiscent of the opening song to the Beauty and the Beast movie, the next chapter dashes that all away to show the intense reality of working in publishing. People are now becoming much more transparent about this industry, and finally reading about it in books is definitely a dream-come-true, because it answers all sorts of questions I know I never would have known how to ask.
This is a retelling series commissioned by a publisher that is exclusively focused on retelling Disney narratives. This endeavor is certainly very exciting, but makes for romances that aren't quite as developed as other contemporary romances. On the one hand, this is helpful, as it makes the book easily digestible for younger audiences looking to potentially read more books in the genre. It also makes the novel more accessible to younger audiences, who are maybe more fascinated with Disney because they are younger, but also good for adult audiences looking to read something that brings back some of that nostalgia. On the other hand, it reads as a bit younger than I had hoped, or that I was truly used to, and while I was able to read this novel in basically two sittings, it left something to be desired. However, knowing the purpose of this novel is helpful in knowing that that's just what it's meant to be (pun unintended), and makes me respect everyone in the process, knowing that's exactly what was intended—it landed!
Even knowing this, it's amazing to see how the slightly younger prose can be balanced with some of the rather serious topics in this novel. Like I mentioned above, Guillory doesn't shy away from a realistic portrayal of working in the publishing world. But she also doesn't shy away from developing her characters to the fullest, even when it means they have to reconcile with the darkest parts of themselves. She also shy away from portraying a dark family story, and a harsh workplace environment. While much of it is definitely aged down for audience reasons, it's still an accurate and candid representation of how the world has its ugly parts, and makes the novel feel fully developed as far as having more than just the romantic-storyline (which, I will say, was also fully developed and fulfilling!).
With two books in the Meant to Be series, I am curious to see what the plans are for upcoming releases—will they keep going with the classics, or entirely surprise us by retelling some of the more modern princesses? Either way, I think this endeavor by Hyperion Avenue is worthy, and they should keep publishing these charming and modern retellings!
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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