By the Book

YA contemporary romances… not my thing. But what can I say, I was in the mood and this was the only one on my needs-to-be-tackled TBR, and of course it helps that both the premise and the cover are absolutely charming.

The first issue I feared when diving into this book is content. Predictable, I know, but looking at a lot of the mainstream/secular contemporary books out there, I think I have a point. At any rate, I am so so happy that By the Book was freeeee of all the unnecessary icky stuff!

Second fear: I was worried Mary would have one of those “utter transformation” good girl to bad girl character arcs. Shouldn’t have worried. This girl was not only an extremely likable, very relatable protagonist, but she aCTUALLY HAD AN ARC (that wasn’t nonexistent, redemption, or good-to-bad!). And she still retained so much of her blithe, bookish personality all the way to the end. Plus, she was a bookish character whose bookishness WASN’T annoying to death and that is one amazing accomplishment (we all love relatable heroines, but a good bookish one is darn hard to find).

Third issue: I can count on one hand the number of books I’ve read containing romance that I actually, y’know, cared about. Usually I get tired of the love interest(s) around 15 minutes after they’re introduced, unless it’s an actual romance, and then I’m patient enough to last until during or after the “confessions” stage (by which I mean they confess to either each other, someone else, or themselves; or when another character very kindly points it out). In this book not only was I cheering for the two of them whom I equally adored, but I remained cheering for them all the way to the end– that’s right, folks, even through the confessions, the kissing, and the Dark Night of the Soul!! Writing this review now, I’m once again wowed.

Also, let’s give it up for the Porter-Malcolms, aka A Real Live Heathy Supportive Family in a YA Novel, Can You Believe It!! I love each of their distinct personalities, the family dynamics, and their individual relationships with Mary (not gonna lie, I’m pretty sure Jasper is my favorite character in this whole book, lol). Plus, Mary’s friends and Alex were all so fun to read about! Yes, I did love Mary and Alex’s banter-full scenes together, and how their relationship had very little to do with physical attraction. Take that, World of YA.

The plot of the story was great. Mary and her friends’ Scoundrel Survival Guide definitely made for some interesting events… but let’s not spoil anything!

There were some… minor dislikes.

Content: One or two uses of d**n; G*d is used with ‘thank’ (only once I believe?); the MC makes a lot of comparisons with some of the less… proper examples of fictional scandals; some pretty detailed kissing scenes, but nothing inappropriate; some light innuendo. There’s LGBTQ+ rep: the MC’s sister is lesbian; a minor character is said to be gay; at some point the MC wonders if one of her female friends likes her sister; it’s mentioned that a guy has the habit of “watching” his ex-boyfriend on dates (the stalking part is condemned. don’t worry).

All in al, this book left me feeling very happy. I’ll definitely be watching for this author’s next releases, and now I want to read more contemporary!

Always be a happy camper!

BY THE BOOK, by Amanda Sellet
middle & upper grades
first person POV
standalone
contemporary / relationships / romance

Mary is the 4th of 5 children of two university professors; her university lab school has closed and she is starting her sophomore year at the local high school. She overhears a conversation and is invited to join Arden, Lydia, and Terry, who become good friends. Mary has read many classics and describes some classic literary scoundrels. Entranced, Arden decides that they should compile a list, the Scoundrel Survival Guide, based on Mary’s knowledge of literary characters, which would help them in their dating process – but Mary has no personal knowledge of dating or crushes. Of course, the original “scoundrel” turns out (because of several misunderstandings) to be a nice guy and very interested in Mary – and she returns the feeling. After the fiasco at the Winter Dance Mary realizes she can’t live her life going by literary references only, and gathers her courage to apologize to her friends and Alex.

I really enjoyed the literary references, having read most of the books quoted and recognized them from Mary’s synopses. (There is a list at the end of the book with most of the novels mentioned and their authors, a nice touch.) All the characters feel like real people and are very likable – Mary’s large family and their interactions are a hoot! Terry’s contributions to the conversations made me laugh, also. Yes, the book is about high school relationships – friends and first crushes, but the girls are really nice and take care of each other. Really cute, this is a keeper! I loved it; I am sure the intended audience will, too.

A dear friend of mine once said, I bet you were the kind of girl in high school who read Jane Eyre in her bedroom Friday nights and cried, and Id never felt so seen as I did reading this book. Its practically perfect in every way

Mary Porter-Malcolm is the bookish middle child of two college professors. Starting public high school after being in a small private school on campus, she has to find new friends which she does by using her extensive knowledge of 19th-century classic books. Her new friends are fascinated, taking Mary’s advice about the boys in school as she compares them to men in those novels and labels them accordingly which becomes compiled into the Scoundrel Survival Guide. Of course, the boy she had at the top of the list turns out to be a nice guy and Mary ends up learning some valuable lessons.
This may sound a bit like some other YA books with a book-loving heroine, but Mary (and all the other characters) has more depth than the usual and the story arc works much better here. Her family is just wonderful, quirky without being over-the-top, and her new friends are pretty cool also.
I’m on a kick of reading some YA books and I really liked this one. First time author, but I’ll definitely read more by Ms. Sellet.

I tend to love books with quirky characters, yet this book gave little depth to any of them. It felt like blanket traits that didn’t grow in anyway. Mary was a pretty harsh judge and that is how she made her friends. Also majority of the friends didn’t have any real personality beside their main label. I am a huge crime show buff myself but you don’t see the only thing coming out of my mouth being about possible murder tactics. Honestly, I am surprised I finished this book. The main scoundrel was probably the most interesting and least one note character in the book, and he wasn’t in it as much as he should have been.

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