An English professor struggling for tenure discovers that her ex-fiance has just become the president of her college–and her new boss–in this whip-smart modern retelling of Jane Austen’s classic Persuasion. Anne Corey is about to get schooled. An English professor in California, she’s determined to score a position on the coveted tenure track at her college. All she’s got to do is get a book … she’s got to do is get a book deal, snag a promotion, and boom She’s in. But then Adam Martinez–her first love and ex-fiance–shows up as the college’s new president.
Anne should be able to keep herself distracted. After all, she’s got a book to write, an aging father to take care of, and a new romance developing with the college’s insanely hot writer-in-residence. But no matter where she turns, there’s Adam, as smart and sexy as ever. As the school year advances and her long-buried feelings begin to resurface, Anne begins to wonder whether she just might get a second chance at love.
Funny, smart, and full of heart, this modern ode to Jane Austen’s classic explores what happens when we run into the demons of our past…and when they turn out not to be so bad, after all.more
Sonneborn’s novel is a pastiche of Jane Austen themes and scenes and it was fun recognizing the sources. The main character Anne is a college professor struggling to get her book published in time to retain her job. Her college flame Adam Martinez shows up as the new college president. Is there any heat left? Meantime, renowned writer Rick becomes Anne’s boyfriend, but he has a past she is unaware of. When he disses Austen as writing “old-fashioned chick lit” you know he is a loser!
By the Book is a romantic comedy that is a fast and fun read. There is a nod to contemporary issues with Adam’s mother being an undocumented immigrant. A crisis revolves around plagiarism. Anne’s best friend Larry falls for Jack, an actor suddenly propelled into fame from his role in a blockbuster film, Jane Vampire, based on Jane Eyre. Jack is in a sham marriage for appearances; will he break Larry’s heart?
It’s a great summer read for 19th c fiction fans.
What a pleasure! It is an easy read with wonderful characters and a sweet plot line.
Just finished this ARC (thanks to #NetGalley) and while it bills itself as a modern re-telling of Austen’s Persuasion (which I haven’t read…YET), I didn’t get many “feels” from this. I didn’t really connect much with either H/h, they didn’t have much on-screen time together, and there were some random sidebars that seemed to be thrown in as “filler”. I never got a real sense of the H/h as a couple. There was more made from another relationship that the heroine became involved in than how she and the hero were together. Yes, there were some “throwback” snippets of their past together, but not enough to give me the clear picture that I needed.
The ending was really sweet but rather rushed and abrupt. I had higher hopes. 3.5/5
Julia Sonneborn uses charming wit in this modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. At the heart of this story, you meet Anne Corey – independent, yet flawed, and completely relatable leading lady. Anne Corey shows tremendous character growth while dealing with her life balances – being a sister, taking care of her elderly father, all while focusing on making tenure, and dealing with two very different men, who love her, but despise each other deeply.
Somneborn gives us a dramatic, sweet, and charmingly flawed portrait of a girl that will keep you spellbound until the last page. What a fantastic debut. Looking forward to what comes next for Sonneborn!
I am torn on my rating for this book, I would probably give it a 3 for entertainment value, but as for my taste in the story line, I give it a 2. I love Persuasion by Jane Austen and in the blurb of this book it says it is a whip-smart version of said book. However, I disagree. Now, I’m not an English Professor, however, I didn’t think the book was very much like Persuasion. It had parts, but too many others things don’t fit my expectations. First Anne Correy is like Anne Elliot in that she regrets decisions she made in the past regarding her es-fiance. Adam is now successful, but at the time of their engagement he was a student. Anne’s family also looked down their noses at Adam because of his background. In my mind that is where the similarities stop. Anne Correy falls in love with a bad boy (think Wickham in Pride and Prejudice). She also falls into bed with him on their first date–very NOT Jane Austen. Her best friend is a gay, college professor. Again I don’t see the resemblance to Jane Austen. The gay friend also has an affair with a married man–sound like Jane Austen? I don’t think so. Others may like the book, it just didn’t meet my expectations.
Now for things I did enjoy. I did enjoy this authors writing style. It was easy to read and kept my attention.
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my review.
Having never read Jane Austen’s Persuasion (I know, shame on me), I can’t speak of any comparisons or lack thereof. In all honesty, that had nothing to do with my interest in this one. The cover caught my attention and the synopsis piqued my interest. The author certainly has talent and the story is interesting enough, if a bit predictable. I did find myself somewhat confused by the need for so many emails, including addresses, subject lines, etc, interspersed throughout the story. Several were showing the many denials Anne received from publishers, but there were other completely mundane things included as well. They quickly became repetitive and tedious, and I’ll readily admit that it didn’t take me long to start skimming those parts to get the gist of it before moving on. That said, I never felt like I was reading a romance. I read about a fling and an affair in this tale, but neither of those felt at all romantic. There is plenty about Anne and her ex, their break-up several years earlier, and her discomfort about having to work with him, but the interactions between them are brief and scattered, and completely ordinary. The closest they come to being remotely romantic is one scene when they’re having a drink in celebration, but any romance is in Anne’s thoughts and doesn’t progress any further. So, even though the conclusion for this one held no surprises, there was no real build-up of romantic tension. As far as the characters are concerned, we get a rather odd mix of the likable and not so likable. Our main character, Anne, is interesting if a bit self-centered, but the shining star in this one for me is Larry. He’s witty and endearing even when he’s making bad choices. To sum it up, the story was okay, but the romance fell a little flat for me.