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Review: By the Book by Amanda Sellet


this publication was, without reservation, vexatious and uprightly dissatisfactory.


that sentence was annoying as all hell wasn't it? admit it, it was. picture this: an entire 300 page novel written like that sentence. there you have it. that is by the book.

despite the author's obnoxious tendency to open a thesaurus every other word, the book itself wasn't completely awful. by no means was it good----spoiler alert, it was a two-star read---but it wasn't the worst book i have ever read. most aggravating, maybe. but not the worse.

i'll start with the good.


i received this in my once upon a book club box. this was actually my first book box from this company (and yes, i paid for it). for that reason, i was really excited going into this. as soon as i found out what the book was, i searched it on goodreads and became even more excited.


i LOVED the concept of this. a girl who has extensive knowledge of classics because she loves to read is something i can kind of relate too.


now on with the subpar and everything below. yes, that was the only good.


i mentioned that i could kind of relate to her. as you can see i am a book reviewer, you may be confused so let me elaborate. i'm not a fan of classics. it's just not my cup of tea. the only classics i enjoy are russian novels and that mainly has to do with the hidden meanings in the books due to censorship.


anyways, you can see there was an immediate disconnect between me and mary (the main character). usually, this isn't a big deal. usually, authors create a wide variety of interests for their characters. usually, i could care less about 90% of those interests. usually.


however, liking classics was mary's one and only personality trait.


her love of classics dictated what she said, what she thought, and even the entire plot. the author thought it was clever to have mary throw in big, outdated words in conversations with her peers and every thought bubble mary had. let me remind you, these were high school students.


as mentioned, the entire plot was based around the fat mary read classics and it included her extensive vocabulary. the best way i can describe the plots events is... highschool problems with a middle-grade maturity rating. every problem was so childish----which is fine... if i read a middle-grade novel. every single problem and every solution reminded me of my middle school adventures and that is absolutely not a good thing.


one major contributor to this was the fact that the characters acted like they were tweleve instead of sixteen (or however old they were supposed to be). most of the characters were decent, but the rest were just annoying. mary's family seemed to be the only characters with an actual personality. i still can't decipher mary's friends from one another. the love interest, on the other hand, had this sense of superiority so he was the only one that seemed like he acted his age.


i understand that it is hard falling for someone----especially when they turn out to be a person you didn't expect them to be. however, as much as i hate this saying, that doesn't mean you can't act your age. i almost felt gross reading this because it seemed like the love interest, who was the only one who acted like he was in high school, was going after a twelve year old.


the romance itself was predictable and there wasn't much to rave about. quite honestly, i don't remember a lot of it.


the ending was wrapped up like an oddly shaped christmas present. the entire novel, including at least five problems and the romance, concluded in less than fifty pages. there was a satisfying ending to each of the problems, it was just extremely rushed. i felt like i got whiplash at the end. if at least two of these issues were even discussed in the middle of the book, it would’ve have balanced everything out a lot more.

i know i just spent most of this review bashing the book, but i’m not mad i read it. i didn't think this will stick with me very long but it has. not it a good way, because every time i think of this book i get annoyed, but it did stick


part of my dislike is on me, so i can't fault the author for that. i don't think i was “ready” to read a contemporary when i picked this up. i also can't blame amanda sellet for me not knowing or liking classics.


while the small annoyances began to add up and hijacked my entire experience, that doesn't change the fact that this book wasn't consistent. i can't tell if i would give this to a pre-teen or a young adult. ⠀⠀✧ • ° . ◦ *⠀┊two stars.

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