She warns them away from Alex, whom she knows to be a heartbreaker from her sisters’ Shakespeare troupe. They take Mary under their wing after she gives them dating advice, purely based on all the 19th century novels she reads. Her only friends from her old school refuse to hang out with her, so she’s forced to navigate sophomore year alone until she meets a group of girls: Arden, Lydia, and Terry.

When her school shuts down, she has to attend public school for the first time. She attended an experimental school where grad students were the teachers and the students pretty much had free reign over their own curriculum. Mary comes from a family of academics, with two professors as parents and talented siblings. Much like many others, my interest in this book was piqued with the pun in the byline: “A Novel of Prose and Cons.” And that was a great lead-up to reading it! By the Book was a fun, adorable story with amazing female friendships and a great family dynamic. You know that day we were sitting in my backyard and the leaves were falling and you were telling me what it’s like to have a crush on someone? I get it now. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the tour, schedule below! I’m lucky enough to be a part of the blog tour for By the Book! Today, my stop includes my review and a playlist I made for the book, as well as a giveaway. Without a convenient rain-swept moor to flee to, Mary is forced to admit that real life doesn’t follow the same rules as fiction and that if she wants a happy ending, she’s going to have to write it herself But despite her best efforts, she soon finds herself unable to listen to her own good advice and falling for a supposed cad-the same one she warned her friends away from. When some new friends seem in danger of falling for the same tricks employed since the days of Austen and Tolstoy, Mary swoops in to create the Scoundrel Survival Guide, using archetypes of literature’s debonair bad boys to signal red flags. Not the sort who makes poor life choices and ends up dying of consumption while still in her teens, but the noble, virtuous, quick-witted type. Her love of literature even inspires her to imagine herself the heroine of a nineteenth-century novel. Summary: Mary Porter-Malcolm has prepared for high school in the one way she knows how: an extensive review of classic literature to help navigate the friendships, romantic liaisons, and overall drama she has come to expect from such an “esteemed” institution.

Rep: Latinx side character, wlw side characters, Indian-American side characters Book: By the Book: A Novel of Prose and Cons by Amanda Sellet

By the book by amanda sellet