Welcome to Litsy!

By The Book is very earnest – as you‘d expect from anything Disney branded – and a very slow burn. Izzy and Beau don‘t even kiss until about two-thirds of the way through. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/by-the-book-jasmine-guillory/

A Beauty and the Beast retelling set in modern day publishing land. This was fine. It is my second Guillory book and I think she is fine. The characters are likable, even the tortured artist actor who is the grumpy. It just felt very surface and a bit to formulaic. It kept my interest though so 3⭐

Book publishing meets rom-com meets Beauty and the Beast. This book took all the best Beauty and the Beast themes (beautiful library, talking bathtub, and amazing chef/staff—yes, please!), and created a story all its own. A recluse celebrity struggling to write his memoir due to past trauma and an editorial assistant tugging at his heartstrings and pulling it out of him, with a very sweet romance. I‘m excited to read the rest of Meant to Be!

A little late tonight, but my reading corner for the #HyggehourReadathon includes Christmas lights, a houseplant, and open windows! It was in the 70s today, in Wisconsin, on March 3, and very blustery. Such a weird day.

Reading the tagged book for some "end of the weekend" comfort.

@AllDebooks @TheBookHippie @Chrissyreadit @jenniferw88

That noise you heard was me SQUEALING my way through this book!!! The nods to the original BatB were so cute (the potentially talking bathtub?!) and Izzy and Beau's relationship was off the CHARTS. And the Gavin/Gaston showdown?! Reader, I cheered. #contemporaryromance #retelling

I enjoyed the book, but there was something that kept me from absolutely loving it. I felt like it was an okay story, but nothing really stuck with me about it.

This was a good rom-com. Longer than it needed to be, but good.

Wow! A satisfying read that I had a hard time putting down. Isabelle is feeling a failure @ work and with her writing when she gets the opportunity to head to Santa Barbara to get Beau Towers to finish working/start working on his book. That day turns into a month and a half and she finds herself growing in her job. Laughter and romance along the way. Thank you @FeatherV

Wrap up for #Loveathon 2023. I ended up reading more than I thought would. Best of the bunch was Legends and Lattes. Thanks for hosting @Clwojick @StayCurious !

I love my #blitsyswap package- thank you! But I do not know who it is from? The book choices are perfect! Octavian and Loki agree ❤️❤️❤️

Last book completed for #Loveathon A retelling of Beauty and the Beast set in the publishing world. A fun, easy read.

When you can‘t for the life of you focus on your print book despite loving it so far, you switch to an audiobook.

#bookspin

This months list is filled with titles for book club, buddy reads #serieslove2023 and some romance for #Loveathon Can‘t wait for tomorrow‘s pick!

A retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Isabella works for a literary agency and her career has stalled when she gets sent to visit Beau, a reclusive author, to get his latest book ready. Very sweet and also more PG than Jasmine‘s other books. But just as many snacks!

#pop22 ~ a romance book by a BIPOC author
Not the book I originally planned to read for this prompt but the audio was available and I‘m playing catch up. I don‘t read a lot of RomComs and there were no surprises along the way, so it was an ok read for me. Beauty & the beast and a bit of a Meg Wolitzer storyline tied in.

Helping dog sit for a friend really increases my #audiowalk time! 🐶

#FallingInLove #IndelibleMoments @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

This was a fun romance novel, it mimicked the Beauty and the Beast story in such a fun and refreshing way.

Reader Friends:: Do you think you could read one genre for one whole year? What would it be? I am thinking about maybe reading just Romance next year...

Colorado Litsy Friends, would any of you want to help me plan a reading retreat for.thus fall? Sometime in October? Get an Air BnB for the weekend, Read, drink tea and coffee, talk about books, explore the area where the Air BnB was, maybe go for a hike etc.

I welcome.thoughts

This was a fun read, I liked the setting and the characters. I didn‘t realize it was a Disney owned publisher, but once the author started making allusions to the movie, I checked because I was worried that the author would get sued.
Isabella has to tame the beast - a spoiled rich kid who signed a contract to write a book for her company - and gets to live in his mansion while helping him. Love blooms, and opportunities arrive.
3/5 stars

Cute, fun and the audio narrator was FANTASTIC. It‘s a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. It‘s the second in a series with Disney, and I felt this one had a lot more references to the movie than If the Shoe Fits did, but I‘ve also probably seen Beauty and the Beast a lot more so perhaps I didn‘t recognize them.

While there are some scenes that shine, I think I just have to face the fact that I don‘t enjoy Guillory‘s writing style as much as others do. She had fun with the Beauty & the Beast story here, but there is too much that annoyed me about other things. #unpopularopinion

I‘m about 4 chapters in and thoroughly annoyed at all! The! Exclamation! Marks! And! Question? Marks? Tell me it gets better or I‘m done.

All the books I read this month! Not a bad month. 🤩 One DNF, and 5- 5✨, plus a bunch of other great books. 🥰💛

Another romance for my summer reading. This one was super cute! A Beauty and the Beast retelling. And for once not written in first person, I LOVED that. Not very steamy, but plenty romantic, which also was refreshing. I enjoyed it very much indeed.

5✨ I love fairy tale retellings, but Beauty and the Beast is by far my favorite. Izzy is living her best life working in the writing world. One of her clients is Beau who is suppose to be writing a memoir. She finds herself in California and decides why not try to talk to the man who is dodging her calls. As she helps to motivate him to write his book she motivates herself. Then they both realize they are falling for each other. Sooo good. 🥰😍💛

My husband is doing a concrete job at his mom‘s and our house. So we are picking up supplies in a rented trailer while I read this amazing book while feeding snacks to my kids. 🥰💛

Pre dinner drinks reading

Izzy is a beautiful positive bright light in Beau's world. Beau challenges Izzy to take chances and Izzy challenges Beau to open up to face his past. I adored the journal part at the end. I appreciate when an author gives the man's perspective.

June Book 4/25 #LitsyLove #bookspinbingo

Delightful! A great love story with sweet nods to Beauty and the Beast. I loved the Santa Barbra setting and all the behind the scenes book business stuff. Nothing earth shattering but a solid, fun, romcom. #romantsy #BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

I love Jasmine Guillory. And I love Beauty and the Beast. And Guillory nailed her retelling, setting it in the publishing industry, keeping the heart of the story alive with so many little nods to the original & the Disney movie. Yet, it was still classic Guillory with humour & good food & smart, strong women. Just so good!

Fairy tale retelling? Check. Diverse cast of characters? Check. Would I recommend to others? Check.

This Beauty and the Beast retelling is a slow burn romance, building the relationship between Izzy and Beau in a manner that allows them to get to know each other, and get to know themselves. Also can we talk about all the food references! Baking and breakfast and that amazing SNACK CABINET! This book was a lot of fun and a definite must read for romance readers. Pack this one in your beach bag (along with some snacks) and get whisked away!!!

I absolutely love her books and this one was no exception!! A brilliant and modern retelling of beauty and the beast that had me smiling the whole time!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️The newest in the Meant To Be collection - a group of romances inspired by Disney stories - this is the “Beauty and the Beast” story, and I loved it! I appreciated that it wasn‘t a full retelling, & it was fun seeing the little nods to my fav princess. Sarah Hollis was a very enthusiastic audiobook narrator, and I enjoyed what she brought to my reading of the book. Guillory is a must read author for me, and this is no exception.

When there‘s a new Jasmine Guillory book out, it‘s time to drop everything and read!

My latest blog post for Books-A-Million just dropped and I would really appreciate it if y‘all could click on the link and hit the love button at the top of the article. Enjoy my recommendations and yay books!!! Thank you in advance!!

https://bit.ly/3sZRwgK

Ok, this one was not starting out as strong as the last Meant To Be novel but, at the start of chapter four our female protagonist admits to hating food that jiggles. Finally, someone understands!!! Jell-o, flan, pudding, custard— if it moves on it‘s own and is no longer alive is disturbing. I feel seen.

What a sweet story❤️❤️❤️❤️ Izzy and Beau were just perfect together and I loved all the nods to Beauty and the Beast🙂

Loved this Beauty and the Beast retelling. Izzy and Beau were fun to read about. Enjoyed how Izzy grew more herself as she helped Beau find his voice and write his memoir. Hard call, but might be my new favorite Guillory, and she‘s written some good books!

When other girls dreamed about the prince, I was definitely fantasizing about that library!
“She‘d gone to the library with her parents, once a week, every week, when she was a little girl. It had felt like a magic place to her, full of books just waiting to be read—on shelves, in stacks, in every corner. She‘d fantasized about having a place like that in her own imaginary future home, with shelves and shelves of books, wherever you looked.”

Book haul from gift cards and just spoiling myself for my birthday. 🥰 The tagged in one I‘m really looking forward to. Skandar and the unicorn thief came with an enamel pin! 😍The 10th Kingdom is from that mini series in the late 90s so I‘m pretty excited about it too! 😍💛🥰 Happy reading everyone!

This author is among my many auto-read authors. I enjoy reading what‘s inside the head of her characters. While this B&B redo isn‘t my favorite of her books, it‘s still a pick. I was intrigued about her MC as a new lone black female at the publishing co, Tale as Old as Time (lol). The point of the story is what‘s happening at the ‘castle‘ in Santa Barbara, but my favorite parts happened when Izzy (vs Belle) was in her offices in NYC. ↓

New books and some white wine for a lovely Saturday night 😊

beauty and the beast retelling. Beau is shut up in his mansion not writing the book he said he would, so Isabelle shows up at his house to give him some pep talks and prove her worth at her job at the publishing house, but they do not get off on the right foot. this book was sweet and the reveal at the end to get her to come back was just everything.

My April reading went much better than expected once I realized how much easier it is to listen to an audiobook while feeding a baby.

#bookspinbingo

Lots of rom-coms are retellings of some sort but I'm enjoying this Meant To Be series by various authors. This one imitates Beauty & The Beast in an writers/editors POV in a one sided enemies to lovers trope. Closed door romance with a lovable assistant and best friend. Need to go scout out what the third book will be about and who is writing it.