By the Book: A Novel

Julia Sonneborn

Feb 2018 · Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

An English professor struggling for tenure discovers that her ex-fiancé 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 deal, snag a promotion, and boom! She’s in. But then Adam Martinez—her first love and ex-fiancé—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.

Ratings and reviews

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.

One of my favorite books!

About the author

Julia Sonneborn is an English professor and a Los Angeles native. After heading east for college and graduate school, she hightailed it back to California, where she now lives with her husband, two kids, two cats, and a dog. When she’s not reading, writing, or talking about books, she enjoys trying new restaurants, reading online gossip blogs, and throwing dinner parties. She is the author of By the Book.