By the Book

By: Amanda Sellet

Narrated by: Laura Knight Keating

In this clever YA rom-com debut perfect for fans of Kasie West and Ashley Poston, a teen obsessed with 19th-century literature tries to cull advice on life and love from her favorite classic heroines to disastrous results - especially when she falls for the school's resident Lothario.

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. 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.

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 from whom to stay away. 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.

©2020 Amanda Sellet (P)2020 Recorded Books

A very satisfying read from a new author

I loved this book-its cleverly written and entertaining. Such a treat to have the great literary novels we were forced to read in high school brought to life and made relevant in today’s culture. The narrator is excellent. I can’t wait to hear more from this author!

Where to start.

As a teen myself it was easy for me to relate to the characters and the events going on. I definitely feel like it could have had a second book to it but I have to say I loved the way Amanda Sellet ended it.

A joy to read!

This had laughs and live and friendship and character development...I loved every minute of it!

Enjoyed listening to this one

Thoroughly enjoyed every minute of listening to this one. Well written and fun to listen to!

I listened to this book several times

So many characters. Each distinct and interesting. Great narrator with a good reading intonation, not too fast or slow. The author’s prose is full of fun metaphor and literary references. Written in first person narrative, I did not at first reading understand we were getting the protagonist Mary’s subjective interpretation of what is happening. After finishing the story once I had to hear the whole book again to notice the clues in the story she did not interpret correctly. And a very sweet and somewhat innocent set of characters, almost all of them.