ROMANCE

By the Book

Hyperion Avenue. (Meant To Be, Bk. 2). May 2022. 320p. ISBN 9781368050395. $26.99. CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
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Guillory’s (The Wedding Date) new enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy is a contemporary retelling of Beauty and the Beast with Black and multiracial protagonists. Izzy has always wanted to work with writers and help them craft their books. She has her foot in the door at the publishing house Tales as Old as Time, but so far her job has just been grunt work. When she hears her boss discussing the long past-due memoir of recalcitrant notorious playboy Beau Towers, Izzy offers to track Beau down and remind him of his deadline. When Beau finds curvy, Black, beautiful Izzy in his kitchen with his housekeeper, he is scathing and rude. In return for turning in his manuscript, he dares her to give him her best motivational speeches every day for a month, and Izzy agrees. Can this beauty tame her beast and secure her place in publishing, or is this fairy tale doomed from the beginning?
VERDICT Izzy is quirky, likable, and relatable, and her relationship with Beau is a hard-won slow burn that morphs naturally, if quickly, from combative to friendly to romantic. Her realistic frustrations as a Black woman in publishing add depth to the plot. Guillory’s fans will clamor for this book, the second “Meant To Be” novel (following Julie Murphy’s If the Shoe Fits).
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