By the Book, Amanda Sellet
By the Book, Amanda Sellet
4 Rating(s)
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

By the Book
A Novel of Prose and Cons

Author: Amanda Sellet

Narrator: Laura Knight Keating

Unabridged: 9 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 05/12/2020

Synopsis

In this clever YA rom-com debut perfect for fans of Kasie West and Ashley Poston, a teen obsessed with nineteenth-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 away from. 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. 

About Amanda Sellet

Amanda Sellet is fond of silly jokes, large bodies of water, dessert at least once a day, and stories of all kinds. A former journalist, Amanda is the author of By the Book: A Novel of Prose and Cons. She currently lives in Kansas with her family.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Miranda on March 05, 2021

December Tierlist Vlog is up! Click the link to see the video review of all the books read in December!The Written ReviewMary Porter-Malcolm knows two things: 1) You can literally find any and all answers within the pages of a good book. 2) Any book published in the last century just isn't......more

Goodreads review by abthebooknerd on February 10, 2021

The perfect YA rom-com for Jane Austen nerds. As a devotee of classic novels, Mary Porter-Malcolm knows all about Mistakes That Have Been Made, especially by impressionable young women. So when a girl at her new high school nearly succumbs to the wiles of a notorious cad, Mary starts compiling the Sc......more

Goodreads review by aly on May 02, 2025

First of all, I would say: this book is not for everyone. It's a slow-paced book and the plot was almost inexistent. The main character's way of speaking may also not be engaging, seeing how she spends most of her time immersed in 19th-century literature; people may find this monotonous. However, I......more

Goodreads review by Lisa (Remarkablylisa) on May 26, 2020

DNF! at 55% . I just did not like our main female character. She was judgmental and praised for it and the whole book was going nowhere. I felt like there was no plot. I was stuck between being bored and annoyed.......more

Goodreads review by Bree on May 04, 2020

ARC received in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley. A personal anecdote for you that, I swear, relates to this book: I work with a lot of ivy league graduates of the scholarly nature and our main character, Mary’s parents are so painfully, triggeringly, pin-point-perfectly depictive of thos......more

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