Love by the Book by Jessica George

Love by the Book by Jessica George
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
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Remy is lucky. Her debut novel, based on her three best friends, became an instant bestseller when it was released, and her agent and publisher are clamoring for a follow-up. But just as Remy’s creative inspiration seems to leave her, so too do her friends: one moves to New York, one gets pregnant, and one gets back together with her (awful) boyfriend. After an ill-advised one-night stand complicates matters further, Remy is left deeply alone—and unable to find her next book idea.

Simone is successful. A Kindergarten teacher with a passion for kids, and a well-paying side hustle that affords her all the material comforts she desires, she doesn't have time for a robust social life. All Simone needs is her close-knit family—but after the true nature of her work is revealed, they cut her off, and she realizes for the first time just how isolated she is.

When Simone and Remy bump into each other (literally) in a bookstore, it isn’t exactly soulmates at first sight. Simone is guarded and prickly, Remy is insecure and heartbroken, and each woman is harboring a secret. And yet they might just be the missing piece the other has been searching for—if only they can let each other in.

Can Simone help Remy make one of the most important decisions of her life—and can Remy help Simone recover all that she’s lost? In Jessica George’s heartwarming, funny, and soulful second novel, she explores the restorative nature of female friendship and the life-changing power of platonic love.
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I missed out on Jessica George's first novel Maame (but I will certainly be remedying that!), so I was going into this novel blind. However, the description of it - exploring "the restorative nature of female friendship and the life-changing power of platonic love" - spoke so deeply to me because I have not been in a romantic relationship for many years. However, I am not someone who lives without love in her life. Those of us who live outside of romantic relationships sometimes are a forgotten demographic in popular fiction storytelling, so the thought of reading a novel not centered around this was interesting to me.

I immediately loved Remy, both her light parts and her dark parts. George writes her as such a well-rounded character, and we are able to see her for all her positive attributes, but she is never presented as perfect. In fact, throughout, I felt a low level of tension? anxiety? due to some of her actions and what their outcome might be, which is one of the elements of the book that had me grabbing every spare moment I had to read "just one more chapter." Simone, once she is introduced into the main plot and we get know her, is fascinating, in that she is so much more than she seems to be, and witnessing the way she and Remy dance around each other as they settle into their relationship is so real. The last third of the book flew by faster than I wanted it to, as I didn't want to say goodbye to these women who had come to feel like friends. However, I can say that I loved how we left those friends, and I will definitely read whatever comes next from Jessica George.

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