By the book by Julia Sonneborn

 By the book by Julia Sonneborn

Blurb:

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.
 

I cried, I laughed, I giggled and I was anxious to find out what would happen next. Even though it was a retelling of Persuasion, not everything was foreseeable and I loved to find out what would happen next and believe me, I enjoyed every single page in this book. This is definitely a book that I  will also buy in print in addition to the ebook because I simply loved it.

It was fun, it was modern and it wasn't afraid to touch rather sensitive issues like the fact of someone being successful despite initially being an undocumented citizen as well as affairs, the loss of loved ones, plagiarism and the choices in life that we make due to love.
A wide range of subjects to think about, a wonderful retelling of one of my favorite stories (by the way, guess which book is the favorite book of our heroine?) and, of course, books. It's not just about love and people, even though they make up a big part of the story, of course, but it is also about books and the love for books and words.



I loved to see how Anne and Adam's paths crossed again and again and even though they seemed to have moved on you felt (well, and knew of course, I mean, it is a retelling of Persuasion, right?) that there still were some feelings left and hoped for those feelings to blossom. Soon.
The end was, well, on the one hand, it was a bit sudden but on the other hand, all of it had been at least thirteen years in the making, so I didn't really think about it being too soon but just took out my hankie and cried a little bit because it was so beautiful (and I might be a bit sentimental and of course, it was this irresistible combination of books and love - who wouldn't cry?).

Oh, and I loved those amazing characters. Be it Larry or Jack (oh, my... Jack and his questions concerning Jane Eyre almost killed me... ), Anne, Pam, Tiffany or any of the others - they were great, vivacious and I could totally imagine them when I was reading about them. What I loved about Adam was that he reminded me a lot of the original Captain Wentworth with his rather aloof manner. You can guess, you think you know what he feels but you never really know because he is always a bit distant and bit reserved - at least that's what it looks like on the outside.

An amazing book that made me google things like "Jane Vampire", half expecting to find a movie in the making and checking out the works of e.e.cummings as well as those of nineteenth-century women writers and - well, the emojis in my messenger. I mean, who knows when a combination like 🌭 and ✂️ might come in handy....

★★★★★