Book Review: Love by the Book

Love by the Book by Jessica George will be released on April 7, 2026. Pre-order now on Bookshop.org.

Love by the Book begins with Remy, a writer who is struggling to write her second novel. She wrote a successful novel inspired by the strong female friendship, based on her three best friends. However, the three friends are moving apart for the first time: Mel just had a baby and moved the suburbs, Lin moved to NYC, and Nova got back with an abusive ex. Remy wonders if their friendship will ever be the same and she’s dealing with loneliness when she meets Simone, who at first appears very introverted or almost antisocial. Simone is reeling from her own problems, including missing her sister, who had always been her best friend, so she never really felt she needed or had look for more friends. Overall, Love by the Book is an exploration of identity, friendship, motherhood, and building community.

Book Club Pick

The genre is literary fiction and women’s fiction, with a storyline of platonic romance/female friendship storyline as the central plot. This novel could be a good choice for a book club because there are several multi-faceted characters with strong, unique, funny women who someone in your book club might relate to and there is lots to discuss about the plot and decisions that the characters make.

My Thoughts

There was a point at the book where I felt like I wasn’t connecting deeply with the characters. The novel doesn’t quite include a book-within-a-book, but Remy is drafting a potential novel with “R” and “S” as the main characters, loosely based on her and Simone’s budding friendship. Maybe it was not knowing enough about each character’s thoughts or past experiences through third-person POV, but I felt like I didn’t know the characters deeply enough for what I wanted from this book.

While I put the book down for awhile in the middle, I am really glad that I picked the book back up and finished it, because the last third of the text moved along quickly. By 75% through the book, I felt like I got to know the characters and their motivations better. The denouement of the friendship storyline was also satisfying, so I am glad I finished reading the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Pre-order now on Bookshop.org.