By the Book

Our Review

BY THE BOOK is the story of Anne Corey. She is an English professor at Fairfax College in Southern California. She is working on her book, which must be published to gain her tenure. This plot thread is carried throughout the book.

The author describes campus life in detail. The location comes alive. We root for Anne who is working on her book, balancing a career, dealing with a snarky adult sister and a father in assisted living. On top of all that, she begins a love affair with a hot writer-in-residence.

Much to her dismay, her ex-fiancé from ten years ago, Adam, is made President of the college. Even though she is the one who broke off the engagement, she still has feelings for him, and seems to run into him at every turn. So she’s messing around with the writer-in-residence, and pining for Adam. That didn’t seem realistic to me.

The part of this book I enjoyed the most was Anne’s friendship with Larry her best friend, a gay professor. He falls in love with a male movie star who is married to a woman, who is a friend of Anne’s. They have a torrid affair. Larry received more book coverage than either the writer-in-residence or Adam. I felt I really didn’t know Adam at all.

I wish the author had dealt more with the complexities of dealing with an aging parent. It was well written, just not my cup of tea.