Staff Review: LOVE BY THE BOOK

LOVE BY THE BOOK by Jessica George
9781250282545
4/7/26
St. Martin’s Press
Fiction / Women / Friendship

After the success of her first book, MAAME, Jessica George returns with a sophisticated and timeless novel that asks the question: What if female friendship was given the rom-com treatment?

In her early thirties, Remy is at a crossroads. Once part of a thick-as-thieves quartet, she’s watching her best friends migrate toward motherhood, romantic partnerships, and careers, leaving her to navigate deepening loneliness while struggling to write her second book as her creative spark fades. It’s a situation made even messier when her search for companionship leads to a one-night stand that complicates everything.

Simone, meanwhile, has always been a lone wolf and she liked it that way. But as a first-year teacher with a lucrative but controversial side hustle, she finds her carefully constructed world collapsing when her family discovers the truth about her work. Grieving from the fallout and estranged from the sister who was once her entire world, Simone’s fiercely guarded independence is beginning to feel less like freedom and more like isolation.

When the two share a “meet-cute” at a book event, an unexpected connection takes root. As their guarded exteriors give way, they realize they might just be the missing piece in each other’s lives. But in true rom-com fashion, a third-act betrayal throws their happy ending into question. When Simone discovers that Remy has been using their burgeoning friendship as “material” to get her through her writer’s block, the trust they’ve built threatens to shatter, leaving them both to wonder if their connection was ever real at all.

In LOVE BY THE BOOK, Jessica navigates the complexities of modern adulthood with her signature style and substance. She dives deep into the shifting landscape of evolving friendships, the weight of mental health, and the deeply personal intersections of familial duty, female sexuality, and the decision of whether or not to have children. She captures the quiet, often unspoken anxieties of your thirties with a precision that feels both like a gut punch and a warm embrace. I have never connected so deeply with characters as I did with Remy and Simone! I know that readers of this story will see their own reflections in these pages and feel just as seen, challenged, and moved.

I cannot wait for readers to discover this hilarious, heartbreaking, and full-of-life tribute to platonic love and female connection.

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“Her moments of humor, juxtaposed with intimate dialogue, shape this beautiful platonic love story that will have readers crying through stifled giggles. Acing the Alison Bechdel test, George’s novel is healing for body, mind, and soul.”—Booklist, starred review

“A beautiful and all-too-rare look at the importance of platonic love.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review