A charming, light, and adorable Rom Com centered around champagne? Yes please!!
I loved this story so much and the homage it is to You’ve Got Mail.
Definitely read this To Sir, With Love!!
FYI- it’s a clean read.

To Sir, With Love by Lauren Layne is a super cute, super fun romantic story. It is the story of Gracie, a 33-year old that is running her family's NYC champagne shop after her father passes away. The book is a charming and contemporary retelling of You've Got Mail with Gracie and Sebastian as the main characters. The book kept me engaged and coming back for more. It is perfect for a weekend getaway or just cuddling up on the sofa and losing yourself in the story.

I so enjoyed reading how Sebastian and Gracie fell in love twice with each other. Even in writing, you can feel the emotions both were felling for the other. The epilogue was too cute. I had a smile on my face long after I closed the book out in my kindle.

Thank you to Gallery Books for my copy of To Sir, With Love by Lauren Layne in exchange for my honest review. And thank you to Simon & Schuster Audio for a copy of the Audiobook for it, too!

I have read several books from Lauren Layne, and this one may just be my favorite so far! I am a sucker for love/hate and enemies to lovers tropes, add in the pen pal style romance and it's got good odds at being a hit for me. To Sir, With Love totally has that 'feel good' romance thing going on that made me happy while I was reading it. 

Grace abandons her own dreams to take over her family's Champagne shop, when neither of her two siblings have any desire to do so (even though they are all now equal partners in it after their father's death). She has worked so hard to turn it around financially from the dire situation that they were in when Grace took over. Sebastian is gorgeous and charming and has 'fairytale ending' potential, if only he didn't become Enemy #1 to Grace when he tries to buy the property from her family. But the more time they spend together, the more he becomes an irresistible enemy. AND on top of that the two of them have matched on a dating app but don't realize they are catching feelings for eachother! 

Here's a few of the things that made it great for me:
-Grace's journey from her struggle with her grief and feelings of responsibility, to figuring out what SHE really wanted. 
- It was not an easy happily ever after, but it felt so realistic and honest and I was rooting for all the characters in the story.
- I enjoyed the side story lines of each of the other siblings. It added some substance to the story that wasn't just fluff, and enriched the overall story for me.

I ended up listening to the Audiobook for most of it and it was TOTALLY bingeworthy and I finished it in one day... I loved the narration for this one! It is narrated by Rachanee Lumayno and Shaun Taylor-Corbett. And it was done with equal parts sincerity and playfulness!

A cute romance! This one was on the cleaner side, which I don’t usually go for, but I still found it enjoyable! A sweet story that kept my attention and lovable characters. :)

Compulsively readable, this is a story sure to entertain. With the enemies to lovers plot, it is sure to entertain.
Many thanks to Gallery Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

To Sir, with Love is an incredibly sweet, light-hearted, fluffy romance. The book can easily be described as a retelling of You’ve Got Mail, and Lauren Layne did such an amazing job with it. The story left me feeling warm and gooey and fully believing in love!

I loved all of the nods to You’ve Got Mail and yet the story remained unique on its own. When Gracie first meets Sebastian, it’s animosity at first sight (at least on her part). However, the more time she spends with him, the more she begins to see him in a different light and begins to fall for him. I really loved how their relationship developed throughout the story and how perfectly matched they were for each other. The final “reveal” at the end of the novel and how Sebastian handled it was absolutely perfect and honestly gave me butterflies.

To Sir, with Love is the perfect romance book for anyone looking for something light, heartwarming, and adorable. The loose You’ve Got Mail retelling made the story extra fun and the book will leave you feeling giddy.

This is such a fun quick read and perfect for a fun summer choice! This gave me all of the “You’ve got mail vibes”!

This romance is set in Manhattan and Gracie Cooper owns and runs a champagne shop that is barely breaking a profit. Sebastian Andrews is a handsome real estate businessman who wants to buy her lease out. Which begins the dance of attraction and conflicted feelings. He's supposed to be a villain but he has a kindness that I love.

Meanwhile, Gracie is carrying on a texting relationship with a dating app friend known only as Sir and Gracie is known to Sir only as Lady and she is developing feelings for! Can she like both men at the same time!

I couldn’t put this down and you won’t be able to either! I definitely want a physical copy of this too!

Thank you NetGalley for my eARC!

To Sir, With Love is the story of a young woman trying to save her family’s business, and trying not to have chemistry with the man who will most benefit from its demise. Little does she know, they already have a connection. They have met online, on a dating app with no pictures, where they communicate under the screennames “Lady” and “Sir.”

Gracie Cooper manages her family’s boutique wine shop, Bubbles & More, selling to her loyal customers and going for the high-end look her father always expected of the business. With both of her parents gone and her siblings busy with their lives, Gracie is left to try to keep the store afloat. This job is made harder when she gets a generous offer to buy her out from Sebastian Andrews’ company, which holds the shop's lease. But the Coopers are a proud people, and Gracie shreds the offer. Sebastian is infuriating; he thinks he knows what’s best, and that there’s no way to keep the doors open, despite Gracie’s creativity. When the two clash, Gracie knows he is going to be a pain in the ass, and calls in the big guns to try to prove that Bubbles & More can survive.

I loved Gracie’s development from someone trying to keep her father’s dreams alive to following her own dream. She doesn’t lose her romantic sensibilities, though she realizes she needs to take action to make her life what she wants it to be. Sebastian is great - kind of a Mr. Darcy type, and you can tell he sees right through Gracie in a lot of ways. She tries to keep her guard up around him, but they can’t really help opening up and talking candidly when they interact. Still, outside of their chemistry when they do interact, we don’t get a lot of characterization for Sebastian.

The secondary characters are all pretty great; they have their own personalities and don’t just feel like faceless mannequins to move the plot along. The only issue I had was with the sister-with-marriage-trouble subplot - it seemed to be coming to a good conclusion before it totally went the cliché route, which disappointed me. I did love that Gracie has a varied, well-balanced village who love her and challenge her when she needs it.

Between chapters, the reader sees Gracie and Sebastian’s messages on the app where they first connected, under their pseudonyms. Despite their verbal sparring in real life, they couldn’t get along better online. The “Lady” and “Sir” interludes are fun enough to read, but we enter the novel with their rapport established off-page, and that doesn’t work. Aside from Gracie telling us that she loves “Sir” and how much they have in common, the reader doesn’t get to see him be her prince charming. Sebastian is the real presence in the novel, and the reader can see clearly why Gracie would fall for him; he’s handsome, successful, generous, and witty. We don’t know a lot about Sir, or Lady, for that matter. The details they reveal about themselves are pretty surface-level, so while the reader is familiar with Gracie and “Lady” as our point-of-view-character, Sir really doesn’t make too much of an impact for the reader. Because the online relationship isn’t well-developed, it’s hard to suspend your disbelief that Gracie is in love with Sir and Sebastian at the same time. Really, the end is just too melodramatic, given the novel’s trajectory. The reader knows what is coming, so dragging it out just weakens the conclusion.

While I have found Lauren Layne to be inconsistent from book to book, To Sir, With Love was surprisingly enjoyable and fun to read. It doesn’t hit the high I would need for a DIK, but it’s still worth reading.

Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local independent retailer
Visit our Amazon Storefront

Absolutely loved this rom com by Lauren Layne. It was the perfect beach read for fans of Kerry Winfrey and Beth O’Leary.

Gracie is the owner/operator or her family champagne shop in New York City. Left to her and her two siblings after their parents passed, Gracie was the one to step up and attempt to keep the family legacy alive even though she’s not sure that running Bubbles & More is exactly what she wants to do. Feeling a little lost in many aspects of her life, the one thing putting a smile on Gracie’s face is the chat she’s started with a random stranger on a dating app using antiquated salutations.

To Sir, With Love is the story of champagne shop owner Gracie and Sebastian, the owner of the property on which her shop stands.

Synopsis:
Gracie Cooper runs her father’s champagne shop in Manhattan, which is being threatened by Sebastian Andrews, the person who owns the space. What follows is a loop-de-loop of their personal and professional lives, which takes a very interesting “You’ve Got Mail” turn in the end!

Review:
The story kicks off with a sorbet vs. ice cream banter between a certain lady and a sir, giving us a glimpse of what will follow in the story.

This is my first read by Layne and my, my, ain’t it hilarious. From calling pigeons to sky rats to the drunk dials.

Narrated in the first person from Gracie’s point of view, To Sir, With Love starts with thirty-three-year-old Gracie who’s in love with a man she’s never met (and who’s taken). And then she happens to fall in love at first sight, but that guy is also already taken. Huh, what a bummer.

Not at all, sir! Because our sunshine middle-child Gracie won’t allow it to be, since now starts the journey of this cute pair who are so adorable behind the scenes but all fire (nope, not the passionate kind, rather the exchanging funny barbs and sarcasm kind) when they confront each other.

The story progresses in such a perfect way and when it nears the end, you know how it will end but still want to savour every moment of it! And of course, there is always the laugh-out-loud hilarity of Layne’s writing.

It has a sweet one year after epilogue as well, true to the character of the story. This timeless tale will never get old, and as the author says, it is a story of hope, and also of love and longing and all things sweet in this world.

P.S. What a beautiful coincidence! The author mentions her “earliest Stiletto days” in the Author’s Note at the end of the book. And recently, I got the opportunity to judge three romances in the Contemporary Short category for Stiletto (I just hope that we are talking about the same Stiletto here!).

To Sir With Love By Lauren Layne
Rating 3.5/5 Stars
Published by Gallery Books
Published On 29th June 2021

**A big thank you to NetGalley, Gallery Books, and of course, Lauren Layne, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Love Is Blind meets You’ve Got Mail - I’m sold!

Gracie Cooper is dealing with multiple dilemmas - for one, she wants to keep her father’s spirit alive at the family business, when in reality she has no real connection to the business and wants to go to art school. Second, she is searching for her Prince Charming in a world where it is becoming increasingly harder to find such a match. Except, maybe it isn’t so hard? Gracie has found a connection with an anonymous man named “SIR” through an online dating app where personality is the only thing at the forefront. The only problem? SIR was put on the app as a joke and just wants to be friends since he has a girlfriend…until suddenly, he doesn’t. But at that moment, Gracie meets Sebastian Andrews - a man who she believes is out to ruin her life, but she can’t help herself from constantly thinking about those aqua eyes of his.

This is far from spicy rom-com and in fact, I really liked it for that specific reason. I do feel though that it shouldn’t be categorized as a Rom-Com as I think the field has been taken over so much by the spice. I think others might be disappointed in the lack of spice. However, To Sir is still a beautiful story where the highest part of steam is a simple kiss and it is rare to find books like that these days. While I love the spice, I also love when the story concept takes the forefront. I’m reading so many romcoms at the moment, and finding a beautifully written slow burn was such a delight!

I expected Gracie and Sebastian to figure out their connection much sooner in the book, but as it went on, I really enjoyed knowing without them knowing. I would say I figured it out as a reader (beyond the blurb) very early on and seeing these two interact having no idea that they were SIR/LADY was fun. However, while I loved this, I also really wanted more at the end. Once they knew the truth, I wanted to get at least a few more chapters detailing their relationship —> wedding —> subsequent child on the way.

This is a beautifully written rom-com. I truly loved it so much and highly recommend it for a fresh change to the normal (and still awesome) steamy rom coms we have these days.

Note - Originally my score was a 3.75 but I have knocked it down to a 3.5 due to errors in the text which seem to have made publication (name changes (Caleb’s girlfriend) and confusion over the gender of Gracie’s cat). Normally, I can overlook these things when I read them in an ARC. It is normal, but it seems these errors have made it past publication and into the hands of readers based on the reviews I am seeing post-publication.

QOTD: fave romcom movies?

My favorites are mostly faves out of nostalgia (and not because they’re just great movies or romances even lol) but Pretty Women (Julia Roberts is a QUEEN IDC) and Say Anything 😍😍😍

To Sir with Love by Lauren Layne is basically a retelling of You’ve Got Mail. Gracie was cute and quirky. We shared the retail management and watercolor interest. I really wanted to root for her, but I just didn’t buy into the whole enemies to lovers thing between her and Sebastian. Also, the “twist,” in this story was so obvious from the very beginning that I just sort of wanted to get there already by the halfway point.

This makes for a super quick, breezy romance for anyone who just loves sarcastic banter and wants a short book to toss into their beach bag.

Thank you @netgalley and @gallerybooks for this digital copy! Published June 29, 2021

#tosirwithlove #laurenlayne #gallerybooks #netgalley #netgalleyreads #netgalleyreview #arcreview #arc #advancedreaderscopy #galleycopy #bookreview #bookreviews #bookreviewer #bookblogger #bookblogging #bookblog #bookblogsofinstagram #instabooks #instabookstagram #instabook #kindlebooks #kindlereads #kindlereader #kindlepaperwhite #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #booksgram #bookgram #booksbooksbooks #bookobsessed

This was an adorable, incredibly sweet, witty rom-com! Reminiscent of all my favorite rom-com movies, this book just felt like a big warm hug. The banter is witty, the characters incredibly likable, and the champagne shop setting fun. This was feel good, cheerful, and so incredibly delightful. My thanks to the publisher for the advance reader in exchange for my honest review.

Lauren Layne never disappoints me. This book, like all of her other books, was immaculate. The development, the tension, all of it. There's never a day when I'm not up for a book by Lauren and this is proof of it. I read this book in two days (which is extremely rare for a slow reader like me) and I wish I had prolonged it because now all I have is the memory of these two who have captured my heart entirely

Reading To Sir, with Love was like watching an 80s romantic comedy with a bowl of popcorn and a cup of hot chocolate. Totally heartwarming and adorable, with a great sense of humor and an incredibly entertaining path to a happily ever after. I’ve always been a fan of the “You’ve Got Mail” storyline and it was so fun to see how Layne updated it for the modern era.

If you’re a fan of romantic comedies, you probably already know the basics of the plot for this one. But Layne manages to make this story feel fresh and new (and there are some excellent additions. Including all of the food descriptions). Definitely recommend this one for a feel-good, pick-me-up read!

This is an adorable take on a pen pal romance. I love heriones that believe the ultimate happily after, and unaplogetically find it. This is a fun feel good romance.

When Grace Cooper’s fathers dies after a cancer diagnostic, she have to quit her dream of becoming an artist to run her family’s business, a small champagne shop called 'Bubbles'. She had signed herself up in a blind dating app hoping to finally find her prince charming... and she ends up meeting, the lovely, 'Sir', who she has never seen the face before but shares some similar interests and instantly felt connected and slowly begins to fall in love with him. Lately the store is struggling with some financial problems and for the past three months the corporation of the unbelievable handsome Sebastian Andrews had been making offers to buy the store but Grace isn’t ready to throw in the towel so easily. She also has no clue that the guy who she’s in love with is her “rival” in real life.

To Sir, with love is a light and fun romcom but it is far from my favorite book by this author, but if you are looking for a quick, ease read, a VERY slow burn and an insta-love story, this book is definitely for you.

Grace and Sebastian were nice... nothing out of the box but definitely enjoyably characters, of course I felt more ""connected"" with Grace than with Sebastian seeing that the whole book was in her pov and maybe that’s the reason why I didn’t enjoyed this book as much as I thought I would, because I felt Sebastian’s character a little bit distant, I mean, he was almost a side character (???) if at least we had a dual pov and one of them was in third person like in Walk of Shame, my rating would be higher.

I REALLY liked the side characters especially Lily (Grace’s sister) and Alec (Lily’s husband) they were so cute and made me wish for a whole book about these two.

Overall this is a simple and cute romance, as I said before, nothing out of the box, not boring but not memorable either, I will probably forget about him in 2 weeks, but, of course, I highly recommend that you read and make your own conclusions.

• TO SIR WITH LOVE •

As with all of the other Lauren Layne books I've read, this was a delight from start to finish. I really enjoy Layne's stories and writing - so much fun, great chemistry and banter. This was such a great opposites/enemies to lovers romance with an adorable meet cute and I thought the messages at the start of each chapter were such a nice touch. I also really loved how we saw both characters' personal growth and searching for what they really wanted in life (outside of the relationship).
The one small thing I would have liked to be different was the pacing/timing of some events in the story, but that's just a personal preference, and overall it was a super charming, quick read - perfect for summer!

Thank you so much to Gallery books and Netgalley for letting me read an eARC of To Sir, With Love! This book was everything I wanted from a summer read and I definitely think y'all should go grab it now (especially since it's out now)!
To Sir, With Love 4/5 Stars

Summary from Goodreads: 
Love Is Blind meets You’ve Got Mail in this laugh-out-loud romantic comedy following two thirty-somethings who meet on a blind dating app—only to realize that their online chemistry is nothing compared to their offline rivalry.

Perpetually cheerful and eager to please, Gracie Cooper strives to make the best out of every situation. So when her father dies just months after a lung cancer diagnosis, she sets aside her dreams of pursuing her passion for art to take over his Midtown Manhattan champagne shop. She soon finds out that the store’s profit margins are being squeezed perilously tight, and complicating matters further, a giant corporation headed by the impossibly handsome, but irritatingly arrogant Sebastian Andrews is proposing a buyout. But Gracie can’t bear the thought of throwing away her father’s dream like she did her own.

Overwhelmed and not wanting to admit to her friends or family that she’s having second thoughts about the shop, Gracie seeks advice and solace from someone she’s never met—the faceless “Sir”, with whom she connected on a blind dating app where matches get to know each other through messages and common interests before exchanging real names or photos.

But although Gracie finds herself slowly falling for Sir online, she has no idea she’s already met him in real life…and they can’t stand each other. 

I really, really liked this book! Contemporary romance novels set in Manhattan make me so happy for some reason (probably because of my romanticized vision of the city) so I loved everything about this! A brick and mortar champagne store, a rich business mogul trying to get the building that store is in back, the owner of the store having ridiculous chemistry with the business mogul? Sign me up for sure! I really liked Gracie as a main character. She was so relatable to me- doing everything she could to keep her family happy and together, living in her daydreams, talking to men (or well a man) online without having ever met him before. I also really liked her siblings and all of the employees at Bubbles and More. Even Sebastian Andrews was great and so much more than the evil businessman. Pacing and plot wise, this book was relatively short, but it seemed like the perfect length for a great summer afternoon/weekend read or a vacation read. I never felt as though things were dragging or I was bored- I really enjoyed every part of this book. I definitely recommend To Sir, With Love as a fun, easy summer feel good contemporary romance!