I was so excited to receive Bookshop Cinderella as an ARC because I adore Laura Lee Guhrke books. They're usually written to be in the Victorian or Edwardian era, and her books have made me really enjoy turn-of-the-century historical romance. The trail of LLG books that I adore continues with Bookshop Cinderella-- I LOVE this book, with capital letters totally intended!
Evie is the owner of a small, niche bookstore and operating on a string shoe budget. She is the niece of a baron, and was sent to finishing school, and has some lasting scars of being lesser-than from her treatment during school. She's hidden herself away at her bookstore, working to keep it afloat, and wishes to find love. The only person that seems slightly there and available is a childhood friend, but he only seems to want to take advantage of her kindness.. She is friends and does some occasional side work event planning with a woman who is the cousin of a duke, Delia. Delia has to do some last minute traveling for the owner of The Savoy, and asks her duke cousin Max to go to Evie's bookstore and help with some event planning in her absence, and he stops by with a few friends.
Later that night, Max and his friends make a drunken bet that Max can't polish Evie and take her from plain to beautiful, and acceptable to the ton. Max, unbeknownst to him is inexplicably drawn to Evie, and decides to take on the challenge. The romance between the two blossom!
How Max goes about this and their attraction was totally surprising to me, which was delightful. Laura Lee Gurhke manages to use beloved tropes and turn them on their heads, which I love. The chemistry between Max and Evie is fantastic. I loved both of them! The dialogue is absolutely fantastic, and I cannot say enough about how much I loved this book. The writing is great, the story fantastic. When I was about 75% of the way through, I was already excited to read it again and not wanting it to end. If I could have one thing, it would be an epilogue (which LLG doesn't really do much of). I love, love, love this fantastic book!
Bookshop Cinderella is the first in a new series, and I am already excited for the next book. I usually can tell who is next, and I think I have an inkling but I'm not sure!
I received Bookshop Cinderella as an ARC from Netgalley for my honest opinion, and I would highly recommend this book to any fan of books involving bibliophiles, historical fiction, romance or plucky heroines ahead of their time. You will not be disappointed!

I LOVED this heartwarming story. I loved the banter and the dynamic between the leads. I loved the emotional work the characters had to do to realize their love and find their happy ending. I loved that there was never a miscommunication even in the bet part of the story as there often is. Such a delightful, engaging, easy read!

An Edwardian story (early 1900s) with “She’s the Man” vibes. Through his cousin Delia, Max, the Duke of Westbourne meets Evie Harlow—a spinster bookshop owner. He takes a wager that he can make her beautiful (Cinderella). Evie’s transformation isn’t complete until she decides that she is up to any task. Because of Max, she sees that her capabilities are endless.

Spice level: 1 bedroom scene

Loved the story it was cute and it reminded me a lot of the movie she’s all that from the 90s. I love how the heroine was working at a bookshop. I also like her relationship between her and max they knew eachother as kids so it was a childhood friends trope. It was a bit slow in the beginning and towards the end a bit forced but overall good.

We love a Cinderella story, and this one delivered! Romantic and enjoyable. I will definitely read more from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley, Grand Central, and the author for the eARC in exchange for my review.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I always enjoy Guhrke’s work but I thought, after the first few pages, I knew where this was going and I was wrong. This is not a She’s All That situation but Pygmalion and the book is the better for it.

this was really cute! I loved the main characters, especially Evie. The plot was fun and quick, and the character dynamics were great as well. I also really liked the Cinderella aspect of the whole thing! Overall, I would definitely recommend this book :)

If you're into She's All That set in 1800s England, this is a quick & easy read to sweep you away to the Savoy! Spinster bookseller Evie becomes the Duke of Westbourne's special project in order to win a bet. Will he be able to turn this wallflower into the gem of the season--one with a full dance card at his next ball? And what happens when the two opposites start to develop feelings for each other? The storyline is a bit predictable but I enjoyed Evie's strong spirit and her banter with the Duke.

3.5 stars

Many thanks to Forever Grand Central & Netgalley for the ARC.

This was a sweet and spicy romance with a Pretty Woman vibe (without the sex work) I love that Evie was a really feminist hero and that she did what was right for her, not the men around her. Very much looking forward to more in this series.

Bookshop Cinderalla, a historical romance by prolific writer Laura Lee Guhrke is exactly as advertised: a light story between a stressed bookshop owner and a duke who decides to teach some young men he's been tasked with monitoring a lesson. The lesson? That Evie, who has given up on any dreams, is more than she seems, and he will remake her, ala all good makeover stories. At first resistant, Evie succumbs to Max. This is a servicable romance--it has a VERY slow beginning and it took awhile for me to become engaged as it starts with Max talking to his counsin and then Max talking to a bunch of young men, Evie daydreaming etc etc. I was not engaged, and honestly would not have kept going except for the review in mind! As another reviewer mentioned, the ending was a little cringeworthy for me (why did the heroine have to humiliate herself?) but overall I'm sure this will satisfy many a romance reader. Just maybe not a jaded crusty long-time reader like me, lol.

For a more memorable Guhrke novel, my favorite is She's No Princess.

NetGalley provided a free ARC in exchanged for an unbiased review. All opinions are my own.

This was an enjoyable Cinderella/My Fair Lady retelling.

I love a bookish heroine so I connected with Evie right away. I appreciated how realistic she was about herself and her circumstances. It make her seem more like a real person, especially for the time period.
I thought Max was sweet and charming, despite having made a bet with his friends to "she's all that" Evie.
I would have liked for Evie and Max to spend more time together. I think the romance just needed to be developed a bit more for me to really fall in love with their relationship.

The historical research was certainly done by the author. I could tell by her attention to detail and the dialogue. I found this interesting and easier to escape into another time.

Overall, an enjoyable tale of two opposites finding love.

This was such a fun twist on the Cinderella trope! Cinderella meets She’s All That. I loved that Evie didn’t dream of marrying the prince and while she wasn’t super happy with her life she was realistic about her limits as a woman of her class. Max was so sweet and such a good and loving hero. I love that he didn’t have a ton of mangst from his dead wife, but just some hard lessons he had to learn about rushing into infatuation. I’m so happy I got to read this book thank you to the publisher for making it available

I enjoyed this a lot. Laura always provides a good romance with great characters and good writing. I loved the premise of this HR, but I wish our hero & heroine had spent more time together. I felt like I’m the two months that this story was going on we didn’t get enough interactions between the two. Plus, so much that our heroine was doing was told to us rather than actually seeing her in certain situations. Loved Max & his cousin, Delia the most.

This was a quick, cute read. I enjoy a bookish heroine. It was a bit more Pygmalion than Cinderella, but still the normal/common girl, rich/famous guy trope that I adore.

2 small quibbles on this one. First, the ending was a bit heavy on the embarrassing scene by the heroine trope, luckily none of the other characters made a big deal of it, but I had to pause for a minute because the second hand embarrassment hit me hard.

And second, while I appreciate research and attention to detail, the author went a bit overboard with the period appropriate dialogue. It came off feeling a bit forced in some places.

Overall a fun, Valentine's read.
Recommended.

LLG is an automatic buy author for me and this did not disappoint. A Cinderella storyline with a twist, I throughly enjoined this book. Evie is an FMC you can root and Max, a Duke to fall for. I cannot wait for more of this series.

A dashing duke, a shy bookshop ownder and a bet to change their lives. The duke of Westbourne has a bet with his friends that he'll turn shy Evie into the diamond of the season. But when she actually has everyone's attention, he starts falling for her.

Max and Evie are terrific together. Love opposite-attract romance. Max is wonderfully charming and Evie and is quietly competent. Love their chemistry together.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

This was a fast and fun read with no real surprises. This is a Pygmalion inspired story. Evie Harlow owns a bookstore. She's firmly middle class but has gone to finishing school and isn't completely ignorant of the upper class ways. Max, Duke of Westbourne is defending her to his friends and ends up making a bet that he can turn her in to a star of the season. He comes to her shop to ask her if she'd be his project. After some convincing she agrees. So begins their beautiful relationship and journey to their happy ever after.

This was well written and both the hero and heroine were likable people.

Have always enjoyed lauras books theyre always so whimsical and romantic and swoony. Cannot wait to purchase this in paperback