First Impressions
Bookshop Cinderella is the first book in the newest series by Laura Lee Guhrke. It has been so long since I have read anything by this author, and I will admit that I was drawn to this one when I saw the title and the cover. It had me super intrigued and I have such a soft spot for any type of retelling. So if you love cinderella retellings, then I do recommend this one. Its a loose retelling though but still a fun way that the author implemented this book and actually had some healthy communication that was implemented and I really respect that this author was willing to go that route for sure. What we see in this one here though is a fun bet, a bookish heroine, class differences and some pining from the hero. So definitely has many elements that will appeal to many readers, and if you love historical romance, I highly recommend this one. It had such a solid balanced amount of factors that we all love to see in a historical romance and Gurhke really delivered on this one for me.

Summary
Evie Harlow runs a bookshop in London, and she runs her own business that her father left to her and she was able to get her family out of debt and be independent and fight for women’s voting rights. She enjoys her life but she also aches for something more and she doesn’t realize what she was missing until she meets Maximillian, the Duke of Westbourne. From their first meeting, their was a spark of attraction between Evie and Max. When Max runs into some acquaintances from school, claiming that no one in the Ton would have Evie, Max knows that there is a beauty that shines from within and is determined to show these shallow men what one can do if they have the will and determination. So he makes a bet with them that he can turn her into a victorian era Cinderella and that she will have a full dance card at the upcoming ball. Immediately Max goes to Evie and they join forces to win this bet and for Evie to have an adventure she never imagined for herself. What starts out as a playful bet, turns into something deeper when Max and Evie find a love neither expected to find…

What I Loved
Bookshop Cinderella was such a charming and lively romance that left me with a smile from beginning to the very end. I absolutely couldn’t get enough of these two. Seeing their interactions I was on the edge of my seat. I became quickly endeared by both of these characters. They both have such solid growth in this story and truly the author did a splendid job in focusing on their connection. We truly see what they have together and that spark of interest that begins to bloom the moment they are together more …..and more. Max may be a Duke, but he has suffered heartache, loss and betrayal. He knows that he needs to have an heir, but is still hurt by losing his previous wife who also spurned his heart and hasn’t been able to allow himself to open to anyone else until he meets Evie who shows him what loving someone and being loved in return can be like and that its worth fighting for. Evie on other hand, is more apprehensive of the class differences between them. She isn’t afraid of love but she knows that loving Max will come at a price, the price of never being together. She knows that they are too different and their lives could never be together and she can’t see herself being “duchess” material. But when Max comes to the point of realizing he can’t live without Evie, he will do whatever it takes to win Evie’s heart and mind. We see such determination from the hero to fight for his girl and seeing this sweet pining was so adorable. Even before he realizes that he loves her, he builds a connection with her and gives her these thoughtful gifts that are so endearing. I really appreciated seeing the interactions between Max and Evie. Their banter was so delightful and had me laughing all over the place. The pacing is steady and keeps you interested. Sometimes this author can be a hit or miss on the pacing, but this is so easy to read for a historical and I highly recommend this one. And if you are curious about the retelling, it really is just the aspect of seeing the change of appearance. So its probably closer to a Pygmalion retelling over a Cinderella one. But still wonderful in whichever way you look at it. I am very curious to see where the author will be taking this series moving forward and very thrilled for book 2.

What I Struggled With
There wasn’t too much I struggled with this one to be honest. The heroine was a bit frustrating in always pushing the hero away. I understand why she was, but it did stretch out a bit longer than I felt was fully necessary. But I did appreciate the heroine fighting for the hero in the end. That was quite refreshing to see, as its not very common.

Overall View
Bookshop Cinderella is a endearing and witty historical that delivered an impactful story that will capture the readers attention from the very beginning. You will be charmed by the humor, the easy way of reading it and the strong connection these two build between them! A SATISFYING GEM!

Bookshop Cinderella by Laura Lee Guhrke is a perfect historical fiction romance. While Max was not the best I still found I enjoyed his character. And Evie was just adorable. I really liked this story of a classic and set in a bookstore! I need to read more from this author!

I'm head over heels for this fun historical rom com! This is absolutely my idea of a fun, summer beach read. It was fast-paced with a delicious slow burn, and the nods to works like Pygmalion and My Fair Lady were perfect. It gives She's All That vibes, too.

I adored Evie, a shy bookshop spinster who loves to live vicariously through others but is hesitant to try new things herself. And the Duke of Westbourne- Max? His sense of decency, honor, and kindness had me melting. I loved that he let her in on the wager about bringing her successfully out into society, that he didn't lie to her about his intentions. It made for hilarious banter between the two!

I definitely recommend if you love:
•Wallflowers finding love
•Dukes with hearts of gold
•Romances between class differences
•Glow ups
•Wagers where everyone is in on it
•Secret dancing lessons
•Library shenanigans

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever Pub for the advanced copy!

The heroine runs a bookshop that the hero visited to give her a proposition: make her become a fashionable lady to win a bet. The heroine agrees after a disastrous event and is whisked off into the world of high society. The hero thinks lightly of the bet until he ends up falling in love with the heroine. Will the hero be able to convince the heroine to take a chance with him or will he let her go back to her bookshop?

This is the first book of the SCANDAL AT THE SAVOY series by Laura Lee Guhrke. The book is a historical romance with vibes from the Cinderella fairytale and She's All That movie. The main characters had strong presences in the book, though I liked the heroine more than the hero since she feels more relatable to me. I also liked certain secondary characters that supported the couple, especially the hero's cousins. I do think that the story could have been better with more details in certain areas of the story, like maybe placing some revelations earlier in the book. Overall, a nice first book to this Laura Lee Guhrke series and I look forward to reading future installments to it.


** Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions and thoughts in the review are my own. **

A bit of a rough start for me, but by the end I was having a great time.

It reminds me a lot of "My Fair Lady." He's basically giving her a makeover so she can fit into society and it's all for a bet. (Which she does know about from the start, which was refreshing.)

Although the whole conceit of the bet was a little distracting, and I didn't feel the plot really needed it. I know this is the whole premise, but the importance of wager itself quickly fades away anyway. They just spend a lot of time setting it up and that was extremely tedious. This could have been like two paragraphs and instead the friends talk for almost an entire chapter about the parameters, etc.

I liked the moment when Evie starts to wonder if Max wants her to be his mistress, since he is buying her all these clothes and putting her in a hotel. Her internal panic and the subsequent drama that unfolds was very satisfying for me; lots of tension.

I liked the setting in the very late Victorian era; it's just a personal favorite of mine.

There were a few scenes where she called him "Duke" and it was very off-putting. It didn't seem to be a nickname, just used instead of a "your grace." IDK what was going on there and maybe it will be fixed in the final copy.

Thanks #NetGalley for the advanced copy of #BookshopCinderella in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this book with no expectations because I haven't read any books by Guhrke before this one and I ended up really enjoying it. I like Guhrke's easy to read writing style. This gave me She's All That vibes so if you enjoyed that trope, you will enjoy this book. Even better is that our hero tells the heroine about the bet early on so there's no stress to the reader while you wait for the other shoe to drop and for the FMC to find out about the bet. Two major thumbs up for that, Laura Lee! This is a relatively low angst story and it is also very sweet.

This book was a good read, evenly balanced between drama and romance, but the ending was abrupt.
This review may contain spoilers.
The heroine of this story is a book shop owner about 27 years old. She and her father lived in a small apartment in top of the shop. The heroine's mother died young. When her father passed, she was left with the business and debts, so she worked hard and was able to lower the debts and all she had was a mortgage on the shop.
The heroine had been helping a young noble lady who was part of many clubs and charities. The heroine was able to research themes, decorations and recipes for the noble lady's many parties, dinners and fund raisers. The heroine is happy to help her and thinks it would be nice to attend one if those many parties, but she is very insecure about her humble beginnings. The heroine, while being a capable business woman, has a let her insecurities get in the way of her happiness. While she does believe in love, and she has a gentleman she admires, she does not try to put herself out as a possible partner. She has let her negative self image bring her down. 
The noble lady has to travel to the continent and she asks her cousin to get the material needed from the heroine and help the heroine converse with the French chef who tends to be arrogant. The lady asks her cousin because he is a duke and will not be intimidated like the heroine would have been.
The cousin, who is the hero, goes to the book shop to contact the heroine for the information. The hero takes his responsibilities seriously is looking for a wife. He was married once before, to an American heiress, who ran away to America because she could not handle being a duchess. When the duke goes to America to talk to his wife, he finds out that she has died in an accident when she was crossing a road. The hero always felt this happened because he forced his expectations onto his wife. He vows he will not do this with this second wife and has picked out the Diamond of the season. He is one of many suitors and when the Diamond asks him to squire her twin brother around town, he ended up being saddled with three young men who only wanted to drink, gamble and wench. The hero was not happy that he is now expected to bring the three troublemakers in line. But they are with him when he goes to the bookshop. The hero goes inside by himself and witnesses an interaction between the heroine and her crush. He is appalled at how the man takes advantage of the heroine. He waits his turn and when he asks the heroine for the information, the heroine realizes she forget to get the information together because her Crush returned from his travels the same week the lady asked for the information and the heroine forgot about the request. The heroine asked for a few more days and the hero was agreeable when the three troublemakers came into the store and messed up a book display because they were drunk. The heroine scolds them and the troublemakers start making trouble. The hero is able to wrangle the troublemakers out of the shop by offering to buy them drinks at the Savoy American Bar. After they have been drinking for an hour, the Diamond's brother bets that the hero cannot dress up the heroine and make her popular at the next charity ball. The hero takes the bet because he has over six weeks to do it and his cousin will return in four weeks and she can help him then. But how will he convince the heroine?
This book was funny and down to earth. The characters are all likeable.The heroine was so relatable and the hero did not act like a typical nobleman. The story was not slow, it was easy to immerse yourself into and enjoy what was going on. I will give 4.5 stars because of the abrupt ending, but I also strongly recommend reading.

Evie is just a working class gal in regency era London. She's plain but she's proud, and she owns her own bookshop. One day she encounters a rakish duke named Max, who makes a bet with his friends that he can get Evie to be the talk of the town in six weeks. Evie is whisked away to a world unlike anything she's ever dreamed of: a fancy hotel (The Savoy, to be exact!), gorgeous gowns, delicious food, and dazzling events. But, best of all, is the charming man orchestrating it all! Their chemistry is off the charts, which they discover in spades as he teaches her to dance. The problem, however, is that the love they feel could destroy them both!

I LOVED this book. It's a fun spin on the classic Cinderella story. If you enjoyed other takes on the tale, such as "My Fair Lady," "She's All That," or "Pretty Woman," then you'll love this book! I enjoy a cozy escape with moments that make me sigh, and this book DELIVERED. The scenes in the hotel and the opera. Dress fittings. BEAUTIFUL dresses brought to life in full detail. These were all fun, but then it gets even better. The romance! Max and Evie, dancing in a dark ballroom in the middle of the night, talking over an indoor picnic of insanely divine food, and there are several super spicy scenes as well! I was never expecting a particular plot twist in the middle of the story, but it made it even more compelling. I would have given this book five stars, but the third act wasn't exactly what I wanted. It goes to show that the author did a great job because I was so invested in the characters that I was stuck to my own plans of how things should have unfolded, haha!

I will most definitely be reading more books in the Scandal at the Savoy series! I would like to thank Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and Netgalley for the e-ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Bookshop Cinderella, the first in a new series from Laura Lee Guhrke brings us a dazzling new romance in turn-of-the-century London, full of glitz and glam and dusty bookshelves!

Evie Harlow is happy running her fathers old bookshop. She has a potential beau and she gets to spend her days with gorgeous antique books. She’s happy in her life, that is until the Duke of Westborn steps into her shop and proposes a sort of holiday…

A holiday, where she steps out of her own life, and into the life of the diamond of the season!

Usually, I am not a fan of romances that require a character to completely change themselves in order to be seen and excepted by their potential partner. Bookshop Cinderella creates a fun dynamic between Evie and the Duke, where you his appreciation for her before the external changes occur.

Evie enjoys her holiday and transformation – I would definitely enjoy it too! A few weeks in London‘s best hotel with unlimited fine dining, a new wardrobe and all the fun entertainments that you never had the funds or time for in the past. It is definitely a chance of a lifetime, and I was so excited when Evie steps out of her comfortable routine to take up the offer.

No opportunity like this is without strings. Evie and needs to become a diamond. The Duke sees her as and fill her dance card at his upcoming ball.

I loved seeing these to work together on the skills she needed to become the diamond that he already saw her as. From private dance lessons to the shopping trips, the process is just as much fun to watch as these to transform each other and fall in love!

This book has so many things that I love it historical romance, it was an absolute delight!

I loved how Laura Lee Guhrke was able to use difficult tropes and make them very enjoyable and palatable to the reader, from the makeover, to the love triangle and the bet, it was all written in a way that still had me rooting for the Duke and Evie to find a way to be together!

This is a must read for historical romance lovers!

Thanks to Forever Publishing for my gifted review copy.

We get a helpful duke and a vocal wallflower, boss lady in Laura Lee Guhrke’s first book of her new series “Bookshop Cinderella!!!”

In the beginning, this book seemed to follow a She’s All That scenario and we look forward to the upcoming blow up, however I am glad it did not. This book is surprisingly low angst yet full of best friend type teasing with an underlining attraction adding to the intrigue!

Guhrke is still a new to me author, and I love her style! She writes in a time when women in breeches and aristocratic women working are more excepted which adds layers to the story. We never know the outcome of her stories making her books fast reads!

I especially love her characters! I was expecting Miss Evie Harlow to be quieter, however she does not mince words even if some thoughts should be kept to herself. I love that the Duke of Westbourne, Max, was upfront with Evie and he knew what he wanted before their situation got difficult.

If you enjoy reading about businesswomen, class differences, dance lessons, kind aristocrats, wagers, and wallflowers having a glow up, then I highly recommend this book!!!

Thank you to Net Galley and Forever Publishing for the ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Bookshop Cinderella by Laura Lee Guhrke is the first book I've seen from Laura Lee in years. I am SO glad to see her writing again. I'd read a few of her books years ago and then moved on to other authors. From what I remember, her books always felt very smart with unique premises. Bookshop Cinderella is nothing incredibly groundbreaking but it is still a very solid romance book that had a few unique aspects to it.

A few sentences to summarize the story...
FMC, Evie owns a bookshop (hence the title) inherited from her father; she is like the cousin or something of someone in the ton but is more "working class"; she does research for this fancy lady who is cousin to our main character
MMC, Max, the Duke of Westbourne, married ten years prior, now a widower who has moved on from the heartbreak but vows to never again marry for love and passion especially to someone who is not from his class--he did marry a 17 year old American who clearly did not understand what she was getting into and honestly, she sounded like a stupid, spoiled brat and he was thinking with his southern brain, not northern brain, when he decided he must marry her. Not the best decision, dude.

At first, I thought this was going to be forced proximity working together but as it turns out it's more of a "She's All That" bet that he can make her into a beauty who dances ALL the dances at this extravagant ball that all the cool kids will be at. Circumstances line up so that she is forced to reside at the Savoy [hotel] and Manly Duke buys her a brand new wardrobe and such. They keep meeting for "reasons"--all of which do make sense, I promise--and over time develop feelings.

There were quite a few surprises in this book. One I already mentioned. Two, he is totally honest with her about the bet he made about her. I appreciated this bc I didn't want to see that ugly fall out if she found out she was a bet (Am I a bet? Am I a F*CKING bet?!) and I appreciate that LLG doesn't underestimate the intelligence of her readers, realizing we deserve better. Third, I felt that this book showed a lot of growth for the MMC and at times felt more about his transformation than hers. Sometimes books focus so much on the FMC's growth and not enough on the MMC or the MMC changes in a way that doesn't feel right or organic or even stunted. Like, all he does is lets these imaginary walls fall down and allows himself to love. Ok, great. And that does happen here in this book but there is more to it and we see his transformation internally more than we do in other books. HE is doing the work and not just letting her do the work on him. I hope that makes sense.

I would definitely buy this book on sale, get it from the library, and/or add it to my collection bc the cover is gorgeous. It is the first in a series and I'm VERY interested to see what is next.

There is like one full on sex scene from what my cloudy memory serves. So it's not overly steamy. There are some other scenes leading up to this moment. I like my sexy times in books A LOT but the story and characters were written so well that I didn't mind less steam.

Also there is a guy in the book that is a total skeeve that I thought was setting up a love triangle but thankfully was not. He didn't die so that loop is still open unfortunately.

If you actually read to the end: this was totally off the cuff, random thoughts of the book as I remembered it even though I finished it like ten days ago. As you can see, my thoughts are not in order and I cannot even remember people's names. OH! The Duke might be named Max.....?

Example of Evie's wit:
"Ah, yes." She gave a sight of mock rapture. "I always knew I could be a beauty if only some man would come along and show me how."

And from Max:
"After all, if you change things, you move into unknown territory. If you dream, your dreams might be crushed. If you aspire to more than you have, you might fail. If you hold your standards too high, you might never find romance. So instead, you try to reconcile yourself to the hand you've been dealt and tell yourself it's good enough. You settle for less than you deserve, including the attentions of a man who is unworthy of you."

If a book can’t capture my attention in the first third, it never will. There was no inclination of attraction between the MCs whatsoever. Even though the banter wasn’t too bad, I can’t see these two as anything but platonic friends. I also tried to switch to the audio book as a final Hail Mary but that was a HUGE mistake since it was intolerable to listen to.

Thank you for the arc via NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever Publishing for the chance to read this eARC/ARC and provide my candid review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ 4.5 (0-5) rounding to 5
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥 (0-5)

What I’m Starry-Eyed Over:
🤩 The tropes: unrefined protagonist, class difference.
🤩 The title of course—how could I resist two of my favorite words? The plot is fabulous, reading each of these words come into play.
🤩 Historical romance romcom, yes please!
🤩 It’s so engaging and entertaining—movie material. Cinderella themed movies are my favorite!
🤩 A wager that leads to the rags to riches makeover.
🤩 When Max and Evie decide they are friends.
🤩 Both such sweet, fun, and adorable MCs.
🤩 Max’s lusty thoughts of physical attraction.
🤩 When Evie realizes her attraction to Max.
🤩 The flirting and banter.
🤩 Delicious descriptions of beautiful surroundings. And, tasty treats.
🤩 Dance lessons (I’m such a sucker) with champagne.

What I’m Wishing/Dizzy About:
💫 I’m a bit picky about needing the physical closeness (steam) after the drama. I DO actually believe in the HEA between Max and Evie. But, an epilogue of them being the hosts of something very ducal and then sneaking away in a moment of passion would have been lovely. It’s just a wish. I’m just a reader, totally not a writer.

4.5 Stars
🌶🌶

This was a sweet historical romance that really gave me She's All That vibes, more than a Cinderella retelling. This is my first Laura Lee Guhrke book, and I was very impressed. It was elegantly written, with great character development and great side characters.

Evie is a struggling bookshop owner and has had to work extremely hard to pay off her father's debts after his death and to keep the bookshop open. Max, Duke of Westbourne, goes to the bookshop to help his cousin, who was working with Evie on a project. He happened to bring in a few other young men with him, and they were rude and disrespectful to Evie. Later that night, they were talking about how plain Evie was, and Max defended her. They decided to wager that Max couldn't get her to be desirable for a ball in 6 weeks. Max takes the bet because he actually thought she was beautiful and he wanted to put these idiots in their place.

At first, I was worried about the bet storyline because this always follows the same storyline, where the heroine finds out near the end, and there is a 3rd act breakup. However, Max revealed the bet and everything to Evie immediately. I found this extremely refreshing.

Evie was offended and denied the request initially, but then decided to go for it when her bookshop was flooded. I really related to Evie and how she was settling for her life even though she wasn't really happy running the bookshop. I loved watching her find confidence and push herself out of her comfort zone.

Max had a disaster of a marriage when he married an American who was ill prepared to be a Duchess. He decided to find a wife who was made to be a Duchess, and he would not marry for love this time.

This was a super slow burn romance. Max did so many sweet things to help Evie and constantly showed her he respected her. I loved the picnic he made for her and when he taught her how to dance. I felt their connection and chemistry, although I wish there was more spice. It didn't lower my rating because there was one sex scene, and I felt it was perfect for this story. I do think the ending wrapped up really quickly, and I wish there was an epilogue.

This was just a sweet, feel-good, slow burn, and low angst historical romance. I'm impressed with the authors writing and how she didn't do the expected tropes or storylines.

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for providing this ARC.

3.75 stars rounded up to 4. This author is new to me and I'll admit, I had a bit of trouble getting into this book at first. I didn't care for Max all that much, finding him rude and dismissive, and I thought Evie was rather immature for her age. Most of all, I wasn't crazy about the circumstances around the bet and crass comments involving Evie's looks. For a change of pace, I wondered, instead of her getting a makeover, why not her bookshop?

But around the 30% mark, as the MC's started to open up to each other, and there was more humor, vulnerability, and warmth in their interactions, I became more drawn into the storyline. I will admit that the Cinderella (Pygmalion meets "She's All That", to be more exact) trope isn't one that I love, and everything falls into place here pretty much as expected. But I did appreciate the message that comes through at the end: You have to love yourself in order to love someone else.

The world building is well done, and the dialog and mannerisms seem fairly true to the late 1800's time period (although would a 28 year old woman who's in trade be quite as untouched as Evie was?). Of course, you have to buy into the fantasy that a single woman of Evie's class would have been able to sneak around with a Duke.

The secondary characters (with an exception noted below) are solid. Delia, one of Max's sisters, is probably my favorite. Once she re-enters the story at about the 60% mark, she's a delightful voice of reason.

Here I have to mention an aspect of the plot that bothered me: If Max was so haunted by what happened with his first wife (a dark event that fit in uneasily with the light tone of this book), why would he ever have agreed to the bet to begin with? Yes, it's supposedly to help with his plan to marry a woman of the ton, Helen, who he's had his eye on, but it's really hard to believe that that he'd trust her hooligan brother and friends to not spout off about the bet once they got what they wanted out of the arrangement. And Max honestly seems hot/cold about Helen as well as Evie at times.

Speaking of hot/cold, it was hard to get a handle on Evie and Rory. POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD:....................................................Evie is smitten by him at the beginning, then abruptly has nothing more to do with him due to a conversation with Max, then for whatever reason her common sense seems to fly out the window when he comes calling toward the end. I thought she was too lenient in letting him have his say; it seemed to go against her emerging character arc.

Anyway, despite the caveats, I really enjoyed the chemistry between Max and Evie. Their slow-burn relationship does pay off in a couple of nicely steamy scenes, and I loved the final chapter, once Evie finally has her realization about Max and about herself. I would have loved an epilogue depicting Max and Evie's life a year or so after the wedding.

Bottom line: Despite a rather shaky start, this book is delightful overall.

I read an advanced reader copy of this book and this is my voluntary review. Opinions are my own.

This was an entertaining, well-written book. It was sweet, steamy and held my interest. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more books by this author.

This was a really fun and entertaining read for me. Ms Guhrke is one of my favorite authors that write from the heart. This book had me at first chapter and never let go. The characters were fully developed with thoughts and feelings of their own. You meet Evie Harlow who owns a bookshop that specializes in first editions. One day a man comes into her store (after a night of drinking) to proposition Evie with a bet to become the belle of the ball. Well Evie thinks the guy is nutty and says no. Of course the guy is the Duke of Westbourne and he's paying for her stay at a ritzy hotel and she still says no!
Then her apartment becomes flooded and then she has to accept his offer. And let the fun begin with one hot Duke and one woman who knows her own mind. Max knows he wants Evie for his own. But first he's got to get her to trust him and see that anything is possible.
Of course when fate step in and decide these two are meant to be with love for a happy ever after.
I appreciate Net Galley for this ARC title in which I gave an honest review.

A relatable and lovable female lead AND the bet is disclosed to her immediately? Yes, yes let us all take not this is what readers want.

Short, quick, an easy read. We’ve got a plot that picks up right off the bat and gets to the point, some “My Fair Lady” vibes, and Evie who embraces the suffragette ideals and is an independent queen. The relationship between Max and Evie offers a good pacing with just enough angst. I kept my eyes on Rory because I felt it could go either way on whether I’d dread or be overworried on his character and thankfully I was just overworried.

It has been a long time since Laura has written a story and I have always loved her writing. I am so happy. This story is sweet and the writing is impeccable and the storyline is different and very good. I loved everything about this story. Just amazing. Max and Evie are such great characters. They have flaws but together they are astonishing. How could you not like these two characters (they rank up there with Maria and Phillip, from my favorite Laura book, Secret Desires of a Gentleman).

Bookshop Cinderella by Laura Lee Guhrke is the First book in the Scandal at the Savoy Series. This is the story of Evie Harlowe and Maximillian Shaw, Duke of Westbourne “Max”. When Max and his friends enter into Evie's bookshop to pick up some research he meets Evie. Max's friends end up saying some harsh things and Max takes up for her. But later his friends want to make a bet about turning Evie into a 'Lady'. But when present with this she doesn't want to do it but then her books store takes in some damage which leads her to do so. Enjoyed their story.