Bookshop Cinderella is a swoony and charming romance.

I was delightfully surprised at how much I loved this book. This was one of those books you start reading, and before you realize it, you are halfway through it. I just got so wrapped up in Evie and Max’s world and their love story. Bookshop Cinderella is obviously a remake of the classic Cinderella fairy tale. I love the unique and Victorian spin Laura put on the classic tale. It had banter, wit, and romance in spades. It just soothed my romantic soul. There is such a nice smooth pacing to this book. Things move along in the story at a perfect pace to keep me entertained, and I devoured all the high London society drama. I loved all the spot-on period details. It added richness to the overall story. I have to give a shout-out to Delia, Evie’s friend and Max’s cousin. She is such a delight! She has this larger-than-life personality that you can’t help being drawn to. I loved every scene she was in because of all the chaotic fun energy she brought.

Evie is a strong female protagonist, and I loved just being with her in this book. She is smart, witty, and a bookish wallflower. Evie owns her late father’s bookshop and struggles to keep things afloat. On the side, Evie does research for themed parties, and that side hustle is what leads her to cross paths with the slightly broody but very charming Max. I loved how she befuddled Max right from the very beginning. She keeps on his toes with her sharp wit, and I loved watching Max come undone by Evie’s charms. For his part, Max is everything I would want in a hero. He is sweet and swoony. Throughout the story, Max is also struggling with his own personal demons linked to his first marriage and has decided that his next marriage will not be one of love. Well, readers, we all know fate has other plans for him.

I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out what trope would best describe the romance between Evie and Max, and I really can’t think of one. There is this pretty women vibe to their love story. Max sets out to win a bet against his friends by giving Evie a makeover and introducing her to society. Evie must be asked to dance to every song at Max’s ball to win the bet. Max also quickly realizes that Evie is a kind and caring person who needs a vacation. I adored everything about these two. It was sweet watching Max slowly coax Evie out of her wallflower shell, and the scenes where he teaches her how to dance are swoonastic. One of the major hurdles these two have to overcome is the class barrier. Max’s first marriage was to someone who was not titled, and it ended badly. Max swore he would never marry someone who wasn’t titled, but he eventually realizes he is in love with Evie. Evie isn’t 100% sure she wants to be a part of the upper-class world or if she wants to become a duchess. Watching this inner journey of both characters realize that there is nothing they can’t do if they work and support was heartwarming. I loved Evie’s grand gesture at the end of this book. It was charming.

Bookshop Cinderella is a satisfying Victorian romance that is hard to put down.

Thank you, Forever, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, I loved the premise of this novel. I loved the Cinderella retelling aspect and most importantly I loved that Max told Evie of the wager right from the get go. To have her knowledge about it all made the journey to the ball and the ball itself all the more enjoyable, because it was not the knowledge of her finding out about the wager that would lead to the possible third act breakup. Which was very refreshing.

Did I fall for Max? Yes. Am I a hero-centric reader? Also yes. But I feel like Max's wish to bring a little joy and much needed reprieve from all her hard work, beyond the wager itself, made me fall for him even more. Because to him it was not about winning the bet but proving to Evie that she was not only more than who those jerk young men thought she was, but how she had perceived herself and been lead to think of herself via the actions of the peers she had known in her past. AND the dance lessons were everything. I always love when there is an aspect of teaching involved in a story. Oh and the crochet matches! How she was able to prove to herself that she was not as terrible at sports as she had lead herself to believe. And all of this because Max believed in her. Believed she was capable of anything she aspired to.

I will admit I had a bit of difficulty at the outset of the novel. Unsure if it was getting used to the timeline, the writing itself, or the chapter length, there was something that had me not being drawn immediately back to the book when I had to put it down when life got in the way. But I was pleased to say that I was not only eventually pulled back into the story, but found that I had a hard time putting it down. When I got to the last chapter, I was getting anxious about what was about to happen that I found myself just pausing and holding onto the book, taking a deep breath and then continuing on until I got to their HEA.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

Maximillian “Max” Shaw, Duke of Westbourne meets Miss Evie Harlowe when he enters her bookshop to collect some research for his cousin Delia. The men with him are unkind to Evie, prompting Max to stand up for her, he makes a wager that he can turn Evie into the belle of the season. He approaches her with the wager and offers to take care of everything, but she refuses. But when her shop is flooded, she decides to reconsider and her life will forever change.

Max was once in love and married, but his wife was not prepared for life as his duchess and things end badly. But Max knows he has to marry and has even chosen his would-be duchess, but that was before he met Evie. He finds Evie lovely, and smart, she is also the last woman he should consider. But eventually, the heart wants what it wants, however, he will have his work cut out for him in convincing Evie that they can have their own HEA.

This book isn’t what I was expecting, not that that is a bad thing, but I was thinking more Cinderella and this was a mashup of “She’s all that”, and “My Fair Lady” and even has a bit of “Pretty Woman”. The book starts slow and takes quite a bit of reading to get the story “started” and even then Max and Evie spend quite a lot of time apart and don’t even get me started on the ending. However, when they are together they are great (until the ending), the book also has some wonderful secondary characters, witty dialogue, low-steam love scenes, low angst and ends with a HEA but no epilogue. So for me, this book was good, but not a book I would read again. This is the start of a new series and I will be looking forward to the next book in the series.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.*

Historical romance will always have a special place in my heart - and this is such a great example of the genre. I was so excited about the twist on Cinderella - a fairy tale inspired story and the FMC is a bookseller?!?! Yes please! As noted in other reviews, this gave me Victorian-era She’s All That vibes - only he tells her about the bet upfront. I am so glad that the bet wasn’t a huge point of contention/secrecy in this storyline.

I will say I felt like there weren’t many surrounding characters who got good development time, so the story felt a little one-dimensional at times. And I struggled with the conflict being the class difference and her adamant statements about never being a duchess. She got over all of that pretty quickly all things considered. Still a really solid and enjoyable read!

Thank you to NetGalley & Forever pub for the ARC & finished copy!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this story. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

To my mind Bookshop Cinderella is a mashup of the original story and the 1980's romcoms where the guy makes a bet and transforms the girl into a diamond. There's a cousin who's offered her a place to live so she could take care of the children, sounds just great. There's a stepfather who disapproves of her and everything she does. She's working her fingers to the bone with multiple jobs and barely gets by; she's independent, proud and lonely.. It is 1896 so the more progressive attitude towards working for a living had lightened up but not completely gone. Her finishing school nightmare colors her view of the ton. The male lead happens to be a Duke & he's not a bad or entitled as she thinks a duke would be. He's nice & it's only fitting that Max falls in love with Evie.
#netgalley #BookshopCinderella #LauraLeeGuhrke #HachetteBookGroup #historicalromance #romance

Bookshop Cinderella is Victorian-era She’s All That. That’s not a critique – it’s just a fact. Men making a bet that one of them can turn a wallflower into a bombshell is never my favorite trope, but this book turns it on its head enough that I was able to enjoy it. Miles, our duke/hero, seems genuinely upset that his acquaintances don’t realize that Evie is beautiful as immediately as he does, which earns him a few points in my book. And Evie is aware of the bet from the jump, and she’s able to benefit from moving in Society while Miles provides a secret makeover.

This is a fun story, even though you’ll inevitably be waiting for something to go wrong (don’t worry, it will!). The romance is cute. I liked Evie and Miles together, though I can’t say I really felt the chemistry between them jumping off the page. Still, they seem to bring out the best in each other. He pushes her to dream about reaching for more in life, and her forthrightness brings his ducal arrogance down to Earth, letting his kindness shine.

There’s a bit of a side plot involving a childhood friend of Evie’s who has grown into a grifter who is constantly manipulating people for money. I suppose I can understand what Rory provided for the plot. He’s a counterpoint to Miles and moving past him shows how far Evie has come. But I hated the two or three short moments in the book when we were suddenly in his POV. It wasn’t necessary. I think readers will understand just how slimy Rory is without showing us his inner thoughts.

Evie Harlow is the owner of a bookshop in London - she believes herself to be relatively happy in her life, despite being unmarried with no prospects. Through his cousin, she meets the Duke of Westbourne who, in order to win a bet with some acquaintances, offers to turn her into the diamond of the season while also footing the bill. While Evie initially refuses the Duke's offer, she soon finds herself unable to refuse.

This was my first Laure Lee Guhrke book but I don't think it will be my last! I really liked it - I was happy that Max was honest with Evie from the outset regarding the bet and I really liked Evie's character. I would say it's a pretty loose retelling of Cinderella/She's All That - mostly just the class difference is the big similarity. I sometimes struggle with Cinderella retellings/class differences, they aren't usually my favorite due to the power imbalance but I didn't have that issue with this one! I liked Evie and Max's relationship - I would almost call this friends to lovers although not quite - I thought their banter was great and loved them together!

I also clocked her childhood friend, Rory, from the very beginning! I knew he was slimy and up to something - I actually thought he was going to play a bigger part and was worried that Evie was going to fall for his act but I'm SO glad she didn't!

Read this for:
- Forced Proximity
- Dancing Lessons
- Slow Burn
- Opposites Attract
- Class Difference
- Dual POV

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever for the eARC. I received a free early copy of this book and am leaving this review voluntarily.

When a book is a fairytale retelling and an author can make me forget, even for a little bit, that I already know the story, then she has done her job and done it well. Max is of course, our Prince Charming, but this time he is a Duke who has been tasked by his cousin to seek out the help of her friend Evie for an upcoming Epicurian Club menu. As our Cinderella, Evie is the epitome of a working girl whom has fought to keep her father’s bookstore in working order since his death. But when Max comes to Evie’s shop, his “friends” slander Evie’s looks and countenance and make a bet that Max can’t make Evie the darling of a ball since he claims to “know an attractive woman when he sees one”. Thus begins our fairytale story with Max serving as both Fairy Godmother (paying for Evie’s stay at the Savoy and a new wardrobe), and love interest.

This is a very sweet retelling and I loved Max from the beginning, commenting at Rory and playing royalty to a T. For a character that typically is so boring in the fairytale, Max’s personality is anything but. My favorite parts of him were when he first starts feeling attracted to Evie and his internal dialogue made me laugh so much. It’s these early glimpses that lead the reader to believe that he is truly falling for Evie. Evie is no slouch either, and she miraculously takes on challenge after challenge that becoming belle of the ball throws at her.

I was so glad to see that Evie is let in on the bet. I don’t think I could have kept reading if the third act breakup was her “discovering” she’s been duped. I liked that she was a take-control type of girl that was willing to open herself up to the advantages that being a peer entailed without changing her heart. The final scene lasted a bit too long in my opinion, but fans of a grand gesture will be pleased. I would’ve liked to see more of a relationship between Anna and Evie. Her character felt secondary to the story for someone who was supposedly Evie’s best friend. Perhaps we’ll see more of her in the next book? This was my first Laura Lee Gurkhe and I will definitely read more from her. I received this advanced copy from Forever and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A big thank you to NetGalley, Forever, and Grand Central Publishing for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Overall:⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.5 stars rounded up)
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

This book is the historical romance version of She’s All That. I absolutely love a good 90’s romcom and this was a great introduction to historical romance for me. The Duke is like Freddie Prince Jr’s character and Evie is the "ugly duckling" except this time, she’s in on the bet.

Tropes:
Forced Proximity
Slow Burn
Opposites Attract
Cinderella Retelling

Overall, I really enjoyed this storyline! Dual POV stories are not my typical jam, but this was done pretty well. My biggest annoyance was that it took the Duke constantly telling her how awesome she was for her to finally believe it. I just wished she could have figured it out on her own.

If you love the movie She’s All That and the story of Cinderella, you will love this book!

You have Evie, the serious, spinster bookshop owner. Who is fairly comfortable in her predictable life. Then you have Max, a Duke who is looking for the perfect duchess.

After Max is asked by his cousin for a favor, he is thrust into Evie’s bookshop. At her bookshop Evie and Max have a not so friendly first meeting.

When some youthful boys who know Max and Evie make some off hand comments, Max bets the boys he can have Evie’s dance card full at his ball. After telling his plan to Evie, she agrees and begins to enjoy a whirl wind luxury vacation all financed by Max.

Soon feelings develop and Max and Evie have to decide what they each want and need out of life and a spouse.

I loved that Evie was pushed out of her comfort zone. Sometimes we need that push to grow to our full potential.

I love that Max fell first and he saw how beautiful Evie was before her glow up. I related so much to Evie, as I’m too a spinster ;) The story flowed so well and the side characters were hilarious! The book was wonderful and I can’t wait to read more by Laura Lee Guhrke!

Thank you Netgalley and Forever Grand Central Publishing for this ARC.

Max and Evie's story is wonderful!! I loved the quick, witty banter between the two. Both are very likeable characters that capture your heart immediately! Any Cinderella type story really grabs me, I love those type of stories.
Since this is the first in this series I will be waiting impatiently waiting for the next in the series. The only thing this one is missing is the epilogue, I look forward to reading about what their lives are like in the near future. Well maybe they will appear in the next editions to the series for brief updates. I am curious to see where the series goes next.
I give 5 stars and recommend highly. Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and to Net Galley for the free ARC, I am leaving my honest review voluntarily in return.

4/5 stars
2/5 spice

A quick read that integrates friends to lovers with a bit of Cinderella vibes. Fun to read the banter between Evie and Max and see their friendship blossom.

Tropes:
Friends to lovers
Cinderella/Ugly Duckling vibes
Forced proximity
Duke & Bookshop owner
Class differences
Slow burn
Tension & banter
Victorian era
Multiple POV

Evie was very relatable and genuine in her fears. I was very pleased how she was able to conquer her fears and in the end choose to embrace the challenges life was throwing her way. She was independent, witty, and out spoken. I loved her interactions with the Duke. And Max, the Duke, was kept on his toes and never put her in her place, despite being well above her station. Max proved to be Evie's champion without over stepping. The banter was great and the sexual tension that built up was nice too.

Overall, a great Victorian era romance that focused more on the two main characters and their budding romance. I was hoping for an epilogue but it still ended at a good part that was sweet. Highly recommend for fans of Cinderella or Ugly Duckling retellings or sweet friends to lovers.

Thank you to Forever/Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and offered freely.

Trigger/Content warnings:
Bullying (shared as a memory), classism, sexism (relative to that time period), death of a spouse (shared as a memory), sexual content

I loved, loved, loved Max And Evie’s story. I loved it so much I couldn’t put this book down. Then again, I’m a fan of Laura Lee Guhrke. I haven’t read all her books but the ones I’ve read I’ve always enjoyed very much, and this wasn’t the exception either. It do not disappoint.

Bookshop Cinderella is basically She’s All That, but Freddie Prince is a Duke and Rachel Leigh Cook is a bookshop owner.

Max, the Duke of Westbourne, idly makes a bet with some acquaintances that he can make bookshop owner Evie Harlow into a diamond of the season. At first, Evie is not remotely interested, but after a flood in her shop, she has to move out for a few weeks and she decides to take Mac up on his offer.

This is a really sweet romance. Max thinks he can just waltz into Evie’s life, transform her into a society lady, and marry her off, but Evie is much more complicated than he expected. Max has a lot of baggage because his first marriage, a love match, ended badly, and he’s only looking for a match of convenience with an ideal duchess.

Although Evie is reluctant at first, she soon finds that she enjoys her new lifestyle a lot, and it makes her wonder if she really wants the quiet spinster life that she’s planned out.

Max and Evie have great chemistry, and you’ll really like this one if you like your historical romance with a side of rom com.

I am a sucker for stories about bookshop owners who are women so this book was right up my alley! Evie is a shy, quiet young woman, independent and smart, who runs a small bookshop - making her not quite the typical Victorian lady. Max Shaw is a roguish Duke who takes a bet to turn shy Evie into the belle of the ball, but begins falling for her.

Really fun light romance with colorful settings and interesting characters. Enjoyed this one very much!

3.5 STARS
This is a fun read.
The characters are great!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really loved that book! I’m a sucker for Cinderella related stuff and I absolutely love She’s All That (even watched He's All That, you can't stop me!). In the book, you get all the vibes from those stories but it is such a nice take on it, so well done, I was really looking forward to see what would happen next. I loved that Evie knew about the whole bet and even though she had no plan to do it at first, she then found herself wanting to win for real and she slowly took confidence in herself.

Max was absolutely perfect in my opinion, the winking, the banter, the way he was always honest and trying his best to help how he could. Ugh.... I looooove him. I also quite enjoyed knowing more about the past of our characters and understanding how it could affect their reactions/decisions, it was easy to understand them. Max and his cousin’s relationship was so cute and it made me love Delia right away (hoping she gets her own book!!). The character growth was quite satisfying and the interactions between our MC were so damn adorable. All this tension between them... oh how I loved it! Max’s inner thoughts were just the best, I loved that he was always battling how he felt and all, until he just couldn’t. I was dying with the dance lessons, IT WAS THE BEST THING EVER.

Anyways, I was smiling a lot reading this book and it was just so easy to get into it. The ending really flew by and next thing I knew the book was over. For some reason that I cannot explain, the ending gave me such Persuasion vibes and it was awesome.Gonna be honest, I kinda want a movie with that book now!

To sum up, it was a light, sweet, fun read and I definitely recommend your read it if you enjoy historical romance!

Thanks to the author, Forever and NetGalley for my copy. All opinions are my own.

This was a deliciously quaint, cute, and fun read! I absolutely loved Evie. I thought this was a unique twist in the typical bet trope and found Max & Evie’s story to be fun and easy to read. It gave me She’s All That vibes (which is one of my all time favorite movies) and I was absolutely here for it! Plus, it’s set in a bookshop! Super cute.

A fun Regency take on She's All That, but one where the heroine knows she is being made over. I liked this book a lot. I really liked watching FMC Evie come into her own. I liked reading about Max's attitude about Evie a bit less. He was fixated on the class differences for longer than I would have liked, though his backstory gives insight into why. There is great chemistry between them, though, and watching Max overcome his history and grow as a person was lovely.

One negative for me was the somewhat superfluous villain character and the random jump into the villain's POV. Secondary character Delia, however, was a huge plus. She is so much her own woman and accepting of Evie as Evie is. I am interested to see if she ends up with a story of her own, though I also love the notion of her as a swinging single forever in charge of her own destiny.

A solid 4 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a complimentary ARC of this book. The opinions herein are my own.

A Victoria era novel set in 1896 London. Named for Cinderella but it is really a twist on Pygmalion or the movie She’s All That. Miss Evie Harlow inherited her fathers bookshop in London. The shop isn’t very successful but she takes on other jobs like typing manuscripts and doing research to keep things a float. She is moving to the age of spinster and vows only to marry for love as she can take care of herself.

Maximillian Shaw, Duke of Westbourne comes into her shop to pick up some research for his favorite cousin. After a couple of his friends taught about her being beneath their class he makes a bet with them. He will make her the belle of the season. Of course she calls the offer ridiculous until a flood at the shop gives her reason to accept. During the make over they spend time together which leads to attraction. The author adds in an extra twist by Max previously marrying while young to a woman who wasn’t prepared to be a duchess. The marriage only lasted two years. So now he isn’t looking for love but for someone suitable and ready for the responsibilities of his position.

This is an entertaining story with two strong leads. I like that she is aware of the bet so she isn’t being deceived. It takes almost 30 percent of the book to get the story set up and I wish there were more interactions like him teaching her to dance. The bet last for almost two months but there are time jumps hoping from one event to another. But I was happy for the ending and would have loved an epilogue. Maybe they will appear in the next novel in the series so I can know how they are doing.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for an ARC and I am leaving a voluntary review.