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Talk Bookish To Me by Kate Bromley
Hot Copy by Ruby Barrett
The Things We Leave Unfinished by Rebecca Yarros
My Sweet Enemy by Jenny Hartwell
Twice Shy by Sarah Hogle
Flashpoint by Skye Jordan
To Sir, with Love by Lauren Layne
Cold Cruel Kiss by Toni Anderson
Loverboy by Sarina Bowen
Shipped by Angie Hockman

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    Advanced Reader CopyChick LitContemporary RomanceNetgalleyReviews

    To Sir, with Love by Lauren Layne

    written by Dísir
    To Sir, with Love by Lauren LayneTo Sir, with Love by Lauren Layne
    Published by Gallery Books on 29th June 2021
    Pages: 288
    Buy on Amazon
    Goodreads
    three-half-stars

    Perpetually cheerful and eager to please, Gracie Cooper strives to make the best out of every situation. So when her father dies just five 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 to turn the store into a parking garage. 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.

    ‘To Sir, with Love’ is a nostalgic dose of an all-time favourite rom-com of mine – Nora Ephron’s You’ve Got Mail – done with the storytelling bones of the movie, set in a somewhat similar context and written with the same light-hearted sprinkling of fairy dust and wistful cuteness as you’d come to expect of Lauren Layne.

    The uplifting sweetness that comes out of ‘You’ve Got Mail’ and the incarnations prior Ephron’s version is captured perfectly: the fictionalised, romantic version of New York and the specific population of indie shop owners that Layne writes about, the closeness of family and their banter, the intruder who eventually becomes the object of kismet in Gracie Cooper’s life, even as she struggles juggling a virtual stranger and a man who should be her enemy. With the added Disneyed-sheen of fairytales and Gracie’s love of the feel-good cartoon characters that weave a common thread of turning her fantasies to bleed into reality, how is it then not possible to read this with your feet (mostly) a few inches above the ground the whole time?

    As a story told only in Gracie’s POV however, we get her longing and yearning, her general optimism about life in general, but it does dim the connection between her and Sebastian somewhat when the weight of the latter’s affection and regard becomes a desperate guessing game of inference as you try to read between the lines. Consequently, the ending is one that’s a foregone (and happy-ever-after) conclusion, but one that isn’t quite the sort that leaves you with the sated fullness of a satisfying book binge.

    ‘To Sir, With Love’ then, is perhaps Layne’s personal and affectionate homage to unforgettable rom-coms past; to those who align themselves with this particular romantic vision, then Gracie’s and Sebastian’s journey is one that you’ll already know well and will want to read over and over again.

    three-half-stars
    To Sir, with Love by Lauren Layne was last modified: January 30th, 2021 by Dísir
    30th January 2021 0 comment
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  • Advanced Reader CopyChick LitContemporary RomanceNetgalleyReviews

    Shipped by Angie Hockman

    by Dísir 16th January 2021

    Shipped by Angie Hockman Published by Gallery Books on 19th January 2021 Pages: 336 Buy on Amazon Goodreads Between taking night classes for her MBA and her demanding day job…

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  • Chick LitContemporary RomanceNew AdultReviews

    The Honey-Don’t List by Christina Lauren

    by Dísir 15th April 2020

    The Honey-Don’t List by Christina Lauren Published by Gallery Books on 24th March 2020 Pages: 320 Buy on Amazon Goodreads Carey Douglas has worked for home remodeling and design gurus…

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  • Action/AdventureContemporary RomanceMilitary/ParamilitaryReviewsRomantic Suspense

    Total Control by Laura Griffin

    by Dísir 4th September 2019

    Total Control by Laura Griffin Series: Alpha Crew, #4 Published by Gallery Books on 2nd September 2019 Pages: 183 Buy on Amazon Goodreads Navy SEAL Jake Heath has his eyes…

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  • Advanced Reader CopyChick LitContemporary RomanceNetgalleyReviews

    On the Corner of Love and Hate by Nina Bocci

    by Dísir 30th June 2019

    On the Corner of Love and Hate by Nina Bocci Series: Hopeless Romantics, #1 Published by Gallery Books on 20th August 2019 Pages: 336 Buy on Amazon Goodreads What’s a…

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  • Advanced Reader CopyContemporary RomanceMystery/CrimeNetgalleyReviewsRomantic Suspense

    Her Deadly Secrets by Laura Griffin

    by Dísir 11th May 2019

    Her Deadly Secrets by Laura Griffin Series: Wolfe Security, #2 Published by Gallery Books on 2nd July 2019 Pages: 368 Buy on Amazon Goodreads Private Investigator Kira Vance spends her…

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  • Advanced Reader CopyChick LitContemporary RomanceNetgalleyNew AdultReviews

    The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

    by Dísir 25th February 2019

    The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren Published by Gallery Books on 14th May 2019 Pages: 416 Buy on Amazon Goodreads Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything.…

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