To Sir, with Love

4 Stars! This was a super cute book! I really enjoyed reading it and loved the HEA ending! Gracie & Sebastian are very lovable characters. The book is an enemies to lovers story. It can also be read as a standalone. Definitely recommended, especially if you’re a sucker for a fairytale-esk romance books! You really can NOT go wrong with a Lauren Layne book. *I received this book at no charge from NetGalley & I voluntarily left this review.*

3.75 stars--TO SIR, WITH LOVE by Lauren Layne, is a contemporary, adult, stand alone romance story focusing on businessman Sebastian Andrews, and Gracie Cooper. Told from first person perspective (Gracie Cooper) TO SIR, WITH LOVE follows the enemies to lovers relationship between businessman Sebastian Andrews, and Gracie Cooper. Four years earlier Gracie Cooper, along with her brother Caleb, and sister Lily lost their only surviving parent to cancer. When neither of her siblings was willing to take over the family owned wine and champagne shop, Gracie gave up her dream of becoming a professional artist to run the struggling shop in Midtown Manhattan but an offer to buy out the business in preparation for a Midtown highrise found our heroine battling between head and heart knowing that to give in means to give up her father’s dream, a dream that she no longer shared. Enter businessman Sebastian Andrews. What ensues is the acrimonious relationship between Gracie and Sebastian, and the potential fall-out when an on-line relationship reveals the truth about the mystery man she refers to as ‘sir’. Gracie Cooper met a man on-line who accidentally signed up for a blind dating app but our heroine is struggling with the reality of the ‘imaginary’ relationship to a man with whom she is falling in love, a man she has never met and most likely will not. Meanwhile our hero, Sebastian Andrews has had no luck convincing Gracie to sell her shop, a shop that is currently standing in the way of Manhattan renewal but Sebastian is slowly falling for the determined thirty-three year old woman, a woman who had found herself falling for a man who may not be real. The relationship between Gracie and Sebastian is tempestuous at best. Sebastian’s company wants to buy the family owned store, inevitably putting Gracie out of business but a Gracie struggles to keep the business afloat, Sebastian begins to work behind the scenes in an effort to protect the woman with whom he is falling in love. There are no $ex scenes or physical interactions between our leading couple. We are introduced to Gracie’s brother Caleb, and their sister Lily, and her husband Alex; Gracie’s friends Rachel,and Keva; employees Josh and May, as well as Sebastian’s friend Genevieve, and his parents Vanessa and Gary Andrews. TO SIR, WITH LOVE is an updated reimagining of ‘You’ve Got Mail™’. Neither Gracie nor Sebastian is aware that they have fallen for one another through an anonymous dating app but the reality is their situation begins to slowly blend into their everyday life. The premise is heart warming and pleasant; the romance is sweet but limited to their growing attraction to one another; the characters are stubborn, realistic and inspiring.

When I saw that this book had a You Got Mail feel, it was an instant read for me! And I was not at all disappointed. Gracie has been working at Bubbles as long as she can remember. Now that her parents are gone, she's the one keeping it afloat. Barely. But with a fierce sense of family pride, she doesn't want to just cut her losses and walk away. She does everything she can to save the shop. Irritatingly enough, Sebastian Andrews, her landlord, is trying to buy out the last five years of her lease. With work pressures mounting, Gracie's only solace is found in Sir, a man she's been speaking to on an internet dating site that has no pictures. You fall in love with the person before seeing what they look like. While slowly finding out Sebastian isn't as bad as she thought, she notices quite a few things him and Sir have in common. Fun, sweet, and romantic in all the right places, To Sir, With Love is the PERFECT rom-com you need for the summer! I instantly fell in love with all the characters, and Gracie and Sebastian had actual chemistry that sizzled on paper. Add to that the sweet story woven around them falling in love, and you have a perfect five star (or five hearts in this case) love story. ❤❤❤❤❤ Thank you to Lauren Layne, NetGalley, and Gallery Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.