Author: Louisa Leaman
Narrator: Teri Schnaubelt
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: May 2020
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Buy the Book: Amazon | BN | Audible
Description: A heartwarming story about the power of the perfect dress—and the perfect love—to change your life.
Francesca Delaney has a knack for matching a bride-to-be with the wedding dress of her dreams. Her shop, The Whispering Dress, is no ordinary bridal boutique. Every gown is vintage, and the wedding dresses seem to share their stories with Francesca, pointing to which woman needs them next.
Fran credits her success to two rules: never covet a dress and never sell a dress that led to a doomed marriage. But then she finds a beautiful 1950s couture floor-length gown, and her obsession threatens win out. The owner, however, would quite like the dark past of the dress to remain hidden forever...
My Thoughts: I quite enjoyed the premise of this story about a woman who has the unusual talent of matching vintage wedding gowns with the perfect bride. Francesca appears to have the ability to communicate with the garment, learn its story, its history and from that point her customers to the gown that seem to be made specifically for them.
When Francesca finds a dress at a house clearance, she is shocked that the patriarch of the family wants nothing to do with the dress, has no interest in passing the dress on to a family member who will marry next and appears hostile about learning of the dress’s story even though his deceased mother was the last bride to wear it. I found it intriguing that where Rafael appears repulsed by the dress, Francesa appears to be obsessed by it.
I liked Francesca immediately and was eager to get to know her and learn her background and the reasons behind her love of vintage wedding gowns. I was taken aback by Rafael’s abrupt manner, bordering on rude and socially unacceptable. I also enjoyed getting to know him and learning the reasons behind his icy shell.
The pacing of the story was fantastic. Observing the process Francesca employs to match a gown with the bride and some of the reactions the brides had about the gown chosen for them was fun to see as well as the change that comes over them once they try the gown on.
I highly recommend this heartwarming story to fans of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. Readers who are in the market for a wedding gown may find this book useful to point them to the perfect dress, be it vintage or contemporary.
Thank you to the publisher, Sourcebooks Landmark, who provided an advance reader copy of this book via NetGalley.
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