I first read this book last year. I was enamored of the cover and intrigued with the blurb, so I bought it. The paperback came home a few days before the release day and I was so excited that started to read right away. The story didn't disappoint me, so when I hear the author was republishing the book, adding words and stuff I knew I had to read it.

The narrative rhythm was insane. Chapter after chapter you know more about Emi's past, but also live with her every struggle before her Hanna's wedding. Once you start reading you can stop. The descriptive level was wonderful, how the author pictured the places, the people and the situations make you feel as if you are there with the characters.

I really enjoyed Emi's friendship with Lily and Hannah, her relationship with her twin brother Evan and how she reacted when she saw Jack for the very first time after a long time. I loved how the feelings she had deep inside her fought to reach the surface again. And Jack... oh my! That man is something else.

Side note: I loved Liam too, and how he connected with Emi. His rol in the story was pretty cool and I would love to read more about him in the future (pretty please!)

What I didn't like, was Greta (THAT BITCH!!). In fact, I hate that girl. She's bad! like really really bad person. She's self centered, selfish, envious... she's all that you don't need near you. But she's part of the wedding party, so poor Emi has to deal with her. This evil witch has something that was Emi's once, and I'm not talking about a hair band.

Also she will have you wanting to commit murder.

As wedding's day get closer, things start to get weird but fun. There's a drunk Emi having bad luck, some "beauty accidents" and strong revelations. Get ready for the ride!

The Lucky Dress is a fun, sweet and romantic story that celebrates friendship and love, but also has many emotional moments, intrigue and secrets to be discovered. If you're looking for a new book, try this one and thank me later ;)

A fun book to read. I loved the story. It jumps back and forth between today and a year in the past. I think it's a great beach read or when you want a rom-com. I liked it a lot.

Unfortunately, overall it was just ok for me.

The story bounces between present day Emi getting ready for her twin brother's wedding and a year ago chronicling the ending of her relationship only two days before her wedding and the course of their time together. I liked the back and forth, it flowed well.

A year after the breakup Emi has to see her ex-fiance Jack at her brother's wedding since he is marrying Jack's sister.

I was on and off happy with Emi. At times I wanted her to speak up more and not be a doormat but the next minute she's laying it all out there- definitely not doormat style.

The story had a lot of funny moments and many interesting twists and turns but I was soon disappointed at the end when it sorta went off the rails for me. Nothing made sense and it turned too cheesy to take.

I really liked the story until the end which changed my overall feeling about the book. I wasn't left with that "feel good" feeling that I guess I was supposed to have.

Emi and her fiance parted just days before their wedding due to his infidelity. She now has to face him again for the first time at her brother's wedding celebrations. Will she allow him to explain, will they get back together? An ideal book for holiday reading, the reader is kept guessing until the very end. Will the new friendship between Emi and Liam develop into a stronger relationship to replace the other?

*Book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Emi Harrison had her heart broken, when she found her fiancé with another woman. She doesn’t speak to him for a whole year, but then she has to, because her brother Evan is getting married to Jack’s sister Hannah. Jack has a new girlfriend… Well Emi of course doesn’t go to the wedding alone, where a lot of things happen. Stuff goes wrong and somehow everyone is kind of involved.

The story was about Emi and Jack. Other characters were constantly involved in their business, which really disturbed me. The storyline was always interrupted by one of them in my eyes. It’s fine to include all these characters, but it was too much for me. Lily and also Jack’s mum brought in a lot of energy and passion, which was great though.

The narration alternates between present day and past, so we get to know a lot about Emi’s and Jack’s relationship. We find out how they met, how he proposed and lots of details about the wedding preparations. This for me made it clear: these two belong together.

It seemed a bit strange for me that Jack never got a change to explain himself and that they just don’t speak for a whole year. Other things in the storyline weren’t that authentic for me either. It’s a shame, because I really like the idea behind the book and I think Aimee Brown’s writing is very passionate, funny and gripping. There is definitely a lot of drama going on, but it made the story very exciting.

The ending is very adorable, loved it!

What a wonderful book! 5 stars out of 5 for me! And I can tell you that I am quite surprise to give a book which wedding is the main subject a 5 stars! Usually I find this subject quite repetitive and therefore quite boring, but this time it was everything but boring! To be honest I didn't really like the 2 first chapters and I almost gave up on this book and read the next one on my TBR pile and for some reason I decided to preserve and from chapter 3 to end of the end I was totally hooked and turned the pages like a crazy woman. I really loved everything about this book, the characters, the story, the suspense, and the way the chapters are built. Aimee Brown is a genius and I really can't wait to read her next novel (hopefully she will release one soon!).

Great summer read.
Lovely love story which every women what ever her age will really enjoy. I think that every women can empathise with Emi and has experienced in their lifetime some of the emotions and turmoils that she has gone through before getting their perfect Mr Right.

It's a good thing that Emi didn't get married because she was NOT mature enough to get married. But then, neither was her fiance'. As far as explanations go, his was pretty feeble and I take it as a sign that he still isn't ready for marriage.

The flashbacks were a distraction to the book. Personally, I think it's hard to write flashback scenes. I see a few authors who do it where it really adds to a story, but this isn't one of those.

Truly a classic, fun rom-com type of romance. This author is great at putting an unlikely couple together and having them progress through many trials, tribulations, hilarity and misunderstanding before the very happy ending. Great story, great to recommend.

The Lucky Dress is a rompy romantic comedy reminiscent of Meg Ryan movies- light, witty, and full of hijinks. Emi had her heart broken a year ago when she caught her fiancé in a very compromising position. She's steered clear of Jack all of this time and has set up a new life for herself. Now, she must return home for her brothers wedding. It just so happens, her brother is marrying Jacks sister so the time has come for Emi to face the man that broke her heart. She returns for the wedding and what ensues are hilarious mishaps, hurtful truths, and realities she has avoided for the last year. Truthfully, I didn't like Jack as a character all that much and really wanted the character of Liam to be fleshed out more as he really stood out in this book. Overall, this was a light witty read that made for a fun escape. For me, The Lucky Dress was ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars (rounded up from 3.5). Thank you @ariafiction for this advance reader in exchange for my honest review.

Review of The Lucky Dress. Written by Aimee Brown. Published by Aria Fiction 2018.
I love this story so much – I had to come straight out and say it. Firstly, its not everyday that you meet a heroine with whom you share the unfortunate claim to fame of a romantic entanglement with a frisbee. I remember the scene well. In the early days of our engagement, my fiancé and I were in the local park at my university. It was a lovely sunny afternoon and the lure of the green space and all that free time was just too strong. I am not great at frisbee- I can’t do all those fancy tricks – so we were standing not too far away and doing a basic back and forth manoeuvre. Matt may have tried a swing around the back and under the arm or two, but I was keeping with the tried and tested and hoping my aim and strength wouldn’t let me down. We were going steady and the frisbee began its trajectory back to me – only this time we watched, as if in slow motion, as the frisbee headed for the front of my leg just about ankle height. It dropped lightly to the floor after gently pinging me on the skin. Before our very eyes we noticed a bruise begin and flourish, spreading out it’s inky presence as we both stared in disbelief – neither one of us sure if the other was seeing what we were seeing – and weirdly it didn’t hurt. Who knew frisbee could be so dangerous? I still won’t look a frisbee in the eye and I laughed out loud at the hapless hazarding’s of the frisbee in this story.
Emi is the cutest and kindest heroine you could ever wish to meet. Her very special quiver of friends and family – Jack, Evan, Lily, Liam, Josh, Hannah, Amelia and Maggie all endeavour to show us how lovely she really is. As a mother of twins, I loved that Emi and Evan were so supportive of each other, and had such a close and special bond, each knowing every detail (sometimes unwanted ones) of the other’s narrative thread. There is so much to be said for those people in your life who know and accept you, just as you are – those who know the beginning and the middle of your story and are prepared to stick around to watch you through the next chapter. The writer has a genius for storytelling and the back to front, mirror imaging of Emi and Jack’s life together is imaginative and quirky. It enlightens us and draws us in to this most romantic of tales. Real life is messy and complicated, looking ahead all is full of uncertainty and at times it really does feel as if it is better not to know. But, when we look back over our path, the journey of our life, we can see who carried us at the most difficult times, and who has thrown the most glitter and joy over us in times of celebration. It is when we review the thick with the thin we can see the true colours of the rainbow of friendship, trust and love.
The author of this beautiful story makes sure that it has its fair share of faith, trust and pixie dust. The magical muse- Emi’s special dress had me wishing that I had one of my own. I was reminded of family friends who as a couple sent each other the very same St. Valentine’s card each year, with an updated additional message to their beloved. It was a beautiful and romantic memento of each passing moment, even more dear the year one of them was no longer here, no longer able to sign it.
The writer has put this story together so thoughtfully, creating each word, and stitching each scene, as one might have made the lucky dress itself. Gentle, yet truthful, funny yet poignant this book will have you reaching for the tissues more than once. The story helps us to develop a memory and a ‘forgettery’ – how moving it was to be asked “How can your heart break over the same thing so many times?” The story accepts that sometimes we overthink and are stubborn but that we also have a capacity for self-knowledge and love. It’s like “Water for Chocolate” meets “Back to the Future” with love, the ‘tale as old as time’, wafting through the clock of the heart and breathing life into each new season for all of us. You will just want to keep reading it over and over again.


Coffee Cup Conversations and Teapot Talking Points:
If you and I dear reader were sitting down together today, in Liam’s bar or Emi’s coffee shop, having both read the book, here are a few of the points we could mull over together.
Do you have a special or lucky outfit?
Some people have that winning tie, or lucky pants that they wear to an interview or on a date. Like Emi, I wear certain pieces of jewellery to symbolise thoughts of creativity and self-belief, but I have never had a lucky item of clothing. It has got me thinking – maybe I will have to look out for one. I do remember a boy in my class at senior school crying when he was moved seat by the teacher and lamenting that he didn’t want to move as he always got a B+ grade in that chair!
Who is your oldest friend?
Some people are lucky enough to have cultivated a friendship from as far back as primary school, others keep their university friends really close to them even into adult life. I have friends that I have worked with many moons ago who I know that I still count on and my husband has been my best friend for 29 years now. Friendship is not an easy kettle of fish or a given – it does take work and some friendships are just for a season. The whole process is never particularly easy, but we can also overcomplicate it. Maybe this can be a year of making friends.
What are you grateful for?
One of the loveliest takeaways from this story, is the tale of appreciation for those people in our lives who seek the best for us, for thoughtfulness, for kindness and for honest love. Who or what are you grateful for today or what were your grateful moments from the past? There is so much research into the benefit of keeping a gratitude journal and listing three things that you are grateful for at the end of each day. It really boosts personal happiness. When my big kids were young we used to go around the dinner table at tea time and all share our ‘what went well.’ It was a really cool way to find out about our days and to focus on the positive, when the brain’s default always seems to be to focus on the negative and the lack, rather than the abundance and the hope.

The Lucky Dress ( titled Little Gray Dress in the US) is a debut novel by Aimee Brown. What would you do if your ex was a wedding guest?

Emi and Jack were engaged to be married and then split after 5 years. She moves away to try and forget him. A year later, she finds herself planning her brother's wedding. And he's there with Greta, his girlfriend.

The plot is simple but so realistically and well executed in writing that flows like a dream. The title and beautiful cover attracted me to the book and I HAD to request it. For me, the book is timely as I'm planning my own wedding.

Emi is such an open, honest funny and realistic character. The themes of wedding jitters, clothing issues and relationships are explored so deeply that I really cared for the characters and was gripped from the first page. The book chronicles Eni and Jack's relationship from present to past and the chapters are told in alternating points of view which really got me inside the mind of characters and is one of my favourite ways to structure a novel.

I really liked Lily and Hannah too. There's so much anticipation, love realism and a true "real-life" feel to this that it is difficult to believe it's fiction.

The book is utterly addictive. Can Emi truly move on and forget Jack, or will past memories prove too powerful?

Thanks to Aimee Brown and Aria for my ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review as well as a blog tour slot for this unforgettable book. I'd love to read more of Aimee Brown's books in the future. 5 incredible stars is not enough for this book. I was blown away by it!

I'm conflicted with how I feel about this book. On one hand, I really liked the main character, Emi, and how she held her ground when faced with some questionable behavior by her then-fiance, Jack. I liked that she moved on (and away) and created a life for herself, even though she still felt the aftershocks of her broken relationship. When she was forced to return to Portland for her brother's wedding to Jack's sister, I felt her hesitation, nervousness, and awkwardness about the situation. And here's where it gets tricky because, on the other hand, I wanted her to stay strong and stick to her guns. And I guess maybe she did, in her own way. It just wasn't the way I wanted her story to go.

The story of Jack and Emi is fed to us in small doses with several flashback scenes that I suppose are intended to show his devotion and love for her despite the shitshow that is happening in the present time. I found them to be a bit ineffective and boring in that they didn't change my feeling toward Jack. He didn't stand out for me and I think the "situations" he found himself in weren't completely blameless on his part.

Needless to say, I didn't like him. You know who I did like? Liam. Liam should have been given a proper chance instead of just a quick set-up for a possible love triangle situation and an even quicker write-off. Oh well.

You know what else I didn't like? The obtrusive involvement of Jack's mother in the whole thing. She takes meddling to a whole new level and I did not find it endearing in the slightest.

But it wasn't all bad. There were many comedic moments and the overall story wasn't totally awful, despite the ending...that I may have just skipped over. If you're a big fan of chick-lit with the HEA then this one is for you.

3.5 stars. This was a cute, fun story. I would have liked it about a thousand times more if the author hadn't had repeated flashbacks to beginning, middle and end of the relationship. From the first few flashbacks I learned everything I needed to - the hero and heroine had been madly in love and it all went wrong. It was obviously a nod to "The Last Five Years" (even taking place over a five-year period) where the love story is revealed in reverse chronological order alongside the present day love story, which takes place in regular time. I liked the characters and the story, but that storytelling device (the constant flashbacks) really detracted from the book overall. To the point that I stopped reading the flashbacks because they weren't at all relevant to the current story. I also found his grand gesture in the end not only over the top, but not really suitable given where their relationship stood. Which was nowhere, because they were in dire need of a conversation. Nor do I understand how the hero's "it wasn't my fault" protesting about suspected cheating was excusable. Even if he didn't initiate, the heroine did find him with a naked chick straddling him, and there's not really an explanation for that that would satisfy me. There's also a bit of a triangle in this story, which I typically don't enjoy.

Cute chick lit, but not really enough to make me seek this author's other books out.

A delectable and fun read that had me hooked from start to finish.

The Lucky Dress is funny, flirty, romantic - everything you need!!

A great beach read and thoroughly enjoyable.

This was a cute, refreshing book that I was sucked into by the second chapter. There were definitely some parts where I was like really? But overall I really liked the book. I was torn between Jack and Liam in the middle of the book. At some points I wanted her to reconcile with jack and other points I wanted her to try it out with Liam. The beginning sets the tone for the book ad a will they or won't they type of tale. I am a sucker for romance so I really liked the ending of course. I also liked the way the book was written, it was very engaging.

This book made me root for true romance. I loved the background on the characters and their true love story. The Lucky Dress is well written has a good plot and great cast of characters. The author is new to me and I enjoyed her writing. I highly recommend this books. My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

The Lucky Dress is the movie The Wedding Date meets 27 Dresses. There were so many laugh out loud moments with Emi, the main character who is getting over her ex-fiance, and of course their paths cross in the MOST inconvenient of ways! I loved every bit of The Lucky Dress. The perfect read for anyone who loves a good wedding book/chick lit. Whenever Aimee Brown comes out with her next title, you better believe I will be right there waiting to read it! Fantastic job!

OMG!!! I adored this book. It is absolutely perfect. Aimee Brown is magical. I loved how she told the past and present moments of Emi and Jack. As I learned their past, my heart was crushed from the position Emi was in. I literally felt every emotion Emi was going through. This is cliche, but this is the perfect summer book. It has the most romantic HEA I think I’ve ever read. At least I think the ending was perfect for Emi and Jack’s story. And what can you say about Liam? He was a perfect character. All of Emi and Jack’s family and friends were great! Five stars doesn’t touch the surface for this book. There’s not enough stars to give

This chick lit read was perfect for a summer day! The characters were enjoyable and well developed and the plot was fun and flowed well.