This was a nice easy read.
Fran runs a vintage clothes shop specialising in wedding dresses. These she finds from private buyers, house clearances, and charity shops.
When she finds a dress , she likes to discover it’s history and that of the bride who wore it, to restore it and match it to a modern day bride. A bespoke service which is not available in modern day shops.
A 1950s couture dress found in a house clearance, enables Fran and Rafael to meet. It was his mother’s/ grandmothers dress with a horrible story behind it. He wants nothing to do with it, but Fran falls in love with it! The book covers their story.
The book was enjoyable, the descriptions of the dresses were excellent, the characters were quirky. The storyline was a little unbelievable at times, but it was a story!
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House uk for enabling me to read this book in exchange for an honest review

This is Louisa Leaman's debut novel inspired by a V&A exhibition of wedding dresses from yesteryear. It is a celebration of vintage wedding dresses, depicted through the slightly other worldly and fey Francesca Delaney, with her atmospheric vintage shop, 'The Whispering Dress', that she runs with her assistant and close friend, the gay Mick Haigh. She offers a bespoke vintage wedding dress service to her clients, the complete antithesis of the high street wedding dress stores. She scours far and wide for the right wedding dress, including going to house clearances, going to considerable efforts to discover its history and the bride who wore it. She has a gift in being able to tune into the dress as it whispers to her about its past. She is convinced that a dress with good vibes carries its past, bestowing its energies on a future bride, and she can intuit which dress will work its magic on a particular client, even when the client is a bridezilla with preconceived ideas of what she wants.

While Fran can work wonders for brides to be, her romantic life has been an arid desert for the past 10 years, when she was left broken and emotionally distraught, let down by the man she loved. Tipped off about a house clearing in Epping Forest, Fran goes to Dryad's Hall, the family home of the cold, distant and unfeeling Rafael Colt. He expresses absolute disinterest when she unearths a one in million wedding dress worn by his mother, Alessandra, telling her to take it. Fran feels an instant affinity to the rare find, a dress, made by The House of Garrett-Alexia, famous for exquisite ballgowns made in the 1950s. She is desperate to know it's past and the bride, Alessandra, but Rafe is unwilling to reveal anything about his dysfunctional family, and has no compunction about rudely shutting down Fran. He runs the well known Colt Foundation, raising huge funds to distribute to charities. Despite apparently having little in common, Fran and Colt are drawn to each other, but are the emotional burdens they carry too much for any relationship to work out?

This is an immensely enjoyable and entertaining read, Leaman hits all the right notes in this story of wedding dresses and brides from the past, with Fran matching them to the right bride in the present. We are given a riveting picture of Fran in action as she opens the eyes of her brides to be to their perfect dress, even when it's not what her clients envisaged. Fran's heart and dreams may be in the world of brides and dressing them, but her personal life has precluded the possibility of being a bride herself. When she meets Rafe, Fran faces an obstacle strewn path in her search for personal happiness that will capture the heart of the reader. An absolutely lovely read. Many thanks to Random House Transworld for an ARC.

A thoroughly enjoyable read. I loved the descriptions of dresses from times past. Good characters. Loved it.

Very well written romance between Fran, a wedding dress specialist and Rafael, a serious business man. They both have fled from the past, hurts well buried. Can they get past them and be happy ever after? On paper they are unsuited.....

An enjoyable.tale about the whispering dress; Fran seeks out vintage wedding gowns to lovingly restore and match with their modern day bride. Lovely premise for a story.

A quirky tale which was very enjoyable. Who doesn’t love reading about pretty frocks and even better, their histories. Throw in a handsome stranger and some romance and this book is it. Well worth a read. Not as light hearted as you would think but definitely intriguing to the end.

Thank you Netgalley.

I really enjoyed this book, The characters and the stories behind the dresses and the brides were well written and the descriptions linking historical date added to the success of the book.
Francesca Delaney, who owns the shop “The Whispering Dress” is a lovely character and it is easy to get involved in her story and feelings. The vintage dresses are described beautifully and the modern twist at the end if very funny.
I would recommend this to anyone who is a romantic and likes a happy ending.

This one just wasn't for me, but I can't say I hated it. I think it was a case of wrong person for the book, rather than being an issue with the book itself. It was a bit too over emotional, and there were times where the tone felt a bit stilted and uncomfortable for me. Also, I wasn't really a fan of the romance element - sadly it felt quite flat and unbelievable.

That being said, this book did have perhaps one of the best openings i've ever read. The whole first chapter is a masterpiece, and it dragged me in instantly. I do genuinely believe this could be a good book, I think I just didn't have the interest in the subject area required to be properly gripped.

A lovely story with a great ending.
The stories relating to each dress are detailed and interesting, and she has a pinboard of bridegrooms to match the dresses.

At first I thought no, not another a wedding dress shop with outsized women in mind, or with some fairy or other magical creature involved. But then it went into another direction. The concept of a vintage dress shop was lovely. And I was almost tempted to find one and give them mine. Yes, I still have it. And no, it hasn’t gone into the dressing up box. But no, it won’t fit me - or my daughter, but who knows, maybe a grand-daughter? It is very much of its era. Victorian themed with sprigs of lilac flowers on cream. Long sleeves and tucked in waist. Full length of course - but then I needed to hide my cast on my leg on the day!
I liked the idea that a dress ‘whispered’. But really felt that a dress can only tell you about the day and not what happens afterwards.
Overall, I liked the story-telling and the romance and the exploration of what happens behind closed doors in a wedding and its reasons.

I absolutely adored this, I don’t think I’ve read a book that had my heart melting so much in a long time, but. Have to admit I’m a huge romantic and a big fan of wedding dresses, so I think this book was my perfect match. A great love story, wonderful characters and a book you won’t want to put down. This will leave a smile on your face and a happy heart in its place.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Really Deep down I am a hopeless romantic and love a good wedding story, I also love an old cheesy romance film like they play on movies 24 don't ask me why, I just do! So I just adored this book from start to finish. It centers around Fran with her unique bridal shop that stocks vintage preloved dresses which she matches to her brides. Each gown has a story and what a story the "Garrett-Alexia" dress holds. Cue Rafael the handsome, rich philanthropist jaded about love and the hate to love story between the two unfolds.

Louisa Leaman has a lovely style of writing and I got a real feel of all the characters and their surroundings, the story flowed coherently which made it a nice easy quick read and you close the book with an "aww" and a feel good feeling.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for the ARC

Francesca runs The Whispering Dress where she sells wedding dresses to brides that she has paired to the dresses they buy. When she meets Rafael Colt at his family home during a house clearance, life changes immensely. From very different backgrounds and both afraid to commit to anyone.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it is a well written story that hooks you in.

Fran owns The Whispering Dress. A shop full of vintage wedding and evening dresses which Fran matches to brides by looking into the history of the dresses and the lives of the women that wore them beforehand.

Fran finds an amazing dress at a house clearance and is desperate to find out the history of this one of a kind couture dress.

This was a sweet book that I managed to read in one go but I felt that there was something lacking. None of the characters really had any depth and poor Fran put up with an awful lot more from Raf than I ever would have.

Thanks to netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Fran runs a wedding dress shop where she matches vintage wedding dresses to brides. When she discovers a dress in a house clearance she meets Rafael, the dress has an interesting history behind it.

Didn’t particularly enjoy the book and the story was a bit predictable. However, some good, lovely and charming sections.

The Perfect Dress is a delightful novel. Fran has an amazing insight to find any bride the perfect dress for her special day.
Fran has to know the story she feels from each dress and this shapes the type of bride it will flatter and bring to life.
The tragic story behind the dress of dreams is very troubling and Fran embarks on a journey of discovery that changes her whole life. It's not a very serious book but it is beautiful and the whole thing comes alive when reading it.
I loved it.

The Perfect Dress by Louisa Leaman was an uplifting concoction of romance and a little bit of nostalgia for
bygone times. A little predictable but with plenty to keep you interested. I did love the premise of the dress helping shape the wearer in every way. A nice wee read

It took me a while to get into this book. In fact, I did leave it for a few days before I went back to it.

The idea of matching wedding dresses to personalities was unusual, but I found Fran to be a strange, complex character. I also had trouble connecting with Raphael, as he was so brusque.

I felt the second half of the book was slightly better, but I didn't really find their romance totally believable. They seemed completely unsuited. I was more concerned about his mothers dress, than them, towards the end.

An okay read, but not outstanding.

Thank you to netgalley.co.uk for giving me a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I was pleasantly surprised by this novel, when I first started this book, I felt like this was something that I would not like at all but I'm glad to say my initial thoughts were wrong. The main reason I thought this was because the novel seemed to be all about wedding dresses and finding customers their perfect wedding dress, but the more I read this, I thought the author did a decent job with the main character Fran and how she worked with each customer. I thought the story unfolded really well and was well written, I'm glad I read this book.

I enjoyed this book - romance, mystery, psychology, reality TV stars all packaged into one book along with stories of brides and their gowns.

My favourite part of the book is when Fran matches the brides to be to their 'perfect dress' - often with interesting results.

Well worth reading - not a traditional romantic fiction book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for a free digital ARC in return for an honest review - my opinions are my own.