A lovely story a book I devoured wonderful characters.A story that I enjoyed from first page to last.Perfect escape read looking forward to more by this author.#netgalley#st.martins

The Little French Bridal Shop was charming, if not what I expected. Led on by the title and the cover art, I was expecting a novel set in the streets of Paris, but instead, was welcomed onto the North Shore of Massachusetts. The setting was lovely, though a tad unrealistic, and left me wanting more. The characterization was a bit flat, as well, leaving the reader to wonder just how likely any of this was. Overall, it was an alright read - the kind that would suffice amongst limited options, but not destined to top any best-seller lists.

The descriptive language was beautiful and helped tie it to the theme , especially of the timeline with memories and memory loss. However, the theme as a whole didn’t seem to match the title and the story itself was good , but a bit unsatisfying at the same time.

2.5 stars. I skimmed a lot of this one. The writing style was good, the concept could have been successful, but the execution was over the top. Having worked in a bridal salon myself, I really wanted to love this book. The cover is beautiful, but the bridal shop only plays an incidental role in the novel.

Larisa's life is a mess. She lost her job, broke up with her boyfriend, her mother has Alzheimer's, and her beloved great-aunt passed away. No wonder why she is acting out in strange ways. She returns to her hometown to prepare her great-aunt's home for sale. On a whim she enters a local bridal shop.

If you crave trying on wedding gowns but you are not engaged, do not do it in your gossipy hometown. She pretends she is getting married and winds up buying a wedding gown. She finds herself mired in lies related to this faux wedding. News of her supposedly upcoming nuptials spread throughout the community.

To make matters worse, she renews a friendship with a man who is having marital problems. Both parties have feelings for each other but do not progress beyond one kiss. Larisa's life and the man's life are both a mess. Then Larisa's ex-boyfriend shows up. There is so much going on in this story, it feels like a soap opera.

Larisa's behavior is so outrageous, readers will struggle to relate to her, much less to like her. The author seems to be sending a message that people can be lost in different ways. Point taken. I felt as though I was beaten over the head with it. Larisa is just as lost and confused as her mother who suffers from Alzheimer's. This concept could have been the basis for successful novel. The Little French Bridal Shop failed because the message was buried so far beneath a disjointed set of circumstances, the reader becomes frustrated and gives up on the characters.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Such a fun beach read. I really enjoyed this sweet, lovely story about the bridal shop. Lots of fun!

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

I requested to read and review The Little French Bridal Shop from publishing company St. Martin Press. This is the first book I have read by author Jennifer Dupee. This book I wasnt to sure about a first. But I told myself to keep going and I am glad I did. This book is a great book to follow one of the main characters Larisa. How life can be complicated when thought can spiral out of control. And how sometimes life isn't perfect. In fact it can be messy and full of many emotions. But you keep going and figure it how to love and take the bad times and make them as good as can be. Because there is no road map for life and that's ok. This is for any type of reader.

Call me cliché but I devoured this book like a croissant. I packed it on a weekend trip to the beach and it was just the escape that I needed. Dupee’s characters are magical and relatable. Her descriptions are delightful and the setting was my favorite part! This was a fun, light read that I never wanted to end!

Thank you so much for this ARC!

I was super excited to read this! Unfortunately, I had no interest once I started going. This was just not for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for my digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I chose this book because of the name and the cover, for the most part. I am also fascinated with France and um, weddings. So yeah...I can see by other reviews that the book is kind of hit or miss. Some people loved it and some people not so much. For me, I MOSTLY loved it....I didn't always like the main characters but they kind of made up for it in the end. We meet Larissa when her Aunt dies and she goes back to the town she spent so much time in growing up. For whatever reason, when she gets there she decides to go into the bridal shop and try on dresses. She starts a little lie that eventually spreads all over town when she says she will be getting married...and then when she sees the perfect dress, she buys it even though she just broke up with her boyfriend. In the next few days, more vendors approach her asking if she could use their services for her wedding...and they also ask about her parents which leads to more lies. Her mother has Alzheimer's and she cannot come to terms with it so she lies to the people, telling them her parents are off traveling. We also meet Jack, who is the caretaker of the house and she has known him for a long time...but this time is different. He is having marriage problems and when he gets kicked out he heads right to his favorite house and asks if he can stay there awhile. Eventually everything blows up in her face and she has no choice BUT to come to terms with all of the lies she has told. This is where the growth happens and when I start to like her a little more. In the end, I enjoyed the book just as much as I thought I would. :)

All the back and forth "does he/she love me or not" between characters started to wear on my nerves. I found the main character spiky and annoying. Sadly, not a fan of this book.

Overall I enjoyed The Little French Bridal Shop. At times the writing seemed disjointed, but gets back on track. The journey through seasons and self awareness was a highlight of the book.

I was really excited to receive an advanced copy of this book. The cover art is lovely and the premise sounded sweet. But, like the name of the bridal shop in Dupee's work, names can be deceiving. I just couldn't immerse myself in this text. The sentences are fruitlessly cumbersome. Larisa, our main character, is deceitful, so much so that it became difficult to root for her. While some of the male characters are charming, and I did appreciate the depiction of dementia, I would, unfortunately, not recommend this book. I am grateful to Netgalley and St. Martin's for the ARC, which I received in exchange for an honest review.

This whole story tells the tale about how one lie can snowball. What a mess this girl is, and where does she get the money to remodel this house. I don't know that I would give her a second chance like her family and friends did more than once, All in I guess it was a good book. With not having anything to do I'll read just about anything and this did pass the time.

This was a wonderful book about finding yourself and dealing with dementia. I have a love/hate relationship with books dealing with dementia. It is something my family has dealt with and I love books that discuss it but it always breaks my heart a little bit.

Both Larisa and Jack were searching for who they really are. I love the ending. And I adore what happens with the dress.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

I wanted to like this book, truly I did.
But no.
The main character was just unbearable: childish, selfish, a liar who didn’t learn from her behaviour, I didn’t like her at all.
Other characters too annoyed me - Jack who cheats on his wife and explains it away and who can’t be present in his own marriage or understand what his long faithful wife is asking of him.
The bridal shop mentioned in the title barely features and overall it was a disappointing read which could have had potential but sadly was lacking.
The only redeeming feature for me was the depiction of dementia. One of the things Larisa learns is to embrace the moment with her mother whose health is failing. This is something which has been well documented in the care of Alzheimer’s patients and was nice to see.

With thanks to netgalley, Jennifer Dupee and St Martins for the ARC I received in exchange for this honest review.

I wasn’t impressed with this story or characters. It had potential but the idea of someone being nearly 40 and lying so much just turned me off.

I was provided with an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Little French Bridal Shop by Jennifer Dupee left me with mixed feelings about the character of Larisa. Maybe Larisa is mentally or emotionally impaired? I wanted to like this book but I just never could accept Larisa's deceit, lies, and selfish behaviors. Larisa lied to people who loved her when the truth would have been so much more believable!
Larisa is fired from her job and goes to her great aunt's house which her father inherited. She starts pulling down walls the first evening without having the forethought of asking a professional for advice.
I detested the way she treated her mother and father during most of the book. Larisa is totally selfish in not wanting to see her mother as she ages with dementia. I know how hard that stage of life is for a daughter. I left a home I loved to go and care for my mom for six years as her dementia progressed. Larisa's attitude and actions are deplorable!
She lies to Brent, her ex-fiance' about wanting to marry him. Then she decides she wants Jack, the groundskeeper, and another woman's husband, but she does not know if she 'loves' him. Jack is also selfish. He complains about his wife who is caring full-time for his sons, pre-teen triplets.
Larisa takes Andy's Rolls Royce on a trip during a snowstorm without him knowing. Of course, she wrecks the car. and leaves it for her father to have repaired. Who does that?
I thought it was wonderful that she could fall in love with a certain wedding dress and have the confidence to purchase the dress even though she was not engaged. Sometimes a woman needs a boost of something which gives her joy.
The last part of this book is about Larisa trying to come to terms with her life and all the lies she tells. I did not think the story was humorous, it was frustrating for me to read through to the end.
The last chapters reveal a sweet event Larisa stages for her mom and dad, but it was too little too late to redeem this book. The bridal shop was featured in only two scenes in the book. This story had potential but was so very disappointing.
Publication Date: March 9, 2021
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A very thoughtful and attention grabbing story. Honest character portrayal and true life relationships. Has spoken to me for days. I will look for this author again.

Larissa returns to her deceased Aunt Ursula’s house with the intention of selling her house. This is where I didn’t understand the character with her lies. I personally did not like Larissa. I felt she was a selfish person. The other characters Jack, Brent really had no depth. I really wanted to like this book but I couldn’t get into it. Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the E-ARC. This is my own opinion.

I frankly found the protagonist annoying and too self-absorbed. However, her caring for her mother with dementia was heartwarming. And the author did seem to understand the stages of dementia and how very difficult and sad this disease is. I just found the plot and lying over the top. However an interesting read and agreeable ending.