A terrific story about three women who had set ideas about their live and others until World War II brought them together to help redesign wedding dress. The three women Cressida, a clothes designer, Violet, an aristocratic, who thought her only mission was to be married to an aristocratic gentlemen and finally Grace who is a vicar's daughter who has been doing nothing but taking care of others, come together to help mend clothing so they can be reused by others, because Great Britain had a shortage of fabric and had to ration how much each person received. Now Grace who was getting married needed her mother's old wedding dress to be update so she brought the dress to the circle to get help fixing the dress and it is at that moment that the Wedding Dress Sewing Circle began. They thought that if they could reuse the wedding dresses then others could use them. And it thorough the process of fixing the dress in the circle that the three women started to see one another's point of view and learn from each other which created a tight knit group of women who became great friends and families.
I like that that the author developed characters that were opened to new ideas and were willing to help others achieve their goals and willing to change.
There is a few love stories going one here and they get their Happily Ever After, but the best part of the story is the story of Wedding Dress Circle and how important each of the members were to the circle and to each other.
I've been reading a lot of stories of how World War II effected Great Britain both fictional and non-fictional and it is amazing how much the country had to endure to survive and how strong they all had to be.
I want to thank Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books and NetGalley for this terrific heartwarming story about three women who got involved and helped others and in turn help themselves.

Absolutely charming!

There are have been many wonderful WWII novels in recent years, but this one may be my favorite. Three very different women come together in the English countryside and start the Wedding Dress Sewing Circle to mend and share wedding dresses after British women are told to get married in their military uniforms. Based largely on true events of perseverance and community this shared an element of Homefront life I hadn't been as familiar with.

The 3 women grow as the war changes them and each searches for self and love amidst worldwide and personal turmoil. I loved all 3 and enjoyed their stories immensely.

This is an outstanding historic fiction novel and one I will remember long after reading it!

Mend and Make Do

What every bride wants is a white wedding gown. Set during WWII fabric is hard to come by and especially silk fabric. This is a charming story set in a quaint English village where the women come together to solve this problem. It all starts with one moth eaten wedding gown.

The characters are wonderful and all fit together in the story. Grace the shy Vicar's daughter engaged to marry Lawrence a Vicar and become a Vicar's wife. She takes her mother's moth eaten gown to the Sewing circle in the village to see if the ladies can help mend it.

Violet Westcott and her brother Hugh live at the family manor house. When her aunt Cressida, a fashion designer from London comes to live at the Manor Violet is happy to see her. She has been bored in the village. Alas as soon as her aunt arrives Violet receives a conscription letter to report for service to the war effort.

Grace asks Cressida to help with mending her wedding dress. Soon the sewing circle is taking in wedding dress donations and under the guidance of Cressida lending them to brides not only local, but across the country.

A story of ladies working together to help other's during the war. It is also the story of romance between many of the couples and those they meet and fall in love with. Some know right away it takes longer for others, but the weddings are all wonderful with the dresses from the sewing circle.

A happy, entertaining story of clean romance, sweet beginnings and endings and a village working together. Each character must find his or her own way and solve the feelings and inadequacies they see within themselves. They must find it within themselves to take a chance and go for what their heart longs.

I loved this book it was a very good read and I would recommend it.

Thanks to Jennifer Ryan for writing such an enjoyable book, to Random House Publishers for publishing it and to NetGalley for making it available to me to read and review.

I absolutely loved this novel! I unfolded like a slow walk, yet so much happened. This is a great addition to Ryan's growing library of WWII fiction. Admittedly, Cressida sometimes came off as slightly preachy and Violet took time to warm up to, but the character development was rich and lovely. I sincerely hope this gets turned into a miniseries so I can see it come to life. I did not want this one to end!

4 stars

For her fourth novel, Jennifer Ryan has crafted an uplifting story of three women whose lives are brought together by a wedding dress and a war. Based on true events, our characters Violet, Cressida, and Grace will learn how to love for love's sake, to sacrifice for the greater good, and to become the best versions of themselves as they work to provide proper wedding dresses for brides in the face of an imposed clothing ration.

In structure and scope, this book is very similar to what is perhaps Ryan's best-known work - The Chilbury Ladies' Choir. Both books share a lot of the same ingredients: small English village, multiple female perspectives, and a little bit of light romance. For me, this book started out a bit slower than I would have liked with Ryan taking a fair amount of time to set up the characters and the story. However, once we hit about the 33% mark, I really started to get invested as Ryan puts our three ladies through their paces on the way to greater growth. I would have loved to see a bit more of the actual wedding dress sewing circle itself (with it being the title and all), but I did end up thoroughly enjoying this heartwarming story of love, loss, and hope.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's light, comfortable reading about three women living in a small town in England during WWII. One is a fashion designer whose London home has been leveled by bombing during the blitz. The second is her young niece, who at first comes across as a typical spoiled aristocrat, but shows her mettle after joining the British Army and working as a mechanic and driver. The third protagonist is a young vicar's daughter who is unhappily engaged to a clergyman and needs a bridal gown. The three women bond while members of a local sewing group, working to "mend and make do" while clothing and fabric are scarce.

While set during WWII, this book does not seek to disturb you and makes good bedtime reading. It would make excellent book club or summer vacation reading. Highly recommended.

Loved the story of friendships with women and their resourcefulness and care of each other during WW2. I think if there’s one thing women always excel at, it’s making the best of things and making those things better. This story about wedding dresses being mended and shared around the community and inspiring it to be widespread is such a great example of that. So interesting learning about the rationing of clothing as well.

I also loved the 3 main characters. They each had flaws but also had courage. I loved their stories, how they grew thru the story with each other and in their relationships with the men thru grew to love.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved everything about this book. The historical information on clothing rationing in England was fascinating. I always love learning something new. The fictional characters were absolutely wonderful from the main ones, Grace, Violet, and Cressida, to the supporting cast. Jennifer Ryan has found her niche writing about the English homefront during World War II. I’ve enjoyed all her books. This may be my favorite.

This is my third Jennifer Ryan book. She is such a talented writer and breathes life into her characters. As with her previous books, The Chillbury Ladies’ Choir and The Kitchen Front, I immediately fell in love with them, inspired by their bravery and their support for each other during desperate times. Great relationships and distinct POV’s. A fascinating story based on true events.

I absolutely loved this book! It was a little slow to begin with a lot of story buildup, but I think it was worth it. Everything ends up coming together. There is so much character growth and it was just wonderful. It is heavy on the romance, but even for someone who doesn't read romance novels, I was rooting for all the couples. Definitely in my top 5 for historical fiction this year and top 10 overall for the year! It did keep me up waaaay past my bedtime because I just needed to know how it ended.

This book follows three women through WWII. When fashion designer Cressida's house and workshop is leveled during the Blitz, she is forced to go back to the family manor house that she left years ago. While her brother has passed, his two children remain. Cressida's niece Violet appears to be just another socialite, but when forced to join the service as a mechanic, she begins to grow up and realize what is important in life. At the nearby vicarage, Grace is engaged to an indifferent clergyman. When she takes mother's old wedding dress to the local sewing circle, a plan is hatched to rehab and circulate wedding dressing.

I found this book to be a bit boring and predictable. The characters were extremely stereotypical. The romances were bland and unremarkable. Everything progressed exactly as expected. Overall, not a book I would reread or recommend.

Sweet story of young women during the war who want to wear white for their wedding, so find old used dresses that they can mend and make beautiful again.

I rarely found myself putting this book down, it was easy to follow and I always wanted more.. I realized while reading I started to play the characters lives as a movie in my mind, which in my books is a plus. I am not going to go in detail about the book since many commenters on Goodread have already done. So, if someone wants to know the plots or a little information about the book, they could move their way there to read it. I just want to compliment the book on how well written it was and I really loved the authors presentation of life during World War II and how much women were doing during that time. Would I recommended this book to others? Yes, I feel that the drama, suspense, and love story would capture others attention. I would love to read other books from Jennifer Ryan!

This was such a different perspective on the historical fiction war books and I really enjoyed it. I loved the writing and the pace.

Thanks to NetGalley for this advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
Jennifer Ryan does it again. In a field of WWII historical fiction that tries to have that thriller or shock value to it, comes one that really brings home the human aspect of wartime. In all of Jennifer Ryan's books, a reader will find the real people coming together for a war effort - facing the challenges related to, but not directly of the battlefront. Whether it be food rations or sewing or class relations or losing a loved one to the war, Ms Ryan weaves a tale of the struggles on the home front with the war as a backdrop. Her books are for the war fatigued, because we are meeting believable characters on a journey of self discovery, an oh it happens to be during wartime.
Patrons will enjoy these books as they are clean and fun with a moving storyline. They will want to find out if the characters find their happiness in the end. I would recommend these to patrons and to book clubs. Well done.
4 solid stars.
This review will appear on Goodreads where I save all of my book reviews.

I absolutely loved this novel. The character development is beautiful and seamless. WWII is my favorite genre of reading and The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle is a 5 star read for everyone and is bound to be a best seller.

I so enjoyed The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir that I was delighted to see that Jennifer Ryan has written another novel of historical fiction taking place in England during WWII. The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle starts out slowly and it took me a while to click with the main characters. However, things are not always what they seem and, as Grace, Cressida, and Violet get to know each other better, we gradually see another side to each of them. There is romance in the background for these three women and it becomes fairly obvious what’s likely to happen in that department, but each relationship builds slowly and believably. For me the romance is secondary to the relationships among the women in Aldhurst village and how they come together as a community to find solutions to the problems they face with clothing rationing, especially when it comes to wedding dresses. The ending is quite satisfying and left me with a warm feeling inside.

The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan is pretty standard romance/historical fiction. During World War II a group of women gather to help the main character have the wedding of her dreams. The story is set in 1942 when clothing was rationed and "making do" was common.

I loved the research and historical information found in The Wedding Dress. The writing could have been a bit more interesting.

Recommend.

Review written after downloading a galley from NetGalley.

The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan

War changes things and World War II in England was no different. For Cressida Westcott, famous and sought after London couturier, it changed her life.

Bombs begin to drop on London and people escape to the countryside. Cressida has to move and has family in Kent, but they barely know her. Away from her fashion business in London, Cressida shares her designing and fashion skills with the local sewing circle and wedding dress exchange.

The story goes on to show how Cressida’s life expands in many ways, as do the lives of her selfish niece Violet and soon to be dear friend Grace. Though rather predictable, this is a touching story in many ways. You will root for the ladies and gents to pair up and for them all to become their best selves as the war awakens something in every one of them.

With lovely characters and a feel-good story, The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle is a winner, and I thank #RandomHouse and #NetGalley for an ARC for my review.

Thank you Random House for gifting me an ebook copy of The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle. I enjoyed Jennifer Ryan's previous book, The Chilbury Choir, and found this a strong novel as well, one that that is filled with sad but also hopeful themes on friendship and the strength of women. I find that Ms. Ryan has a gift for addressing the balance of every day life moving on/forward during times of war and grief while honoring the uniqueness of living through specific atypical times (such as the past two years, perhaps I liked this book for that sense of life persists...?). There are many strengths to this story, including the sense of connection with and immersion into the time, place, and lives of Grace, Cressida, and Violet. Ms. Ryan also writes in a way that does not dismiss grief and hardship as shown through Cressida's story, nor does she ignore the role of privilege in Violet's life and I think that is important in terms of allowing the reader to understand the growth and change that underlies the story.