The Woman in the Movie Star Dress by Praveen Asthana

310 Pages
Publisher: Doublewood Press, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members’ Titles
Release Date: February 28, 2015

Fiction, Mystery, Thrillers, Women’s Fiction

Genevieve lived with her parents and younger brother. After a series of life changing events, she feels her life is finally on the right track. She works at a Hollywood clothing store. A dress that was brought in from the county turned out to be worn by a murderess. She began wondering if the clothes carry the emotions or personality form the women who wore them.

The story had a slow pace, the characters were somewhat developed, and it was written in the third person point of view. There is a lot of film and actor knowledge. The concept is unusual. It makes the reader fantasize of old Hollywood. There are many one-night stands, drugs, and crude language.

A stunning story of how a movie star dress can transform you to the character that wore it. This novel brings back old Hollywood and film. It was very interesting.
Many thanks to Doublewood Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I forced myself to finish this book. This story apparently was not for me. I couldn’t connect with the characters and did not enjoy what I read.

It has that old Hollywood glamour that is always so alluring. The premise is what interested me in the first place. The idea of slipping into someone else’s shoe and becoming them in a way. This book has it all - a strong-willed and complex heroine, a diverse group of characters and wonderfully evocative and unusual premise.

THE WOMAN IN THE MOVIE STAR DRESS - Praveen Asthana

SLOW MOVING - 2.5 stars

Plot - 2.5 stars - Genevieve is an unhappy young woman. Her mother has died, her father is drinking away his memory of her, and her brother is set on revenge. But Genevieve is confused about what happened to her family and desperate to escape, so she starts doing things that are out of her comfort zone. Since she has worn dresses from the clothing store where she works, she starts to believe that her behavior is affected by the clothes she wears and the old Hollywood stars who once wore them. However, I couldn't really understand the whole premise since the employees at the store knew that most of the outfits sold there were fake--not really worn by the stars at all. So why would there be any residual "energy" in any of them?

Writing - 2 stars - The writing is clear and easy to understand, but I found the story slow-moving. Obviously I missed the boat here and am not the target audience because I wasn't particularly familiar with the personalities of the Hollywood stars mentioned. Therefore I quickly lost interest in the many many outfits Genevieve wore and why she reacted as she did with each.

Characters - 1.5 stars - Genevieve is an ordinary woman, living in Hollywood, working in a clothing store, and just trying to make ends meet. She has dreams revolving around the movie stars she admires, but she doesn't seem to have much of a life, or at least not one that satisfies her. I never could warm up to her. She constantly made excuses for her behavior. My first problem was that she'd "borrow" the outfits from the store, without permission and without seeming to care about taking care of them. Secondly, she'd take peyote or pot to "open the pathways" to the Hollywood personalities--dumb idea. Then she'd exhibit bad behavior, but she's attribute it to the star and not to herself. Total denial. Secondary characters of her father (depressing), her brother (unreasonably vindictive), Todd (discouraging), Cameron (unrealistic), and Renzo (also unrealistic) added to the story, but I didn't find any of them attractive in any way and had a hard time working up any enthusiasm for their success.

Title - 3.5 stars - The title has promise, leading the reader to speculate on who the woman is and what she will do.

Cover - 3.5 stars - Lovely cover that shows a woman who is definitely intriguing and mysterious.

Overview - 2.5 stars - It didn't really go anywhere. There was a lot of promise but no follow-through. The synopsis sounded fascinating--what parts of a person's personality could be clinging to a piece of clothing? How could it affect the wearer? But in reality, the story spent a lot of time talking about Hollywood in general and stars that I've heard of but don't really know anything about. And Genevieve just ended up being a sadly pathetic character. She was unhappy, but instead of trying to change her life or become motivated to improve her lot, she instead stole outfits from the store where she works and used them to fulfill her improbable fantasies, consequently blaming the stars for her behavior, especially if there was a negative result. It was an unhappy book that left me with a negative feeling.

The cover drew me to requesting this. The premise was entertaining enough. The execution and writing was not done very well at all. I'm not sure if there were too many editorial mess ups or if it was really just the general writing. And some of the sentences made me roll my eyes. This was a major disappointment.