The Little French Bridal Shop

I really loved this book – it’s an enthralling story, haunting in its every detail, so beautifully written. The character development is quite exceptional – and the whole book had an unforgettable impact. Highly, highly recommended.'

Cute, and checks all the boxes of a story about a woman at a crossroads who tries a little something to feel better, gets caught up in a story, it affects all of her relationships and she somehow has to find her way out of the mess while learning and evolving. A satisfying read and moments of great fun. We like this character and her decisions sometimes make us cringe, but they're hers, authentically and realistically, so we hang on and watch how she's going to play this all out...because the author has written a splendidly likeable and relatable character we care about.

Pros: Tackles grief, dementia, how well we know ourselves and how well we know others. I also appreciate the way the book ended (no spoilers). I enjoyed the hard-won catharsis that occurred for many of the characters.

It's always nice for me to see a "messy' book, and what I mean by that is -- realistic characters, flaws and all, and the strange, messy situations they find themselves in (or in some cases, the situations they create!)

Pro/con? I like when books don't have super hot and heavy physically intimate scenes. That's not to say I don't enjoy it at all because I do! But not every romantic book has to have ooh-aah moments described in detail, in my humble opinion. It doesn't always fit the mood of a book, know what I mean? I said "pro/con" because that might not be to people's liking if they're expecting ooh-aah moments.

This is a book about finding yourself, learning about family and facing hard truths about one's self, where you stumbled and how to get back up again.

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

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.

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 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. :)

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.

I was surprised by the modern tale of the life of the heroine, and truly agrees with the descriptions of the different states she is going through. A courageous story telling about a topic, dementia caused by illness, that is , to my knowledge, almost taboo. So many people want to ignore the consequences for the family and how it hurts. This book should help everyone to understand what is really happening.
i got a copy from Net Galley in exchange for a fair review.

I adored this novel. I loved this story of a young woman, Larisa, trying to navigate a series of sticky relationships with family, lovers, and friends, and not always doing so with grace or aplomb. She is impulsive, she isn't sure what she wants, she makes terrible decisions, and she ends up lying to everyone she loves. But, she has pluck and heart, and how she manages to dig her way out of the mess she's made of her life is what makes this book really shine.

Thanks, NetGalley and St. Martin's for the early, wonderful, read.