Scan barcode
bianca89279's review against another edition
4.0
The Dress was a very enjoyable read. The author cleverly intertwined two eras, seemingly because of a dress.
But it wasn't any dress. It was a dress like nothing anyone has ever made before. It was dazzling and it was made to order for the beautiful American socialite, Joy Fitzgerald.
Fast forward to 2014 London, where the beautiful, vintage lover, famous fashionista blogger, Lily Fitzgerald, comes across the photo of Joy Fitzerald dressed in the marvelous dress. The surname coincidence and a few other elements trigger Lily's curiosity and she earns to discover more about the dress and the woman in the old Vogue. And things move on from there.
This type of novel seems to be quite trendy, I certainly have read quite a few of them this year. Regardless, this was a well-written novel, that flowed seamlessly. The story lines were interesting without the over-the-top dramas or situations. A perfect read for a holiday and not only. The fashion lovers will definitely get a kick out of it.
I've received this novel via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publishers, HarperCollins Australia, for the opportunity to read and review.
Cover: 5 stars! Absolutely divine!
But it wasn't any dress. It was a dress like nothing anyone has ever made before. It was dazzling and it was made to order for the beautiful American socialite, Joy Fitzgerald.
Fast forward to 2014 London, where the beautiful, vintage lover, famous fashionista blogger, Lily Fitzgerald, comes across the photo of Joy Fitzerald dressed in the marvelous dress. The surname coincidence and a few other elements trigger Lily's curiosity and she earns to discover more about the dress and the woman in the old Vogue. And things move on from there.
This type of novel seems to be quite trendy, I certainly have read quite a few of them this year. Regardless, this was a well-written novel, that flowed seamlessly. The story lines were interesting without the over-the-top dramas or situations. A perfect read for a holiday and not only. The fashion lovers will definitely get a kick out of it.
I've received this novel via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publishers, HarperCollins Australia, for the opportunity to read and review.
Cover: 5 stars! Absolutely divine!
adriennegorra's review against another edition
4.0
Full review on my blog :-) https://theaimlessreview.wordpress.com/2015/09/28/review-the-dress-by-kate-kerrigan/
estellemorrison's review against another edition
4.0
I received this book early through the book giveaways. While this book wasn't my cup of tea I did quite enjoy it. Especially getting to know the same family but in different century's. Also the two women’s adventures were quite interesting. I believe this book was written very well and can tell a lot of thought was put into it.
bhauser's review against another edition
4.0
The story centers around 2 things I care little about--New York High Society and Fashion--so I am not sure why I picked this up. Realistic, flawed, but generally likable, the characters kept me interested and the structure of the story--shifting between past and present, New York and London--is a style I find myself drawn to quite a bit these days. There were a few times the word choice for an American character were a little off (I've never once heard an American refer to a lawyer as a solicitor), but it wasn't frequent enough to confuse the meaning. All said, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and could mot put it down for the last 150 pages to find out how it all worked out
lynnedf's review against another edition
2.0
More of a 2.5 star read.
Enjoyed the back and forth between Lily in 2014 and Joy in the 1950s.
Enjoyed the talk of fashion, vintage clothing etc.
Not so keen - the story could have been better developed. It didn't need quite so much back and forth. Also the nicely tied up ending was a little much.
The reason I couldn't give this 3 stars - because it was a quick, entertaining, light read - is because the editing was horrible. I dislike reading books that have sentences that don't work simply because there are typos/ poor editing.
Enjoyed the back and forth between Lily in 2014 and Joy in the 1950s.
Enjoyed the talk of fashion, vintage clothing etc.
Not so keen - the story could have been better developed. It didn't need quite so much back and forth. Also the nicely tied up ending was a little much.
The reason I couldn't give this 3 stars - because it was a quick, entertaining, light read - is because the editing was horrible. I dislike reading books that have sentences that don't work simply because there are typos/ poor editing.
saycheeze37's review against another edition
3.0
It took me awhile to get into this book. But once I did it was hard to put down. Quite a few twists I wasn't expecting.
mishale1's review against another edition
2.0
I had trouble getting into this book and I had trouble finishing it.
The story rotates perspective between Lily, Joy and Honor.
Lily is a popular vintage clothing blogger. She once had dreams of being a designer.
The other two stories took place in the past:
Joy-a beautiful socialite with nothing but money and time, but what she really wants is love
Honor- a young designer who gets her big break when Joy hires her exclusively to make a dress for a very important night
The dress sounds amazing, if it were real I would love to see pictures.
But the story is just extremely depressing for most of the book.
Joy married Frank thinking she'd found love, he wanted a baby and her first disappointment to him was that she did not get pregnant. When she turned to alcohol, she disappointed him again. When she stopped drinking, he felt she'd waited too long and that he didn't love her anymore. As much as Joy just wanted love, she disappointed her husband practically every day.
Having the dress made was her grand gesture to win back his love.
I'm not even going to touch on how downhill Honor's story went.
I am very thankful that Joy was ultimately able to find happiness by the end but I guess I would have liked it if Joy and Honor both figured things out earlier and got their lives back on track much earlier.
The story rotates perspective between Lily, Joy and Honor.
Lily is a popular vintage clothing blogger. She once had dreams of being a designer.
The other two stories took place in the past:
Joy-a beautiful socialite with nothing but money and time, but what she really wants is love
Honor- a young designer who gets her big break when Joy hires her exclusively to make a dress for a very important night
The dress sounds amazing, if it were real I would love to see pictures.
But the story is just extremely depressing for most of the book.
Joy married Frank thinking she'd found love, he wanted a baby and her first disappointment to him was that she did not get pregnant. When she turned to alcohol, she disappointed him again. When she stopped drinking, he felt she'd waited too long and that he didn't love her anymore. As much as Joy just wanted love, she disappointed her husband practically every day.
Having the dress made was her grand gesture to win back his love.
I'm not even going to touch on how downhill Honor's story went.
I am very thankful that Joy was ultimately able to find happiness by the end but I guess I would have liked it if Joy and Honor both figured things out earlier and got their lives back on track much earlier.
kmmi_booklover's review against another edition
4.0
4.5*s.
"The Dress" is a wonderful novel set in two two major time periods. In 2014, Lily, a vintage fashion blogger with prior fashion design experience, comes across a picture from the 1950's of the most beautiful dress ever made. The dress is worn by Joy Fitzpatrick who shares the same last name as Lily. Lily begins to track down Joy, also looking for the designer of the dress. At the same time, she decides to start designing fashion again by recreating the dress.
In the 1950's, we see Joy, a wealthy socialite, searching for someone to design a dress for a party she is hosting where she hopes her husband will fall back in love with her again. She finds Honor Conlon, a young seamstress to help her.
I loved this novel. Kate Kerrigan writes great Women's Fiction. Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an e-copy to review. I am very tempted now to buy a copy for my shelves as this book as the most stunning cover.
"The Dress" is a wonderful novel set in two two major time periods. In 2014, Lily, a vintage fashion blogger with prior fashion design experience, comes across a picture from the 1950's of the most beautiful dress ever made. The dress is worn by Joy Fitzpatrick who shares the same last name as Lily. Lily begins to track down Joy, also looking for the designer of the dress. At the same time, she decides to start designing fashion again by recreating the dress.
In the 1950's, we see Joy, a wealthy socialite, searching for someone to design a dress for a party she is hosting where she hopes her husband will fall back in love with her again. She finds Honor Conlon, a young seamstress to help her.
I loved this novel. Kate Kerrigan writes great Women's Fiction. Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an e-copy to review. I am very tempted now to buy a copy for my shelves as this book as the most stunning cover.
cupcakes_and_coffee's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed the first 2/3 of the book, both the story and the writing, 4 stars. But then something happened where it felt like a different author took over...one that didn't get who the characters were. The writing became choppy for me and the characters inconsistent. Without giving away any of the story, I'll just say that the characters stopped acting in ways that make sense for the personalities developed up to that point. And the given reasoning is inertia, rather than a true explanation. This seemed lazy and the story lost it's flow. It felt like the author wrote to that point and then felt that she needed to get to the end. It lost its storytelling mode and became a big, quick wrap up to explain and tie everything up. Unfortunately, despite a lot of the book being good, this made it lose the warmth it had in the beginning. It left me feeling unfulfilled.