The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan

 

Excellent story about a group of friends, how they support and help each other by joining forces. Working together they can achieve great things. Focusing on one main family and the father and daughter from the Vicarage, it's the story of a small village and town where the people came together during the war. One woman comes back from London where she was a famous and successful fashion designer, lending her skills to the local sewing group. When the vicar's daughter is engaged to be married, she gets out her mother's wedding dress from the attic, bringing it to the group for intense mending, and learning more of its history as the story goes along. She then decides to lend it to anyone in the group to wear for their wedding and the idea expands from there until they have many donations of wedding dresses and brides waiting to borrow them. The lack of fabric makes it necessary to make clothes with less or mend and rework existing clothes. The English government had very strict guidelines for it.

My Grandmother was a master at reworking clothes. She worked at church rummage sales, bringing home clothes and remaking them into what she liked. She had a great eye for it and did beautiful work. I inherited many of her creative talents, but never remade clothes. I find it fascinating and am thinking about trying it out now that I'm retired and on a budget.

I really got lost in this and hated to see it end. Romance, warm hearts, misunderstandings and people reflecting on their lives and who they are as a person. Because of the war women stepped up to fill jobs that they never would have had otherwise. They learned new skills and excelled in ways that would not have been allowed before. Loved this story, it's beautifully told. 

I received this book free from the author, publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

#NetGalley #TheWeddingDressSewingCircle #JenniferRyan #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout  #FiveStarNovel #RandomHouse

My reviews

Goodreads

Powells

BarnesAndNoble

BookBub

Amazon

Twitter

Pinterest

Instagram

Facebook

NetGalley

A Worthy Pursuit by Karen Witemeyer

1891 Texas

Charlotte is a music teacher at Sullivan's Academy For Exceptional Youths. They abruptly decide to close the school. A school that charged a high tuition. Some students were accepted even though they were not "gifted", because of this large "donation". Sounds timely considering the recent news of popular Stars/Actors paying huge fees to get their children into prominent schools, "smoothing the way" for them. Charlotte had a special spot in her heart for these children, even paying the way for some. So she did what anyone would do. She took a few of the students with her, during the night. Unfortunately the Grandfather of one the children sent a bounty hunter, Stone, after them. He was one of the best and hoped to use the money from this job to build his house and settle down in peace. As he scoped her out at her hideaway, he realized that this wasn't as he had been told. They were happy together. The story that unfolds certainly holds your attention as you get to know the hearts of these people. You'll find yourself rooting them on!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher and Netgalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

#AWorthyPursuit #NetGalley #KarenWitemeyer #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout

My Reviews:

Goodreads

Amazon

BookFun