The Wedding Dress Repair Shop by Trisha Ashley

5 Stars Oct 29, 2024

My review

5/5 stars

Garland is a costumier with a link to a well-known historical figure. In the space of a few days, she loses her fiancee and her job, and decides to take a long-lost relative up on the offer of helping her curate a wedding dress museum. While there, she reconnects with her old friend Thom and explores a new life.

I found Garland to be a very sweet main character, and someone that I enjoyed reading about. She was given enough tension to cope with to keep her interesting, whilst also managing to maintain quite a simple and endearing personality, making her feel ultimately cosy and warm. As a complete juxtaposition, and a very fun one, I actually found myself wanting more time with the ballsy and direct Honey Fairford. Her blasé attitude to money was amusing and her ability to get whatever she wanted without ever actually saying what she wanted was highly entertaining.

The secondary characters were charming, but all were outshone by the wonderful Golightly - Garland's grumpy and loud cat. Anytime his name appeared in the story, I found the corners of my mouth upturning ever so slightly - an impressive feat for a fictional cat who can't talk. The author managed to infuse an animal with all the emotions and intentions of a human being without it ever seeming ridiculous.

I felt like the audiobook format that I read this in really worked for the slower, detailed writing style, as I was able to completely immerse myself in the story. I was able to lounge around in the feeling that the surroundings gave me as I listened intently - something that I find hard to get from a paper book.

I struggled somewhat with the timeline shifts into Rosa-May's story. While it added another layer to the story, I never fully understood it's purpose other than as a plot device to bring Honey and Garland together. The resolution at the end didn't give me any particularly strong feelings in any direction and I found myself wanting the parts narrated by Rosa-May to go quicker so I could get back to Garland's story, but all-in-all they didn't detract from how I felt about the book as a complete story.

As a side note - the cover and title of this book make the story appear to be a very light-hearted rom-com. It is neither. Nor is it actually about a wedding dress repair shop. Readers beware - this is more serious that it appears, with darker plotlines than the cover would give the impression of. Very enjoyable but not what it first appears.

Book blurb

Can her heart be mended too?

After losing her fiancé and her dream job in the same week, Garland Fairford's life is turned upside down.

Having recently met a long-lost relative - Honey Fairford - through her work as a historical costumier, Garland is intrigued when Honey reveals she is opening a Wedding Dress museum in Lancashire. With nothing to lose, Garland accepts the offer of a job there.

What she doesn't expect is to come face-to-face with a ghost from her past - her old friend, Thom, who mysteriously disappeared years ago.

As Garland begins reading the stories behind each of the beautiful wedding dresses, and sets about repairing both them and her relationship with Thom, could this finally be the chance for her own happy-ever-after?