Published 22nd June 2023 by Bantam.
From the cover of the book:
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?
***********
Theatrical costumier Garland Fairford hits an unexpected bump in her life when her engagement and job both go south after a crisis of suitably dramatic proportions. North is the only place to go, so Garland packs up and heads for the charming village of Great Mumming, where the long lost distant cousin she has recently met, best-selling thriller writer Honey Fairford, has offered her the position of curator to her quirky wedding dress museum. A fresh start is just what she needs, but she is unprepared to find out that one of her new neighbours is Thom, the childhood friend who disappeared from her life without a trace six years ago...
As Garland settles into her new life, making friends, and trying to negotiate her feelings about Thom, she begins to delve into the stories behind the wedding dresses in the museum, and the mysterious history of Rosa-May Garland, the Regency actress from whom she and Honey are descended - all while trying to fend off the attempts of her louse of an ex-fiancé to track her down. Can Garland mend the tatters of her life and find happiness in Great Mumming?
Trisha Ashley always knows how to capture you with a story, tying you to the trials, tribulations, and romantic adventures of her characters, and The Wedding Dress Repair Shop does that in spades. Here you follow the escapades of theatrical costumier Garland Fairford, whose life comes crashing down in a moment of misjudged (if fully justified) rage behind the scenes in London's theatreland. Ashley whisks you away to the wonderful setting of Great Mumming and a cast of delicious characters who work their way rapidly into your heart, cleverly connecting the parts of Garland's story through a voice from the past - actress Rosa-May Garland.
I thoroughly enjoy a book with a heart warming sense of community, and the one Ashley creates for Garland to make her new home in is absolute gold. I loved all the characters in Great Mumming, and they provide many moments of emotion and humour to tug delightfully on your heart strings. And if that was not enough, there are poignant storylines that weave around the tales of the wedding dresses in the museum, and the life of Rosa-May Garland, that reveal their bitter-sweet secrets over the course of the book. They provide rich ground for Ashley to drop in an intriguing twist or two at the same time.
At over 500 pages, this is a book on the more weighty side of the romantic genre, but at no time does it feel overlong as every part of the whole is utterly consuming. I became just as immersed in the theatrical and costume related aspects of the story, and all the little details of setting up the museum, as I did with the tales of the characters, and the flashbacks to Rosa-May's history through her journals.
This is the perfect book for those that enjoy compelling substance to their romantic choices, alongside a story that sweeps you away, as Ashley touches on a wealth of themes, especially around betrayal and escape. The love story(ies), mishaps, and all the mystery elements are beautifully written, and I laughed and cried my way through them all to the wonderfully satisfying ending. I adored it, and wish I could move to Great Mumming too!
The Wedding Dress Repair Shop is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Bantam for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review, and to Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the author:
Every Woman for Herself was nominated by magazine readers as one of the top three romantic novels in the last fifty years.
Trisha lives in North Wales.
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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