A romance for a lazy summer day. I love reading about the royals and when I saw the title of the book I knew I had to read it! I also really liked the history of the dress.

Thank you to Graydon House and Netgalley for a copy of The Grace Kelly Dress by Brenda Janowitz for review.

I love a historical fiction that connects families over generations without making them feel heavy or epic and this one did just that. The women in the family are connected through wedding dresses and what they mean to their mothers. They also tell the love stories of each of the women and I thought they were all unique and heartfelt, much like the way the dress was changed to match each person.

DISCLAIMER: I received an advanced reader copy (eBook) of The Grace Kelly Dress by Brenda Janowitz from Harlequin through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The Grace Kelly Dress is part of Harlequin Trade Publishing's 2020 Spring Reads Blog Tour.

The Grace Kelly Dress by Brenda Janowitz is a heartfelt story about three women over three generations who are all connected by a wedding dress – the Grace Kelly wedding dress. This novel is told by all three women in their own voice. Rachel aka Rocky, the bride-to-be (Brooklyn, 2020), the mother of the bride, Joan “ Joanie”, as the bride herself (Long Island, 1982), and Rose, the Seamstress (Paris, 1958). The stories show parallels and differences between the mother and daughter as they plan their weddings, and what their heirloom dress signifies for them.

By far, The Grace Kelly Dress has been my favorite read of 2020. I liked that the book wasn’t just about Rose, Joanie, and Rocky’s stories with the dress, but a story about the dress itself and the journey through time it went on. I like to think of the wedding dress as a fourth character. Kind of like the pants in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants or a quilt that you keep adding to throughout the years. Each woman made the dress her own by adding a piece of herself to it. The dress has seen so much history, and I loved traveling alongside it.

Rose, Joanie, and Rocky were really well-written characters. One character’s story did not outshine the other. I enjoyed each one equally as much. Although each character’s story was so different, Janowitz intertwined each story seamlessly together by the language she used and the parallels she created from one story to the next.

I give The Grace Kelly Dress 5 out of 5 stars. Although the book is about a wedding and a wedding dress, it isn’t sickeningly sweet or sappy. However, the story has a lot of heart and is about much more than romantic love. It’s about families and their heritage, as well as, heirlooms and the stories they tell. Whether you’re married, engaged, or still looking for your Mr. or Mrs. Right, I think you will enjoy this book!

Check out my blog to read my full review:
http://www.candisbarbosa.com/book-review-the-grace-kelly-dress-brenda-janowitz/

the main character in this book is a wedding dress.. three generations of women each have a story about the dress.

Author #Brenda Janowitz once again has written a delightful book.About how a dress can define a family.This story spans three generations and has such inspiration.Love, humor and fate.
Thank you,
#Netgalley, #Brenda Janowitz and #Harlequin

A great quick read! I liked that this was about a topic I really knew nothing about going and that I came out learning something!
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

I got The Grace Kelly Dress via @netgalley, but I didn’t read it. (I way underestimated how many books Net Galley approves you for, so I’m reading myself out of the whole I have this summer.) When I saw it on @hoopladigital, I downloaded it, and it took like five tries to actually listen to it. It was definitely a slow start for me...which is why I gave it ⭐️⭐️⭐️ instead of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. When I finally got into it, I enjoyed it. The chapters alternated between Rocky in 2020, Joanie in 1982, and Rose in 1958. Rose is a seamstress making a Grace Kelly wedding dress for a client. Joanie is a college sophomore - engaged and struggling with her sister’s death. Rocky is an app designer who is marrying her “hate at first site” fiancé. The thread between the three is the Grace Kelly dress. I wasn’t sure how things would wrap up - especially Rose’s story. I liked it! Be patient if it takes you a little why to get into it.

I really enjoyed this triple timeline story. For having three timelines, it was surprisingly easy to keep straight and it flowed well. There were a few times when a chapter ended on a bit of a cliffhanger and I had to wait a couple of chapters to find out what happened but honestly, that just made the book harder to put down! It was a quick easy read that I read in less than a day. It was neat to see how the stories and characters intertwined and the ending was petty perfect in my opinion. All in all, a fun story.

I received this book from NetGalley and was not required to post a positive review. All thoughts are my own.

I got to listen to Brenda discuss the inspiration for this novel and her next works before reading this and I believe that it made my reading experience that much better. Janowitz is so talented and I fell in love with her and the story on every page. Absolutely beautiful - like grace Kelly was.

The Grace Kelly Dress by Brenda Janowitz is only the second book that I have read so far about Grace Kelly, and I am HOOKED! I am so happy to see these books coming out that have Grace in the story, as I find myself want to read more and more. (And soon I plan to watch all of her movies as well!)

But enough about Grace, let’s talk about The Grace Kelly Dress, the book!

The Grace Kelly Dress is the story about a wedding dress, a replica of the one worn by Grace Kelly herself, and the three generations of women that it inspires. First, I have to say that the characters in the book were great. Though they are years apart from each other in age, I managed to relate to them all in some form or another, which was awesome. I very much enjoyed reading each of their stories, and I also enjoyed that each of the chapters were alternately told through each of these ladies.

Second, I absolutely loved the settings for the book as well. While the story doesn’t go too in depth on the settings, I still managed to feel like I was both in Paris and New York with these women. (One day I will actually visit these places, but until then, I am more than happy to visit via the written word.) I also really enjoyed the storyline for this book as well. It was fascinating and engaging, and kept me hooked right up until the end.

I also want to add that while I had a print version on the book, I opted to listen to the audiobook instead, and I’m really glad that I did. Cassandra Campbell did an excellent job of narrating the story, and I enjoyed all of her different voices as well. I definitely plan to listen to more audiobooks that are narrated by her soon!

Overall; In case you can't tell by this quick review, I very much enjoyed The Grace Kelly Dress! The story was absolutely fascinating, and I loved the characters as well. The story definitely made me want to find all the movies that Grace Kelly was in, and I am hoping to watch them as soon as possible. And I will DEFINITELY be checking out more books by Brenda Janowitz soon as well!

Happy Reading!

The Grace Kelly Dress has such a beautiful cover - I enjoyed participating in the blog tour for this book - i haven't yet gotten to read the book but I am looking forward to.

In Brenda Janowitz's the Grace Kelly Dress, this beautiful woman's fiction novel is so emotional and has a bit of a historical fiction twist. When Rachel "Rocky" is engaged to her true love Drew, her mother wants her to wear the Grace Kelly dress, a dress that's been handed down from one generation. As she plans her wedding, Rocky isn't the typical bride--she has tattoos, dyed her hair, and doesn't wear dresses. While she deals with the details with her sister Amanda, we flash back into time when Joan, Rocky's mother, and Rose, her grandmother, when they wore the wedding dress.
For Rose in 1950s, she's an apprentice for Madame Michel at the French bridal atelier shop. When Madame Michel unfortunately passed away, it's up to her and her nephew Julien to keep up with the subterfuge that Michel's busy. When Diana Laurent comes to the shop for Rose to design her bridal dress like Grace Kelly's, she meets Robert Laurent, Diana's brother, who's engaged to be married to someone else. The chemistry between them is palpable, while Julien warns her about him. As the attraction between them is mutual, she meets Elisabeth, his betrothed, which complicates things further for her. When the truth comes out about Michel's passing, they lose the business and potential customers... except for Diana Laurent and the dress. As for Joni, it's the 1980s, when she's a college student who's engaged to be married to Matthew, and a sorority sister. She's on the hunt for the truth about what happened to her sister Michel who died from a heart attack. From there, she goes to the art gallery and meets Mel, an artist and one of her sister's her former friends. Then she meets her brother, Jesse, a musician in the band, the chemistry between them is red-hot, though she should stay away since she's engaged. Later, she broken off the engagement and marries her true love with the dress. In the end, the family comes together for Rocky's wedding and how she used the dress for her own dream wedding to honor tradition.

The Grace Kelly Dress goes back and forth sharing narration between a bride, her mother and a seamstress in the 1950s that made a Grace Kelly look a like dress. This was a fun book to read during what is typically wedding season and is a nice little escape read that is pure enjoyment.

This was a very charming and lighthearted story. I liked the reading the story of three characters. My only complaint was I felt that the ending is rushed. Still, I thought this book had a fairy tale feel to it. I recommend this for fans of Grace Kelley and learning about her dress.

This book, which I added to my early 2020 reading list is not as the title claims much “about Grace Kelly” at all. Though the family heirloom dress is initially inspired by Grace Kelly’s dress (as all dresses were at the time supposedly) the story moves back and forth among three periods of time as the dress takes different shapes (literally) to fit the personalities of three women
.
And I was pleasantly surprised I liked this book is because I didn’t even wear a wedding dress myself and have not for a second regretted that. Though I can happily watch a “Say Yes to the Dress” marathon. ?? But again contrary to the title, the book isn’t so much about the dress itself but the lives that the women lead that bring them to the point of altering and wearing the dress.

I preferred the older stories more than the modern story, which I’ve found is often the case in books of this format. I think my favorite was the middle generation – the mother of the current bride story. I would be curious to know which story other readers preferred. But one thing this author did well was end each chapter with a dramatic teaser, so I was ready to get back to each story.

All in all an enjoyable read and a good way to pass some time!
RELATED POST: MEET ME IN MONACO – ANOTHER GRACE KELLY INSPIRED READ

Thank you NetGalley for providing me a download of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Grace Kelly Dress was such a fun and inspiring book! I loved the parallel narrative (1950’s Paris and present day NYC) and the characters and family dynamics were so relatable. Of course, there’s intrigue surrounding anything Grace Kelly, so the thought of this beautiful history behind her wedding dress had me from the get-go.

The story is full or real life emotions and scenarios, as well as a healthy dose of romance, It was a bit slow at first and I felt disconnected from Rocky but as the story progressed, I was pulled further and further in. All in all, I really enjoyed this book!

*I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my review. All opinions are mine*

I was not expecting to like this book as much as I did! The story is told from three different points of view, Rose- a dressmaker in the 50s, Joanie- a bride in the 80s, and Rocky- a modern day bride. Each of these women has a connection to a particular dress; a dress that was a carbon copy of the one that Grace Kelly wore for her wedding to Prince Ranier.

Once I started, I couldn't put this book down, because I was just enthralled with all three women and their stories. I was able to sympathize with all of them, but Rocky in particular because she felt like in order to make her mother happy she was unable to have the wedding that she wanted. She felt as though her sister was the beloved one, and she couldn't compete-- and I think that's something we all struggle with at one time or another. I love historical fiction, and at first I thought this book was going to focus on Grace Kelly herself, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that this wasn't the case, and each time period was distinguishable from the others, which can be hard to do when you're switching between three different perspectives. I could kind of see this being turned into a Hallmark movie, with less cheese.

I am not a huge historical fiction reader but there are few- including this one- that I really enjoy and make revisit my ideas to read more of this genre. I love how the dress connected the three generations of women and the dual timeline that was used. It made each story special in its own way. I thought the characters were well developed and they each wrapped up the storyline beautifully. Thank you Graydon House and NetGalley for an ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Grace Kelly Dress was the perfect. light read! It was a little bit of history, a little bit of family drama and beautiful relationships between the women at the heart of this story. This book was charming, magical and heartwarming. I highly recommend for historical fiction lovers and women's fiction lovers alike!

This is the book I needed right now! It is the feel good book I was looking for. This is a story of three generations of women and the dress that connects them. Even though this is a historical fiction book it is not a heavy one which is great, I feel like all the historical fiction books I tend to read are on the heavier side and I haven’t been on the mood for that lately.

I love dual timeline historical fiction books! This book was so easy to read and it grabbed my attention right away. I loved being transported to Paris in the late 50s, NYC in the 80s and NYC now. One of the things I love about the multiple timelines is that it keeps me guessing how the timelines come together and this book did that so well! I loved the suspense of not knowing who was Rocky’s grandmother until the very end.

I loved the characters in this book and I really liked that they are unique and evolve throughout the book. I didn’t know much about the Grace Kelly dress so after reading this I went on a google rabbit hole to find it out even more about it. Its so interesting! The wedding dress meant something different for each of these women and I loved how it connected them.