I wanted to like this book, truly I did.
But no.
The main character was just unbearable: childish, selfish, a liar who didn’t learn from her behaviour, I didn’t like her at all.
Other characters too annoyed me - Jack who cheats on his wife and explains it away and who can’t be present in his own marriage or understand what his long faithful wife is asking of him.
The bridal shop mentioned in the title barely features and overall it was a disappointing read which could have had potential but sadly was lacking.
The only redeeming feature for me was the depiction of dementia. One of the things Larisa learns is to embrace the moment with her mother whose health is failing. This is something which has been well documented in the care of Alzheimer’s patients and was nice to see.

With thanks to netgalley, Jennifer Dupee and St Martins for the ARC I received in exchange for this honest review.

I wasn’t impressed with this story or characters. It had potential but the idea of someone being nearly 40 and lying so much just turned me off.

I was provided with an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Little French Bridal Shop by Jennifer Dupee left me with mixed feelings about the character of Larisa. Maybe Larisa is mentally or emotionally impaired? I wanted to like this book but I just never could accept Larisa's deceit, lies, and selfish behaviors. Larisa lied to people who loved her when the truth would have been so much more believable!
Larisa is fired from her job and goes to her great aunt's house which her father inherited. She starts pulling down walls the first evening without having the forethought of asking a professional for advice.
I detested the way she treated her mother and father during most of the book. Larisa is totally selfish in not wanting to see her mother as she ages with dementia. I know how hard that stage of life is for a daughter. I left a home I loved to go and care for my mom for six years as her dementia progressed. Larisa's attitude and actions are deplorable!
She lies to Brent, her ex-fiance' about wanting to marry him. Then she decides she wants Jack, the groundskeeper, and another woman's husband, but she does not know if she 'loves' him. Jack is also selfish. He complains about his wife who is caring full-time for his sons, pre-teen triplets.
Larisa takes Andy's Rolls Royce on a trip during a snowstorm without him knowing. Of course, she wrecks the car. and leaves it for her father to have repaired. Who does that?
I thought it was wonderful that she could fall in love with a certain wedding dress and have the confidence to purchase the dress even though she was not engaged. Sometimes a woman needs a boost of something which gives her joy.
The last part of this book is about Larisa trying to come to terms with her life and all the lies she tells. I did not think the story was humorous, it was frustrating for me to read through to the end.
The last chapters reveal a sweet event Larisa stages for her mom and dad, but it was too little too late to redeem this book. The bridal shop was featured in only two scenes in the book. This story had potential but was so very disappointing.
Publication Date: March 9, 2021
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A very thoughtful and attention grabbing story. Honest character portrayal and true life relationships. Has spoken to me for days. I will look for this author again.

Larissa returns to her deceased Aunt Ursula’s house with the intention of selling her house. This is where I didn’t understand the character with her lies. I personally did not like Larissa. I felt she was a selfish person. The other characters Jack, Brent really had no depth. I really wanted to like this book but I couldn’t get into it. Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the E-ARC. This is my own opinion.

I frankly found the protagonist annoying and too self-absorbed. However, her caring for her mother with dementia was heartwarming. And the author did seem to understand the stages of dementia and how very difficult and sad this disease is. I just found the plot and lying over the top. However an interesting read and agreeable ending.

Book was ok. I feel like the story has no real beginning and no real end. The middle was meh. The writing was good but the story .. the mom and dad part was nice. I thought the story was about Larisa but it was more of a mash up of her and Jack. There was no real chemistry between any of the characters and the store was not developed for anyone.


Thanks NetGalley and St. Martin's Press.

I was surprised by the modern tale of the life of the heroine, and truly agrees with the descriptions of the different states she is going through. A courageous story telling about a topic, dementia caused by illness, that is , to my knowledge, almost taboo. So many people want to ignore the consequences for the family and how it hurts. This book should help everyone to understand what is really happening.
i got a copy from Net Galley in exchange for a fair review.

I adored this novel. I loved this story of a young woman, Larisa, trying to navigate a series of sticky relationships with family, lovers, and friends, and not always doing so with grace or aplomb. She is impulsive, she isn't sure what she wants, she makes terrible decisions, and she ends up lying to everyone she loves. But, she has pluck and heart, and how she manages to dig her way out of the mess she's made of her life is what makes this book really shine.

Thanks, NetGalley and St. Martin's for the early, wonderful, read.

I really struggled with this book because the main character was so awful. She kept telling so many lies and she was so terrible that I couldn't connect to the book at all, and I ended up not even being able to finish the book.

The Little French Bridal Shop by Jennifer Dupee was a fun read set in beautiful New England. Larisa Pearl moves to her aunt’s house Elmhearst to get it ready to sell. She’s smarting after breaking up with her boyfriend Brent and getting fired from her job. On a whim she purchases a wedding gown at the town’s bridal shop and people begin asking her about the wedding. The story kind of gets away from Larisa and she goes along. I really wanted to like her but she just behaves like a child and ignores problems. She’s selfish and spoiled, though I appreciated her later character growth she’s not someone I want to see more of.

I loved the men in this book. Jack the caretaker of Elmhearst was a sweetheart as was the town florist, owner of the town gas station and Larisa’s dad Clark. There was a sweet tie to Prince Charles and Diana’s wedding in the book that the royal enthusiast in me loved.

It was difficult to understand and get into the main character, Larisa, due to the annoying lies she seemed to involve herself in continually. Granted this sets up the perimeter for her to learn to be a better person in the end, more true to herself and others, but it felt harsh.

This is a sweet, easy read. Larisa returns to her deceased Aunt's home after being fired from her job hoping to find some closure in her life.

On her first day back in the town she walks into the Little French Bridal shop and buys a wedding gown, even though she has no fiance. One small lie snowballs into another, into another and before she knows whats happening she is busy planning a wedding for June.

This was not at all for me. The main character was just awful. I found her to be immature to the point of ridiculous. Trying to put that aside and give the story a chance, things didn't get any better. I got as far as 50% and just couldn't continue. I found nothing redeeming in the characters or their story.

I must admit to having very strong resentment towards Larisa as she tangled herself in a web of lies, whether it be the status of her relationship, her parent's health or what she wanted to do with Elmhurst. Brent was correct when he said she could look.in a hall of mirrors and not know who she was. Larisa forgot how to be kind. When she rediscovered that, her life changed for the better. She learned to be present and compassionate to Kittie. She let Jack know how she felt. Unlike the startled pheasant, she had her feet firmly on the ground.

I received a free ARC of this from netgalley.

The cover and title of this book really made me want to read it. Unfortunately, the title has very little to do, IMO, with the main focus of the book. It comes across as a completely different story to me so I think it was misnamed. The story seems to rush quickly through months and months, but then leaves an ambiguous ending so why were we rushing so much. The main characters weren't very likable either. Larisa annoyed me with her lying ways. I wanted to like this book, but it's not for me.

For the most part, I enjoyed the overall story and a few of the characters. However, I felt like I was reading while stuck in molasses. So much "text" and not nearly enough dialogue for my liking. I found myself completely skipping over chunks of words just to get on with the story as I didn't find that it added anything extra to hold my attention. And I just could not relate to Larisa. Super self-absorbed, but not elitist (which would've helped me understand her more had she been that way). And the ending was a let-down.

"The Little French Bridal Shop" by Jennifer Dupee is a novel about Larisa who is a woman that returns to an older styled family home after the death of her great Aunt. She plans to fix up the estate and then sell it, but when she stops into the small town's local French Bridal Shop, it sets her off on a path that she never would have predicted.

The author does a fabulous job at setting the scene. As an expert with details and imagery, Jennifer Dupee is able to illustrate Elmhurst (the family estate) and really transport the reader into the story. Unfortunately, the main character Larisa is not very likable. Her shifty attitude and lies left me feeling disconnected from her and her story. Although I didn't enjoy the main character though, the storyline with Larisa's mother did pull on those heart strings and I found the plot to be slow moving but meaningful accordingly.

“Such was the cycle of life. Unpredictable, indiscriminate, yet quietly forgiving at times.”
Larisa’s impromptu walk into a local bridal shop mushrooms into a series of lies that set the core of this novel. The old family home, Elmhurst, sits overlooking the ocean in a small town, Kent Crossing, in Massachusetts. This is an enjoyable piece of women’s fiction. Jennifer Dupee beautifully develops her characters. If you’re looking for a story that makes you smile one moment and then get upset the next, this book is for you.
I want to thank NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for allowing me to read and review The Little French Bridal Shop. It is due to be published March 23rd 2021.

The Little French Bridal Shop by Jennifer Dupee is a heart warming, small town romance, low on drama, nice and clean.

The writing is good and the storyline is enjoyable.

Meet Larisa. She lost her job and moved back in the small town where she spent parts of her childhood. Now she's there to sort out a inheritance she made.
The male main character is Jack, the caretaker for the houe she's sorting.
And then there's the Bridal Shop where everything starts and comes to a conclusion.

I started reading and let me just say, I'm not a huge fan of the heroine. I think of her as weak and her lies didn't make her sympatic either. And like most times in life, you get cought up in the lies you told - pls stay up and carry the consequences.
All in all, a slow burn, low on drama, 3,5 star read.