A story of Larissa who has no idea what to do when her life starts to fall apart or even how she is. A wedding dress has her telling lies to everyone including herself. Will she ever tell the truth and figure out who she is and what she really wants?

Cute, and checks all the boxes of a story about a woman at a crossroads who tries a little something to feel better, gets caught up in a story, it affects all of her relationships and she somehow has to find her way out of the mess while learning and evolving. A satisfying read and moments of great fun. We like this character and her decisions sometimes make us cringe, but they're hers, authentically and realistically, so we hang on and watch how she's going to play this all out...because the author has written a splendidly likeable and relatable character we care about.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

A very cute and easy read, this one would be a perfect read if you want to fit one more book in before the summer is out! The writing was just okay, but the characters were really endearing, and I loved the New England setting! Overall, found this one easy and light, and a great escape.

Pros: Tackles grief, dementia, how well we know ourselves and how well we know others. I also appreciate the way the book ended (no spoilers). I enjoyed the hard-won catharsis that occurred for many of the characters.

It's always nice for me to see a "messy' book, and what I mean by that is -- realistic characters, flaws and all, and the strange, messy situations they find themselves in (or in some cases, the situations they create!)

Pro/con? I like when books don't have super hot and heavy physically intimate scenes. That's not to say I don't enjoy it at all because I do! But not every romantic book has to have ooh-aah moments described in detail, in my humble opinion. It doesn't always fit the mood of a book, know what I mean? I said "pro/con" because that might not be to people's liking if they're expecting ooh-aah moments.

This is a book about finding yourself, learning about family and facing hard truths about one's self, where you stumbled and how to get back up again.

A lovely story a book I devoured wonderful characters.A story that I enjoyed from first page to last.Perfect escape read looking forward to more by this author.#netgalley#st.martins

The Little French Bridal Shop was charming, if not what I expected. Led on by the title and the cover art, I was expecting a novel set in the streets of Paris, but instead, was welcomed onto the North Shore of Massachusetts. The setting was lovely, though a tad unrealistic, and left me wanting more. The characterization was a bit flat, as well, leaving the reader to wonder just how likely any of this was. Overall, it was an alright read - the kind that would suffice amongst limited options, but not destined to top any best-seller lists.

The descriptive language was beautiful and helped tie it to the theme , especially of the timeline with memories and memory loss. However, the theme as a whole didn’t seem to match the title and the story itself was good , but a bit unsatisfying at the same time.

2.5 stars. I skimmed a lot of this one. The writing style was good, the concept could have been successful, but the execution was over the top. Having worked in a bridal salon myself, I really wanted to love this book. The cover is beautiful, but the bridal shop only plays an incidental role in the novel.

Larisa's life is a mess. She lost her job, broke up with her boyfriend, her mother has Alzheimer's, and her beloved great-aunt passed away. No wonder why she is acting out in strange ways. She returns to her hometown to prepare her great-aunt's home for sale. On a whim she enters a local bridal shop.

If you crave trying on wedding gowns but you are not engaged, do not do it in your gossipy hometown. She pretends she is getting married and winds up buying a wedding gown. She finds herself mired in lies related to this faux wedding. News of her supposedly upcoming nuptials spread throughout the community.

To make matters worse, she renews a friendship with a man who is having marital problems. Both parties have feelings for each other but do not progress beyond one kiss. Larisa's life and the man's life are both a mess. Then Larisa's ex-boyfriend shows up. There is so much going on in this story, it feels like a soap opera.

Larisa's behavior is so outrageous, readers will struggle to relate to her, much less to like her. The author seems to be sending a message that people can be lost in different ways. Point taken. I felt as though I was beaten over the head with it. Larisa is just as lost and confused as her mother who suffers from Alzheimer's. This concept could have been the basis for successful novel. The Little French Bridal Shop failed because the message was buried so far beneath a disjointed set of circumstances, the reader becomes frustrated and gives up on the characters.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Such a fun beach read. I really enjoyed this sweet, lovely story about the bridal shop. Lots of fun!

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

I requested to read and review The Little French Bridal Shop from publishing company St. Martin Press. This is the first book I have read by author Jennifer Dupee. This book I wasnt to sure about a first. But I told myself to keep going and I am glad I did. This book is a great book to follow one of the main characters Larisa. How life can be complicated when thought can spiral out of control. And how sometimes life isn't perfect. In fact it can be messy and full of many emotions. But you keep going and figure it how to love and take the bad times and make them as good as can be. Because there is no road map for life and that's ok. This is for any type of reader.

Call me cliché but I devoured this book like a croissant. I packed it on a weekend trip to the beach and it was just the escape that I needed. Dupee’s characters are magical and relatable. Her descriptions are delightful and the setting was my favorite part! This was a fun, light read that I never wanted to end!

When I saw the title of this book, "The Little French Bridal Shop," I immediately pictured a book similar to Julie Caplin's novels -- a gentle love story set in a picturesque little town centered around a bakery owner, a bookstore owner, or another small business. But this story is really quite different than that. In fact, I think the title is a bit deceiving, because the title refers to a shop that plays only a very small, but pivotal role in the story.

Larisa is a 30-something woman who is struggling with some deep personal issues -- the loss of her mother's mental capacity to dementia, a recent breakup with a longtime boyfriend, and the death of her eccentric beloved Aunt Ursula. Aunt Ursula owned a stately older home called Elmhurst in a small New England town. She left the home to her brother, Larisa's father. Since Larisa's father is busy taking care of his wife, as her Alzheimer's progresses, Larisa decides to go to the home and assess it, with the idea of convincing her father to sell it. It will also give her an opportunity to get away and hopefully get a new perspective on the personal issues that plaque her.

Larisa spent a lot of time at Elmhurst when she was younger, so everyone in the nearby town knows her and remembers her. On a whim, she walks into a little French bridal shop and discovers that one of her grade school teachers owns the place. Although Larisa is no longer engaged or even going out with a special guy, the teacher immediately assumes that Larisa is in the shop because she's looking for a wedding dress. Larisa doesn't correct her, and so begins the lie that weaves itself into a web and involves several other people in town, eventually with some short-term devastating effects on Larisa and several others.

Although the story does have some romantic aspects, it really is about Larisa's discovery of herself and her ability to deal with the devastating effects that dementia is having on her mother. Larisa struggles with the fact that her mother is no longer able to nurture Larisa, which I'm sure is a feeling that haunts many adult children with parents who have Alzheimer's. In the process, Larisa learns to be more honest with herself -- not only about her relationship with her parents, but also with the man in her life.

I must admit I was disappointed that it wasn't a lighthearted romantic read, but I did enjoy reading the book. I could relate to Larisa's mental struggles about the role reversal that takes place as one's parents age and are no longer able to do the things they once did. I know that other reviewers thought that Larisa was self-centered and maybe even a bit neurotic, but can any of us predict to how we will react when an unexpected, extremely stressful situation, like the loss of a parent to dementia, will affect us?

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

Thank you so much for this ARC!

I was super excited to read this! Unfortunately, I had no interest once I started going. This was just not for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for my digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I chose this book because of the name and the cover, for the most part. I am also fascinated with France and um, weddings. So yeah...I can see by other reviews that the book is kind of hit or miss. Some people loved it and some people not so much. For me, I MOSTLY loved it....I didn't always like the main characters but they kind of made up for it in the end. We meet Larissa when her Aunt dies and she goes back to the town she spent so much time in growing up. For whatever reason, when she gets there she decides to go into the bridal shop and try on dresses. She starts a little lie that eventually spreads all over town when she says she will be getting married...and then when she sees the perfect dress, she buys it even though she just broke up with her boyfriend. In the next few days, more vendors approach her asking if she could use their services for her wedding...and they also ask about her parents which leads to more lies. Her mother has Alzheimer's and she cannot come to terms with it so she lies to the people, telling them her parents are off traveling. We also meet Jack, who is the caretaker of the house and she has known him for a long time...but this time is different. He is having marriage problems and when he gets kicked out he heads right to his favorite house and asks if he can stay there awhile. Eventually everything blows up in her face and she has no choice BUT to come to terms with all of the lies she has told. This is where the growth happens and when I start to like her a little more. In the end, I enjoyed the book just as much as I thought I would. :)

All the back and forth "does he/she love me or not" between characters started to wear on my nerves. I found the main character spiky and annoying. Sadly, not a fan of this book.

Overall I enjoyed The Little French Bridal Shop. At times the writing seemed disjointed, but gets back on track. The journey through seasons and self awareness was a highlight of the book.

I was really excited to receive an advanced copy of this book. The cover art is lovely and the premise sounded sweet. But, like the name of the bridal shop in Dupee's work, names can be deceiving. I just couldn't immerse myself in this text. The sentences are fruitlessly cumbersome. Larisa, our main character, is deceitful, so much so that it became difficult to root for her. While some of the male characters are charming, and I did appreciate the depiction of dementia, I would, unfortunately, not recommend this book. I am grateful to Netgalley and St. Martin's for the ARC, which I received in exchange for an honest review.

This whole story tells the tale about how one lie can snowball. What a mess this girl is, and where does she get the money to remodel this house. I don't know that I would give her a second chance like her family and friends did more than once, All in I guess it was a good book. With not having anything to do I'll read just about anything and this did pass the time.

This was a wonderful book about finding yourself and dealing with dementia. I have a love/hate relationship with books dealing with dementia. It is something my family has dealt with and I love books that discuss it but it always breaks my heart a little bit.

Both Larisa and Jack were searching for who they really are. I love the ending. And I adore what happens with the dress.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.