This is a beautiful story about Millie Middleton, the child of an Italian father African American mother. After her father was killed by racists her mother realizes that Millie could pass for white. Millie is sent away to start a life where no one would know her heritage.
A wonderful story of passion , love and hardship. But so much more!
Will look for more of this authors books. This book does not disappoint!

I requested to read and review this book for free from Baker Publishing Company. This is a powerful story about love, forgiveness, race and hurt, anger, determination. Millie, Rose, Ashley. This story takes place at different times some in present time and other time is 1940s, 1960s, 1980, 2000s. The main setting is the South. It starts a time when slavery was ok and how through the years it was better but not great. Never judge someone by their appearance. What a powerful story about how you have to be strong and fight for what you want. Sometimes the fight has to last for a while but in the end its worth it. This story is for any type of reader.

3 1/2 stars rounded up. 2 time periods.

Present day Harper wants to be a designer and own her own shop. She has scrimped and put all her work into this dream, to include attending a prestigious college. When her final project received less-than-stellar reviews, she is devastated and believes her dreams are crushed.

1946 Millie moves to Charleston to make her own dreams come true. She is harboring a deep secret that could bring her world down in flames. On the train to Charleston, her fate is decided when she meets a man that changes her life forever. When they begin having children, her secret comes out and she has a huge decision to make.

This was a cute story. It did fall apart rather seamlessly, but while I was had to suspend any critical thought, it was still a cutes story.

There is romance, there is suspense and intrigue. it's a clean book, which I appreciated. There were a lot of sweet scenes (some fairly predictible). Overall a sweet read.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wow! What a wonderful story. The Dress Shop on King Street captures the tension of the time period in the 1940s-60s, then slips on to modern day to tell an incredible story of courage, despair, and hope. I absolutely love Millie and Franklin's story as Millie traverses the world of a white person, whose heritage speaks differently. At times Millie's story breaks my heart and makes me angry because of the unfair world she lives in, but she perseveres. Harper's search for the future she dreams of leads Millie and her into Peter's life. The story that tumbles out of the past and crashes into the future is one filled with untold secrets, regrets, and hope, always hope. I also enjoyed the sewing references and the tale of the buttons. I'd love to see Harper's gorgeous creations. Ashley Clark did a beautiful job stitching the eras together and giving Harper a clear understanding of what it takes to follow your dreams. 5+ stars. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Dreams are what keeps us alive and it is the hope of achieving them someday is what makes us keep going. I believe this book gives a very vivid idea of what a dream looks like, and how you'd give away almost all of it just to fulfill the ones of you love. The paths we chose and the decisions we make are meant to take us somewhere, because then we won't be doing what we are doing now and we won't be living the life that we were meant to live.

This book is full of emotions and I'd say it out loud it made me cry. There were tears of happiness, sadness, satisfaction and many other feelings. The author has done a very beautiful work by making the story that could melt the readers heart. I loved the way author took the story forward, as it was an exciting way which kept you wondering what happened next but you'd have to wait to read what did actually happen next. I search for cliffhangers in stories and it makes me fall in love with the story, but this book made me fall in love with it as many times as there are chapters in the book.

Thank you Ashley Clark for such an amazing book. Will surely like to read more of your work. Just keep writing we are here for you.

I LOVED this book. Ashley Clark seamlessly weaves this multigenerational story together in a book that is a joy to read. The characters are rich in depth and detail in a way that the I feel like I know them as real people. Even though the part of history the story is wrapped in is dark and ugly and hard, the story is full of light and redemption. The Dress Shop on King Street is the kind of book I was so immersed in that I was compelled to keep turning pages, at the same time wishing the story would not end.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

What a fascinating book! Author Ashley Clark does a fantastic job of weaving current day with the past, showing the early days of Millie's life and mingling it with Millie's life today. Characters from Millie's past weave together with characters in her world today, explaining how past decisions influenced today's actions. This book is well-written, holds your attention from beginning to end, and doesn't downplay the difficulties of life in the south as a bi-racial individual. All of this with a bit of sweet romance from the past into the present. Great story! I can't wait to read more books from this author!

From beginning to end this book is a page-turner, and you will not be disappointed.
Millie is a spunky young woman when this story begins and we follow her into her 90's, and what a life she has had. Not many could have withstood the heart aches, but she has hung in there, and we journey with her in deep south Alabama. Hate and prejudice abounds here, but how she deals with it, such grace and a few chuckles.
Millie's heart desire is to open a dress shop and she has a kindred spirit in Harper, a young woman she has know from Harper's childhood on.
There are surprises here, and how the facts unfold, we don't get to see the justice that should have happened, but we get to know Millie.
This is an eye opening, heart wrenching read, that you don't want to miss.
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Bethany House, and was not required to give a positive review.

This book is incredible. It very delicately touches on racial issues and decisions you could not possibly imagine having to make. At the very beginning I was a little lost with the introduction of characters, but after the third chapter when all the main characters in the family line were introduced, it was much easier to keep them all straight. The author effortlessly takes the story line between two time periods, only to weave an incredibly beautiful story of hope and ultimately redemption. There are a lot of deep emotions in this book, heartache, loss, but also an amazing hope. The way the author weaves Harper and Millie's stories together will keep you turning the pages until the very end. I found myself reading slower toward the end because I did not want this book to end. This did not feel like a fiction book, but more of a true story. It will make you feel all kinds of things. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a very well-written, engaging fiction. I think whether you are a historical fiction fan or not that you will enjoy this story. This is one that I will remember for a long time. Thank you to Bethany House Publishing and Net Galley for making it possible to read this book. All opinions are entirely my own.

The House on King Street was a delightful story about following your dreams and never giving up, no matter how old you are!

Harper is a young woman with a bright future in fashion design, until one of her professors tells her she has no talent and crushes her dreams. Millie is a young woman in 1946 who has dreams of opening a dress shop, although being a biracial woman, she has two strikes against her before she even begins. Their paths intersect and they find a young man who may have the answer to both of their dreams....

This novel takes the reader from stories of the Civil War South to current day Charleston, SC and paints vivid pictures of these times. A beautfully written novel. Thank you to the author, Bethany Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

A vintage gown, two antique buttons, and an embroidered flour sack are the only clues to a mystery involving a biracial slave girl sold away from her mother at the age of 9, a young woman in the post-WWII South trying to pass as white, and a present-day college student trying to make it as a fashion designer. Two sweet love stories and heartbreaking family secrets make this a tough book to put down. (Netgalley review)

What a beautifully written, sometimes heartbreaking and sometimes heartwarming story beginning in Charleston, SC in 1860 when Rose prepares to send her 9 year old daughter, Ashley, to be sold as a slave. She sends a bag with her which contains some pecans, a cut off braid of her hair and 2 matching butterfly buttons. The story fast forwards to downtown Charleston 1946 where Millicent "Millie" Middleton whose mother is Black and her father is Italian realizes that she can pass for white. Millie's father is killed because he married a Black woman and her mother encourages her to leave Charleston and head to Alabama where maybe she can fulfill her dreams of having a dressmaking shop if she passes for white. Millie is torn with this idea as she is very proud of her Black heritage. When Millie is on the train, she sees a young man hopping the train and he eventually ends up in the train where they meet. The dual timeline begins in Charleston 1946 to Fairhope, Alabama modern day and then as the years pass and secrets are revealed ends up in modern day. I was fascinated with both timelines and all the very interesting characters and their secrets.

Thank you NetGalley and Bethany House Publishers for the ARC of this wonderful book that captured my heart in exchange for an honest review. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series by Author Ashley Clark.

Harper Albright wants to be a fashion designer and when her dream seems impossible to achieve she returns home to Alabama. She arrives at Millie’s boarding house a place where she’s always made to feel welcome and she and Millie are kindred spirits. Both Millie and Harper have a shared interest in fashion, sewing and both dream of having their own dress shop. Despite the age difference, they decided to give it a go and plan opening their own shop together.

The Dress Shop on King Street has a dual timeline; it goes between present time and back to 1946 when Millie was a young woman.

In 1946, Millie Middleton made the choice to leave Charleston, her mother and her heritage behind. Her mother encouraged her to leave, racial tension was dangerously high, Millie could pass as white and it was a very difficult decision for her to make. On her way to her new life, she's extremely nervous, she meets a charming man called Franklin Pinckney on the train; she has no idea she has just met her future husband and do you believe in fate?

Set in America’s south the book is full of descriptions of the old buildings, beautiful vintage dresses, fabrics, buttons and sewing notions both women use. All rather fascinating and It’s also about family secrets, heirlooms, friendship, love, loss, choices, guilt and regret. The Dress Shop on King Street is the first book in the Heirloom Secrets Series; I’m so looking forward to reading the second book and five stars from me.

THE DRESS SHOP ON KING STREET is a lovely, heartfelt dual timeline story recommended for fans of historical fiction and women's fiction. I found myself equally captivated by both timelines and I especially enjoyed the author's wholesome - almost old-fashioned - story-telling style. She does a great job at immersing the reader in the setting and scene. Also, the character development is a delight. I will look forward to more from this author.

The Dress Shop on King Street
by Ashley Clark
Bethany House
You Like Them You Are Auto-Approved
Bethany House Publishers
Christian | Women's Fiction
Pub Date 01 Dec 2020 | Archive Date 12 Jan 2021

This is the first in a series and I can't read to read the next one. Ashley Clark has hit it out of the ballpark. Great book! Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for the ARC. I will recommend this book to our readers.

5 star

This is a beautifully written story about Millie, a biracial child growing up in Charleston, South Carolina in the 1940-50s. Her Italian father was murdered because he was the father to this beautiful child. This story went back and forth between those challenging years for people of color to the present time. As Millie grew into a lovely young woman, her mother sent her away where she would have a chance for a better life, and fulfill her dream of opening a dress shop. She sent Millie off on a train with a satchel that was a family heirloom containing 3 handfuls of nuts, a braid cut from the mother's hair, and some very special buttons passed down from generations before.. While on the train, Millie observed from the window, a "train jumper" who ended up on the train when most eyes were looking outside at a disturbance on the other side of the train.. Franklin, the jumper, a handsome young white man, sat right down next to Millie.

Moving on to the present, Harper, having just graduated from a prestigious design school in Savannah, is enthusiastic about finally having her dream come true.since she was a young girl of having her own dress shop. Her dream is quickly shot-down when she turns in her final senior project, a beautiful vintage dress.. The comment that the dress could be found at any Anthropologie store killed her dream and her confidence in herself.

This is Ashley Clark's debut book and what a lovely story it is.. She brings together the different generations and time together beautifully, as well as the past and present relationship of Millie and Harper. Not wanting to give away any spoilers, I'm not going into too much of the story. I do however, highly recommend this heartfelt, beautiful book.

Harper is a little girl when Millie teaches her to sew. Now grown, Harper's dream is to open a dress shop. She doesn't know that Millie has had that same dream her whole life. Mile let go of the dream. She was busy being a wife and raising her daughter. What few people knew was that she actually had twin daughters. Both of the babies are beautiful. The thing is while one is white with light hair, the other is much darker with curly dark hair. Millie is biracial. She has had to hide her black parentage. At that time people who were biracial were killed or beaten. Her mother made her hide that. Now she must again choose between two cultures, both of which she loves. To protect her child she sends her to live with her husband's mother. The other they raise. If questioned the child is to say that she had an Italian grandfather.
This was a horrible time in history. The dress shop was put on hold. The dream was not forgotten.
Great book, enjoyable read!

I have read many nice little clean romance stories and that was what I expected this book to be--a sweet Christian romance set in the magical towns of Charleston, SC and Fairhope, AL-- but it was way more; it was literature. It is the story of several generations of bi-racial women in the Deep South. There were many heart-breaking moments especially at the beginning of the book but, as I continued to read, themes of hope and redemption broke through. The only thing I would change about the book is that I would like more at the end of the book--more of the "happy" and more of the love between two of the main characters. Perhaps we will see those things in the sequel that is hinted at in the notes at the end of the book. I loved The Dress Shop on King Street and can't wait to gift copies to my daughter and sister. Highly recommend!

This book is absolutely heart breaking and amazing. With the references to Jane Austin and Gilmore Girls, it stole my heart right from the first chapter. I need to read the rest of these once they are out! The two main characters, Millie and Harper will feel like family when you're done

The Dress Shop on King Street by Ashley Clark
Genre: Historical Fiction, Christian Fiction
Rating: 5/5 stars
Ages: 16+ (this book is clean but will likely hold the attention of those 16 and up)
Content: racism, implied consummation of marriage but nothing explicit

A lovely book weaving multiple stories into one that you can’t put down. I don’t usually like split timelines in books because one or the other can tend to be a little slow, but I found The Dress Shop on King Street to be so good I stayed up way too late reading. The author did a wonderful job connecting Millie, Harper, and Peter’s stories.

Even though the book was divided between modern day and the past (meaning less time getting to know the main characters as opposed to what you get with a single pov) the characters were well-developed and sympathetic. It was heartbreaking to see the way racism affected Millie and her family’s lives. The author did a good job handling the sensitive subject of racism and Millie’s struggle with being split between cultures.

Pacing was good, plot was good—I don’t see any problems there. The writing was beautiful as well as the themes the author wove in. I will have to look into more of Ashley Clark’s books. Overall a recommended read for lovers of historical fiction or Christian fiction.

I received a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review