This was exactly the lighthearted sexy read I needed to get out of a hit of a reading slump- did I love every single bit of it? No. (Especially one particular character who thinks she owns the town. Ick.) Did I fly through it in one day because it hit all the notes I didn't know I needed? Yes! I loved that it contained multiple romance tropes (best friend's brother *swoon*.) I loved that there was neurodiverse representation. Not having been diagnosed with ADHD myself I can't speak to how well that was represented, but as someone who rarely has all their ducks in a row and is absolutely no stranger to the whole hot mess express situation, I could definitely relate in many ways to the character's thoughts and feelings when everyone else seemed so "perfect." I thought Millie was awesome, by the way! Overall, I thought it was an excellent summer read that everyone should be tossing in their beach bag! It did a great job being light and fun while touching on some weighty stuff. The dress was a unique twist but probably not where I would have snatched the title from.

Having read and loved the sisterhood of the traveling pants, I couldn’t really resist picking up Four Ways to wear a Dress . Particularly after hearing about some similarities between the books. Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for my e-arc.

I so wanted to like this book. The premise of finding oneself in their 20s while utilizing a dress that has been a part of three other friends major life events sounded excellent. But sadly this book and I were not a fit. I simply couldn’t connect with Millie and her choices. And her love interest Peter just didn’t provide the spark that she continuously referenced. Their relationship just felt forced to me. So while I didn’t love this book it may will work for others the beauty of our reading lives.

This one fell flat for me! If you are into social media and steam this is a great book for you. I found the storyline to be unbelievable and the characters fell flat for me. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't find a connection.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

In a Nutshell: For those who love Instagram and Instagrammers. Not my cup of tea. Irritating and contradictory mc. Meh plot except when it comes to steam and Instagram.

Story Synopsis:
Millie has been fired from her marketing job and to get a break, she decides to go to Peacock Bay, a remote surfer’s paradise in California where her college bestie Quincy lives with her family and works as a successful influencer on Instagram. The fact that Quincy’s hot brother, Pete, is also there running his family hotel is an added bonus. Before she moves, Millie finds a little black dress that she shared with her four college friends (including Quincy.) The girls consider this dress lucky, so Millie hopes some of the luck will come her way in California.
Peacock Bay is full of influencers, so Millie has to do whatever she can to gain more followers. When this involves telling the world that Pete is her Instagram Husband, things begin changing faster than she can handle.
The story is written in the first person perspective of Millie.

Where the book worked for me:
😍 I learnt a lot (theoretically) about surfing. I love the beach but haven’t ever traversed the waves on a surfboard (nor am I likely to!) So seeing the surfer lifestyle vicariously was great fun.
😍 I liked the fictional Peacock Bay. The story uses its location very well. If it were an actual place, it would have been on my must-visit destinations list.
😍 There are a few interesting characters I would have loved to know more. Pete especially was a fabulous character. (His only flaw was that he fell for Millie.) Quincy, Amelia and Sage had great potential too, but they are underutilised. And I can’t forget baby Claire!
😍 There are some important topics raised – sustainable living, eco-friendly activities, buying local. All of these could have been better developed but yeah, at least they were present in the narrative.

Where the book could have worked better for me:
😔 Right from the start, I could see that the writing isn’t to my taste. Even other than the extraneous and abundant f bombs (I’ve gotten used to them now and treat them as a necessary hazard of contemporary fiction), Millie’s thoughts seem to be restricted to just a few topics. I didn’t get some of the humour. Like when Millie mentions in an inner monologue having made “penis-shaped pretzels”, what was the point of revealing that titbit? It felt so forced.
😔 Millie is a study of contradictions. If anyone has a research assignment on an oxymoronic character, please consider Millie as a prime subject. Here are some examples of her polar thinking:
1. She claims that she can’t reschedule a job interview as it is unprofessional. A few pages later, she drops an email just a little before the scheduled interview time declaring her lack of interest in that position anymore.
2. When Pete asks her not to go surfing alone, she blasts him with “feminist independence” ideologies and how she was a grown woman who didn’t need a man for protection. A few paras later, she claims she knows that Pete only meant that surfing alone was dangerous regardless of gender.
3. Millie is an ADHD sufferer and every time there’s an upheaval in her emotional situation, she blames it on her ADHD. At the same time, if anyone makes any reference to her disorder, she sees red. (Actually, even if people weren’t talking about her disorder, she assumed that they did and saw red!)
4. Millie hates it when men objectify her based on her anatomical virtues. Guess what Millie does when she sees men? Nothing like pseudo-feminists to set the cause of gender equality veering on the wrong path.
5. Quincy is supposed to be Millie’s best friend and they’ve stayed in touch all the years after college. Yet Millie doesn’t even know the gender of Quincy’s two children, let alone their names. A couple of pages later, Millie knows every single detail of Alana’s kids, including their date of birth, though she has just seen Alana online. Weird!
😔 ADHD and (possible – yet to be diagnosed) autism are two disorders covered in the book, and both have been handled badly. The character who is possibly autistic serves only as a lever to take a minor arc ahead. It feels like a half-baked idea has been incorporated to justify some moral purpose. ADHD does somewhat better in terms of the attention it gets. But as most of this is from Millie who assumed everyone is judging her for her ADHD (whether they are or not), it gets very repetitive and irritating.
😔 The title doesn’t match the story at all. The ‘little black dress” is supposedly used by the four friend as a lucky charm. We only see Millie using it for almost the entire story. (Don’t know if the author has plans to write a series with one friend each.) So I haven’t figured out what are the “Four Ways to Wear a Dress” if only one friend was wearing it throughout. The plot reminded me strongly of “Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants”, where the four friends share a pair of pants that magically fits all of them and is their lucky charm. But SotTP made better use of the idea; this book is a pale shadow of the original. (Also, Millie, OMG! Could you please launder that dress before packing it and mailing it off to your friend??!?!)
😔 The writing is very repetitive.
😔 As some of my friends know, I am not into Instagram. I dislike the filtered lifestyle it promotes. This book reminded me of all the reasons I hate the app. (People actually spray-paint leaves for autumn-based pics? Don’t they ever think about the planet? And this is in a supposedly eco-friendly location!) At the same time, the story takes the Insta influence too far. Getting 75k followers even if you are piggy-backing on some other influencer isn’t an easy task. Millie’s Insta journey seems very farfetched.
⚠ The word “spaz” is used in the book four times, all with the meaning of incompetence or clumsiness. However, “spaz” is derived from “spastic”, and the usage of “spaz” is considered highly offensive in many places. It might be an acceptable lexicon as per the urban dictionary (and from what I could gather online, it is an acceptable word in the US) but I found it insensitive, especially when Millie herself doesn’t like to be labelled as an ADHD sufferer.


I might have enjoyed this book more had Millie’s character been more sensible or likeable, preferably both. But I just couldn’t connect with her and because she was the narrator, the entire experience fell flat for me. This is a debut work, so I hate to be so dismissive of it, but the book hardly clicked for me. It might work better for you if you like Instagram, like almost-insta romance, and like live-in-the-moment-without-using-your-brain characters. Those looking for steamy scenes will be mighty happy with the spice levels in this story.

2 stars.

My thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for the “Read Now” option on this DRC of “Four Ways to Wear a Dress”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn’t work out better.

I was hoping Four Ways to Wear a Dress would be a great summer read, based on the cover art and beach setting.

When Millie loses her job, she decides to visit one of her best friends in Peacock Bay, a small beach town full of surfers and social media influencers. Before leaving, she finds her and her friends “sisterhood of the travelling pants” type dress, and honestly, I’m not sure what the point of that was. As the story goes on, I honestly forgot it was even a part of the story.

Once in Peacock Bay, Millie’s trying to create a social media presence like seemingly everyone else in this town. Some of the social media aspects were funny and relatable, but others really showcased the fake and cringey parts of being online. Alana, the obvious villain and social media ringleader, was so unlikeable to me, pushing the idea that a ‘perfect’ social media presence is the only way for the town to maintain its livelihood. Eye roll. I just don’t get why no one was pushing back??

Millie has ADHD, and her friend Quincy’s son may have autism, and I liked that the author was trying to include discussion around it. However, I was horrified there was talk of excluding Quincy’s son from events because of this.

I haven’t even gotten to the romance yet. It had the best friend’s brother trope and fake dating, which I enjoy, but it felt overshadowed by some of the other drama plot lines. Millie spent a lot of energy saying it’s fake, when it was obvious he was into her. By the end, I felt tired of all of the characters running through life with blinders on.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars

Overall, a cute, quick read about a young woman with ADHD who loses her job and sets out to reinvent herself.
Unfortunately, I think the author tried to do too much with it - tackle the internal negative monologue of someone struggling with ADHD, expose the hypocrisy of social influencers, and discuss misogyny in the sport of surfing.

Millie's constant self-flagellation got tiresome. Honestly, it seemed like she needed therapy more than she needed a boyfriend. She blamed all of her problems on her ADHD, even though it was controlled by medication. Yes, I know meds aren't a cure, but she needed to learn to love herself before she could really love someone else.

The social influencers subplot was disturbing and probably way too true. Can't believe everything you see on the internet! The misogyny in surfing was eye-opening to someone unfamiliar with the sport.

I'm assuming this is the beginning of a series where we'll see the "magical" black dress passed between friends. If so, I'll read them!

Thank you Sourcebooks Casablanca for the opportunity to read a digital ARC in return for an honest review.

There's a magic dress shared between 4 friends. Millie finds it before moving/visiting Peacock Bay, California. She's hoping to use her marketing skills to become an influencer like her friend Quincy. Quincy's brother Pete manages his parents' hotel. They use social media and influencers to help their occupancy. When Millie comes up with an idea to help them both out.

This book is super cute. I wasn't sure what I was going to read with the title. Such a weird title for such a fun light read.

If Beach Read and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants had a baby, this book would be it!

I loved the setting of the book and friends-to-lovers/best friends brother tropes are ones o find enjoyable. I felt the ADHD and possible autism rep was done well. As a Bookstagrammer, I could relate to the social media challenges brought up in the book.

While this is a romance and there are several steamy scenes, I enjoyed the friendship dynamics in the book as well. I felt awful for Millie, but in the end, she prevailed and found the Congo fence she needed to be her authentic self.

This book will definitely be going on my beach read recommendations list!

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for an ARC.

I kept going back and forth on if I liked this book or not. In the end I don’t think I didn’t like it, but I can’t say I loved it.

I actually enjoyed Millie. She was fun and I really loved that she embraced her ADHD and her failures. I wish she realized more of how she wasn’t a failure at the end of this story.
I wish we saw more of Pete, even a prologue just to understand him and Millie a little more.
The two side characters I actually liked, were not in this enough for me. I wish we got more of Bree and Kate.

As I always say, don’t let my opinion of a book influence yours. If this one sounds good to you, pick it up and try it for yourself!

While I enjoyed the overall story and loved the beach setting, something about this book just wasn't great for me. I typically love a woman's fiction with a side of romance, this one just wasn't quite what I needed at the time. It was a good beach book and fun as a palate cleanser, but not likely to be one I remember. I'd still recommend to certain of my friends who would enjoy it and I'd still read something else by the author.

Millie's attempt to rise from the ashes with the help of her friends, her secret crush and a "hopefully" magical dress is enough of a plot that intrigued me to pick this book in the first place.
A little steamy, a little quirky and a lot to rebuild, I found Millie a mess worth saving. Also there's nothing like a cringe moment when someone propositions their secret crush to save them both that hooks me.
Tackling a main character with ADHD is impressive and makes her more relatable.
I had fun with this one, thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read and give my honest opinion.

Four Ways to Wear a Dress was a delightful summer beach-esque read. It had many of the tropes that I always adore, the girl reunites with her friend's hot brother now that they're both a little older, not to mention: fake. dating. trope! With the prevalence of social media and influencers these days I found it really cute and unique to read a story where the MC's focus is to keep her influencer career strong too!

Four Ways to Wear a Dress by Gillian Libby. Pub Date: June 7, 2022. Rating: 3 stars. Set in a small beach town, this story focuses on Millie. Millie has just lost her PR job and is at a crossroads in life. Feeling like a failure and not wanting to disappoint, she escapes to California. There, she embarks on a journey of self discovery with her friends pushing her to wear the little black dress. In the world of influencing on social media, Millie is on a journey to rediscover herself. Through it all, it leads to a "fake relationship" that could potentially develop into something real. Themes throughout this book are self discovery, relationships, social media and friendships. This is a good story, but fell a little flat for me. Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review. #netgalley #fourwaystowearadress #sourcebookscasablanca

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants + Blue Crush = Four Ways to Wear a Dress

A sleepy, picturesque, California beach town is the setting for this beach read. I fell in love with the well developed characters. Even the character I didn't really like (Alana), I could totally understand her motivation.

Four Ways to Wear a Dress is well classified as New Adult....the main character struggles with ADHD, another character is dealing with the decision to evaluate her son for autism, and omigosh the social media influencing! I honestly think Instagram is as much the main character as Millie (the narrator).

I really liked this book. The only thing holding me back from a 4 (or possibly even 5) star rating is the romance. It is clear from the start that Pete is into Maggie. I mean there is literally NO question about it. It is obvious. To everyone. Everyone, except Millie. And much to my annoyance, Millie's perpetual state of oblivion persists until the last couple of chapters.

All in all, fun summer reading!

Appreciation to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for an eARC.

Thank you to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca for the ARC.

🌟🌟🌟🌟 4/5 stars

Four Ways to Wear a Dress is a fun, summer-y romance with great characters and a dreamy setting. After being fired from her marketing job, Millie decides to visit her best friend (an Instagram influencer) in a California. Millie decides to take a shot at being an influencer herself and documents her trip, along with all of the hijinks that ensue. After a misunderstanding, Millie and her long time crush, Pete, decide to fake a relationship to save his hotel and to launch her Instagram. Of course, the fake dating turns into more.

This was a cute, breezy read set in a small surf town. I loved the side plot of Millie and her friends sharing a “magical” dress. It was very Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and I loved it. Overall, Four Ways to Wear a Dress is a solid summer romance with plenty of banter and a great cast of characters.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Four Ways to Wear A Dress was the perfect dive into summer reading. The premise starts off like a single POV version of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and I would love to see spinoffs of the other friends when they are in possession of it!

Millie was a really fun MC. Recently laid off from her marketing job, she goes to visit some college friends in their beachside surfer town and decides to try her hand at influencing while she’s there. She gets reacquainted with her best friend’s hot brother, and they begin a fake relationship to boost their follower counts.

Millie and Pete had great chemistry. I love the friends-to-lovers trope, and their scenes were really fun to read. There was the perfect amount of steam.

The setting was probably my favorite part of this book. I adore little beachside towns and got excited for my own summer vacation plans while listening to this story.

There were a couple of things I didn’t love–most were minor, like the fact that the storyline turned away from the dress despite it being in the title. As someone who clearly spends a lot of time on Instagram, it felt extremely unrealistic that a social media nobody would gain 75k+ followers in just a month. I also felt like Millie took the “fake dating” bit too far, but constantly insisting how fake it was when Pete clearly was interested in her too.

I really disliked how Quincy’s story was dismissed. Alana was terrible to Quincy as she tried to navigate her son’s possible diagnosis, telling her to hide it for the sake of social media likes and follows. I wish there was some justice for Quincy and her son, and he deserved better than to be excluded by the moms and likely the other children. I do hope that he gets a happier ending if this is turned into a series.

Overall, this debut was a fun, summery hit. I’m looking forward to reading more from Gillian Libby!

After losing her job, Millie flees to Peacock Bay, encouraged by her friends who live there. Will now be the time she gets together with Pete, her friends brother who has been her longtime crush?
A great read.

This is an enjoyable book with a strong voice and fun characters. I liked Millie a lot. She and Pete had a ton of chemistry. It confused me that they continued to consider their relationship fake even after they started sleeping together. At that point, maybe they might have talked about having real feelings for each other? But in the context of the book, I suppose it made sense. This novel is an interesting look at influencer culture and finding the balance between your personal and professional persona.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

2.8 Stars

One Liner: More misses than hits!

Mille Ward has been laid off from her PR job. She feels like a failure, not able to hold on to a job and settle down in life (according to her parents). Her parents blame it on her ADHD, but Millie knows that’s not the reason. She decides to visit her best friend Quincy in a small Bay town in California.
Quincy and her folk of influencers work overtime to promote the laidback town, and Millie decides she could try a hand at becoming an influencer herself. Not to mention, she also gets to crush on Pete, Quincy’s brother, from close quarters.
Her other two besties, Kate and Bree, help her with the move and encourage her to wear their magical black dress. It never failed them before, after all. Millie is doubtful she would fail the dress but wears it.
When Millie has to convince Pete to be her Instagram Husband to promote her profile and his hotel business, things get a little complicated for them. Can their fake relationship lead to something real? Can the influencers save the town? Can Millie get her career back on track?
The story is written in Mille’s first-person POV.

What I Like:
Millie is a decent character when she doesn’t go overboard (which happens more often during the second half).
The setting was beautiful. I liked the scenes about surfing. Got to learn something from it, so that’s always a plus. Not that I intend to surf or anything.
Pete is a really cool character (it also helps that he is super handsome). I feel bad for him, thanks to Millie’s stupidity. Not that he was faultless, but still.
We see different types of working women, and each of them goes through ups and downs. I don't like Alana’s idea of perfection, but I can understand her fear of losing followers and risking everything they built from scratch. That doesn’t excuse her interference in others’ lives.
The story has potential and made me chuckle a few times. I also didn’t have to stress my grey cells, which is another plus. But it could have been so much better.

What Didn’t Work for Me:
This is a case where the reader can see that Pete is in love with Millie, but she doesn’t see it (she is the narrator). She is determined to remind him that their relationship is fake at every possible opportunity. I started checking how many pages were left each time this happened.
While the title makes the black dress a prominent part of the book, the storyline somehow loses track of it. There’s a scene towards the end that feels patchy and unnecessary (only to somehow do justice to the title). The book could’ve been the same even without that dress. Not to mention that the same dress fits four different women.
Since when did an invitation to an interview imply a job? If that was the case, the unemployment rate around the world would never shoot up. Getting a job isn’t that easy. Millie getting kicked out of hers on the first page of the book is enough indication of the market conditions.
A major part of the book is about the life of social media influencers. It sure is damn hard to create an Instagram-worthy perfect life and hide the rest from the world. But that shouldn’t come at the cost of personal, especially kids’ future.
Alana’s character is a contradiction throughout. I still don’t know who she really is.
Millie is almost an instant success on Instagram. She has like 75K followers in around a month. How does that happen to non-celebs or people without no previous accounts or recognition on social media? (I’m a content writer, and digital marketing is one of my niches.)
ADHD and autism are both a part of the book, but neither gets justice. And no, Millie can’t blame her stupidity on ADHD. I disliked how the kid (Quincy’s son) hardly got any space in the book. Nope. He deserved better.

To sum up, Four Ways to Wear a Dress is a lighthearted book with some laughs and annoying moments if you don’t mind an overload of the influencer stuff. Oh, a generous amount of the F-word.

Thank you, NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca, for the eARC.

*****
P.S: The book has steam (level 3-ish, I suppose). Readers, be warned. ;)

In this book we meet Millie, sadly she has just lost her job and after a string of failures over the years she just is not sure what she is going to do next. She is very lucky to have a brilliant group of friends, 2 in New York where she is now and 2 in California, now to work out where she wants to be and what she wants to do with her life.

🖤 Best Friends Brother
🖤 Childhood Friends
🖤 Friends to Lovers
🖤 Friend group
🖤 Small Town
🖤 Fake Dating

I absolutely loved the storyline of this book, it grabbed me in right from the first page and I couldn’t put it down, I read 75% in the first sitting as it was that good.

I loved the characters, they were a great group of friends who had been there for one another for years, the kind of friends that would drop everything to help you out.

Millie suffered from some issues that had sometimes made her deal with things over the years that sometimes resulted in her upsetting others, or things not turning out how they should. She owns this though and it’s not like it’s through choice and she does actually feel bad about it. She just wants to be happy and live her life how she wants to, but struggling to make that happen.

I love the social media aspect of this story as this is how life is right now, it’s all full of influencers, however I loved that she showed the reality of these lives even if she let it control her for a while.


I love a storyline set at the beach, I live at the beach and it’s my favourite place ever! The setting was stunning and I could see myself visiting and soaking it all up.

Great quick fun easy read, perfect for a day sunning at the beach or by the pool.

I recommend to everyone 🖤