🏄🏼‍♀️Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5🏄🏼‍♀️
(Rounded up on Goodreads)

Millie Ward has just been fired from her marketing job in New York. Feeling like a failure and needing a change of pace, she decides to visit one of her college roommates in California. Getting out of New York meant she could get back to things she enjoyed doing, like surfing, and maybe finally figuring out what she wants to do with her life.

Millie also knew that going to California meant she got to see her best friend, Quincy, but also Quincy’s brother, Pete Santana. Millie has always had a crush on Pete, but he’s never shown any interest so Millie has never acted on her feelings.

With no job, Millie decides to document her time in California by starting an Instagram profile devoted to her adventures. But in the small town of Peacock Bay, being an influencer is a big deal and appearances online are everything. After another influencer posted a picture of Millie and Pete, people online assumed they were together, so they both went along with it and agreed to fake a marriage. The only thing is, Millie’s real feelings are getting in the way and believes Pete is just faking it for appearance sake. But is Pete faking it or does he have the same feelings for Millie?

Overall, I thought this was a cute story with some steam, but it did fall short for me. I listened to it on audio the narrator, Erika Schindele, did an excellent job. This definitely gave off Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants vibe, except with a little black dress that is passed among 4 college roommates, but this only told Millie’s story.

There were quite a few tropes thrown in. There was fake dating, falling for the older brother of the best friend, small town romance, and miscommunication. While I’m all for certain tropes, I can’t stand miscommunication and it just frustrates me anytime I see it.

Lastly, the characters were all adults and most were married with kids, but they acted like they were in high school and were extremely petty and immature. There was one character in particular like this and it was really hard to listen to the parts she was in. It just felt unnecessary and did not interest me.

Thank you NetGalley, Sourcebooks, and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to listen to this ARC for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book is the perfect summer read! The romance between Millie and Pete is HOT! This book is meant to be read on a beach somewhere as it takes place in a small beach town. Millie is a hilarious main character and makes the reader giggle throughout the whole book. This book was such a fun read!

This review will be based on the audio alone. I was also given the opportunity to read the book along with the audio.

The narrator was a great fit for this story. Her voice fit the vibe of the story and she transitioned well through the characters. I could picture the main character sounding like this. Her voice reminded me of Kristin Bell.

Overall I really enjoyed this story and it will be a great read/listen for this summer.

Thank you Gillian Libby, Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook.

👗Four Ways To Wear A Dress 👗

Out: June 7

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 (3 Stars)
Steam: 🌶🌶🌶/5 (a few very descriptive steamy scenes)

Narration: I really
Enjoyed the narrator! They did a good job of distinguishing between characters.

No spoiler review 👇🏻

This was a decent contemporary romance book. This book follows Millie she loses her job and decides she needs a change. She decides to go to a small California town to become a influencer and spend time surfing/staying at her best friends parents hotel. Her best friend brother who Millie has always loved also runs this hotel. Millie also has ADHD so it’s nice to have that rep in this book!

On top of this premise, Millie and her four friends share a black dress. Which they believe to be lucky so Millie brings that with her to California. (Some sisterhood of the traveling pants vibes).

This book has fake dating and brothers best friend trope. I enjoyed the romance and steam of this book!

Reason for 3 stars- This is all good but I found they stopped the dress main idea (and title) about halfway through.
Also the romance was good but took a backseat to being this whole influencer thing and felt a little rushed. Overall I just found this book okay. Such good premise but not done great in my opinion. If it wasn’t for the audiobook I probably would have struggled more with this book.

But I did enjoy the California setting and romance when it was on screen! Those parts were fun.

Thanks to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review

This is very much a grown up Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants if it was only focused on one of the friends. Considering, I would expect this to be the jumping off point for a fun series revolving around the LBD.
Millie can't seem to hold a job and when the most recent one goes up in flames, she throws caution to the wind and leaves for an extended visit to her best friend's hometown. It doesn't hurt that said best friend has a hunky brother, Pete, who is the one who got away. It also doesn't hurt that she finds some joy in her hot mess express social media platform she's created.
I don't mind steam and language if it pushes the story forward. There was a lot of unnecessary cursing (at times it was the only adjective) and it pulled me out of the story, which is rather unfortunate, because it's quirky and fun.
The narration by Erika Schindele is an easy listen. Her voice is fitting for a twenty-something and brought Millie to life.
Thank you to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for the advanced copy and Dreamscape Media for the alc. All thoughts in this review are my own.

In Four Ways to Wear a Dress by Gillian Libby, the readers are given a story from Millie’s point of view. Millie is one out of a friend group of four who seems to having a lot of things go downhill in her life. The biggest one being her getting fried from her job, and it’s not the first time she’s been fired. Feeling discouraged, she decides that the best course of action for her is to start over somewhere new so she chooses to go to California to be with another girl from her friend group. While packing, her friends find a dress in a box that had held many memories for the girls. This dress was shared between all four girls for various occasions in their lives. When Kate and Bree see the dress they encourage Millie to wear it to California since this is about to be a big moment in her life. This dress then leads to many positive things happening in California once she is reunited with Quincy and makes more friends. She is also reunited with Pete, who was her crush all throughout high school. Throughout Millie’s time in California she increases the followers on her social media account, becomes closer to Pete, and perfects her surfing. I loved so many aspects of this book. Also the narration was very good. All of the characters had a distinct voice that perfectly fit their personalities and made it easy to follow. I love that this book included some fake dating and many pop culture references as well as some references to the pandemic. I listened to this book in one sitting and would definitely recommend it to others. Especially has a summer read for 2022!!

This was a wonderful narration for this story. She was cute and perky when needed, emphasized the spiraling thoughts associated with ADHD in her tone, and showed emotion in her voice. Loved it.
For the storyline: This story is the best of two things. 1) it’s a cute little surfer story with second-chance romance, best friends brother, AND fake dating tropes. 2) It hits all the points to social media. What it’s like to grow on social media, the rush, the highs and lows of gaining followers and sharing your everything online. I adored the ADHD and Autism representation tied HEAVILY into the storyline (not just as passing comment). I loved the spice spice spice of this novel and it’s not a one time thing. There are A LOT of characters. So many names to follow if you were to casually read. But if you binge it or read consistently over a few days you’ll LOVE the side characters and what they bring to the storyline. I hope for more spin-off’s and seeing how that magical black dress helps the other women.

🎧 Rom-Com Audiobook ARC Review 🎧
Title: Four Ways to Wear a Dress
Author: Gillian Libby
Narrated by: Erika Schindele
Release Date: June 7, 2022

When you were younger did you and your circle of friends ever have a shared item that was destined to give you luck?

🍨 The Scoop 🍨
Millie has been fired from her job again.  She decides to take a break from her busy city lifestyle and visit her college friends, turned Instagram influencers, in the quiet surfing town of Peacock Bay.  She can't wait to get back on a surfboard and have some interaction with her friend's hot brother, Pete.  Before leaving, her roommates, Bree and Kate help her pack and they discover the dress they shared for fortune and bravery during their college years and decide Millie should take it with her. 

💁‍♀️ My Thoughts 💁‍♀️
The audiobook narrator did a fantastic job with this story.  She had distinct voices for all the characters and with expression in her tone, she brought the story to life.
I admired Millie and her ultimate goal of helping the community grow and although she was going threw a lot she eventually realized that the motion of faking it to win is sometimes not as desirable as being genuine.  I also was impressed that the author emphasizes openly talking about neurodevelopmental disorders in this book with Millie having ADHD and her friend's son's assumed autism.  The title of the book is important, however, I found the use of the magical dress to be sporadic throughout the story to a degree that eventually I completely forgot about it.  As far as the characters, in general, their personalities seemed immature to me.  There is a lot of cattiness, controlling passive-aggressive, being afraid to voice opinions, lying, and manipulation.  Overall the narrator did a fantastic job but this book was not my cup of tea.
Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for this ARC in return for my unbiased review.  This audiobook will be widely available on June 7, 2022.
⭐⭐ 2/5

What a fun debut novel by Gillian Libby!

After Millie Ward was fired (again!) she escapes to Peacock Bay, a quaint town known for surfing. It’s also home to Millie’s friends and Instagram influencers.

When her New York friends help her pack for her month away they packed their little black dress… The dress they shared in college and were convinced that it brought them luck.

In Peacock Bay Millie reunites with her best friend & influencer, Quincy. She also reunites with Quincy’s brother - and her old heart throb - Pete. Soon a fake dating trope between Millie and Pete ensues. Pete makes for a dreamy love interest whose house is to die for!

I loved Millie positive role model for female surfers. The surfing experiences in the story make me want to give surfing a try! Even with, or possibly because, the Millie doesn’t always have an easy time re-learning to surf.

I also especially appreciated Millie’s experience with ADHD - both her memories of having it as a child and her continued challenges as an adult.

Although it doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of the story, the pacing of the story is a bit off. The book takes place over one month but at times a few days seemed like weeks had actually passed. And, although the book is named for the dress, I was disappointed that it didn’t play a more significant role in the story.

All in all this is an enjoyable, light, summer read! How can anyone resist the beautiful seaside town location?

Thank you to NetGalley for the ALC. This book is widely available June 7th.

Four Ways to Wear a Dress by Gillian Libby is such a fun read and I am so glad that I requested it.

When Millie Ford is fired from her job in New York City, she is left questioning everything she should do with her life. She refuses to blame her ADHD for this job loss, and is not going to let this bring her down. With the help of her Little Black Dress shared by her and her friends (think Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, grown up) Millie heads to the west coast to Peacock Bay. Here, she reconnects with her love of surfing and her love for her best friends brother. The town of Peacock Bay is filled with small business that thrive on the Instagram accounts of the people who live there. Will Millie be able to fit into this tight knit community or will this be another disaster in her life's journey?

Friends to lovers, fake dating, Instagram influencers, this book has it all. I thought Four Ways to Wear a Dress was a cute and light read, something that we always need in our lives. Some scenes are steamier than I thought they would be which was a pleasant surprise.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

It's a cute and enjoyable enough beach read even though the MC drove me crazy at times. I liked the overall trope of the story (fake dating), but the story felt a little forced. I didn't hate it, but it's not one I'll be rushing to tell my friend about.

I give the audio book a solid 4 stars, but the book itself is a 3.5. The narrator was a little slow, but read evenly and is an easy listen. I like the Sisterhood of the Travelling pants vibe to the story.. the magical dress 4 friends share, and this book follows one friend's time with it. I loved that this book brought up ADHD and how it affects not only the person who has it, but those who love them too..the only downfall is how painfully obvious to everyone but the main character that the love interest is for real, and not just faking it. If you like the trope best friend's brother, second chance romance with insights on Influencers behind the scenes

Easy, enjoyable summer read!

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to the audio ARC of Four Ways to Wear a Dress.

I don't think a character has pissed me off just as much as Millie did in a long.
I didn't have this book, but I rolled my eyes SO much and I got SO frustrated.

Who breaks up with someone, destroys a life being built, and gets SO upset about it when NOTHING IS EVEN GUARANTEED? This girl literally told the world she had been lying and set fire to relationships with just the POSSIBILTY of a job interview. Like WHAT.
"I'm never coming back here" excuse me you only have an INTERVIEW.

I'm still infuriated.

Pete was cute though.

Thank you netgalley and Gillian Libby for allowing me to listen to the audiobook for this title.

Millie and Pete are a handful of tropes in this book and because of that I feel like the story couldn't settle into just one perfectly.
While fake dating or in this case, marriage, seems to sound like a terrible idea - it felt like the two started real dating after fake date number one.
I think my favorite part of this book is Millie standing up for women surfers! We need this kind of positivity in our lives!!
The background to the influencer world was a neat idea and I loved how much these friends loved their town.
The scenes with some steam in them were often and gave plenty of room for imagination.
All the beach vibes and the hotel on the water were perfect for a summer read. And oh my goodness, Pete's house sounds like a weekend getaway that I need to go on asap!
The whole sisterhood of the traveling pants theme was not over the top and a nice touch. It's been a while since I've thought about the movie so the nostalgia was nice.
Read if you:
❤️‍🔥 Are looking for a summer read
❤️‍🔥 like 🌶️ in your romance
❤️‍🔥 Interested in the life of influencers

Audiobook rating: 4.5/5
I did listen to this book at a tad quicker pace than normal because the narrator was a little slow. Her voice was even and easy to listen to.


*ideally 3.5
*Arc review

This book started out slow for me, but quickly picked up and ended very well. Overall quite an enjoyable book.

Friends to lovers and fake dating meets Blue Crush and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Yes please. loved this one so much

Read/Listen if You Like:
❤️ Disability Awareness
❤️ Best Friend’s Brother as Love Interest
❤️ Sand and Surf Summer Read
❤️ Adventure after work Lay-off
❤️ Influencers Behind the Scenes

Book Review:
I absolutely adored this light summery read focused on Millie as the MC who has struggled with attention due to an ADHD diagnosis that has impacted several areas of her life (relationships, school, work) for as long as she can remember even with medication to help out with the symptoms of her diagnosis. She is very self-conscious of herself and her inattentiveness at times because of the way her parents always treated her as if she was a failure in some aspects. So when she loses her job at a start up in NY she decides to finally go visit and stay a while in a small beach town in California where her best friend lives and helps run the family hotel on top of being an influencer… it doesn’t hurt that she has had a crush FOREVER on her brother Pete…

I love that Millie sets out to try her hand at growing an Instagram following as though it feels to be going all wrong, it really isn’t and you see all her human fails are well received by her growing following. Her following really starts to take off when another influencer in town tags her and implies she is with Pete. This begins their fake dating for the gram to help boost her account and to try to being business to the small town and family hotel.

How will the influencer attempt and fake dating with Pete go? You will have to read or listen to find out, but I absolutely adored this one!

This one will be available on June 7th!

Thank you NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the ARC of this audiobook! I am so thankful to obtain a copy to read in advance of its release!

I first really liked the narrator for this book, I think they did a great job with all of the characters. I like the trope of a where it seems like it’s a one sided romance but it ends up working out in end. I think the characters were likable and were easy to root for. Alanna (I think that’s her name, the social media pregnant lady) wasn’t my favorite character because she mostly annoyed me but I can see how she added to the story. I loved the setting as well, a small beach town, it made me feel like I was watching a movie.

Right when I started this book, I had such high hopes. The protagonist seemed strong, the romance had potential, and the setting seemed great. Unfortunately, everything got worse from there.

My problems:
-the influencer critique was so heavy handed
-the dress thing did not mesh well in the story. It was mentioned too sporadically and felt empty as a symbol
-the characterization was terrible

Overall, it was entertaining enough to get through but I would not recommend.

2.5⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc!

I was a bit all over about how I felt reading this book. I liked the plot, and I enjoyed where the story went. I really struggled with a few things though.

I somehow missed the connections and relationships of all these people, and for a while, I thought she was crushing on a married man, and it really threw me for a bit. I had to go back and re-read the relationships to figure it out. That's maybe more my fault.

I'm a bit blown away that a person who worked with influencers in her previous job would not have realized that what's in a photo is not real life. Every time she was surprised about something I just had to roll my eyes. It didn't make sense.

The maturity of the characters felt all over the place. The MC seemed like she was 14 sometimes. While other people seemed so worldly and put together. The dialogue didn't make sense for the ages of the characters, and that was a struggle for me.

I did, however, enjoy the story. The things that were issues for me didn't stop me from reading. I would pick up another book from this author.