The Wedding Dress by Dani Atkins is not your usual romance book. Instead of a linear story, they all have one thing in common.
You guessed it – the wedding dress.
The concept is interesting and makes it very easy to read because you don’t have to commit to the entire story all at once. Who has time for that these days?
All three stories are unique, and each has its charm. I don’t want to give the plots of each away. But I will say that I liked Bella’s story the most.
Suzanne’s is very straightforward. It felt “typical” even as the author had a twist up her sleeve that I didn’t see coming. That was kind of cool. And after Bella’s, Mandy’s seemed almost like an afterthought. Other readers will certainly have differing opinions.
But Bella’s story…that is the stuff a true romance is made from. I could read an entire book just on her story alone. It has all the elements that one looks for in a romance, but not in all the usual places.
Nobody is a villain, nobody is a hero (well, sort of). It is an honest portrayal of how events beyond our control can upend our lives, sending us down paths we never imagined.
Honestly, it is one of the most honest portrayals of life that I have read in a while.
Again, I do not want to give away the plot, but the catalyst for the story is surprising and effective. I would love to know where the author found the inspiration for that.
And I usually get annoyed when an author tries to keep a reader guessing by not sharing all details until the last pages, but this time it didn’t bother me. In a way, I knew deep down what Bella’s decision was, and was confident that she had made the right one. And I was right.
You could not pick a better day than Valentine’s Day to start The Wedding Dress. The author has given all romantics a treat with this one.
For a different type of story from Dani Atkins, try Gone Too Soon.
About the author:
Dani Atkins is an award-winning novelist. Her 2013 debut Fractured (published as Then and Always in North America) has been translated into 18 languages and has sold more than half a million copies since first publication in the UK. Dani is the author of four other bestselling novels, one of which, This Love, won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 2018. Dani lives in a small village in Hertfordshire with her husband, one Siamese cat and a very soppy Border Collie.
Follow Dani:
- Twitter: @AtkinsDani
- Facebook: @DaniAtkinsAuthor
- Instagram: @daniatkinsauthor
- #TheWeddingDress
