AW Cover Wars: The Secret Lives of Dresses by Erin McKean
After reading Chloe’s recent review of The Secret Lives of Dresses by Erin McKean my interests were peaked. While I was searching to see if a copy was available here in the US I happened to find out that it was only just released on February 10th and it has a pretty new cover! Something about the new cover reminds me a bit of Isabel Wolff’s A Vintage Affair and I’m such a huge fan of covers & books with gorgeous dresses. I’m definitely picking this up soon! Take a look at the synopsis for a refresher…
Dora has always taken the path of least resistance. She went to the college that offered her a scholarship, is majoring in “vagueness studies,” and wears whatever shows the least dirt. She falls into a job at the college coffee shop, and a crush on her flirty boss, Gary.
Just when she’s about to test Gary’s feelings, Mimi, the grandmother who raised her, suffers a stroke. Dora rushes back home to Forsyth, NC, and finds herself running her grandmother’s vintage clothing store. The store has always been a fixture in Dora’s life; though she grew up more of a jeans-and-sweatshirt kind of girl, before she even knew how to write, Mimi taught her that a vintage 1920s dress could lift a woman’s spirit.
While working there, Dora befriends Mimi’s adorable contractor, Conrad. Is he after Dora, or is working from a different blueprint? And why did Mimi start writing down-and giving away-stories of the dresses in her shop?
When Mimi dies, Dora can’t get out of town fast enough and cedes control of the store to her money-hungry aunt who wants to turn it into a t-shirt shop for tourists. But ultimately, she returns to Forsyth, willing to battle whatever may stand in the way of her staying there. Dora can trade her boring clothes for vintage glamour, but can she trade her boring life for one she actually wants?
But you tell me, which do you prefer, the UK cover (the left) or the US cover (the right)? Will you be reading this one soon?
Born Under a Lucky Moon is the tale of two very important (but distant) years in the lives of Jeannie Thompson and her (embarrassing, crazy) colorful family members to whom “things” just seem to happen. From the Great Lakes of Michigan to Los Angeles and back again, it is a story of surprise marriages, a renegade granny, a sprinkler system cursed by the gods, and myriad other factors Jeannie blames for her full-tilt, out-of-control existence. But it’s also about good surprises—like an unexpected proposal that might just open Jeannie’s eyes to her real place among the people she loves most in the world . . . the same ones she ran far away from to begin with.
