Member Reviews
This book had a very intriguing premise with the wedding dress museum with a twist. As someone who has an interest in dressmaking I found the details regarding the dresses and their repairs fascinating in addition to the stories attached to the dresses and those of the community Garland finds herself living in. A little different, but worth taking the time to get in to.
I have read all of Trisha Ashley's books and really enjoyed this one. I look forward to reading the next one.
A wonderful story with an historical background and some great family connections.
Lovely story that I would recommend
This was an easy read full of cultural history and fun.
The book opens to give some background on Garland, and her talent in working with dresses, namely the Rosa May Garland collection, an actress from the Victorian era, and distant relative who she is named after. Through her work, she meets another distant member of her family, Honey Fairford, who is a famous writer, and her new life adventures begin.
Her romantic endeavours with her fiance, Marco, became an absolute disaster, with him having an affair with his leading actress, and the reason for Garland leaving her job. We learn much more as the story unfolds (which also explains her relationship with Thom/Ivo who we meet on her new adventure).
Honey, due to finding the Rosa May Garland items, is setting up a wedding dress museum which Garland now becomes involved in, joining a lovely community of artisans, and being neighbour to her new boss, and distant cousin, Honey, bringing with her a very vocal cat, Golightly.
She has to deal with many wedding dresses from brides from various backgrounds, and times, and becomes more and more of her story, along with discovering the mystery of her ancestor's disappearance.
I love the ending of this book, especially the ending of the Bloody Bride's tale!
Would recommend this to anyone who needs an easy but fun holiday read.
I have read books but Trisha Ashley before and really enjoyed them. This one had a slightly different style. It begins with Garland having her dream job but when she loses her job and fiance she goes to Honey her long ost relative to set up a wedding dress museum. An enjoyable read.
A truly lovely story, where old meets new, telling the story of an ancestor while living in current times.
Garland, the main character, is a strong but lovely person, who sells solace with her recently discovered cousin after a broken romance
Garland becomes the curator of a new museum of wedding dresses and it's great to learn the stories of the dresses as she sets about getting them ready for them museum opening.
Indirectly reunited with an old friend, whilst making new friends in her new environment, it really is a lovely story. Not forgetting her cantankerous cat she has somehow been left with.
It's a story of love, forgiveness, new beginnings and trust, mingled with a few dark secrets along the way.
I have read a lot of this authors books and really enjoyed them - sorry to say not as good as her previous ones
If you have read Tricia Ashley before and enjoyed, then another Tricia Ashley you will get.
Garland is the main character, she’s a costumer enjoying an exhibition of costume’s belonging to Rosa May Garland a distant relative who went missing. Through this exhibition, she found another quirky author relative Homey. Just in the nick of time as she dumps her coercive boyfriend and needs a new job and somewhere to live.
The story in intertwined with what happens to Rosa May Garland and the contemporary story of the Wedding Dress Museum. Typically of Tricia Ashley, there’s some romance thrown in.
A slow burner but sometimes that’s just what you need.
I enjoyed this book. I absolutely love the idea of owning a wedding dress shop (I adore sewing, and would love to make clothes for myself) and I love the historical gowns and garments that are collected. I adore the stories behind each wedding dress.
I've read a few Trisha Ashley books and this is one of my favourites.
Garland (best name ever by the way) is a great character and I was hooked on her story throughout the book. I love that she reconnects with an old friend and they eventually pick up where they left off.
It's a relatable book in parts too because the relationship breakdowns, the majority of people in life have been through a relationship breakdown at some stage whether it be a friend or partner when you're a teenager and older.
The Wedding Dress Repair Shop by Trisha Ashley is an easy read book, it is full of love and romance but with a twist. Garland Fairford is engaged to Marco, a successful playwright and working as a historical Costumier in London which is her dream job. Then it all falls apart and Garland loses her job and breaks her engagement off and moves away from London.
She goes to work for Honey Rainford, a long lost relative, and starts work at a wedding dress museum shop in Lancashire. Whilst working there she meets up with a long lost friend and makes other friends whose company she enjoys.
Romance and love is in the air, and there are plenty of tales to tell about other people’s weddings. An enjoyable novel with love and laughter and tales of wedding stories.
Recommended
Tricia Ashley at her best. This was a delightful book. From the start to the end. The characters were loveable and also believable. Love can turn sour and when it does you are likely to do anything.
Garland gets pushed to her limits. Fortunately for her, a long lost relative, Honey, asks her if she would like to work for her, in her wedding dress museum, Lancashire. Out of disaster things may take a turn for the better.
The storyline was compellingly interesting as I would never dream of a wedding dress museum. Learning about some of the owners stories, we follow Garland and her adopted cat, Golightly commence their new life.
This is well written with some great descriptions. Thank you to NetGalley and Trisha Ashley for allowing me to read and review such a masterpiece.
The Wedding dress Repair Shop was another great book by Trisha Ashley. We meet Garland a seamstress who ensures wedding dresses are ready for displaying in the Wedding Dress Museum of Misfortune and her long undiscovered relative Rosa-May who opens up the museum. There are trials and tribulations along the way but maybe a happy ending? A fab read.
The Wedding Dress Repair Shop has an intriguing dual timeline story.
In 2018, we meet Garland, a costumier at a prestigious London company, who is engaged to Marco, an up and coming playwright. A man not short of confidence and self belief.
In 1815 we meet RosaMay. A young actress, who mysteriously seems to disappear after her swift marriage to a young officer.
The two women are linked through the generations by a direct bloodline.
A chance encounter with a distant cousin proves fortuitous when Garland’s life is dramatically altered. She finds a lovely new friends, and a whole new life in the beautiful little village of Great Mumming.
This is such a delightful story, and exactly what I needed to read right now. After being unwell for a fortnight, feeling rather sorry for myself, it really lifted my spirits. As ever with a Trisha Ashley book, I feel like I have been wrapped in a lovely hug in the pages.
If you are looking for a light, feel good story, that will make you feel cosy and happy, this is the perfect book for you.
who would think you could make a story out of wedding dresses and give brilliant details of each dress concerned the book reads as to all the mishaps at the weddings it tells a story of sadness of joy in past and future times and of course ends in a wedding
The Wedding Dress Repair Shop is a gorgeous, uplifting and captivating tale of hope, love and renewal from Trisha Ashley.
Everything seems to be going wrong for Garland Fairford lately. In the space of a week, she loses her job and her fiancé and her entire life is turned on its head. Garland is left wondering where her next pay cheque is going to come from when fate puts her in the path of long-lost relative Honey Fairford who reveals that she is opening a Wedding Dress museum in Lancashire and wants Garland to run it!
With nothing to lose, Garland jumps at this wonderful opportunity. She is looking forward to a fresh start and to a new beginning in Lancashire, however, what she isn’t expecting is to find herself coming face to face with a ghost from her past who had vanished from her life years ago: her old friend, Thom. Will this be a chance for the two of them to draw a line under the past and forge forward into the future? Or will past history prove impossible to move on from?
As Garland begins to read the heart-warming stories behind each wedding dress, she starts to repair them – and her relationship with Thom. Will she finally get the happy ever after she had been hoping for? Or will Thom break her heart all over again?
Trisha Ashley couldn’t write a bad book if she tried! In The Wedding Dress Repair Shop, she has once again written a warm, witty, charming and irresistible romantic read I didn’t want to end. The Wedding Dress Repair Shop has got it all: wonderful characters, laugh out loud humour, poignant romance and engaging emotional drama to keep readers riveted to the page.
Trisha Ashley never lets her readers down and she has done it again with her latest novel – don’t miss it!
Trisha Ashley novels are so all consuming that you are whisked away to a life that can’t possibly exist that just seems so interesting and idyllic, even if there are trials and tribulations to face. She simply packs so much into her books.
The latest is no exception.
Garland Fairford is a costumier in London, a historical costumier. It is her dream job and to make that dream even more perfect her fiancée is a playwright. Garland finds herself working on replicating an historical costume to eventually become her wedding dress.
The original is in the V & A and it is here, she meets a unknown relative. Honey Fairford, a successful author. Having lost both her presents and being an only child, a relative is something to be joyful for. even more so when she finds out the Honey Fairford is going to be opening a museum of wedding dresses in her local village, in Lancashire.
But Garland’s place is in London with her Fiancée Marco. His latest play is about to open and she needs to be by his side. However it turns out someone might have been filling that place for her and when she discovers something has happened to her wedding dress she has been meticulously working on. Garland makes an about turn and changes direction in her life in a heartbeat.
Calling on her relative Honey, she now finds herself in Lancashire. In a small village with Honey and all the locals who embrace her with warmth and sincerity, she wonders what she has been missing all this time. However one face she didn’t expect to see is the first she does when goign to get the keys to her new cottage.
Thom is a face from the past. One she hasn’t seen for a while and who everyone seems to know was famous, but the villagers are so accepting that Garland feels that perhaps her actions might make her acceptance here more palatable for Thom and even herself.
As Garland gets to work on the wedding dresses, each with their own story, we learn more about the eccentric locals, the wonderful Honey and her wedding disaster. As well as see the relationship develop between Thom and Garland. Trisha Ashely sues many different methods through all her books to gain perspective of a different time, and we do this through the historical excerpts from the original owner of the replica wedding dress that Garland originally fell in love with.
My one and only criticism of the book is the title, I think it is rather misleading. The cynic in me thinks they are cashing in through the television series The Repair Shop. Calling it a Wedding Dress Museum would have piqued my interest. It didn’t mislead me as I would have happily picked the book up as I am a fan of the author. Perfect books for me to escape into and always leave you wanting more and wanting to go back to all the worlds that she creates.
Contemporary women’s fiction at its best.
Good read. It took longer than anticipated to truly warm to the story and the title is slightly misleading but none the less the read is engaging and enjoyable. The various threads woven through the story make for a romantic and intriguing read.
Thank you Netgalley
An amazing read. I loved Garland and Honey and their storylines along with the rest of the unique characters in little mumming. The descriptions of all the costumes and wedding dresses and the stories behind them were also so interesting. Couldn't put this book down
3.5⭐
I love Trisha Ashley's books, the covers are always fabulously eye-catching and the content inside always delivers.
But surprisingly, I found The Wedding Dress Repair Shop a little harder to get into, especially at the beginning. However, I soon found my stride and began to thoroughly enjoy spending time with Garland and Honey - their wedding dress museum of misfortune was such a fun idea! And of course, in classic Trisha Ashley style, romance was only a few chapters away so I knew I was in for a treat! 🧵👗💕
Beautifully written, a gem of a book. Loved Garland and Honeys stories. Beautifully crafted characters and a free flowing plot . I couldn’t put this book down . I enjoyed the historical aspect to this book , never mind the animals !
Highly Recommended
Thank you to Netgalley, Random House and Trisha Ashley for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review.