What do you think?
Rate this book
Second Story Brides #1
Wedding Dress for Sale
Not even the bride could deny a certain punch-line quality to her current situation: hard-nosed divorce attorney dumps her fiancé and her career to take a job selling wedding gowns.
Sydney Garfield has always approached relationships rationally--none of this emotional head-over-heels or opposites-attract business. Marrying Jack Kaiser is the smart thing to do--after all, he'll be the "perfect" husband. But after a life-changing shake-up at work, Sydney abandons logic--and her fiancé--to chase the fairy tale.
Real-estate mogul Jack can't believe the woman he's head-over-heels for is ditching her hard-won success--and him--to work as a small-town shop clerk. That's her idea of a fairy tale? Hoping she's merely in need of time, Jack follows Sydney to Smizer Mill, where he invests in the quaint coffee shop next door. Now, he's got a few new challenges: make a failing coffee shop a success and convince Sydney that theirs is a romance worthy of a true happily ever after.
Sydney Garfield has always approached relationships rationally--none of this emotional head-over-heels or opposites-attract business. Marrying Jack Kaiser is the smart thing to do--after all, he'll be the "perfect" husband. But after a life-changing shake-up at work, Sydney abandons logic--and her fiancé--to chase the fairy tale.
Real-estate mogul Jack can't believe the woman he's head-over-heels for is ditching her hard-won success--and him--to work as a small-town shop clerk. That's her idea of a fairy tale? Hoping she's merely in need of time, Jack follows Sydney to Smizer Mill, where he invests in the quaint coffee shop next door. Now, he's got a few new challenges: make a failing coffee shop a success and convince Sydney that theirs is a romance worthy of a true happily ever after.
164 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 24, 2012
2 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
About the author
Natale Stenzel
12 books39 followersI'm a married mother of two, a published author, a dog lover . . . and a lifelong book addict. Now that I've discovered a willing enabler in Goodreads -- yay! -- I would love nothing more than to meet new friends and old who share my obsession with books.
What do I read? I read my share of the classics in college -- degrees in English lit and journalism -- and loved many of them. Jane Austen and Shakespeare were my favorites, no question. These days, I'm infatuated with romance novels. I especially love the paranormal romances -- dark, funny, futuristic, ghosts, witches, shapeshifters, vampires, all of it. I do have my standard must-buys, though, including Nora Roberts, Jayne Ann Krentz, Lori Foster, and many others.
What do I write? I wrote four contemporary romantic comedies as Natalie Stenzel (notice the artificial "i" in my first name) for Harlequin, followed by a series of funny paranormal romances as Natale Stenzel (no "i"), including PANDORA'S BOX, THE DRUID MADE ME DO IT, and BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HEART PLACE. These were originally published by Dorchester but are now distributed by Montlake and sold on Amazon.
Most recently, I've been writing contemporary romances for Entangled Publishing. The first, WEDDING DRESS FOR SALE, was released in October 2012; look for a sequel to premier in early 2013.
To learn more, feel free to visit my website: www.NataleStenzel.com.
What do I read? I read my share of the classics in college -- degrees in English lit and journalism -- and loved many of them. Jane Austen and Shakespeare were my favorites, no question. These days, I'm infatuated with romance novels. I especially love the paranormal romances -- dark, funny, futuristic, ghosts, witches, shapeshifters, vampires, all of it. I do have my standard must-buys, though, including Nora Roberts, Jayne Ann Krentz, Lori Foster, and many others.
What do I write? I wrote four contemporary romantic comedies as Natalie Stenzel (notice the artificial "i" in my first name) for Harlequin, followed by a series of funny paranormal romances as Natale Stenzel (no "i"), including PANDORA'S BOX, THE DRUID MADE ME DO IT, and BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HEART PLACE. These were originally published by Dorchester but are now distributed by Montlake and sold on Amazon.
Most recently, I've been writing contemporary romances for Entangled Publishing. The first, WEDDING DRESS FOR SALE, was released in October 2012; look for a sequel to premier in early 2013.
To learn more, feel free to visit my website: www.NataleStenzel.com.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 9, 2012
Read This Review & More Like It At Ageless Pages Reviews
Romances are, by definition, a fantasy, and as such, require a certain amount of suspension of disbelief. Afterall, no one asks why Gandalf didn’t summon Gwaihir to fly the hobbits to Mount Doom or why Dumbledore didn’t use the Time Turner to stop Voldemort from being born, and no one should ask who thought it would be a good idea to make a fluffy romance about wedding dresses into a traumatic story about stalking and violence against women. Except, no. “Fantasy” is not a buzzword to be used to handwave away criticism of weak plotting, poor characterizations, and flat out offensiveness. Fantasies have defined rules and Wedding Dress for Sale has none.
Sydney Garfield is standing in the middle of a bridal dress consignment shop, preparing to divest herself of the last remnant of her engagement when her ex-fiance, Jack Kaiser, bursts in. He has followed her through four COUNTIES, ostensibly because her brake light is out. Later in the book, it takes a character several hours to make it from St. Louis, where Jack lives, to Smizer Mill. At no point in a 2 hour drive did Jack think to TEXT Sydney and say, “Hey, I know you’re not speaking to me because we broke up, but your brake light’s out. Peace.” This is because Jack is, as he jokes, a stalker.
“Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted or obsessive attention by an individual or group toward another person” (Via Wikipedia, emphasis mine.)
Sydney is clearly uncomfortable with Jack’s presence as he berates her in front of Ginny, the store owner. He make cryptic references to “Murphy”, whom Jack believes is the reason for the break-up. It takes the entire book to unravel the “mystery” of Murphy, but I’ll go ahead and spare you the wasted hours, After much cajoling, and his attempt to reverse psychology Sydney out of selling by taking over and doing it for her, Jack finally leaves and Sydney decides she can’t go back to St. Louis and takes Ginny up on a job offer.
Jack, lonesome without his ex to boss around, takes to calling her old office. He finally weasels out that she quit and becomes quite upset. He then drives to her apartment and harrasses a doorman until he discovers that Sydney broke her lease. Now in rational people land, if my ex, who underwent a traumatic experience and was being hounded by the papers, decided to leave town without telling me, I would probably think she was trying to get away from me and her old life. I might be worried, I might even call her best friend to make sure the psycho didn’t walk off with her, but I would not STALK HER SOME MORE. But then, I’m not real estate magnate Jack Kaiser.
Let’s stop for a moment. Stalking is a serious crime. In the best cases, it makes the victim feel vulnerable and afraid. It leaves lasting psychological scars. In it’s worst cases, it results in loss of life. It is NOT: going to your boyfriend’s house to confront him about cheating on you. It might be: following your ex-girlfriend, finding out confidential information on where she’s staying, inserting yourself into her daily activities to keep an eye on her, spying on her from the park... Yet, Jack does every single thing on the maybe list and is regarded as cute and romantic. He is not. Jack Kaiser is a predator taking advantage of Sydney’s emotional trauma from witnessing the stalking, kidnapping, and violence of her friend. Sydney needs psychological counseling, not a puppy, (which further increases her dependence on Jack.) The fact that everyone in the entire novel glosses over this, but jokes about what a stalker Sydney is, well...
As you may have guessed, Jack also moves to Smizer Mill. He buys into a coffee shop NEXT DOOR to the bridal shop and bribes the owner into teaching him to make mochas so he can take one to Sydney every morning. Honestly, from there until the last 20%, we have a rather standard romance. Jack wins back Sydney’s trust by being comforting, sweet, and bland. They walk the puppy, talk about Sydney’s fears like grown-ups, and eventually decide to see each other on a day-by-day basis. This ~third of the book is the only redeeming factor, and even it is marred with jokes about Sydney stalking Jack, a subplot about a hot vet that goes nowhere, and Ginny the psychic wedding dress saleswoman.
And here’s where we really go off the rails. Spoilers from here to the end, sorry.
Ginny has some sort of magical bride powers that tell her when people will get married and what dress they’ll wear. Ginny calls Sydney upstairs to “try on a dress for another bride who’s about your size.” It is of course, “The Dress” and seeing it convinces Sydney that maybe marriage isn’t so bad after all. But there’s a twist! The dress...
…
…
is empire waisted! (*gasp shock faint*)
Wait, what?
You see, Jack and Sydney had one night of torrid passion before she broke up with him. Despite being adamantly against children, due to her own childhood of neglect since her mother was a teenage bride with no support and worked like a million jobs, someone forgot to wrap it. Based solely on the fact that “The Dress” has an empire cut, Ginny informs Sydney that she’s pregnant from this encounter.
Sydney is obviously a bit sceptical of her fairy/witch/alien boss, but Ginny has irrefutable proof! Syd loved coffee when she came to town and now she doesn’t! With this information firmly in hand, Sydney proceeds to have a nervous breakdown, but never considers other options to an unwanted pregnancy. She does treat us to a thrilling visit to Walmart to buy a pee test and a charming scene of cleaning up vomit after she, surprise, is totally pregnant! And now she has to tell the man with whom she’s only agreed to take things one day at a time.
Of course, trying to be smooth, Jack’s all, “Oh babies suck, let’s never have them, let’s not even move in together, one day at a time girl, you and me,” when Sydney tries to broach the topic. She gets mad, blurts out the truth, and starts to storm off when the final act hits.
Nita calls to let Sydney know Ted’s out of jail and looking for her. Jack gets all alpha-hole and goes off on a big rant culminating in, “Obviously, the authorities can’t protect you. So I will. You’re coming with me where I can keep you safe.”Sydney swoons and realizes that she loved him all along, she was just scared. But now she knows there’s no one better to marry than a hyper protective stalker. This realization turns her on and gives us some truly, TRULY wtf moments:
Jack decides that they’re not safe at Sydney’s apartment, because reasons, so he hauls her down the street to the coffee shop. Please note that no one has called the police. Obviously Ted is already there waiting, which means they had sex for like two hours. Ted tries to explain that it was all a misunderstanding, he wasn’t trying to hurt Nita, when Jack lays him the fuck out with one punch. Real-estate magnate and apparent Navy SEAL, Jack subdues Ted, which leaves us with time for a misunderstood villain monologue.
Well that makes everything OK! Anything else you want to tell us, Ted?
I have four more long, awful quotes highlighted, but they all amount to the same icky apologizing with a huge helping of victim blaming and I fear I might go over my percentage of quotes for fair use “for purposes such as criticism, comment”. I’ll just leave you with this last gem.
Murphy leaves the coffee shop and the police chief shows up to say, yeah, you may have been too dumb to call me, but like a hundred other people did. I’ve got officers out there to take him into custody. SOMEONE WITH SENSE! I COULD WEEP! Of course, he let a maniac just hang out in the coffee shop until Sydney showed up, talk to her for an indeterminate amount of time without sending anyone in, and is going to arrest him for...nothing, because Sydney doesn’t have an OP against him and he didn’t do anything but hold a letter opener in her presence. Nevermind, I’m back to weeping for other reasons.
Sydney then feels this is the appropriate time to stand in main street and shout that she’s pregnant and we close out our hostage negotiation with a laugh track.. Cut to the epilogue and our heros are planning their wedding, again,, Sydney’s opened up a small law office in town, and Jack does one more gross, manipulative thing to twist the knife one last time. He’s agreed to sign a pre-nup, even though they don’t need one because they’re so in looooooove, but he’s written it himself! If they divorce, Sydney gets everything, but she must act as his lawyer in litigation. Let me repeat. She gets everything if she violates her professional ethics, acts in a conflict of interests, and represents her ex-husband in their divorce. This is his life insurance policy that Sydney will never be able to leave him. WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS FUCKERY?
Sydney signs, the second in the series is set up, whatever. The book is done and so am I. Yay.
Romances are, by definition, a fantasy, and as such, require a certain amount of suspension of disbelief. Afterall, no one asks why Gandalf didn’t summon Gwaihir to fly the hobbits to Mount Doom or why Dumbledore didn’t use the Time Turner to stop Voldemort from being born, and no one should ask who thought it would be a good idea to make a fluffy romance about wedding dresses into a traumatic story about stalking and violence against women. Except, no. “Fantasy” is not a buzzword to be used to handwave away criticism of weak plotting, poor characterizations, and flat out offensiveness. Fantasies have defined rules and Wedding Dress for Sale has none.
Sydney Garfield is standing in the middle of a bridal dress consignment shop, preparing to divest herself of the last remnant of her engagement when her ex-fiance, Jack Kaiser, bursts in. He has followed her through four COUNTIES, ostensibly because her brake light is out. Later in the book, it takes a character several hours to make it from St. Louis, where Jack lives, to Smizer Mill. At no point in a 2 hour drive did Jack think to TEXT Sydney and say, “Hey, I know you’re not speaking to me because we broke up, but your brake light’s out. Peace.” This is because Jack is, as he jokes, a stalker.
“Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted or obsessive attention by an individual or group toward another person” (Via Wikipedia, emphasis mine.)
Sydney is clearly uncomfortable with Jack’s presence as he berates her in front of Ginny, the store owner. He make cryptic references to “Murphy”, whom Jack believes is the reason for the break-up. It takes the entire book to unravel the “mystery” of Murphy, but I’ll go ahead and spare you the wasted hours, After much cajoling, and his attempt to reverse psychology Sydney out of selling by taking over and doing it for her, Jack finally leaves and Sydney decides she can’t go back to St. Louis and takes Ginny up on a job offer.
Jack, lonesome without his ex to boss around, takes to calling her old office. He finally weasels out that she quit and becomes quite upset. He then drives to her apartment and harrasses a doorman until he discovers that Sydney broke her lease. Now in rational people land, if my ex, who underwent a traumatic experience and was being hounded by the papers, decided to leave town without telling me, I would probably think she was trying to get away from me and her old life. I might be worried, I might even call her best friend to make sure the psycho didn’t walk off with her, but I would not STALK HER SOME MORE. But then, I’m not real estate magnate Jack Kaiser.
Let’s stop for a moment. Stalking is a serious crime. In the best cases, it makes the victim feel vulnerable and afraid. It leaves lasting psychological scars. In it’s worst cases, it results in loss of life. It is NOT: going to your boyfriend’s house to confront him about cheating on you. It might be: following your ex-girlfriend, finding out confidential information on where she’s staying, inserting yourself into her daily activities to keep an eye on her, spying on her from the park... Yet, Jack does every single thing on the maybe list and is regarded as cute and romantic. He is not. Jack Kaiser is a predator taking advantage of Sydney’s emotional trauma from witnessing the stalking, kidnapping, and violence of her friend. Sydney needs psychological counseling, not a puppy, (which further increases her dependence on Jack.) The fact that everyone in the entire novel glosses over this, but jokes about what a stalker Sydney is, well...
As you may have guessed, Jack also moves to Smizer Mill. He buys into a coffee shop NEXT DOOR to the bridal shop and bribes the owner into teaching him to make mochas so he can take one to Sydney every morning. Honestly, from there until the last 20%, we have a rather standard romance. Jack wins back Sydney’s trust by being comforting, sweet, and bland. They walk the puppy, talk about Sydney’s fears like grown-ups, and eventually decide to see each other on a day-by-day basis. This ~third of the book is the only redeeming factor, and even it is marred with jokes about Sydney stalking Jack, a subplot about a hot vet that goes nowhere, and Ginny the psychic wedding dress saleswoman.
And here’s where we really go off the rails. Spoilers from here to the end, sorry.
Ginny has some sort of magical bride powers that tell her when people will get married and what dress they’ll wear. Ginny calls Sydney upstairs to “try on a dress for another bride who’s about your size.” It is of course, “The Dress” and seeing it convinces Sydney that maybe marriage isn’t so bad after all. But there’s a twist! The dress...
…
…
is empire waisted! (*gasp shock faint*)
Wait, what?
You see, Jack and Sydney had one night of torrid passion before she broke up with him. Despite being adamantly against children, due to her own childhood of neglect since her mother was a teenage bride with no support and worked like a million jobs, someone forgot to wrap it. Based solely on the fact that “The Dress” has an empire cut, Ginny informs Sydney that she’s pregnant from this encounter.
Sydney is obviously a bit sceptical of her fairy/witch/alien boss, but Ginny has irrefutable proof! Syd loved coffee when she came to town and now she doesn’t! With this information firmly in hand, Sydney proceeds to have a nervous breakdown, but never considers other options to an unwanted pregnancy. She does treat us to a thrilling visit to Walmart to buy a pee test and a charming scene of cleaning up vomit after she, surprise, is totally pregnant! And now she has to tell the man with whom she’s only agreed to take things one day at a time.
Of course, trying to be smooth, Jack’s all, “Oh babies suck, let’s never have them, let’s not even move in together, one day at a time girl, you and me,” when Sydney tries to broach the topic. She gets mad, blurts out the truth, and starts to storm off when the final act hits.
Nita calls to let Sydney know Ted’s out of jail and looking for her. Jack gets all alpha-hole and goes off on a big rant culminating in, “Obviously, the authorities can’t protect you. So I will. You’re coming with me where I can keep you safe.”Sydney swoons and realizes that she loved him all along, she was just scared. But now she knows there’s no one better to marry than a hyper protective stalker. This realization turns her on and gives us some truly, TRULY wtf moments:
Jack Kaiser, hot real-estate magnate and adorably bumbling - heartbreakingly sincere - lover. Just wait until she got her hands on him.
…
“Just to clarify...You want to have sex with me? Now?” He gave her a shocked look. “We’re racing time against a maniac who threatens to carve up women and you’re talking about sex? Are you nuts?”
She widened her eyes. “So you don’t-”
“I mean, yeah, sure, let’s go.” Eyes feverish, he started yanking the shirt out of his waistband.
...
“God Jack, I can’t believe we stopped for sex when we had a maniac on our tail.”
Jack decides that they’re not safe at Sydney’s apartment, because reasons, so he hauls her down the street to the coffee shop. Please note that no one has called the police. Obviously Ted is already there waiting, which means they had sex for like two hours. Ted tries to explain that it was all a misunderstanding, he wasn’t trying to hurt Nita, when Jack lays him the fuck out with one punch. Real-estate magnate and apparent Navy SEAL, Jack subdues Ted, which leaves us with time for a misunderstood villain monologue.
“But that’s a letter opener.”
“Exactly!” Ted smiled with relief. “That’s what I wanted to show you. I didn’t have a knife when I held Nita. It was a letter opener like this one. I mean, I guess it could do damage, but it wasn’t a knife. So, technically, it wasn’t a weapon.”
Sydney eyed him with disbelief. “I don’t care if it’s a thick, pointy paper clip. It looks sharp to me. Were you going to stab me with it?”
“No. I just brought it with me to show it to you. Proof, I guess, to convince you I’m not a maniac. I wanted to explain and -” He sighed heavily. “I wanted to apologize.”
Well that makes everything OK! Anything else you want to tell us, Ted?
“And that’s when you discovered it was dangerous to go off that type of [anxiety and BPD] medicine without a doctor’s supervision. Violently dangerous? Psychotically dangerous?”
“Um...yeah. I really am sorry.”
I have four more long, awful quotes highlighted, but they all amount to the same icky apologizing with a huge helping of victim blaming and I fear I might go over my percentage of quotes for fair use “for purposes such as criticism, comment”. I’ll just leave you with this last gem.
“I’d give anything to have Nita pregnant with our child.” Murphy stared longingly at Sydney’s belly.”
Murphy leaves the coffee shop and the police chief shows up to say, yeah, you may have been too dumb to call me, but like a hundred other people did. I’ve got officers out there to take him into custody. SOMEONE WITH SENSE! I COULD WEEP! Of course, he let a maniac just hang out in the coffee shop until Sydney showed up, talk to her for an indeterminate amount of time without sending anyone in, and is going to arrest him for...nothing, because Sydney doesn’t have an OP against him and he didn’t do anything but hold a letter opener in her presence. Nevermind, I’m back to weeping for other reasons.
Sydney then feels this is the appropriate time to stand in main street and shout that she’s pregnant and we close out our hostage negotiation with a laugh track.. Cut to the epilogue and our heros are planning their wedding, again,, Sydney’s opened up a small law office in town, and Jack does one more gross, manipulative thing to twist the knife one last time. He’s agreed to sign a pre-nup, even though they don’t need one because they’re so in looooooove, but he’s written it himself! If they divorce, Sydney gets everything, but she must act as his lawyer in litigation. Let me repeat. She gets everything if she violates her professional ethics, acts in a conflict of interests, and represents her ex-husband in their divorce. This is his life insurance policy that Sydney will never be able to leave him. WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS FUCKERY?
Sydney signs, the second in the series is set up, whatever. The book is done and so am I. Yay.
November 2, 2012
*DNF*
I'm going to throw in the towel on this one. I have no interest in pushing through to hopefully find something about it that I actually like.
I didn't like the heroine and though I didn't blame her at all for changing her life, I thought she was hateful for how she went about it and had no sympathy for her character. Because we were plopped into the middle of this situation with no real connection to the characters previously I can't figure out why the hero cares enough to upend his life for the heroine or why he's so jovial after someone he supposedly loved dumped him harshly twice. She seems like a jerk and he seems pathetic. I think it's supposed to be a cute Rom-Com but it's not working for me on that level at all.
I'm going to throw in the towel on this one. I have no interest in pushing through to hopefully find something about it that I actually like.
I didn't like the heroine and though I didn't blame her at all for changing her life, I thought she was hateful for how she went about it and had no sympathy for her character. Because we were plopped into the middle of this situation with no real connection to the characters previously I can't figure out why the hero cares enough to upend his life for the heroine or why he's so jovial after someone he supposedly loved dumped him harshly twice. She seems like a jerk and he seems pathetic. I think it's supposed to be a cute Rom-Com but it's not working for me on that level at all.
December 30, 2012
Wedding Dress for Sale is the first book in the Second-Story Brides series by Natale Stenzel. This book was just okay for me. The relationship between the hero and heroine seemed so distant.
Jack Kaiser has no idea what hit him. Life is good. He is at the top of his game as a real estate god, he's soon to be married to a woman that he loves and they just had the most amazing sex of their entire relationship. It feels like she has finally let go and really truly let him in. And today she's told him the wedding is off, she's left her job, and she's running away to a small town to start a new life.
Sydney Garfield needs to get away. The world that she is living in is closing in on her fast. She's a divorce lawyer and a darned good one. Seeing a client, that she personally identified with, held at knife point by her soon to be ex-husband has her re-evaluating. What would a calm, rationale, professional woman do? Probably not run away from her job, home and fiance to a small town she's never lived in and take a job as a sales person for a wedding dress shop. But, that's exactly what she has done.
In all fairness, I enjoyed Jack a lot! He was very entertaining and went to the extreme to convince Sydney that he loves her and that they are meant to be. The townspeople were the perfect amount of quirky. I just had such a hard time with Sydney. There is a difference between cold feet and being scared and being completely detached from reality. She seemed so oblivious to the world around her and how to deal with people and their emotions.
"My decision to marry you was an unemotional one. I wasn't going to fall for the fairy tale like my mother did.......I would decide with my head. Not my heart, so I chose you. With my head. Not my heart.....And now I see how that can blow up in my face, too. I just don't get it."
I will be reading the next book, though. The writing was good, the townspeople have me wanting to know what they will do next and I'm hoping the hero and heroine will hold their own.
A special thank you to NetGalley.com for the loan of this book in exchange for my honest review.
You can view this review and others at http://tinar1121.blogspot.com
Jack Kaiser has no idea what hit him. Life is good. He is at the top of his game as a real estate god, he's soon to be married to a woman that he loves and they just had the most amazing sex of their entire relationship. It feels like she has finally let go and really truly let him in. And today she's told him the wedding is off, she's left her job, and she's running away to a small town to start a new life.
Sydney Garfield needs to get away. The world that she is living in is closing in on her fast. She's a divorce lawyer and a darned good one. Seeing a client, that she personally identified with, held at knife point by her soon to be ex-husband has her re-evaluating. What would a calm, rationale, professional woman do? Probably not run away from her job, home and fiance to a small town she's never lived in and take a job as a sales person for a wedding dress shop. But, that's exactly what she has done.
In all fairness, I enjoyed Jack a lot! He was very entertaining and went to the extreme to convince Sydney that he loves her and that they are meant to be. The townspeople were the perfect amount of quirky. I just had such a hard time with Sydney. There is a difference between cold feet and being scared and being completely detached from reality. She seemed so oblivious to the world around her and how to deal with people and their emotions.
"My decision to marry you was an unemotional one. I wasn't going to fall for the fairy tale like my mother did.......I would decide with my head. Not my heart, so I chose you. With my head. Not my heart.....And now I see how that can blow up in my face, too. I just don't get it."
I will be reading the next book, though. The writing was good, the townspeople have me wanting to know what they will do next and I'm hoping the hero and heroine will hold their own.
A special thank you to NetGalley.com for the loan of this book in exchange for my honest review.
You can view this review and others at http://tinar1121.blogspot.com
November 10, 2012
a sweet story, with just enough humor and sass thrown in to keep it entertaining - to access the full review, please visit http://romanticreadsandsuch.wordpress...
March 8, 2014
Wedding Dress for Sale by Natale Stenzel is a deeply satisfying emotional roller coaster as it follows Sydney and her struggles to come to terms with love. Sydney is a divorce attorney. She has a good practice, a wonderful fiance, and good friends. But, Sydney doesn’t really know what love is. Her fiance, Jack, does and he has worked hard to get her to marry him. But, in one shocking moment, the truth of her emotional state is thrust to the forefront and Sydney bolts. When Jack follows, refusing to give up, they end up in small town Smizer Mill.
This is without question, Sydney’s story. It is her emotional state, her journey, her love that are the focus. Jack, Drusilla, Ginnie, and the Hoffmeiers are good characters, but they all have a role in helping Sydney embrace her own ability to love and be vulnerable. The fabric of small town life is skilfully woven into the deeper story of Sydney’s journey to love. And with the funny hijinks of the old couple, Sydney can see what a real loving and deeply connected marriage can be, both the difficult and the wonderful.
As if her life isn’t confusing enough, two events conspire to throw even more at her delicate emotional state. But when Jack’s relentless and endearing love anchors her and she comes to understand both the beautiful and crazy side of love, Sydney is truly complete.
It would have been nice to have more depth to the other characters, but the journey itself was so lovely to watch, that it easily overshadowed the lack of complete characterization. For a strong, quirky, sweet, and funny journey to love, Wedding Dress for Sale delivers.
RATING: 4
Heat Rating: Mild
REVIEWED BY: Monique Neaves
Courtesy of My Book Addiction and More
This is without question, Sydney’s story. It is her emotional state, her journey, her love that are the focus. Jack, Drusilla, Ginnie, and the Hoffmeiers are good characters, but they all have a role in helping Sydney embrace her own ability to love and be vulnerable. The fabric of small town life is skilfully woven into the deeper story of Sydney’s journey to love. And with the funny hijinks of the old couple, Sydney can see what a real loving and deeply connected marriage can be, both the difficult and the wonderful.
As if her life isn’t confusing enough, two events conspire to throw even more at her delicate emotional state. But when Jack’s relentless and endearing love anchors her and she comes to understand both the beautiful and crazy side of love, Sydney is truly complete.
It would have been nice to have more depth to the other characters, but the journey itself was so lovely to watch, that it easily overshadowed the lack of complete characterization. For a strong, quirky, sweet, and funny journey to love, Wedding Dress for Sale delivers.
RATING: 4
Heat Rating: Mild
REVIEWED BY: Monique Neaves
Courtesy of My Book Addiction and More
November 6, 2012
Wedding Dress for Sale wasn't my favorite from Entangled which is a rarity because I usually REALLY LIKE or ABSOLUTELY LOVE what I read from them. It wasn't terrible, it just didn't satisfy my romance needs.
My main issue was that I couldn't get into the main characters of Wedding Dress For Sale. Sydney's reasoning for breaking up with her fiance, Jack, was a little ubsurd although I understood why she needed a change in her life. The whole looking for her fairy-tale was a little confusing and unconvincing. The (ex) fiance, Jack, was a bit stalkerish but overall I think his efforts to win his girl back was cute. I mean the guy uproots his life and moves to a small town just to be close to his girl. You have to give him props for that, right?
The only pleasant thing I enjoyed about this book was the 70 year old couple who claimed they had marital problems when in fact they were still very much in love with each other. I loved how they tasked Sydney with being their divorce mediator but basically just used her as a sex therapist. The small town the story takes place has it's quirky towns folks who like to know a little too much about their neighbors.
Overall, I thought this would could have been a cute romantic-comedy but in the end just ended up being a just okay read. The heroine was wishy washy and I couldn't empathize with her reasoning and I wasn't all to convinced that these two were even that in love before the break-up. Sydney and Jack were a little lack-luster and there was nothing in Wedding Dress for Sale that sparkled.
My main issue was that I couldn't get into the main characters of Wedding Dress For Sale. Sydney's reasoning for breaking up with her fiance, Jack, was a little ubsurd although I understood why she needed a change in her life. The whole looking for her fairy-tale was a little confusing and unconvincing. The (ex) fiance, Jack, was a bit stalkerish but overall I think his efforts to win his girl back was cute. I mean the guy uproots his life and moves to a small town just to be close to his girl. You have to give him props for that, right?
The only pleasant thing I enjoyed about this book was the 70 year old couple who claimed they had marital problems when in fact they were still very much in love with each other. I loved how they tasked Sydney with being their divorce mediator but basically just used her as a sex therapist. The small town the story takes place has it's quirky towns folks who like to know a little too much about their neighbors.
Overall, I thought this would could have been a cute romantic-comedy but in the end just ended up being a just okay read. The heroine was wishy washy and I couldn't empathize with her reasoning and I wasn't all to convinced that these two were even that in love before the break-up. Sydney and Jack were a little lack-luster and there was nothing in Wedding Dress for Sale that sparkled.
July 23, 2016
DNF
I was really looking forward to this book just by looking at the Cinderella type cover, but in the end I was very disappointed with the story. The main reason I didn't finish this book was Sydney; I never connected with her from the beginning, her reason for leaving Jack was so ridiculous, and I couldn't look past it. Jack was too nice person, I wished he would have moved on, and not go after Sydney, but what can he do when he's in LOVE.
I'm sorry but this is not something I would recommend if you are looking for a great romance story.
I was really looking forward to this book just by looking at the Cinderella type cover, but in the end I was very disappointed with the story. The main reason I didn't finish this book was Sydney; I never connected with her from the beginning, her reason for leaving Jack was so ridiculous, and I couldn't look past it. Jack was too nice person, I wished he would have moved on, and not go after Sydney, but what can he do when he's in LOVE.
I'm sorry but this is not something I would recommend if you are looking for a great romance story.
September 4, 2016
You can see my full review at My Book Addiction Reviews and here on Goodreads."
November 3, 2012
Actually, this is closer to 3.5 stars. I would have given it 4, but some of the more annoying character traits kept me from it.
November 6, 2012
it was okay..some romance and some action. Didn't like the stalking going on or overuse of the word.
April 28, 2015
This was a fun read, the hero and secondary characters were wonderful but the heroine was a drama queen. Who purposely created misunderstandings with the hero. Ugh.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews