Posts Tagged ‘kinda sorta Rock Fiction’

Guest Review: Dictatorship of the Dress by Jessica Topper

Posted: January 18, 2015 in Reviews
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Mary from BookHounds is a HUGE Rock Fiction fan. Huger than maybe Jett and Susan combined. Maybe. So when she offered to cross-post her review of Rock of Pages favorite Jessica Topper’s new book, we were all over it.

Well, Jett was. Susan was pouting ’cause she doesn’t get to read a review copy.

Here you go. Here’s Mary.

dictatorship

My Thoughts

Can I give this more than five stars?
Graphic artist Laney Hudson fell in love in with her high school sweetheart, made plans for a wedding and then her boyfriend left her right before the big day.  She left her dream job as an artist for a famous comic book company and went to work for her mother’s greeting card company.  Although not fulfilling, she is reluctant to try anything new and her mother’s constant put-downs as a screw up has not helped her self-esteem much either.  When her mother decides to get married in Hawaii, Laney is recruited to deliver the wedding dress from her home near New York City.
Scoring an upgrade because of the dress, Laney expects to be asleep until she has to change planes in Chicago.  In the first class lounge, she sits at the only open seat next to a business man using every single outlet and the two end up seated next to each other which leads the crew to assume they are engaged.  A little white lie and a snow storm creates a life changing event for both of them.  Noah Ridgewood is on his way to his bachelor party and finds himself  caught up in the excitement that is Laney.  He also realizes that he connects with Laney more than he ever did with his wife-to-be.  Stuck in a Chicago hotel for a day, the two connect more than either thought possible.
Laney and Noah become truly honest with each other because they expect to never to see each other again.  We find out what happened to Laney’s fiance in flashbacks that may have you in a bit of tears by the end.  Noah’s fiance is someone you will dislike right away, trust me.  I appreciate the fact that she is made more human by the end.  Overall, this is a swoon-worthy read, perfect for Valentines Day.  Oh, yeah, there is a bit of a music angle as well, since Laney’s ex is a drummer.  Those little details just make a book a great read.  Sigh, it just can’t get better than this.

Dictatorship of the Dress ISBN: 9780425276259
by Jessica Topper
Series: 
Published by Berkley Publishing Group on 2015-01-06
Genres: Contemporary, Fiction, Romance
Pages: 368
Format: eARC 
Goodreads
five-stars 

From Jessica Topper, author of the “beautiful and engaging” (Open Book Society) debut novel Louder than Love, comes the story of second chances, missed flights, and a woman ruled by her mother’s wedding dress.

As the dress-bearer for her mother’s wedding, comic book artist Laney Hudson has a lot more baggage than the bulky garment bag she’s lugging from New York to Hawaii. Laney is determined to prove she’s capable of doing something right, but running chores for her mom’s fairytale nuptials is proving to be a painfully constant reminder of her own lost love.

So when she’s mistaken for the bride and bumped up to first class, Laney figures some stress-free luxury is worth a harmless white lie. Until the flight crew thinks that the man sitting next to her is Laney’s groom, and her little fib turns into a hot mess.

The last thing Noah Ridgewood needs is some dress-obsessed diva landing in his first-class row. En route to his Vegas bachelor party, the straight-laced software designer knows his cold feet have nothing to do with the winter weather.

When a severe storm leaves them grounded in Chicago and they find themselves booked into the last available honeymoon suite, Laney and her in-flight neighbor have little choice but to get better acquainted. Now, as her bridal mission hangs in the balance, perhaps the thing Laney gets right is a second chance at love

 

Amazon – Barnes and Noble – IndieBound

Jessica TopperAbout the author

Jessica Topper is an ex-librarian turned rock n’ roll number cruncher. She can trace her love for the written word back to age three, when she memorized Maurice Sendak’s “Chicken Soup with Rice” in its entirety.
After her daughter was born, Jessica left the Manhattan library world and began working for her husband’s music management company. He offered her a part-time bookkeeping job so she could “stay home for the baby’s first year” and pursue her dream of writing.

The baby is now thirteen, and Jessica has been working her full-time, sold-her-soul-for-rock-n-roll job as Office Manager for veteran jam band moe. ever since. She may have traded in books for bookkeeping, but the written word is never far from her mind, or her heart.

Jessica lives in upstate New York with her husband, daughter and one ancient cat. You can visit her atwww.jessicatopper.com Also, you can follow her on Twitter and Facebook