With almost a 5 Star rating on Goodreads, I’m thinking this is a must for any book lover!
*****
byΒ Aimee Brown
Release Date:Β August 2nd, 2017
Publisher:Β Crooked Cat Books
Genre:Β Romantic Comedy/Chick Lit
GoodReads:Β add Little Gray Dress to your to be read list
Book Trailer: Β https://youtu.be/r-AuooE8ZT0
Blurb:
Emi Harrison hasΒ avoided her ex-fiance, Jack Cabot, for nearly two years. Her twin brother Evanβs wedding is about to end that streak.
From bad bridesmaidβs dresses, a hyperactive sister-in-law, a mean girl with even meaner secrets, and too much to drink, nothing seems to go right for Emi, except when sheβs wearing her little gray dress.
When she speed-walks into Liam Jaxonβs bar, things getΒ more complicated. Heβs gorgeous, southern, and has no past with Emi. He mayΒ be exactly what she needs to prove for the last time that she doesnβt need or want Jack!
Her favorite little gray dress has made an appearance at nearly every major event in Emiβs adult life. Will it make another when she least expects it?
AmazonUS:Β eBookΒ β $2.99 |Β printΒ β $9.99
AmazonUK:Β eBookΒ β Β£1.99|Β printΒ βΒ Β£6.99
Barnes & Noble:Β printΒ β $9.99
*****
Excerpt:
A Bad Dress
βIt wonβt zip.β I look over my shoulder trying to see just how much of a gap there is in the zipper.
The seamstress pulls open the curtain and peeks in. βOhhβ¦β She taps her lips with her forefinger. βMaybe a corset will help?β
βA corset? Like, what they used to wear in the 1800s?β I ask, worried that instead of just looking fat Iβll end up with crushed ribs as well.
βThey arenβt quite as excruciating as they were back then. Iβll just go grab one.β
βA corset, Lily!β I yell through the curtain at my best friend. βDid you hear that? Iβm so fat that I need to cinch it all in with a corset.β I stick my face out of the edge of the curtain, only to see Lilyβs nod.
βI donβt know what youβre complaining about, Ems. I wear Spanx every day of my life.β She rolls her eyes at me. Spanx isnβt an option for me; I need the big guns of underwear to make this dress even a tiny bit presentable.
I peel the dress off and drape it over the small chair in the fitting room. The dress could be described as βdaringβ, but a more fitting word would be βrepulsiveβ. It could cause the ugly swan dress Bjork wore to the Academy Awards to bow its head in shame. Which I think is what it was doing that night, anyway. Hannah must have lost her mind to create this disaster as a bridesmaidβs gown. Maybe the dress itself isnβt that terrible, but on meβ¦ itβs appalling.
βHere we go!β The seamstress holds up a white corset. βWeβll just get you tied into this and we should be good to go.β
If only it was that easy. It takes ten minutes of pulling, pushing, and adjusting. I wish I could say that the superstrength, agonizingly uncomfortable corset does the trick. It nearly does, but to really drive home the fact that I still look terrible, we also opt for high-waisted Spanx-like underwear that hits me just below the breast. Then the corset itself, and I swear at one point it felt as if the seamstress has a foot on my back as she pulled the strings as tight as they could go to get it on. Then, as if two pairs of smoothing and self-shrinking underwear arenβt enough, we add some kind of full-length slip to smooth out the uhβ¦ lumpy areas. Which give me a bit more flare at the bottom of the skirt, in an attempt to achieve that hourglass shape that this dress so desperately needs, as opposed to the pear shape I seem to have taken on recently.
Sadly, the biggest problem Iβm going to have at this wedding isnβt even the fact that Iβll be wearing a lot of bodycinching underwear underneath an ugly, far-too-snug dress created by my almost sister-in-law, Hannah.
My biggest concern is Hannahβs brother: Jack Cabot. My ex-fiancΓ©.
Jack and I dated for five years, and for the last one of those years we were engaged. In all honesty, it was the best five years of my life, right up until that last day. That day is forever burned into my brain and has ruined so many parts of me. That was the day he shattered my heart, and I still havenβt found all the pieces.
I probably shouldnβt have put off the first fitting. Maybe my reflection in the dress wouldnβt be so shocking if Iβd started the alteration process a month ago. Or maybe not. Iβm sure the whole experience, no matter when I started it, would be just as traumatizing as it feels right now.
*****
Aimee Brown is a writer and an avid reader.Β Little Gray DressΒ is her first published novel. My second novel is in the works now. Sheβs currently studying for her Bachelorβs degree in English Writing. She spends much of her time writing, doing homework, raising three teenagers, binge watching shows on Netflix and obsessively cleaning and redecorating her house. Sheβs fluent in sarcasm and has been known to utter profanities like sheβs competing for a medal.
Aimee grew up in Oregon but is now a transplant living in cold Montana with her husband of twenty years, three teenage children, and far too many pets.
She would love to hear your thoughts onΒ Little Gray Dress! If youβd like to chat with her sheβs very active on social media. You can find her at any of the networks below. Stop by and say hello!
FacebookΒ |Β TwitterΒ |Β InstagramΒ |Β PinterestΒ |Β Website/BlogΒ |Β GoodReadsΒ |Β Amazon PageΒ |Β Newsletter
*****
Giveaway:
There is the cutest Giveaway for the tour – pictured here & opened worldwide.
Included is a ‘create’ coffee cup, some dark & handsome K-cup pods, a cute Life is Short Eat Cake wall art, some tiny macaroons, a Little Gray Dress bookmark & postcard!
Enter here:
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