The Wedding Shop

In the early 1900's, Cora Scott built up quite a wedding dress and trousseau shop right outside of Nashville in Heart's Bend Tennessee, walking through her own search for the man of her dreams.  Almost 3/4 of a century later, Haley Morgan and her best friend Tammy vow to renew the shop to its former glory when they are playing their as children.  Before that dream can become reality, Tammy dies just prior to what was believed to be her wedding day.  When the shop is destined to be torn down for a parking garage, Haley becomes determined to see their dream live regardless of the foolishness some believe it to be.

The Wedding Shop goes back and forth between Cora's and Haley's stories.  Both women have suffered heartache and must heal before God can give them the desires of their hearts.  Both women endear themselves immediately to the reader because neither would be considered "too good to be true", are well developed yet some characteristics left open to the reader's imagination,  and don't necessarily fit into the mold the world has created for women of their time.  The lives of the two women intertwine through their ownership of the shop. 

I hadn't ever read a Rachel Hauck before that I can remember.  The Wedding Shop appears to be third in the series, following The Wedding Dress and The Wedding Chapel.  Not one to typically dive into the middle of a series, I did so without knowing.  Hauck didn't leave me hanging and filling in the blanks on my own though.  She did an excellent job of not presuming everyone had read the prior novels.  I don't know if the other two have any of the same characters, but this novel made me want to search out the other two.  This novel exceeded my expectations.  When I ordered it, I feared it to be a shallow, quick read that would make me feel good for having read it but would be forgotten the next day.  Not so. 

I did receive this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  I was in no way obligated to write a positive one.  Thank Ms. Hauck for an excellent introduction to your writing and I look forward to more.