Vintage Magic by Sally Anne Morris
| Vintage Magic by Sally Anne Morris | |
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| Category: Women's Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Katie Pullen
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| Summary: When Rose opens a vintage dress shop, she is unaware just how special her premises are until her dresses seem to take on a life of their own. A must-read for any fans of vintage clothing and stories full of magic. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 288 | Date: August 2010 |
| Publisher: Little Black Dress | |
| ISBN: 978-0755354412 | |
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With the life she thought was before her ruined by her fiancé's cheating ways, Rose Taylor swiftly leaves her life in London and seeks refuge with her mother Mimi and her sister Lily in the beautiful city of Bath. Reeling from her fiancé's deceptions now is as good a time as any for Rose to reinvent herself, although she is determined to win her fiancé back. Having always had an eye for clothes, starting a vintage dress shop seems like a perfect idea and soon Vintage Magic is opened.
But Rose doesn't quite realise at first how special the premises of her new shop are, until she starts to hear strange voices and the clothes in her shop seem to carry the personas of their previous owners, affecting her customers in weird and wonderful ways. As Rose begins to unearth the secrets of her shop, she realises it's time for her own transformation if she is ever going to win her fiancé back.
Rose is a great character, a real woman, reminding me very much of Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones in some respects. It is very easy to sympathise with her when she discovers her fiancé cheating on her and I felt almost proud of her for leaving him straightaway and starting a new life, although in her head he is still very much present as she obsesses about him to her mother and sister. Although her heart is broken, starting a new life seems to come easily for Rose and after deciding to open her vintage dress shop and move into the flat above, it all happens smoothly and her shop is an immediate success. There is no worrying about money or how to start a small business, which seems a little unrealistic, but then I reminded myself what this book is about and decided to embrace the fantasy wholeheartedly.
However, there were still a few occasions where I found it a little tricky to completely go with the fantasy aspect of this book especially when Rose uncovers the secrets of her shop's strange powers and the novel moves into the realms of the slightly ridiculous. I thought this would be a book I could entirely predict so I was very surprised at where I was being taken, but thankfully Rose ends up just where I wanted her to be.
Rose's shop is described with eloquence and Morris clearly knows her way around vintage clothing, making the shop really come alive and making me quite keen to go shopping for vintage clothes as soon as I had finished reading. It is very easy to imagine how the clothes in Vintage Magic seem to have a life of their own, influencing the lives of their new owners in some rather fantastic ways, and I'm sure many readers, like myself, would love to find a dress that can change their life in some way.
The only thing that disappointed me about this book is the tendency to reference people and events from popular culture. Although I found this both clever and humorous, as Morris is spot on in her observations, these references will inevitably lead to this book dating quite quickly, which for me is a shame as it is such a good read otherwise.
I would definitely recommend this for anyone who loves clothes, romance, and a novel that really takes you to another world, but plants you firmly back on the ground, come the end, and with a beautiful cover, what more could a girl want. Definitely my favourite from Little Black Dress so far and I can't wait to see what Sally Anne Morris gives us next.
I'd like to thank Little Black Dress for sending a copy to The Bookbag.
Further Reading Suggestion: If you like the sound of this book, you may also enjoy these other recent Little Black Dress titles – Just Look At Me Now by Nell Dixon, Saris and the City by Rekha Waheed and My Sister's Voice by Mary Carter. You might also enjoy A Mother's Guide to Cheating by Kate Long.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Vintage Magic by Sally Anne Morris at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Vintage Magic by Sally Anne Morris at Amazon.com.
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