After a Fashion

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After a Fashion
Jen Turano
Bethany House Publishers

Miss Harriet Peabody dreams of the day she can open up a shop selling refashioned gowns to independent working women like herself. Unfortunately, when an errand for her millinery shop job goes sadly awry due to a difficult customer, she finds herself out of an income.

Mr. Oliver Addleshaw is on the verge of his biggest business deal yet when he learns his potential partner prefers to deal with men who are settled down and wed. When Oliver witnesses his ex not-quite-fiance cause the hapless Harriet to lose her job, he tries to make it up to her by enlisting her help in making a good impression on his business partner.

Harriet quickly finds her love of fashion can't make her fashionable. She'll never truly fit into Oliver's world, but just as she's ready to call off the fake relationship, fancy dinners, and elegant balls, a threat from her past forces both Oliver and Harriet to discover that love can come in the most surprising packages.

     The first words that come to my mind about this book? Adorable. Delightful.

     If you've seen any of my short reviews on goodreads for Jen Turano's other books, you'll notice I wasn't exactly impressed. Don't get me wrong: I didn't hate them, and to this day A Talent For Trouble has one of the funniest scenes I've ever read in Christian fiction. That being said, the heroines in her other series tended to exasperate me, and their personalities seemed to muddle together after a while.

     But when I saw this book, I decided to give Jen Turano another try. And I'm glad I did! After a Fashion held my attention from beginning to end. The humor at times tended towards the slapstick, but I wouldn't say that's always a bad thing. This book was not a prim, proper Victorian drama. It was ridiculous, over-the-top comedy.And that ending? I was NOT expecting it.

     So while After a Fashion won't necessarily be to everyone's taste, it was light read that had me smiling from start to finish, and I know I'll be reading the next book in this series, In Good Company.

Rating: 8 1/2

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

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