The Secret Lives of Dresses

Sep 25, 2011 Anne (Booklady) Molinarolo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fall-2011, bee-shelf

3.5 Stars

I love vintage clothing and hats! On my closet shelf, many sassy hats from the 30s, 40s, and 50s sit in protective bags while a few prized dresses and suit pieces hang on wooden hangers waiting for the right occasion to be worn. A couple of been thrown out: the yellow sun-dress that witnessed my son’s father breaking my heart. I haven’t worn yellow since. The Aqua jumpsuit witnessed my humiliation – I got fired from my broadcasting job. My kids News Telecast had been cancelled. There...more 3.5 Stars

I love vintage clothing and hats! On my closet shelf, many sassy hats from the 30s, 40s, and 50s sit in protective bags while a few prized dresses and suit pieces hang on wooden hangers waiting for the right occasion to be worn. A couple of been thrown out: the yellow sun-dress that witnessed my son’s father breaking my heart. I haven’t worn yellow since. The Aqua jumpsuit witnessed my humiliation – I got fired from my broadcasting job. My kids News Telecast had been cancelled. There is no aqua or light blues in my closet either. Hopefully, they had better lives with the women who bought them from the Goodwill Thrift Shop, since Mimi Winston’s quaint shop only lives on the printed page.

Dora Winston had grown up in that dress shop in Forsyth, North Carolina. She loved those dresses just as much as Mimi does, but not enough to wear them. She is attending a medium sized Liberal Arts college a few hundred miles from Forsyth, majoring in what else, Liberal Arts. She is going through the motions of growing up. She has no clue of who she is and what to do with her life with the exception of going to grad school to further study Liberal Arts. And just maybe land her charming boss, Gary, who has a strict policy of not dating undergraduates. But best laid plans, even vague ones will go awry. Dora gets a phone call and is told that her Mimi has had a stroke. She literally drops everything (including her apron and I pod) at the coffee shop she manages and drives home to Forsyth.

Arriving home, a still crying Dora falls into the comfort of Gabby’s arms. Gabby, Mimi’s quirky distant relative and house guest whom never left after her third divorce, sends Dora upstairs to change before driving her to the hospital to see her grandmother. Knowing Mimi would never accept seeing her grand-daughter in tattered cargo shorts and clogs, Dora carefully selects a day dress and loafers from her closet. Mimi had been saving many dresses from the vintage store for her throughout the years. Upon seeing Mimi lying in the hospital bed attached to various machines, Dora is both shocked and frightened. Mimi had raised her alone since she was a baby, because a tragic accident claimed the lives of both of her parents.

Dora decides the best way to help Mimi and to diminish the shock of seeing a frail old women lying in the hospital is to run the dress shop. Quickly Dora finds solace among the vintage clothing and accidentally learns that some of the dresses have secret lives, vignettes presumably written by her grandmother. She follows Mimi’s dictates and wears the vintage dresses and is surprised that she is comfortable in them. She also finds comfort in Maux (Mimi’s saucy part-time employee) and Mimi’s young builder friend, Con Murphy. But when Margaret Winston dies a couple of weeks later, Dora finds herself at odds with her greedy Aunt Camile and Uncle John. Mimi has left the shop to John and Camile is going to transform the shop into a modern, gaudy tourist clothing emporium. Dora decides to fight for the shop. She means to keep Mimi’s original vision and create “secret lives” for each dress that will be sold under her management.

The strengths of the book are the vignettes of the dresses. My favorite were of the dress that was made for dancing and of the day dress that played in muddy puddles with the wearer’s young children. The characters are strong (Mimi’s character is developed through appropriate placed flashbacks) and likable. I adored Gabby and Maux and despised Camile and Tyffanee as was intended. Con left me wanting to know more about him.

However the weaknesses of Erin McKeon’s debut novel prevents a 5 Star rating. Many questions were left hanging. Why didn’t Mimi tell Dora about her parents? Why didn’t Dora ask about them? What prompted Dora to gravitate to older men? Con is close to 30 and Gary is 30. The love-triangle subplot was week as was Dora Winston’s coming of age story. Two weeks of rapid character growth, after 20 years of listless rebellion? Why hadn’t Mimi provided for Dora and changed her Will? In my opinion, these weaknesses made the distinction from a great story to a delightful 3.5 Star first novel.
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Jan 13, 2013 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Secret Lives of Dresses is best described as "cute" and "fun." The dresses are described well and when you get to the actual "lives" of the dresses, they are all quite interesting.

However, the human characters fall short of the dresses. Dora, the main character, is a lost, drifting college student with no aim in life. When her grandmother (who raised her) falls ill, Dora drops everything to go home. Seriously, she drops everything: school, her job, her life, her clothes, her identity.

After...more The Secret Lives of Dresses is best described as "cute" and "fun." The dresses are described well and when you get to the actual "lives" of the dresses, they are all quite interesting.

However, the human characters fall short of the dresses. Dora, the main character, is a lost, drifting college student with no aim in life. When her grandmother (who raised her) falls ill, Dora drops everything to go home. Seriously, she drops everything: school, her job, her life, her clothes, her identity.

After Dora arrives home, she realizes that she has no clothes with her. But wait! Grandmother Mimi, who runs a vintage clothing shop, has saved an entire room's-worth of clothing for Dora in case she one day decided to up and begin wearing vintage dresses, shoes, and even underwear after a lifetime of wearing jeans and t-shirts. Dora reluctantly wears one of the dresses since she has no other clothes with her, and she sort of likes it. This begins Dora's transformation into a completely different person. Eventually Dora wears these vintages outfits all of the time, and somehow her personality shifts and makes her into a woman with drive, with a purpose. She suddenly begins to see that the man she has a crush on (who she was willing to go to graduate school for the sole purpose of being able to date) is an immature moron, and the man she just met several days ago is the bees knees. How? Dresses, I guess.

Dora, about halfway through the book, finds out that some of the dresses in Mimi's shop come with a "secret life." These are small stories about the dresses, from the point of view of the dresses, inserted into the book. The secret lives feel far more compelling than the main story.

The other characters are the requisite "kooky aunt figure" and "mean, spiteful relatives who are there to give the main character something to hate."

The one character who felt was the most real was Mimi, and, due to her illness, she's not actually even in the book in action, yet through the descriptions from other characters, Mimi's personality comes alive.

The book's ending is terribly predictable and somewhat abrupt. The last few sentences are especially cheesy and feel seriously out of place with the rest of the book's dialogue.(less)

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Oct 20, 2011 Karen! rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: chick-lit, probable

I read this book a while ago and just, well, I forgot completely about it. This is the story of a lost college girl who is in love in love with her uber-flirty boss at the college coffee shop. Dora is smart, organized, and one assumes pretty. But she’s the 90s chick flick kind of pretty where she doesn’t know it and neither do the boys because she dresses all frumpy. She was raised by her grandmother, Mimi, in a microscopic town where Mimi owned and operated a vintage clothing store. Adorable. E...more I read this book a while ago and just, well, I forgot completely about it. This is the story of a lost college girl who is in love in love with her uber-flirty boss at the college coffee shop. Dora is smart, organized, and one assumes pretty. But she’s the 90s chick flick kind of pretty where she doesn’t know it and neither do the boys because she dresses all frumpy. She was raised by her grandmother, Mimi, in a microscopic town where Mimi owned and operated a vintage clothing store. Adorable. Even more adorable—Mimi puts aside items from the store that she thinks would look good on Dora. So much, in fact, that the girl has an entire room of her grandmother’s house designated as her closet. An entire room full of adorable dresses. That she never wears. And, as a former college student, I get maybe not wearing them all the time, but at least for Halloween. Or going out on Saturday night. Ugh.

So, anyway, Mimi gets sick. Like, in a comma in the hospital sick, so Dora sprints home and takes care of…the store. And then a “love triangle” ensues. But it is the kind of love triangle that annoys me because it is not really a love triangle—more like an unrequited love mess. Blech. So, Mimi has been talking Dora up to super tall, hot, smart (and presumably too old) Con, a construction worker? So before he even meets Dora, he is in love with her. And then she starts wearing those dresses all the time because she was in too much of a hurry to get from college to Mimi’s hospital bed (which she pretty much avoids) to pack even her toothbrush. But, she’s still in love with whiny, stupid, idiotic coffee shop boss, who is a super flirty grad student. And if Dora only becomes a grad student, too, they can date, because he won’t date an undergrad. Also, he is an idiot and she has basically been doing his job for him. I mean, the boy can’t even handle ordering supplies.

So, anyway, Con (who I’m assuming is at least 35) is all in love with her, and because she is wearing all of those dresses because she was too stupid to pack, she looks like Mimi and he keeps on commenting about how she reminds him of Mimi. I’m pretty sure that he was in love with Mimi but Mimi was too old, so he is going for the baby granddaughter. So he keeps taking her to see Mimi and then out to eat or bowling or on other assorted dates and he’s all nice and “when my dad died…blah blah blah” which is sweet, but she doesn’t seem to understand that he is courting her until, like, the seventh date. Awkward.

As if this is not enough of the plot, her grandmother’s brother’s wife and her blonde sorority stock-character daughter decide to take over the store and ruin it. I could have done without all of that. I feel like it moved me from feeling sorry for the little dear to thinking that the author was trying too hard to make me feel sorry for Dora.

Oh! Oh! And, to make matters worse, the secret lives of dresses, the namesake of the book, were short stories that Mimi wrote about the dress’s former life. They were SO BORING. I ended-up skipping them after a while.

This was pretty standard chick-lit, but a bit of a letdown. I really liked the idea of the novel, so I was quite disappointed that the secret lives ended-up being lame and that the descriptions of vintage clothing were so…nondescript. But, for a quick no-brainer read, it will suffice.
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Apr 18, 2011 Suzanne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, romance, southern-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I loved this book, and it is now on my list of all time favorites along with Kathryn Stockett's "The Help."

"The Secret Lives of Dresses" is perhaps the best book that I have read this year. When her grandmother, Mimi has a sudden stroke, Dora flees her life as an undergrad at Lymond College, and student manager of a thriving coffee shop, to go home to Forsyth, North Carolina. For many years, Dora has fought her grandmother's passion for vintage clothing, but when she arrives only with the cloth...more

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Mar 24, 2011 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult-fiction

Quick summary: bleh.

This story starts out well enough. Dora, college student nearing her graduation, must return home when the grandmother who raised her suffers a stroke. Dora ends up running her grandmother’s vintage dress shop as she tries to decide what to do with her life. She discovers that her grandmother has been writing “secret lives” for many of the vintage dresses that she gives out to the customers who buy the dresses.

I liked the idea for the book, but I didn’t really think it was we...more

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Mar 20, 2011 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love the cover of this book, it drew me in, and I think that even if the blip from the back of the book didn't draw me in I would have had to have read it just because of the cover. Kudos to whom ever chose this design!

Okay, on to the book. I enjoyed the story of Dora but also found a couple of things just a little confusing. I feel like I may have missed something or that it is just missing in the story.

Things I enjoyed about this story. Erin McKean did a great job of telling the reader exac...more I love the cover of this book, it drew me in, and I think that even if the blip from the back of the book didn't draw me in I would have had to have read it just because of the cover. Kudos to whom ever chose this design!

Okay, on to the book. I enjoyed the story of Dora but also found a couple of things just a little confusing. I feel like I may have missed something or that it is just missing in the story.

Things I enjoyed about this story. Erin McKean did a great job of telling the reader exactly who Dora was and how she got to where she was in life. Dora grew up in her grandmother's care after her parents died when she was very young and she knows very little about them. She is a college student who has taken the "vagueness of studies" and is working at a coffee shop where she has a crush on her boss, Gary, who only dates graduate students and flirts with everyone, much to Dora's dismay. I felt that I could connect with Dora right away as she is racing home when she finds out her grandmother has suffered a stroke. Needless to say, her life is about to change. While she is home, she starts to wear that clothes that her grandmother has been putting aside for her for years and working in the vintage clothing store her grandmother owns, where she discovers the secret stories her grandmother has written and begun to give out about certain outfits. I love these stories, they are wonderful and painful all at the same time. I love "watching" Dora grow up in this short amount of time while her grandmother is deathly ill.

This is where I get confused. As Dora is working in the shop one day, in come an attractive man named Con, who is a contractor working on the apartment above the store and friends with Dora's grandmother, Mimi. What I cannot figure out is the age of this man. Is he an older man perusing Dora or is he closer in age and was just friendly with Mimi. It is just odd and I could never really figure it out. Anyhow, Con and Dora begin to spend time together and Con helps Dora to deal with the stress of her sick grandmother.

What happens from here has great flow but if I was to say any more it would spoil the book and that would be no fun. I will say that my favorite part of this story was reading the stories that have been written for the different dresses. They are amazing and written from the perspective of the dress itself and what it "sees" and "experiences". I think that this was a great idea it really makes this book unique, which I love!
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Feb 10, 2011 Brenda Casto rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dora has lived with her grandmother Mimi, since the age of one when her parents were killed in a freak accident. Dora is in college, but really she has no idea what she wants to do with her life, she chose her college based on the fact that they offered her a scholarship. When a planned summer job falls thru, an on campus coffee shop job falls in her lap. She is kind of crushing on her boss Gary, a grad student, but since he flirts with everyone she isn't sure how he feels about her.

When Dora g...more Dora has lived with her grandmother Mimi, since the age of one when her parents were killed in a freak accident. Dora is in college, but really she has no idea what she wants to do with her life, she chose her college based on the fact that they offered her a scholarship. When a planned summer job falls thru, an on campus coffee shop job falls in her lap. She is kind of crushing on her boss Gary, a grad student, but since he flirts with everyone she isn't sure how he feels about her.

When Dora gets a call from back home informing her that her grandmother Mimi has suffered a stroke, she drops everything and heads home, not even taking time to pack. Mimi runs a vintage clothing store and has always brought home dresses from her store for Dora, hoping that Dora would one day wear them. Due to the severity of Mimi's condition Dora needs to step in and take over the running of the clothing store.One of the neatest things Dora discovers is that her grandmother had been giving some of the dresses in her store personal histories and passing them on to the customer when they purchased the dress.

When Conrad, a friend of her grandmothers who is also a contractor renovating the apartments above the shop starts popping in Dora finds a friend as well as a strong shoulder to lean on. Dora finally comes to the realization that she want to run Mimi's shop permanetly but dreaded relatives swoop in and want to change everything.

I can't say enough good things about this story! I loved Dora, she starts out as a girl with no true direction in her life, but when her grandmother needs her she doesn't hesitate.While her backstory was sad, I didn't feel sorry for her because she had Mimi and Gabby. I liked how Gabby was described as some kind of relation by marriage, which sounds so southern to me. The histories of the dresses were amazing, I could actually visualize the people that were touched for a bit by the garments as the histories were revealed. I must say I was totally blown away with the ending of the story. When it is revealed who actually wrote the history of the dresses, Dora finally gets a few pieces of her history as well!

If your looking for a good story set in a small town that has romance, along with a few quirky characters, that will tug at your heartstrings but also give you a couple of laughs and ultimatly give you a satisfying ending you definatly need to check out this book!

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.(less)

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Jan 16, 2011 Chrystal rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 50-book-challenge-2011, romance, owned

I asked for this book because it looked interesting and I thought it would be a cute read. Little did I know that I would fall in love with the characters and get so emotional while reading it. The Secret Lives of Dresses is an absolutely fabulous read: you have such great description of the vintage dresses, mixed with the crazy emotions that an unexpected romance can bring and add a little dash of humour and voila you have the perfect story for a hopeless romantic like myself. There were also s...more I asked for this book because it looked interesting and I thought it would be a cute read. Little did I know that I would fall in love with the characters and get so emotional while reading it. The Secret Lives of Dresses is an absolutely fabulous read: you have such great description of the vintage dresses, mixed with the crazy emotions that an unexpected romance can bring and add a little dash of humour and voila you have the perfect story for a hopeless romantic like myself. There were also some great pop culture references for my age group: The Princess Bride and Buffy! How did Ms. McKean know to mix those into the story at just the right times?

I absolutely loved Dora from the start. She has a great sense of humour and a longing to be loved, but seems to fall for the wrong guys. It's wonderful to see her grow, learn what she wants to do with her life and be so brave and courageous to fight for what she believes in. I don't think she really knew what she wanted to do until she came back to the dress shop. It's like she has found the sense of home that she was looking for all along. Add in a seriously cute and dreamy contractor, a quirky and eclectic store clerk, a gossipy elderly friend and you have a recipe for some great reading.

The best part of the entire novel was reading the secret lives of the dresses. As each dress was sold from the store a secret life was given away with it. They were so eloquently written and honestly I wish there were pictures of the dresses to go with the stories, though the author does do a great job with describing the different dress styles throughout the book. It actually makes you want to go find your fanciest dress and get all dolled up for the afternoon just to wonder what your dress would say about you or where it had been before.

I have already recommended this book to a few of my friends and will be sending my copy off to my best friend for her to read, because I know it is right up her alley. I already know that I will be buying a finished copy of this book when it comes out in February. It is going to be added to my favourites list.(less)

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Dec 27, 2012 Cynthia Archer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Secret Lives of Dresses is a lovely little book. It tells a simple story about a young woman learning to think and live for herself. Dora has been raised by her grandmother after both her parent die when she is very young. Mimi, her grandmother, is now very sick after having had a stroke. Her vintage clothing shop is suddenly attracting Dora, and equally attractive is the young contractor who was a good friend of her grandmother. Dora has to make some decisions about her future. Her plans ha...more

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Mar 09, 2012 Paula rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a really fun read! When I saw the cover and read the back of the book, I just had to take it home. Who doesn't love vintage dresses and a story that takes place in a vintage boutique sounds like a great way to spend some reading time.

Dora, a college student, is the main character. She is going to school on a scholarship program and working at the college coffee shop though still very unfocused and unsure about what she wants to do with her life. Dora has a huge crush on her boss, Gary,...more

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Aug 22, 2011 ♥Xeni♥ rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, women, ebook, fiction, hea

This book makes me feel like Sarah Addison Allen's works do. This book makes me feel like the yumminess that is Jenna's pies in the movie Waitress. This book gives me hope and joy and happiness. It makes me want to have a daughter and raise her on my own while baking pies together and sewing our own dresses and keeping a magical herb and flower garden together.

This book definitely puts another stone in my Happy Wagon!

I really love how everything works out... although there is sadness and perha...more

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Jan 29, 2012 Lauren rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reads

After finishing A Discovery of Witches earlier in the week, The Secret Lives of Dresses came off as… cute. If I hadn’t just finished a book that threw my entire world for a loop and made me positively itching for the next installment, I would have probably had stronger feelings towards this one, but as it is, I am simply left with the word ‘cute’.

The Secret Lives of Dresses follows Dora, a soon-to-be college graduate, as she copes with her grandmother’s failing health. After hearing about “Mimi...more After finishing A Discovery of Witches earlier in the week, The Secret Lives of Dresses came off as… cute. If I hadn’t just finished a book that threw my entire world for a loop and made me positively itching for the next installment, I would have probably had stronger feelings towards this one, but as it is, I am simply left with the word ‘cute’.

The Secret Lives of Dresses follows Dora, a soon-to-be college graduate, as she copes with her grandmother’s failing health. After hearing about “Mimi’s” stroke, Dora rushes home to be by her side and take over her vintage dress store. As she works in the store, memories of her childhood with Mimi are resurrected, and Dora realizes how lucky she was to have grown up surrounded by her love. She also realizes how little has changed since she left for college: she’s still the aimless, wandering girl of her youth without any idea what to do with her life. While mending clothing, steaming dresses, and organizing the shop, she stumbles upon the “secret lives”: stories from the dresses, full of personality, describing how they were bought, who they lived with, and what they had seen in their lives before coming to the store. In the world she took for granted as a child, Dora begins to blossom into the woman her grandmother always hoped she would be, surprising everyone but Mimi.

Mimi is the kind of mother I aspire to be one day. She is a character with a huge personality, but yet the kind of sweet, compassionate woman you can go to with any trouble in your life. When Dora is sick as a child, Mimi gives her a get-better brooch. When Dora is heartbroken as a teen, Mimi sits her down to watch Audrey Hepburn classics. I found myself writing down quotation after quotation from Mimi because she is such a wealth of knowledge and hard-earned advice.

While Mimi is a great character, some of the others were less developed. In particular, a lot of the villainous characters in the book seemed like they could have been plucked right out of a sitcom or a romantic comedy; they were just there to cause aggravation for the readers. And let me tell you: I was aggravated. There were a few points in my reading that my blood was boiling so much, I had to put the book down and breathe. Dora, while a sweet girl, is spineless and timid, letting people walk all over her. The reader is forced to watch as Dora pines after a womanizing cad of a man and lets him take advantage of her. When distant family members arrive, Dora continues to play the role of doormat, and I just wanted to leap right into the pages of the book and give them all a stern talking-to.

Thankfully, when Dora begins to blossom towards the end of the book, she finds her backbone again and becomes a more likable character. That’s not to say that she isn’t likable during the rest of the book, just a little too meek for my taste.

One thing I particularly liked about this book was the ending. It’s worth reading just for the little gem on the last few pages. It also has a pretty good epilogue. I’m not a big fan of the things myself, but this one pretty accurately summed everything up for me.

This is a book I would recommend for romantic comedy lovers. It was a sweet, endearing book, but nothing particularly special. While an enjoyable read, it certainly isn’t one I would consider re-reading in the future. It’s safe. Happy, cute, and safe. (less)

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Sep 23, 2011 Treasa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction, chick-lit, romance, young-adult, coming-of-age, finding-yourself, the-south

Dora is about to graduate from college a semester early with a degree in liberal arts, the intent to continue studying that vague topic in grad school, and a job at the campus coffee shop, where she knows more about running the shop than her cute and flirty manager. But when her grandmother, the woman who raised her, has a stroke, everything changes, and Dora rushes home. With Mimi unconscious in the hospital, Dora soon finds herself volunteering to run her grandmother's vintage clothing shop. T...more Dora is about to graduate from college a semester early with a degree in liberal arts, the intent to continue studying that vague topic in grad school, and a job at the campus coffee shop, where she knows more about running the shop than her cute and flirty manager. But when her grandmother, the woman who raised her, has a stroke, everything changes, and Dora rushes home. With Mimi unconscious in the hospital, Dora soon finds herself volunteering to run her grandmother's vintage clothing shop. There she discovers that Mimi has been writing stories that go along with some of the dresses in the shop - secret lives, she calls them - told from the point of view of the dress, imagining for what occasion the previous owner might have worn that dress. At the shop she also meets Con, a young contractor who had become good friends with Mimi and who quickly becomes one of Dora's main supports at this difficult time. Dora begins to settle into her life back in her hometown, working at her grandmother's shop and slipping into routines with eccentric Maux (part-time employee at the shop) and lovable Gabby (Mimi's cousin of some sort), and soon is reluctant to return to school. Could the girl who never had any sense of direction in her life finally know what she wants to do? And can she make it happen?

Sweet story. Delightful characters. It's not anything groundbreaking or earth-shattering... just a solidly good story that's fun to read. Just the sort of book I needed right now. It's the kind of book that makes you feel warm and snug - it's predictable but enjoyable, and the journey through the book is rather delightful - and other than a few swear words here and there, it's basically clean. And it features some clothes that I would not mind having in my own closet. :)

My only complaint is that I thought some of the secret histories were a little too long. If I had been buying one of the dresses, I wouldn't have minded the length at all. But since I wasn't buying the dresses and the stories usually didn't have any relevance to the actual plot of the book, it seemed a little unnecessary. I enjoyed the concept of the secret histories, but I thought some of them could have been cut a bit shorter - it wouldn't have hurt the whole secret histories thing and would have been less distracting from the plot of the book.

Nevertheless, still a fun read. I would definitely read another novel by McKean.(less)

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Feb 09, 2011 LORI CASWELL rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dora was brought up by her grandmother, Mimi, after losing her parents when she was a child. After graduating high school she just seemed to be going through the motions, she attends the college that offered her a scholarship with a major of liberal studies, unsure of what she truly wanted to do in the future. Her planned summer job falls through, but then a job at a coffee shop with a hunky boss just falls into her lap. She is thinking of graduating early and attending grad school, but still is...more Dora was brought up by her grandmother, Mimi, after losing her parents when she was a child. After graduating high school she just seemed to be going through the motions, she attends the college that offered her a scholarship with a major of liberal studies, unsure of what she truly wanted to do in the future. Her planned summer job falls through, but then a job at a coffee shop with a hunky boss just falls into her lap. She is thinking of graduating early and attending grad school, but still is moving through life just day to day.

Then she receives a call, she has to return back home, her grandmother has suffered a stroke. Dora drops everything and returns to Forsyth, North Carolina with just the clothes on her back. This is't a problem though because she has a full closet at her grandmother's house, but it not your typical closet full of clothes, the closet is full of vintage dresses. Mimi runs a vintage dress shop and she has always brought home dresses she thinks would look great on Dora. As a child Dora played "dress up" with these clothes, but now with Mimi in the hospital, Dora must take over things at the dress shop and Mimi requires employees of the shop wear vintage clothing so she gets to wear the dresses out in public. Dora had been brought up being taught that a vintage dress can life a woman's spirit no matter the problem.

While working at the store she meets Mimi's friends and selfish relatives seem to appear out of the woodwork. But the best thing about working at the store was learning that some of the dresses came complete with their own story. Mimi had been writing the stories and giving them away to the customer who purchased the corresponding dress.

I LOVED IT!!!!!

This story had me running through the gambit of emotions, joy, sadness, hope, excitement, anger, amusement and even envy. This book is truly minor stories, those of the dresses, interspersed within the main story of Dora's life. She grows from an immature girl flying through life "by the seat of her pants", to a wonderful confident woman and we get the pleasure of tagging along through the pages of this brilliantly written book.

It is hard to believe this is the author's first novel. I haven't ever heard of the idea set forth in this book of a garment's history whether fictional or true following simple dresses around. You only see a snippet of that in museums of dresses worn my famous people and those stories basically don't go beyond, who wore it, who designed it and where was it worn. I bet after reading this book vintage shop owners will try to copy the idea, but it will take some special creative writing skills to pull off the level set by this story and the unique way that it started will be impossible to duplicate.

Have some tissues handy while ready both for tears of laughter and tears of melancholy. There is romance, friendship, greedy relatives and even a little suspense. Fans of small town or woman's fiction will love this book. I really did.

The author and this book have an interesting back story just like the dresses, so be sure to check out Erin's blog and her biography.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free Hachette Book Group. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”(less)

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Apr 06, 2011 Eileen Souza rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: north-america

I picked this book up as I was looking for an easy read while on vacation. I wound up reading this book mainly while on the Amalfi Coast, and it was just what I was looking for - light, enjoyable, good story.

Dora is a young woman just about to finish her undergraduate degree when she finds out her grandmother Mimi (who raised her) has had a stroke. She goes back to her hometown to be there for her grandmother, and winds up seeing her old town with new eyes. Mimi owns a vintage clothing store, a...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Chev E rated it 3 of 5 stars

Dora is living life without any direction, majoring in the extremely general "liberal arts" and not really finding much inspiration in school or her work in a coffee shop. When her grandmother who raised her suffers a stroke, Dora runs home to be by her side, leaving behind school, work, and her flirty boss who she has a crush on. At home Dora takes over the running of her grandmother's vintage clothing store and discovers stories her grandmother would give to customers about the dresses they we...more Dora is living life without any direction, majoring in the extremely general "liberal arts" and not really finding much inspiration in school or her work in a coffee shop. When her grandmother who raised her suffers a stroke, Dora runs home to be by her side, leaving behind school, work, and her flirty boss who she has a crush on. At home Dora takes over the running of her grandmother's vintage clothing store and discovers stories her grandmother would give to customers about the dresses they were buying. During this tragic time Dora learns new things about herself, her grandmother, and her long dead parents that she never knew before. Throughout everything Dora is faced with the choice of her lifetime: leave school and run her grandmother's shop (and spend time with the cute contractor) or go back to school (and her crush) and get her degree.

Overall thoughts:
When I first heard the plot of the book I was excited to read it. How could I not love a book about vintage dresses? The answer: very easily. Although I loved the story, the prose was absolutely horrible in my opinion. Yes, it told the story, but the sweetness of the story could not overwhelm the bad writing. There was too much detail in the story and though detail can be good-it bored me to death. Extra detail must either be useful information that comes into place later, words to make the story flow, or entertaining. The details here were none of the above. It would be like telling the story of Little Red Riding Hood and describing the exact path she took through the forest complete with directions and tree species. Some of these extra details were negligible and easily ignored but what really bothered me were the tangents the author would go on that would last pages and pages. I agree that the background story is important, but sometimes it would be in the middle of a scene and by the time we were back in the present I had totally forgotten what was going on. (The tangents I'm referring to are not the secret lives.) The reason why I gave this book such a high rating was because I did love the story itself, outside of the words.

Characters:
I couldn't even find one character that I liked. Every single person was completely one-sided. Dora was unsure, Gary was flirty and self-centered, Dora's aunt and cousin were vapid, Maux was outgoing and slightly nuts in a cute way, Mimi was the perfect grandmother, and Con was the perfect man. Every single person had only one side to them, even though the story did provide space for them to extend their personalities. There were times of happiness and sadness, but each character was exactly the same in every situation.

Narration:
When the story is being told from the first-person, it should not feel like the third person. Elements of personality should shine through and taint the rest of the story. However, because Dora has no personality and no opinions other than "vintage dresses rock!" it did not come across as first-person. Also-in a book about vintage dresses I expect some salivating descriptions, but was disappointed by how boring they were. And now I will finish this review because I have a sudden craving for Modcloth.(less)

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Mar 07, 2012 Kimberly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

Her grandmother has had a stroke and is in the hospital, so Dora is taking over her grandmother's vintage clothing shop. In the meantime, she struggles to find out what she wants to do with her life, and deal with overbearing relatives.

The "secret lives" of the dresses are actually little stories that Grandma Mimi wrote for each item of the clothes. I guess it was supposed to add some charm, but I didn't like any of the stories and felt like it detracted from the story. I also found it weird tha...more

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Apr 13, 2011 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, fiction

The best word I can use to describe this book is “vanilla”. It’s enjoyable, in that I read through 100 pages without realizing it, but ultimately boring and forgettable. I wasn’t attached to any of the characters, and none of them really had a distinct personality. Dora showed some spunk, but not enough for me to feel any emotional attachment to her, and I don’t feel like she grew at all as a character. It was the same with the plot; it plodded along slowly, but nothing ever really happened. Eve...more

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Mar 09, 2011 Mekerei rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Dora’s parents were killed when she was a child. She was brought up by her grandmother, Mimi, who runs a vintage dress shop.

She attends a college where she majors in liberal studies and works in a coffee shop. She has a ‘thing’ for her boss, but is really just living life.

She gets a call that her grandmother is in hospital in her home town of Forsyth, North Carolina. She gets in her car and drives home.

As a child Dora played “dress up” with the clothes in Mimi’s shop, but as a young adult she wo...more

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Jun 08, 2011 Kim N - Lost-In-A-Book rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reads

I thought I was going to love this book, and I really wanted to love it. I only liked it. The story is unique (to me anyway). Some of the flashbacks were confusing. I'd be a few sentences in when I'd have to stop and go back because I'd gotten confused so when I'd go back and re-read, it was then that I would realize that it was a flashback. I didn't care for the stories of the dresses. With the exception of the last (and most relevant) one, they were all sad or negative. I would have liked to h...more

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Aug 22, 2011 Jenn (Writer's Block) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: own, chick-lit

Honestly, it was the cover that drew me to this book. That and because I kept on seeing it around the bookstore. It's not my typical read, but lately I've been more open to the "chick-lit" genre.

The story is about Dora, an undergraduate who rushes home to news that the grandmother who raised her has suffered a stroke and has been hospitalized.

Her grandmother, Mimi, owned a vintage clothing store in town and Dora assumed the responsibility of running it to keep her busy. She goes about it like sh...more

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Aug 10, 2012 Amanda Kimball rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Loved, loved, loved this book! Beautifully descriptive and heart wrenching. I loved watching Dora come into her own! Gabby and Con were the perfect side characters and Camille was a great villain (just wish they would've really given it to her. I loved that we knew and connected to Mimi without knowing her in a present sense.

Can't wait to read more from this author.

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Jul 03, 2012 Rachel Rogers rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

WOW! Couldn't put it down. Read it all in one day then felt bereft that I couldn't keep reading (other than rereads). Requested this through our library's ILL and so glad I did. Dora, an almost-college graduate hears that her beloved grandmother is in the hospital so she leaves college to go to the deathbed. While there, to keep busy and honor her grandmother, Dora starts working in the grandmother's vintage clothing store. As she sells the dresses she finds a hidden part of herself as well as a...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Kitchie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Some of us have an emotional attachment to certain things, and sometimes we think what these things can say if they could talk. Will my lazy boy complain about my weight as I sit for hours, channel surfing? Will my budoir give me scathing remarks as I try on outfit after outfit? Will that pair of jeans I keep in my closet in hopes of fitting into them again finally tell me, "It's not gonna happen. Let go." Will that dress I wore when he asked me out recount how it felt my heart beating like craz...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Bethany rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed this book, it is a great fun read. Dora is a college student at a liberal arts school who works at a coffee shop and doesn't know what she wants to do with her life. She grew up in Forsyth, NC and she was raised by her grandmother, Mimi. Mimi owns a little vintage clothing boutique downtown. Dora recieves a phone call that her grandmother has had a stroke and she rushes back home to see what is going on. And that is where the story begins.

Overall, I thought this book was very good. I...more

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Apr 30, 2013 Lindsey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: female-fiction

I ended up liking this book a lot more than I originally anticipated. Once I got into the heart of the story, I was completely mesmerized. After finishing this, I am still completely caught up (and very much want to find my own Mimi's!!). My favorite part was absolutely the stories connecting to the dresses. It is such a wonderfully quaint addition to her shop and I can imagine returning just for more of those beautiful stories. *sigh* Just one of those books that makes you happy upon finishing....more

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Aug 14, 2011 SerahRose rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels

Enh. Not so good. The premise is excellent. Vintage dresses with secret lives? A lost young woman who finds herself among the treasures of her dying grandmother who was also her guardian? Sounds good, doesn't it? But although it starts out alright, the characters stay pretty 1-dimensional. The protagonist appears to be really intelligent but her demeanor and emotional intelligence are closer to the naivete of a 12 year old while her witty banter and clever one-liner comebacks are worthy of a 32...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Bronwyn Rykiert rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, library-book, family

This is good little story. Dora thinks she is love with her boss Gary, he runs the coffee shop where she works. Dora is called home because her beloved grandmother Mimi has had a stroke, while at home Dora decides to keep her grandmother's vintage clothing store open. While she was growing up Mimi would bring home dresses for Dora to try on but she was never interested, instead she wanted to dress casually in cargo shorts and T Shirts, but now that she is home she is once again looking at the ra...more

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Jun 21, 2011 Eibhleann (Jodie) Gardiner rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book made me wish I had a grandma Mimi who would fill all my closets with vintage clothes, I love vintage clothes. And like the main character never wear them. It was a great distraction from the eternal watching of bubbles bubble and orange crystals turn into yellow. The story was so realistic I could see this person to be real. Actually when I think about it she is pretty similar to myself and some people I know (don't worry I won't name names) in regards to the whole I feel like my life...more

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Feb 24, 2012 Teagan C. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is centred on the life of Dora, who, after her grandmother suffers an accident, must return to her home town and run her grandmother’s dress shop. Despite some of the circumstances in the book it is still a relatively light read, probably a good in-between book for those who are more partial to heavier novels. I wouldnt go out of my way to recommend it though, it was reasonably enjoyable but not a REALLY good book that I’ll remember. I’m not partial to first-person narrative but this s...more

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Book Buying Addic...: Giveaway: The Secret Lives of Dresses by Erin McKean (Ends 30th June 2012)	1	5	Jun 05, 2012 09:56pm
Aussie Readers: Giveaway: The Secret Lives of Dresses by Erin McKean (Ends 30th June 2012)	1	7	Jun 05, 2012 09:53pm

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