The True Love Wedding Dress [Mass Market Paperback]

Giving an overall rating to an anthology is always VERY difficult. Some stories hit and some miss. Yet, I always enjoy reading an anthology, because you USUALLY come across an unfamiliar author . . . someone new and satisfying.

Scotland, 1790. As she quietly sewed, Aileanna MacEwan moved her weary fingers over the beautiful wedding gown, but alas, the exquisite dress was not for her. It was for her spoiled, ungrateful mistress. Sadly, Aileanna winced. All seemed so unfair, for she was in love . . . in love with the intended groom. Yet, Aileanna knew she COULD give her beloved a lifetime filled with happiness, for inside her flowed the blood of a sorceress and for the man of her dreams, Aileanna WOULD cast a spell . . . and so the legacy of the bewitched wedding dress begins . . .

1). Barbara Metzger: "A PERFECT FIT." - Rating: (4 Stars) (Grade: B+)
This was my first trip into Ms. Metzger's world and the adventure pleasantly surprised me.

Katie Cole may be an earl's daughter, but she spent the last eighteen years raising chickens and an illegitimate daughter. Tanyon Wellforde, Viscount Forde has a very unpleasant task. He must reluctantly cancel his nephew's wedding. It seems Gerald is too young and too inexperienced to deal with the designs of a rural gold-digger. As Gerald's uncle and guardian, it is Forde's duty to find out exactly what Miss Susannah Cole and her mother are!

A PERFECT FIT is delightful, witty, and pleasantly poignant. However, the rushed concocted ending (specifically her unforgiving father's reappearance) caused an otherwise intriguing story to slip a notch.

2). Connie Brockway: "GLAD RAGS." - Rating: (5 big Stars) (Grade: A+)
In an anthology format, I was beginning to think that the perfect story was impossible. Connie Brockway proved me wrong! GLAD RAGS is reading perfection. This little gambol has it all - humor, spice, and wonderful characters.

Innocent, strong-willed Lucy St. James was driving Alexander Thorpe crazy . . . he was love-crazy, lust-crazy, and he was leaving for the Crimea! Therefore, he staunchly resisted Lucy St. James' charms. Alex swore he would not make Lucy a widow nor would he allow her to spend a lifetime married to an invalid! Therefore, he did the next best thing. He crazily bowed out of their relationship.

Using the wedding dress folklore, Brockway successfully spins it with a surprising twist. This talented, creative author surrounds the entire phenomenon with a gentle sense of humor. This is a splendid read.

3). Casey Claybourne: "SOMETHING SPECIAL." - Rating: (5 Stars) (Grade: A).
Goodness another winner! In SOMETHING SPECIAL, Casey Claybourne intensely moves her heartwarming tale start into her reader's heart.

Wealthy, eleven-year-old Eliza Cooper was a lonely little girl. Although her frequently absent father tried, the lonesome child wanted a special friend. She wanted someone to share her life, someone to fuss and encourage her, someone to make every day special. Yes, Eliza wanted someone special - someone like a mother. As Penelope Martin arrived in Seattle, she looked forward to a new life. Although she lacked experience as a teacher, she was willing to learn and she knew she could create a wonderful world for Eliza Cooper. However, Josh Cooper had other ideas for his daughter and those ideas did not include this so-called `governess.' A governess? Why, the woman could not even read!

Through soft humor and likeable characters, Claybourne delivers a very good page-turner. SOMETHING SPECIAL is well written and very enjoyable.

4). Catherine Anderson: "BEAUTIFUL GIFTS." - Rating: (4 Stars) (Grade: B-)
In 1996, Catherine released "Keegan's Lady." This story circled child abuse - abuse by an alcoholic father. In January 2006, Ms. Anderson's Summer Breeze will be available. This book revisits the Keegan/Paxton family. BEAUTIFUL GIFTS is the connection between the two, allowing Anderson's reader to revisit the 1996 story and then move into 2006 and Summer Breeze.

Faith Randolph and her precocious daughter, Charity, are running away. They are running from the dark and sinister nature of one man - Faith's father. Through a quirk of magic, brought on by the wedding dress, Faith embarrassingly stumbles upon Patrick O'Shannessy. She is applying for the position of his housekeeper. Patrick is shocked, not only did he place the advertisement long ago, but also Faith Randolph is hardly the housekeeper type!

Catherine Anderson IS one my favorite authors; her books ARE an automatic buy. They are always tenderly written, poignantly moving, and commonly involve the unusual. Although BEAUTIFUL GIFTS is a lovely story, it does however bog down with information data. The reader is very aware this short story's main objection is its connection value for the Keegan/Paxton legacy. Nevertheless, Anderson's skilled hand manages a lovely soft theme, but in this brief anthology format, the information overload IS a problem.

MaryGrace Meloche.

I agree with the previous reviewer that rating anthologies can be tricky as some stories are always better than others. This one is no different. The book starts off promisingly, with the prologue by Catherine Anderson (who also does the books epilogue). A servant, Aileanna, who descends from a line of sorceress', is stitching her selfish, mistresses wedding dress. Our witch, though, is in love with the groom-to-be, Halford, a highborn English gentleman. Though magic, the dress is blessed to bring good luck to whomever wears it and our couple run off to get married. Halford is willing to forgo his inheritance to be with her and even suggests going to America. Then the story ends.

I had thought that all the stories would be tied together not though a dress but though family connections to that couple. Aileanna had red hair and Halford incredible blue eyes and blond hair and all our hero/heroines had some of the mix. But it was never clear if indeed anyone was related to the young lovers.

The first story is the best. Barbara Metzger's A Perfect Fit comes close to being a perfect story. It is fun, light, believable and enjoyable. Katie Cole, a highborn Lady, lives in a cottage with her daughter, Susannah, preparing for Susannah's wedding to Gerald. Katie lives falsely as a widow; Susannah is a bastard and Katie's family disowned her as she anticipated her wedding vows 18 years earlier. Viscount Forde comes to see if Katie and Susannah are using his nephew, Gerald, for his money and to see if the wedding should happen at all. They are a sexy couple and the dialogue is smart and funny. Of course love blooms, and there is that mysterious wedding dress that just won't get dirty, even when falling in mud. The only flaw with this story is Kate's father. It was unbelievable how he turned up in the end.

Connie Brockway's Glad Rags follows. Alexander, Viscount Thorpe, was sort of engaged to Lucy St. James two years before our story opens. It was never public, just sort of assumed. Lucy, in a fit of pique as she wanted him to actually ask her before he went to war, tries to make him jealous and all that happens is he leaves and they are finished. Now, two year later after his dash off to war, it seems that Alexander's former good friend and Lucy's brother, Hugh, carries a grudge. With a ridiculous bet when Thorpe returns to the Ton party world, he tries to make a fool of Thorpe. The bet was silly and uninteresting. The level of pride between Thorpe and Lucy was over done. The story fails, and badly, as there is no sense of real love or devotion between them. A rather boring story.

Casey Claybourne's Something Special, features a mail order governess to a young girl outside of Seattle. Penny, who comes to teach Eliza without Eliza's Dad knowing as he is away months at a time logging, is a nice heroine. Nice twist about the reading. Eliza and her manservant are engaging as well as Eliza's Dad. It is a nice story and enjoyable. The couple blends well.

Catherine Anderson's Beautiful Gifts is I did not enjoy. Between Faith, a rich NY runaway mom with a little girl, who hails from the East, and our pokey cowboy, Paddy, the story does not work. Faith's father, a rich, vindictive mean man tracks Faith and her daughter to Oregon, where they are staying with Paddy. The father wanted to yet arrange antoher marriage for Faith that she did not want. The way Paddy gets rid of her Dad is unbelievable. A man as devious as Faith's Dad would not leave with his tail between his legs.

And Anderson's epilogue is too short and uncertain. Is Charlotte a descendant of Aileanna and Halford? The book is not clear and I find that I rather know what is going on rather than read between the lines.

I'm kind of sick of anthologies that have two good stories and three bad ones, but this antho is enough to change my mind. First of all, I loved the Brockway one called Glad Rags. Because it was hot: the hero is totally in lust, but he's going off to war, and he doesn't want to leave the heroine alone if he dies. So he backs out of the marriage--and I was DYING for him to come back and make love. Which he does. Fabulous story. I really liked the other ones too, although they don't stand out quite as clearly -- but this is one of those anthologies where I kept reading right through all of them. That almost never happens for me.

I highly recommend this one!