Book Review: The Christmas Dress by Courtney Cole

The Christmas Dress


by Courtney Cole
Publication Date October 26, 2021
Published by HarperCollins
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Goodreads
Genres: Fiction / Holidays, Fiction / Romance / Holiday, Fiction / Women
Pages: 352
Format: ARC

An enchanted Christmas dress brings two generations of women together for the magic of the season in this delightful holiday story from New York Times bestselling author Courtney Cole. 

One Dress. Two Women. The Magic of the Holiday Season.

When hopeful fashionista Meg Julliard must return to her hometown of Chicago to manage her late father’s apartment building, she thinks her dreams of making it in the fashion business are over. Add in her father’s eclectic roster of tenants who all need Meg’s attention (ASAP!), a host of building related disasters, and a handsome handyman she keeps embarrassing herself in front of, and this has all the makings for the worst Christmas she’s ever had.

Ellie Wade, one of the building’s longtime residents, is also not feeling the Christmas Joy this year. She is preparing to move into a nursing home (reluctantly), and is in the process of sorting through her belongings to downsize. Every corner of her apartment holds memories, some good, some bad. But there’s one dress she hesitates to pack up as it represents both the best and worst night of her life.

Ellie and Meg strike up an unlikely friendship and the story of Ellie’s dress comes out. Ellie gifts the gorgeous dress to Meg, hoping that it will bring her more luck, on the condition that she wear it to the building’s Christmas party.

The dress magically fits, and while it eventually leads to the best night of Meg’s life, it also acts as inspiration for Meg to follow a life-long dream of her own, a dream that will help save the crumbling Parkview West, and restore it to its former glory, and keep it as a safe home for all of the current tenants.

The dress and the magic of the holiday season helps both Meg and Ellie find their own happy endings. 

My Review:

I really enjoyed The Christmas Dress by Courtney Cole.  It was very different than what I expected and all in a good way.  This book was magical, fun, emotional, and heartwarming.  I flew through the pages of this book enjoying the romance, the history, and the mystery.  This book has everything.  

Meg Julliard returns to her father’s apartment building after his sudden death to manage and run the old building that is falling quickly into disrepair and further into debt.  The residents of the building are all elderly and depend on the building as their only home as they face the later years of their lives.  Meg’s only experience is in Fashion as she worked as a journalist for a high-powered fashion magazine in New York City.  Meg feels as if her dreams of making it big as a fashion designer is over as she has to live in Chicago to manage the building her father left her.  

The one highlight of managing the building is the very handsome, handyman, Logan Scott who knows all the problems of the building and all the residents.  Meg, Logan, and the residents of the building work together to save and upgrade the building as Meg works to find a way to save her dream of becoming a fashion designer.  

I enjoyed this book from cover to cover.  Meg is a very sympathetic character as is her love interest Logan.  They have many obstacles to overcome and I enjoyed watching them struggle to find their way to happiness.  The historical significance of the old building was fun to uncover and gave the book a bit more depth and interest.  The magical properties of the dress are subtle, but powerful making the story realistic and enchanting at the same time.  

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good Christmas romance.  I received a complimentary copy of this book.  The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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