A Novella—Book 1—Bridal Shop SeriesNew York City dress designer to the stars, Amelia Pettipiece, cleared a unique path to fashion-glory. With her career soaring, grand penthouse apartment on Central Park, and handsome boyfriend who supports her ambitions, Amelia could not have dreamed of a better life when she left Pittsburgh after college. But when Amelia’s signature design, the famous FiFi … the famous FiFi Hererra’s wedding dress, disintegrates off the bride’s body as she walks down the aisle, every thread of Amelia’s charmed life unravels.
Amelia’s Instaglam life turns into an Instaslam. She runs back home to her gram’s place in Eagle Bend, Pennsylvania to hide until she can figure out what happened to the dress and how to weave her tattered life back together.
Though Amelia finds comfort in staying with Gram, she begins to see that she’s neglected the woman who raised her. Pettipiece Boutique is falling apart and a slew of hunky hangers-on are showing interest in the riverfront property and in Amelia.
Just when Amelia is at her lowest, a customer with a unique problem arrives at the boutique, distracting Amelia from her crumbled life. Can she and Gram create the dress of a lifetime for a desperate bride? Can Amelia trust herself to send another bride down the aisle after the FiFi debacle? Does any of it really matter if Amelia’s already lost it all?
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What a wonderful way to begin what I hope is a flourishing series of heartfelt womens fiction.
Amelia Pettipiece has reached what she believes is a dream position, setting aside other projects to cater to every whim of an heiress bride. Following and designing outfits for young FiFi Hererra a full year before the Pièce De Résistance wedding gown designed of the finest vintage fabrics and lace, only to watch in horror as Amelia`s dream (reputation and career) goes up in a puff of silk and gold sparkles as the bride smiles her way down the aisle.
Wanting only to run home. hide her head and bury her tears in the arms of her own love, she walks in on an ultimate betrayal and the rest of her life explodes. Now homeless, jobless, friendless, Amelia returns to the only safe place she can find, again to discover things are not as she envisions.
Wow – talk about a horrible, terrible, very bad day!
Of course we are feeling bad for Amelia and her grandmother, for whom we immediately have warm feelings. Returning home for the first time in a while, with her eyes newly opened, Amelia sees that things are not as bright and uncomplicated there as she had remembered or imagined.
Can she put aside her own troubles and help others, meaning she has to learn to trust again, and rebuild her life?
The story draws us in quickly. Characters are defined well enough for the reader to form opinions, but still leave questions. Overall it is a wonderful escape read and I really want to return and see what happens next.
Ms. Shoop’s A Puff of Silk was such a great way to kick off her Bridal Shop Series. I loved Ameila. I found her so easy to relate to. I have had so many moments recently when I didn’t know what my next move would be, I could feel Amelia’s emotions when she watched her life change in a Puff of Silk. I loved the Bridal Shop and Amelia’s reconnection with Gran. There were a few twists and enough questions to leave you wanting more. I can’t wait for book 2!
A great start of the series
I enjoyed reading this book. It feels so real while I read this book. The emotions, the heartbreaks and the frustrations seems so authentic. This is a great start of the series. I cannot wait to read the 2nd book.
When you fall, it is hard to get back to your feet and move on. Amelia lie low and opportunity comes around. This girl is beyond exceptional and so is her grandma. There are many moments in the book that gives me goosebumps.
This story has so many valuable lessons to learn. One is never given up your dreams. Ms. Kathleen Shoop did it again with her new book . I enjoyed reading this story so much.
This book walked me through excitement, loss, nostalgia, love and joy. I felt connected to Amelia and I felt like I could relate to her. Kathleen Shoop did an excellent job of bringing you into the story and feeling all the feels. I am a fan now and SO excited to read the next book to this series!
A long time and many dreams ago, I dabbled in the world of wedding planning. A bride’s wedding day is one of the most important and memorable days of her life. Her dress is typically “THE” piece that pulls her entire day into perfection. FiFi Hererra’s big day is changed forever — but not nearly as much as her dress designer – Amelia.
Amelia has everything she could imagine in life…..until she doesn’t. Sometimes you have to go back to go forward. Fame hit quick and she drank it dry. She reconnects with her grandmother and begins to build a new life. Her strength helps her through but I believe that having the support of Gram really helped bring her head out of the clouds.
Shoop’s new series is set up to be a new favorite of mine! Her writing made me feel right in the middle of the wedding process. Her descriptions are on point and the characters jumped right off of the pages into a movie-like scene right before my eyes.
I have volunteered to share my review and all the opinions are 100% my own.
A Puff of Silk is a fun quick read full of surprises. I am already a fan of Kathleen Shoop, and this short novella did not disappoint. The main character Amelia is strong and independent, despite her setbacks and tears. And, just when she thought her life was over she learns it was just getting started over again! I love the interaction between her and her grandmother and their relationship. This book is set up very well for a series, introducing characters, and ends well, leaving you ready for the next one. A fun read indeed. I received this book for free through a book tour.
Amelia was on the verge of being the dress designer for the rich and famous. For the last year she has put everything on hold to be at the beck and call of a self-absorbed starlet, designing every dress she wore, including a one-of-a-kind wedding dress made from vintage materials. But as the bride waltzes down the aisle, her perfect dress disintegrates, along with Amelia’s dream of being a success. With her career at rock bottom, Amelia heads back to the security of her hometown and taking care of her gram. But even there, she discovers things are not going well too.
I loved this story. It’s funny how much we don’t see when we are young and eager to leave our hometown and the people who helped to make us who we are. I think everyone feels that way at some time in their life. But that’s also what makes it so special when you return. These characters were down to earth and easy to like. There were so many issues that didn’t get resolved so you can bet I will be looking for the next installment of this series.
Amelia Pettipiece left the small town where she grew up and headed for New York City where she became a famous designer. She also had a boyfriend who she loved. Then in one fell swoop she lost it all and became a laughing stock. The wedding dress she had designed and sewed for a prominent figure literally disintegrated as the bride walked down the aisle. She got back to her apartment and found her boyfriend with his assistant. The only thing she could do was go home to that small town where she knew her Grandmother would be there and would stand by her and give her the comfort she so badly needed.
Her Grandmother’s shop was falling apart–and there was this really cute guy who was trying to help her. No one else seemed to trust this guy—
Then she realized she had little to nothing in her bank accounts—
A women walked into her Grandmother’s shop begging them to make her a wedding dress–well they did–it was a success and Amelia learned a lot about her Grandmother that she never knew.
This story ends on a happy note–Amelia is going out on a date with the guy everyone kept telling her to stay away from–But–was she able to solve her money problems, will she be to save her Grandmother’s shop and will she continue to design wedding gowns.
This is the first in the series and I am eagerly awaiting all the others!!
This was a super quick read, under 200 pages, so it’s really more like a novella. I read it in just a few hours. I’m really happy that I took a chance on an author I’ve never read before. The writing was very descriptive… I could see the dresses and the lace that they were using. Kathleen Shoop is a very expressive writer. Since this is the first book in the start of a series, we’re introduced to several characters. I feel like I really got to know everyone. It also seemed like events that could really happen… it seemed like it was all plausible. I really like being able to relate to the characters.
Poor Amelia has her life crashing down all around her… or does she? Is it really just falling into place? We don’t really get to find out because while this book closes and feels like an ending, it is not the end of Amelia’s story. She has a lot of decisions to make and it’s time to face them and not hide from them. Amelia is a strong-minded woman but she’s let fame weave its little tendrils around her and she might have just forgotten what her original dreams were really like. Dressing the rich and famous may be all fun but when one of them feels wronged, feels slighted… you better watch it because the claws of social media come out and they are after blood!
What do we do when we’ve been wronged and everything is spiraling out of control? We run home to where people will always love us. Amelia’s Gram is waiting on her with open arms and a loving heart. We all could use a Grams like Amelia’s! It’s been years since they’ve really been together and it seems Grams might have some secrets too. It’s time for them to both put some big girl panties on and grab life by the horns and take control!
One of my favorite Grams quotes:
“You don’t need to dress in clothes that are sexy in order to be sexy.”
It all ended way too quickly for me! I’m looking forward to the second installment of the Bridal Shop series, A Hint of Organza. I can’t wait to see where Amelia heads in life and if her dreams change as her life drastically has.
I received an ARC of this book with the hope that I would leave an Unbiased Opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… my opinions.
‘A Puff of Silk’ is the first book I’ve read by Kathleen Shoop but it certainly won’t be the last. I jumped at the opportunity to read this novel for two reasons: 1) I love chick-lit that has a fashionable flair 2) I was recently married and am still riding the bridal high.
Although I’ve read tons of chick-lit with a rom-com tone, this was a new twist with all of the chaos surrounding a wedding gown mishap. In our technologically aware society, anything worth talking about gets splashed all across social-media and this novel touches upon that notion. One of the big themes of the novel is that when life gets you down, you have to get right back up and moving. Often times life’s journey takes you exactly where you need to be and shows you where your true talents can be better utilized and appreciated.
This book was everything I hoped it would be. It was fun and chaotic and a little bit flirty. It was entertaining but gave the right amount of mystery and intrigue. After reading the first one I was happy to hear that there’s four more novels in the Bridal Shop Series and I’m looking forward to reading them all!
Meet Amelia Pettipiece – dress designer to the stars, or rather one in particular – the famous FiFi Hererra. She has worked for FiFi for a while and her life became insta-worthy. When she is charged with the job of making her wedding dress Amelia didn’t envision her life literally falling apart. Said wedding dress begins to fall apart at FiFi walks down the aisle, and thus marks the end of Amelia’s instaglam lifestyle.
Finding her boyfriend in bed with another woman, faced with a lawsuit from Fifi for ruining her wedding, Amelia leaves New York a broken woman who is being hated by the paparazzi and the internet. Her Glam life suddenly hitting rock bottom she heads home with her tail between her leg to her hometown to live with her Gram.
Amelia has been out of town and out of touch with what has really been going on, and once home she discovers that all is not well with her Gram, Soon she finds herself helping her Gram make a wedding dress for a young woman despite her protests that she will never design again.
I really loved this short novella, and I feel I am going to enjoy the rest of the books in this series. I loved Amelia and her Gram and how their little boutique brings them together again.