I’ve had The Wedding Dress by Rachel Hauck on my Kindle for several months. I finally got around to it this weekend when we did some driving and I wanted something to keep me occupied on the road. The current book I’m reading is pretty intense and I knew I wanted something lighter for the road. And I wanted to just take my Kindle, not a heavy book. So I chose The Wedding Dress.

I loved it.

This is my favorite of all the Rachel Hauck books I’ve read.

It begins in present day, Birmingham, Alabama.

On an impulse, Charlotte Malone purchased a locked antique trunk.

She is engaged to Tim Rose but they can’t seem to get around to the actual nuts and bolts mints of planning a wedding. She owns a bridal shop but, with two months till the big day, hasn’t picked a dress. Ditto with Tim and his tux.

Charlotte is secretly relieved when Tim asks to delay their wedding. She calls it off.

In the midst of her grieving, Charlotte finally gets the trunk open and finds the most exquisite wedding gown. It doesn’t seem to be vintage. But it’s not new either. It’s never been altered.

One hundred years ago in Birmingham, Emily Canton is about to become engaged to Phillip. No matter that she gave her heart to Daniel. He left her to play baseball and never bothered to write. Or did he write her after all? He’s back in town and insists he did and he’s back for good, with a real job and ready to talk to Emily’s father.

The book moves from Charlotte’s story to Emily’s and interweaves two other couples’. The wedding dress is the gold thread that stitches them all together, even though it has a history of its own, dating to the Jim Crow laws in the last century.

The story is skillfully written and keeps you turning the pages. Hauck does a great job building tension without going over the top.

Highly recommended!