Review: Dictatorship of the Dress by Jessica Topper

Dictatorship of the Dress by Jessica Topper
Series: Much “I Do” About Nothing, Book 1
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Contemporary Romance

ISBN: 9780425276259
Source: Goodreads Giveaway
Buy it here: Amazon | B&N | Kobo

As the dress-bearer for her mother’s wedding, Laney Hudson has a lot more baggage than the bulky garment bag she’s lugging from New York to Hawaii. Laney is determined to prove she’s capable of doing something right, but running chores for her mom’s fairytale nuptials is proving to be a painfully constant reminder of her own lost love.

So when she’s mistaken for the bride and bumped up to first class, Laney figures some stress-free luxury is worth a harmless white lie. Until the flight crew thinks that the man sitting next to her is Laney’s groom, and her little fib turns into a hot mess.

The last thing Noah Ridgewood needs is some dress-obsessed diva landing in his first-class row. En route to his Vegas bachelor party, the straight-laced software designer knows his cold feet have nothing to do with the winter weather.

When a severe storm leaves them grounded in Chicago and they find themselves booked into the last available honeymoon suite, Laney and her in-flight neighbor have little choice but to get better acquainted. Now, as her bridal mission hangs in the balance, perhaps the thing Laney gets right is a second chance at love.

Air travel is unpleasant on a good day, so having travel plans go awry isn’t the scenario you’d think of for a classic “meet-cute.” Yet that’s exactly what happens in the utterly charming Dictatorship of the Dress. Jessica Topper’s first Much “I Do” About Nothing is a fast-paced, engaging read featuring two loveable characters brought together by chance.

Laney and Noah were so easy to adore. Laney is a former comic book artist and she’s so creative and fun that I wish she were real just so we could be friends. She’s had a hard time lately after losing a loved one, not to mention the pain and hardship that lead up to that loss (if I’m being vague, it’s to avoid spoilers). She also has a tumultuous relationship with her mother and being the dress bearer for her mother’s wedding (not to mention having her travel plans go awry) is bringing those family problems to the forefront. Laney is a wonderful mix of vibrancy and vulnerability and I so wanted her to get a happily ever after of her own. And Noah… Oh, Tech-Boy. He’s in over his head with a fiancée he doesn’t love who is constantly changing wedding plans without his consent, stomping over his feelings, and having her dear daddy try and bully him. Noah comes across as straight-laced, but meeting Laney opens him up, helps him find the person he was that has been lost over time. The two of them seem like opposites, but they fit so incredibly well. Their romance was so fun to watch unfold and I practically devoured Dictatorship of the Dress because I couldn’t wait to see how things would work out for them.

One thing I was concerned about going into Dictatorship of the Dress was the possible cheating element and I’m sure that’s a concern for others. Noah is engaged and his fiancée being a total nightmare (which she is) isn’t an excuse to cheat in my book. Fortunately it isn’t in Noah’s either. I can’t say how things play out or I’ll spoil the whole story, but suffice it to say Ms. Topper makes it work perfectly.

Dictatorship of the Dress is both tons of fun and deeply emotional. What other story would give you moving past grief, finding love, and encounters with a pack of Elvii? I adored this book from beginning to end.


FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free in a Goodreads giveaway. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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Review: Courtship of the Cake by Jessica Topper

Series: Much “I Do” About Nothing, Book 2
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Courtship of the Cake by Jessica Topper
ISBN: 9780425276853
Release Date: June 2, 2015
Source: Publisher
Buy it here: Amazon | B&N

“Always a bridesmaid, never a bride” has suited Danica James just fine…until the mysterious man who crashed her sister’s wedding steals her heart, leaves a slice of groom’s cake under her pillow, and then disappears.

Hoping to forget her unforgettable fling, Dani takes a job as a backstage masseuse for a rock music festival, not expecting the tour’s headlining bad boy to make an offer she can’t refuse. Nash Drama needs a fiancée—and fast…

Mick Spencer is the best wedding cake designer in New Hope and the town’s most eligible bachelor. But despite the bevy of bridesmaids he’s sampled, Mick can’t get the evening he spent with Dani out of his mind.

So when she shows up for a cake tasting at the Night Kitchen—with his former best friend’s ring on her finger—Mick vows to charm the woman of his dreams into choosing a sweet and sinful ever after, with him…

A free-spirited massage therapist, a sexy cake designer who knows his way around more than the kitchen, a rock star at a crossroads in his life… There is a lot to capture readers’ interest in Courtship of the Cake. Jessica Topper’s second Much “I Do” About Nothing novel can be fun and charming, and at times almost captures your heart.

Dani is the black sheep of her family, happier on the road treating festival musicians than staying home and fulfilling her parents’ expectations. I liked Dani; she has a good heart and can hold her own against the dominant personalities at the music festival. When a mishap at the festival lands her in hot water and out of a job, bad boy Nash Drama comes up with a heck of a job offer. He needs Dani’s skills as a massage therapist to help him when his AS flares up and he also needs a respectable fiancée for his return trip home. Against her better judgment, Dani accepts Nash’s offer, but the trip to his hometown yields an unexpected surprise in the form of Nash’s childhood best friend, Mick. Mick is a too-hot-for-his-own-good baker who fell fast and hard for Dani the one disastrous night they met the year before. Mick and Dani have good chemistry, and though there was sexual tension aplenty, the romance fell short. There was no true development to the love story; it was glossed over and I was disappointed in the lack of depth. I didn’t really know why Dani and Mick were in love, aside from a romance novel requiring it.

Courtship of the Cake has a lot of potential. There are half a dozen interconnecting storylines involving Dani, Mick, Nash, and the book’s sizeable supporting cast. Family drama, lost love, dreams coming apart, friendships being tested, and more are all plotlines at play, yet none of them are given the attention they deserve. This was frustrating because Ms. Topper would introduce an element to the story that was really interesting and then skimmed along the surface of it until going to the next plot point. That’s not to say that Courtship of the Cake is a bad book – there’s a lot to enjoy and I was undoubtedly invested in the story. I was simply surprised that the book was more superficial than I would have expected given the characters and their various problems.

Courtship of the Cake is the second book in the Much “I Do” About Nothing series but it can be read as a standalone. Despite the fact that this book wasn’t quite my cup of tea, I do still want to read the first story, Dictatorship of the Dress. Ms. Topper knows how to write charming characters and I liked her writing enough to give her work another shot.


FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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