The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding by Jennifer Robson

My sewing friends and fans of historical fiction will love this one - a novel based on the real-life women who sewed the gown worn by England's future Queen Elizabeth when she married in 1947.

Two women, survivors of the recent wars, become friends over their embroidery frame working in the London fashion house of Norman Hartnell. Because of their skill, the friends are chosen to work on a very special, ultra-secret dress. Their stories are contrasted with a modern Canadian woman seeking information about her recently deceased grandmother, who bequeathed her some unexplained samples of exquisite lace embroidery.

The book is very, very well done. I was captivated by the historical fiction sections, with these brave women who had survived so much. Also, there's so much of the story that's true and it's possible to lose yourself for hours researching the real fashion houses of Europe and royal sartorial history.

The Summer of Jodi Perez (and the Best Burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding

Fashion-obsessed teen Abby Ives is excited to start her summer internship at a trendy vintage-inspired boutique. Even though things are a little rocky at home right now, it's going to be a great summer.

And it will be ... but not in any of the ways she may have expected.

I absolutely LOVED this book! It's funny and realistic, and I had a hard time putting it down - I just wanted to spend more time with Abby and the gang.

Abby gets wrapped up in a friend-of-a-friend's quest to load a new app with the "best burger" info for Los Angeles - and ends up with a new buddy, along with a great way to avoid her mom's weird food. She also finds her first girlfriend, worries too much about how the world sees her, and learns a lot about fashion.

Highly, highly recommended. My favorite book of recent history.

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

While the crown prince's parents are fully consumed by the mission to find him a proper princess, Sebastian is sidelined with other secret pursuits. His alter-ego, Lady Crystallia, is the talk of the town with her vibrant hair and dramatic custom gowns. But he's secretly terrified what may happen when his proud, royal family discovers the dresses.

This is also a story about friendship, and about encouraging and supporting others to do and be their best. About self-discovery, and about doing what's best for you.

Plus, it's fun! It's a well-drawn graphic novel, beautifully illustrated and lavishly colored.

Unmentionable: the Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners by Therese Oneill

In this snarky, casual book, the modern reader receives a no-holds-barred look at what hygiene, fashion, and society were REALLY like for women in the 19th century.

BBC melodramas, romance novels, and the balm of time have worked a true magic: the past has become so sanitized and glossy that we pine for the days of chivalry - completely forgetting that there was poop everywhere, the ownership and operation of your vagina was a medical mystery, and a stricter-than-strict social code of mores meant you were hardly allowed to speak.

This is a funny book that puts you right into the action. The author is speaking directly to YOU the reader, and even responds to your questions and complaints as she imagines you'd be having them. Not in any way scholarly, but certainly educational!

Vintage by Susan Gloss

This book is a sweet bonbon filled with fluffy nougat - three heartbroken women bond through a vintage clothing store. Men are the worst. Fashion! Love?

If you swoon at tales of women in love and hardship but need to know that it all comes out roses in the end, you'll love this book. This is not my usual fare, but we chose it as a book discussion title.

There's great character development, and the story's got a good arch - there are even a few surprises! I most enjoyed the older Indian woman, Amithi, and her intercultural perspective (she's much less a trope than the others).

The author is from Madison WI and the book is set there, also. Actually, a minor criticism is just how stridently the author places this book in Madison - every single thing is anthemically M-A-D-I-S-O-N! The story could have been in any medium-sized city with a liberal university presence, but she works 300% harder to make sure you can plot everything on a map and Google View the buildings if you wish.

Pogue's Basics: Life, Essential Tips and Shortcuts (That No One Bothers to Tell You) For Simplifying Your Day by David Pogue

This book is a compendium of those so-called "hacks" they're always click-baiting you with on Facebook. Read the book! Don't click the ambiguous links!

Actually, I learned a lot reading this book. Yes, I knew to use a piece of uncooked spaghetti as a long matchstick. But I didn't know how to make shortcut keystrokes in my iPhone for my email address or my phone number - very helpful when you fill in a lot of online forms.

This is a pick-up-and-put-down kind of book; best to dip in and read a bit, rather than try to read all the way through. But I guarantee there's something here you didn't know - and you'll be simply STUNNED when you discover it.

The Painted Kiss by Elizabeth Hickey

In this lush, full historical novel we get a peek inside the art world in Vienna before World War II, as seen through the eyes of Emilie Floge, haute couture fashion designer and companion to famed artist Gustav Klimt. 

Emilie and Gustav meet when she's a girl, and she eventually became a beneficiary of his estate and guardian for his legacy. Between those times, it's well known they were friends and even family (another Floge daughter married Klimt's brother), but the full story of their relationship isn't told - which is where author Elizabeth Hickey set her book's narrative.

The story is told through the small, intimate conversations between two people - their thoughts, emotions, and conversations that aren't part of the historical record. She's given the pair a difficult, complex relationship that's neither friendship nor love but much more and also sometimes less. The story shifts back and forth from Emilie's wartime exile in Attersee and her reminiscence of Vienna and the heyday of the Secession movement.

I loved this book and since all the artists are real, it persuaded me to do some fantastic art history research to see the art they're discussing. Emilie is a strong and independent character, and I was fascinated to learn which parts of the book were really factual. Excellent!

Pretty in Plaid by Jen Lancaster

Subtitled: "A Life, A Witch, and A Wardrobe, or the Wonder Years Before the Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered, Smart-Ass Phase"

Remember the glory days of childhood where your biggest wardrobe concerns were whether you shouldn't wear yellow on Tuesdays (or was that Thursdays?) and if you remembered your sash for the Girl Scout meeting this afternoon?  Jen Lancaster remembers that and so much more.

Lancaster's made a writing career by telling her own life stories with wit and sarcasm. I've read some of her other books (who could forget the story about going to the unemployment office carrying a designer bag?) and they're all really, really funny. This time around, Jen's mining her childhood, teen years, college, and early adulthood - the pre-career Jen, you could call it.

We all have special childhood memories, but in addition to remembering "the lobster birthday" Jen also recalls what she was wearing and why. Framing these great self-mocking memories with significant wardrobe choices gives the stories a connecting thread - and a bit of foreshadowing, in many cases. Also, the luxury of time allows Jen to look back with added wisdom that brings a new depth to the stories: one story's big gay reveal is all the funnier because there are a signs, references and hints sprinkled in the lead-up, to all of which teen-Jen is hilariously myopic.

I listened to the audio, read by Jamie Heinlein, and this is a perfect car-read. It's laugh-out-loud funny and likely to send you on your own mini-nostalgia trip of bad hairstyles and questionable fashion.

Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick

Just one phone call and Becky Randle's life changed: celebu-designer Tom Kelly offers this trailer park orphan three dresses and a deal she just can't refuse. Adventure! Travel! Fame! Along with the face and body to go with it (sans surgery) - while she's still simply Becky on the inside, everyone else magically sees the human ideal that is Rebecca.

The story's like "The Princess Diaries" swirled with the ominous candy-colored magic of "Willy Wonka" then filtered through the snarky pop culture lens of E! Entertainment Television.

It's funny, fabulous and really fun. It's a quick read and light but also contains an important message about beauty and soul. I'm highly recommending this for anyone who loves glossy celebrity magazines, high-fashion vamps, and royal watchers - while Rudnick contorts his characters into fiction, you'll easily recognize their real-world inspirations.

Glamour, Interrupted by Steven Cojocaru

Cojo became famous for his red carpet fashion reports, his giant grin, and his sparkling, friendly reporting style that makes you feel like a gossip insider. Yet when he became sick with an inherited disease and required a kidney transplant, he hid his illness from everyone - even his family - for as long as possible because he was afraid he'd be shunned by Hollywood's "beautiful people." 

Cojo's medical saga was harrowing - the first transplanted kidney didn't last - but he brings his characteristic wit to the retelling; the result is a pretty light, rather funny look at illness and recovery. 

I picked up the book because I'm interested in transplant stories - I have several friends currently facing similar situations. This book is a quick read and, while entertaining, it's also accurate in describing the good, bad and ugly of a patient's experience. 

100 Unforgettable Dresses by Hal Rubenstein

Underwhelming may be the best way to describe this coffee table book of fashion.

I love pop culture and was excited to revisit some iconic dresses and images - and there is a bit of that. The dresses are described elegantly, but I wanted more pictures of details and other angles to get the full drama. There's really only one photo of most dresses, along with tons of text and more history on the designers than is truly necessary. 

Additionally, the random pages featuring reversed out white text on black page are AGONIZING to read. Too fine a font makes the text smudgy and illegible. 

I was interested, but ultimately disappointed and wanted a lot more from this book.

Lola and the boy next door

by Stephanie Perkins

Lola is not your average teenager. She has flair beyond most anyone's wildest imagination. That often makes her stand out in a crowd. Some might think it's a bad thing. Her boyfriend seems to like it, but does he really? Her parents don't trust him; he is much older than her. He endures time with her family.
On top of that, a moving truck arrives next door. Much to Lola's dismay, it is not another renter, but the family that owns the house. The Bell twins hold a special place of disdain in her heart. Calliope is bad enough, but the other one is so much worse. She is now forced to come to terms with a lifetime of friendship and the shattered ending from two years before.
Although much of the plot is heavy on the foreshadowing, this book will be gripping for young romantics.

Can You Get Hooked on Lip Balm? by Perry Romanowski

Ultimately skim-able and sure to bust the myths you've believed for years, this book may change the way you shop the beauty counter, drug store and salon.

Yes, you can get hooked on lip balm. Not addicted, but certainly dependent. The book explains why, but it has to do with skin cell regeneration.

No, the salon brands you find at the big-box store aren't different than the ones in salons - they just lie and say they're different so they don't anger the salon owners.

Biore pore strips may be the most fun, beneficial thing you can do for your face. In moderation.

I certainly didn't read every word of this book, but I did read every question and the bottom line answer (conveniently highlighted). If you're interested in the details, every response is given several paragraphs or more of scientific explanation into the fact or fiction.

Curly Girl: The Handbook by Lorraine Massey

If you have even a little wave in your hair - YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK. Emphatic enough?

Massey has tons of curl herself, runs a salon specializing in curls, and truly feels your pain. She talks about how so many of us have struggled with our hair our entire lives - hating it, fighting it, and settling for bad haircuts.

She's got some pretty radical ideas, but if you take away even one or two tips from this book you'll be happier that you were before. I'd already given up traditional shampoo years ago and seen the amazing difference, but I was very interested in her styling and trimming tips.

I've recommended this book a bunch already, and I'm thinking about buying a copy for my stylist as a gift!

(Is it bad that when I tagged this post, I considered: depression, grief, horror?)

King of Screwups by K.L. Going

Here's the pitch: spoiled rich teen gets caught screwing on dad's desk on the first page. He gets thrown out of the house, and he has to go live in a trailer park with his cross-dressing uncle. Let's just say I expected big things from this book.

And I wasn't exactly disappointed - just differently entertained than I'd thought.

Liam is a screwup, but really - right from the start - the reader can see that it's not so much his fault. Everything's not wine and roses in the mansion, and eventually, everything's not terrible in the trailer. Imagine that!

Liam is a girlie-boy who loves fashion and knows clothes. He's his model-mama's boy ... although he's also straight. I'm not sure I can see a lot of teen boys diving right into this book - although I do know several teenage girls who might swoon a bit.

I enjoyed it, but I'd had a different book imagined in my head before I started ...

Dress Your Best by Clinton Kelly and Stacy London

This book came highly regarded from a group of online friends during a discussion on the dearth of reasonable, attractive clothing for real women.

(Although the book does also include information for men and women.)

The book is broken down into body types: bigger on top, bigger on bottom, curvy, not curvy, etc. Once you determine your shape there are several illustrations on what works for day, night, work, etc. and general tips and guidelines.

I found the book interesting, but not necessarily earth-shattering. Maybe I knew myself better than I'd thought?