Can she find the strength to let secrets of the past long hidden come to light?
The Dress Shop on King Street by Ashley Clark is book 1 in the Heirloom Secrets series. It is all at once contemporary, historical, southern, and romance and revolves around themes of heritage and purpose. You can purchase it on Amazon, and it is also included with Kindle Unlimited memberships.
Harper Dupree is an aspiring fashion designer. Millie Middleton, the woman who first taught her to sew. Together, the two set out on a journey from Alabama to Charleston. Can Millie reclaim the heritage she has long hidden? Can the two of them realize their shared dream of owning a dress shop?
While this was a moving book, for me, it was a difficult read.
It explored historical topics such as slavery, discrimination against interracial families, and segregation. It is a book of love and loss. Suffering and redemption. I don’t particularly enjoy books that time jump; however, the story was so compelling from the beginning, that I didn’t want to stop reading it in spite of the time jumps. Clark hooked me with the extremely emotional narrative of a slave woman and her resulting descendants.
I had a hard time connecting with the character Harper. At the onset, she seemed a little immature and too quick to give up on her dreams. By the end of the book, she’d redeemed herself, but not before putting herself through way more drama than was strictly necessary. Of course, if she hadn’t run away, we wouldn’t have gotten to Millie’s story.
Millie’s story was so emotional and painful. There was so much revealed about her past that influenced her choices in the present. Even though I was frustrated with her choices at times, I had to forgive her because of the deep-seated emotional trauma her heritage had inflicted. The redeeming message in her story line was that it is never too late to realize your dreams and claim your heritage.
This was a Christian read, though there weren’t any heavy Christian themes. The characters all believed in and discussed God, but there wasn’t an abundance of Scripture. The two romances the story followed were both clean, with some kisses.
Overall, I wholeheartedly recommend this book.
It may be of interest to those who enjoy deeply emotional Christian fiction and contemporary or historical romance. There are twists and turns that will have you riding a roller coaster of emotions, but it ultimately has a satisfying HEA conclusion.
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