Spotlight & Giveaway: The Perfect Dress by Carolyn Brown

Posted April 16th, 2019 by in Blog, Spotlight / 59 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Carolyn Brown to HJ!
Spotlight&Giveaway

Hi Carolyn and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Perfect Dress!

 
Hello to everyone, and a big thanks to Sara for inviting me back to HJ to talk about my new release, Cowboy Brave.
 

To start off, can you please tell us a little bit about this book?:

Mitzi was never a tiny woman. She’s a tall, curvy big woman who along with two of her friends has put a custom wedding dress shop in Celeste, Texas that caters only to brides that wear a size fourteen or larger. Being nearly six feet tall and having flame red hair, Mitzi has never quite fit in with her peers, so she understands the struggles of finding that perfect dress all to well. She wasn’t looking for romance, but then Graham came into her shop, wanting custom brides’ maids dresses for his teenage daughters. Mitzi had a crush on him in high school, but that was a long time ago–but the sparks are still there, and something tells her that he’s feeling the heat from them, too.
 

Please share your favorite lines or quote(s) from this book:

Don’t ever change to fit someone’s image of what they want you to be.
The three of them had been friends so long they were family, whether DNA agreed with them or not.
I’m not a delicate flower. I’m more like a big old sunflower growing out on a fence row.

 

What inspired this book?

My granddaughter wanted a black lace wedding dress. We started shopping on line for one, and guess what, there were none to be found, and the bridal shops in our area do not have much to offer in something larger than a size sixteen. So I offered to take my sewing machine out of retirement and design and make the dress she wants. I got to thinking how great it would be to have a shop where we could walk in, show the ladies a picture of our creation, be taken to a room full of all kinds of silks and laces and pick out what we wanted. That was the inspiration for The Perfect Dress. Mitzi and her two friends simply walked into my mind and together we wrote the book. BTW, the book is dedicated to my two granddaughters, Graycyn, who will be getting married in October, and her sister, Madacyn. They accept that they’ll never be a size six and they’re comfortable in their skins, which I think is amazing!

 

How did you ‘get to know’ your main characters? Did they ever surprise you?

Yes, they did. I wasn’t expecting Jody to get a divorce, or Graham to have teenage daughters, but they did. And Paula really did surprise me, but that’s a spoiler so I won’t go into detail.

 

What was your favorite scene to write?

There are so many. This is a book of my heart so picking just one will be difficult. However, I loved the opening scene. Maybe a little snippet of an excerpt because it introduces the three friends:
“Men! Can’t live with ‘em, and if we shot ’em all, we’d be out of business,” Mitzi grumbled as she entered the back door of the custom wedding dress shop that she owned with her friends Jody and Paula.
“Ain’t it the truth.” Jody adjusted her beaded headband, and filled three cups with herbal tea. She threw her long blonde braids over her shoulder. “Some days I could poison Lyle.”
“And yet if anyone else even mentioned that, you’d burn them at the stake.” Paula picked up a cup of tea and carried it to the table. She’d gotten her dark hair and dark eyes from her Texas mother, but all the superstition came straight from her Louisiana father. She waved a hand over the cup three times before she tasted it. At thirty-five, she’d never been married, but then technically, neither had any one of them. Jody had lived with Lyle since they’d graduated from high school, but they rejected the tradition of a marriage license.
Jody’s brown eyes flashed. “Oh, honey I wouldn’t waste gasoline or wood to burn anyone. I grow my own food, remember? I’d poison the tomatoes, and it would look like whoever bad-mouthed my boyfriend had had a heart attack. And you don’t have to do that with your tea. I wouldn’t dream of poisoning you.”

 

What was the most difficult scene to write?

That was probably the scene when Jody went out to the spot where her trailer house had been and saw that the whole place was in shambles. I was right there with her, tears and all!

 

Would you say this book showcases your writing style or is it a departure for you?

I’d say that it’s pretty true to my voice. I hope my readers love it as much as my publicist and editors have.

 

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

I’m working on the 6th cowboy romance in the seven book series, The Longhorn Canyon Series. The rest of this year is shaping up like this:
May 28: Cowboy Rebel (#4 in the Longhorn Canyon Series)
July 30: I Love This Bar (Reissue of the first Honky Tonk Series)
Aug. 20: The Empty Nesters
Sept. 24: Christmas with a Cowboy (#5 in the Longhorn Canyon Series)
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

 

Giveaway: I’ll give away a signed copy of THE PERFECT DRESS

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: If you could visit a custom wedding shop like The Perfect Dress, and design your own wedding dress, would you?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from The Perfect Dress:

Jody sat in one of two old lawn chairs in the middle of a bare spot where her trailer used to be parked. Less than two weeks ago she was married. In some ways it seemed more like ten years, but sitting there, the pain was still very raw. To her right what was left of her garden had shriveled up wand looked like a bed of weeds. Ruts dug deep into the ground where the trailer had been taken out right over the top of all the plants that she’d cared for so lovingly.
“It’s a testimony of my life right there,” she said out loud. “Smashed and dead.”
“Excuse me?” A man’s voice seemed to come from the white clouds above her.
It startled her so badly she almost fell backwards in the chair. She glanced to her left to see a man with one foot braced against a big pecan tree, his arms crossed over his broad chest.
“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” she demanded.
“I might ask you the same thing.” He removed his cowboy hat and wiped sweat from his brow with a snow white handkerchief he took from the hip pocket of his Wranglers.
“I’m Jody Andrews and until ten days ago, I lived in the trailer that set right here with Lyle Jones.” Her tone sounded cold even to her own ears.
“I see. Mind if I sit down?” He held his hat in his hand. “I’m Quincy Roberts.”
She nodded toward the other chair. “I hear you’re going to buy this property. Is that true?” Jody asked.
“I’m dealing with Lyle for it. It’s the last little corner, and I’d like to have it, but we’re haggling over mineral rights. Even though I’m not interested in drilling for oil, I don’t buy anything that doesn’t totally belong to me,” Quincy said. “I heard about how Lyle left you high and dry. Why on earth would you come back out here?”
“Closure,” she answered. “Seeing my garden like this and nothing left but two old lawn chairs of a fifteen year commitment almost does it for me.” She pushed up out of the lawn chair. “What are you going to do with this land, anyway?”
“Run cattle on it. Maybe even a few hogs,” he said. “I’m an oil man, but I like to get my hands dirty. It makes me happy. What are you doing now that Lyle’s married to another woman?”
Hogs! Stinky old pigs wallowing in a mud puddle in the hot summer. Now that could bring her to the acceptance stage pretty damn quick.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Book Info:

A plus-size Texas gal has designs on an old crush in New York Times bestselling author Carolyn Brown’s exuberant, bighearted romance.

In the small town of Celeste, Texas, Mitzi Taylor has never quite fit inside the lines. Nearly six feet tall, flame-haired, and with a plus-size spirit to match every curve, she’s found her niche: a custom wedding-dress boutique catering to big brides-to-be with big dreams. Taking the plunge alongside her two best friends, she’s proud they’ve turned The Perfect Dress into a perfect success.

Just when Mitzi has it all pulled together, Graham Harrison walks back into her life, looking for bridesmaid dresses for his twin daughters. A still-strapping jock whose every gorgeous, towering inch smells like aftershave, the star of all Mitzi’s high school dreams is causing quite a flush.

For Mitzi, all it takes is a touch to feel sparks flitting around her like fireflies. She can just imagine what a kiss could do. Graham’s feeling it, too. And he’s about to make that imagination of Mitzi’s run wild. Is it just a hot summer fling, or are Mitzi’s next designs for herself and seeing her own dreams come true?

Book Links: Amazon | B&N |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Carolyn Brown is a New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Publisher’s Weekly and #1 Amazon and #1 Washington Post bestselling author and a RITA finalist. She’s a recipient of the Bookseller’s Best Award, and the prestigious Montlake Diamond Award, and also a three-time recipient of the National Reader’s Choice Award. The Perfect Dress is her 95th book on the market.
Carolyn and her husband live in the small town of Davis, Oklahoma, where everyone knows everyone else, as well as what they’re doing and when—and they read the local newspaper on Wednesday to see who got caught. They have three grown children and enough grandchildren to keep them young.
When she’s not writing, Carolyn likes to plot new stories in her backyard with her tom cat, Boots Randolph Terminator Outlaw, and watch him protect the yard from all kinds of wicked varmints like crickets, locusts, and spiders. Visit her at www.carolynbrownbooks.com.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | GoodReads |
 
 
 

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59 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: The Perfect Dress by Carolyn Brown”

  2. carol L

    I think I’d go for it. Everyone dreams of their dress at one time or another. You’d definitely get a one of a kind dress. Love the post and excerpts.
    Carol Luciano
    Lucky4750 at aol dot com

  3. Jennifer Shiflett

    At this point in my life, I probably wouldn’t. But 18 years ago when I got married, I would have loved it.

  6. joab4424

    Yes, I definitely would go to a shop where I could design my own wedding dress. I know what look I want for that day so my dress has to be just right.

  9. laurieg72

    I have no eye for anything fashionable so by myself no I wouldn’t design my wedding gown.. However, my daughter is very fashion conscious. if she assisted I would design my dress. It would make it more personable.

  13. Christina Burrus

    I don’t know how to sew that well, but it would be fun to try!!!

  22. isisthe12th

    Yes, I would. I got married in City Hall so I would love to have a real wedding dress. Thank you

  23. Chris Bails

    I think it would be fun to design a dress if I had the finances. I would need help to design and want Vera Wang to do it

  27. Millie Swank

    I would have loved to have been able to do that all those years ago. I had a look in mind and it was had to find what I wanted.

  28. Felicia Fallon

    Absolutely, as long they don’t demand an arm & a leg to do it. Also, I would try to design the dress so it would be appropriate for other occasions. Layers maybe?

  33. Jennifer Beyer

    I totally would but I would want to be able to talk to the me now rather than the me I was when I got married. I would want a very different dress now.

  35. Caro

    I think so. I’d like to wear a mix of lace on a short dress (just to my knees), and the short dresses I’ve seen don’t really catch my eye, so a custom made dress would be perfect. I also use a cane, and I’d love if it could be customize to match the dress or something.
    So yeah, custume it is. 😛

  36. Linda May

    I would love to go to Kleinfeldt’s in New York and have one of there designers whip me up a dress. Thanks for this amazing chance.

  43. Banana cake

    Yes because I am short and don’t way much and am disabled so I would need something I could walk safely in.

  45. Joy Isley

    Yes and it would be very simple. I think too many times it is about the dress and not the person. It seems brides want to be fancier than their friends.

  47. Jana Leah

    Probably not. I would just want something simple & I most likely could find what I want easy enough.

  48. Patricia B.

    Price might be a draw back, but it would be nice to get exactly what you want, especially when it is a bit out of the norm. The one thing that may be a bit difficult is you can’t try it on first. When I was shopping for my wedding dress, I really had no idea what I wanted or what would looked on me. It was a case of when I tried on dresses, I came to the one that was perfect,The Dress. After finding it, I did make all my attendant dresses to match the style. I also made the headpiece/veil and ring pillow.

  50. lapsapchung

    I don’t think I could find a more perfect dress than the one I wore for my wedding which was a long lace dress, hand knitted in fine yarn by my mother
    Jane Willis

  51. Ellen C.

    My mother made my dress and I loved it. (Thanks Mom.) It would be cool today to be able to go into a shop and design a dress.

  55. Glenda M

    If I could have afforded it and had help designing something great for me absolutely

  56. smcmahon19

    I have never been married. But if I did get married I would love to design my own dress if I had my sisters help me!☘️

  57. Dianna G. (@DedeZoomsalot)

    I designed my dress and had it custom made for me by a seamstress. It was so much cheaper than buying one! I wouldn’t spend a fortune on a wedding dress but if it was affordable, why not?