Party of Five

I thought the premise of this story was really interesting...one wedding dress with three different brides being sold at random to a bridal boutique owner. The mystery of it all was very appealing.

What I liked...
- The history of the dress
-Emily using the designer she did to create the dress.
- Hillary's story, and Charlotte's answer to Hillary as to why Hillary and Joel were married.
-Dixie was a great friend and support for Charlotte, though her character was not developed in any meaningful way.
-Daniel - he was the very definition of a good man.
-The supernatural way the dress fit each bride it was intended for. But...who is to wear it next? This was never mentioned.

What I did not like...
- The way the author threw mention of Jesus, God, Church, Faith, Speaking in Tounges, etc in throughout the story as if they were plug and play commentary to reinforce the idea that this was a faith based book. I have read many many many faith-based books where the religion and relationship between the characters and God were natural and unquestionable when reading the story. Instead of flowing, the faith aspect felt forced.
- The characters Charlotte and Emily came off as weak, not knowing their own minds and feelings, bowing to societal pressure, unsure of the path they should take despite obvious evidence to persuade them otherwise.
- Tim's character. He was not a good man, though the author told us he was and reinforced that theory by the end. He was wishy-washy and insulted not one but two women with his indecisive ways.
- Charlotte talks to the dress. I repeat - Charlotte talks to the dress. This was just corny.
-The man in purple. He was a caricature of what an angel would be, but his mysterious comings and goings without any explanation was more confusing than supernatural.
-Mary Grace and Thomas - healing a boy with Polio and making it rain? I believe in miracles, but I have yet to see a preacher genuinely heal a person's sickness. So again, a caricature of what a charismatic Pentecostal preacher would be rather than what one really is.
- Katherine. What reason, please tell me, did she possibly have for hating Charlotte? It wasn't clear to me, and I kept waiting for it to be revealed that Katherine was in love with Tim. Nothing else made any real sense for the amount of dislike she portrayed.

Bottom line, I wanted to like this book and it did have many positive aspects, but it was not a believable story to me, nor could I relate to any of the characters.