What do readers think of Little Black Dress by Susan McBride? Write your own review.

I enjoyed this book: A bit of magic, family relationships, good characters, suspense and more. While a bit predictable at times, it was a perfect summer read which I will be recommending to friends and family.

Magic usually turns me off, but in this book it is more whimsical than paranormal. Toni's love story line is predictable: Greg seems two-dimensional all along. But the rest of the characters are well-drawn. I liked the structure of Evie's first-person chapters alternating with Toni's third-person ones. This structure can be confusing with lots of characters, but it works well with these two. Accepting the magic of the little black dress requires a leap of faith, but it does remind me that we do have epiphanies or moments of insight about the future at crossroads of our lives.

I found this book to be an entertaining read with an interesting plot. The story is told in alternating chapters by Toni and her mother, Evie. After a confusing second chapter, I finally figured out I needed to pay attention to the chapter headings. Toni has returned home to care for Evie after she found comatose due to a stroke. Toni leaves her successful catering business and a romance she hoped would end in marriage to care for her mother.

The Little Black Dress appears early in the story. It weaves its magic through and around both main characters and also a third person in the story, Toni's Aunt Anna, who disappeared after breaking her engagement the night before her wedding. The LBD, worn first by Anna, is indeed magic, but is it good or evil?

The story was well told, but became a tad predictable as the plot unfolded. The complications between sisters and daughters are a familiar theme, but still manage to hold the reader's interest. The female characters were vivid, but the male characters came across as flat and somewhat one-dimensional. There could have been a little more tug and pull in Toni's relationship with her boyfriend to liven things up.

A good summer read, nonetheless.

This is a summer book, but that's about it. The story line was fun, which is the only reason I kept going to the end. The writing was obvious and heavy handed. So much spoon feeding, I felt slightly nauseous! But that's summer books are all about, right? I lowered my expectations and finished the book. That's about all I can say.

This was a nice easy to read story. Sometimes, I thought the dialogue was a little stilted but most of the time, it read smoothly. I personally do not like stories that rely on magic (i.e. the black dress) to solve the characters problems or resolve issues unless it is specifically a fantasy novel. If that does not bother a reader, then it is a good story to read.

This was an okay book. It wasn't a huge cerebral read, more like a beach read. Both the story and the ending were entirely predictable. I cared about the characters so I kept turning the pages even though there were no surprises. It was a typical story of family secrets and guilt and misunderstandings with a slight twist thrown in by a magical dress. I expect to see it on the Lifetime Channel sometime soon.

This novel could be classified as "chick lit." It had a somewhat interesting plot involving self-discovery and betrayal, however I found it to be predictable and trite. The introduction of magic in the "black dress" seemed to imply that magic was needed as an excuse for the decisions that women make in their lives. It is not a book I would recommend to others. It is at best, an "airplane novel."

An easy summer read. Quick to get into..however....totally predictable! Not my kind of read.....a black dress with special powers? In my opinion this book is geared toward younger women. I do not think it is a book club book due to lack of substance... Not enough to discuss other than the relationships between the main characters.