By Sarah Boucher
Elyse Morley has lost the life she has known following the deaths of her parents. Though not a life of privilege that some would envy it was a life spent with loving parents who worked for the life they had. With no other option before her Eyyse gladly accepts her Aunt Lydia's offer of a home.
But Elyse isn't content to have her Aunt Lydia scrimp so that they might have a day-to-day existence and puts to use the needle skills her mother passed onto her. But Miss Isabelle Rossini isn't willing to offer Elyse a job as a seamstress without an example of her work. In need of employment, Elyse agrees to create a gown within three days. There is just one little catch she has to provide all the materials for the said gown!
With time short Elyse is in need of the help that a handsome mysterious stranger offers in completing her gown on time. But who is this stranger whose speech is colored with words foreign to Elyse's ears and who hints at magic?
When Elyse's gown captures the fancy of Princess Caroline she soon has more work than she can possibly complete on her own. Soon Elyse with the help of Aunt Lydia and her new friend Anna is at work designing and creating gowns for the upcoming royal ball. With more gown orders than days before her Elyse's life is all about the work and then disaster strikes and time is an enemy in more ways than one as the days slip by. Will her mysterious stranger again come to her rescue or will she fail miserably?
What Elyse doesn't realize is that more is on the line than just her reputation as a seamstress so is her heart.
The Golden Gown is an absolute delight to read and Elyse is the person one would love to have as a friend. And the mysterious stranger well that is a mystery you'll just have to discover for yourself as you read through the book!
If you are a fan of fairytales you'll enjoy this one. The story is a clean read and appropriate for all age readers (tween and up). And if you like a little touch of mystery with a pinch of romance wrapped up in a lovely story about family you'll be enchanted with the Golden Gown.
I was provided a complimentary copy of this book with no expectations but that I offer my honest opinion - all thoughts expressed are my own.
About the Book:
Elyse has lost everything; her parents, her family home, and the village where she is loved and respected. Still grieving, she arrives in a new town where she must prove her skills as a seamstress. Overnight, she creates a gown stunning enough to catch the princess’s eye and win the community’s approval. With every eligible maiden clamoring for her designs, Elyse must do everything in her power to appease them. No one can ever know that in the moments when she doubts her abilities, a mysterious stranger with a talent for tailoring and a penchant for damsels in distress comes to her aid. If anyone ever discovers the truth, her reputation will be ruined.
Golden Gown is a blending of the classic fairy tales Rumpelstiltskin and The Shoemaker and The Elves. The magic of pure love woven through the tale will touch the hearts of all of its readers.
Golden Gown, Becoming Beauty, and Midnight Sisters are now available on Amazon.
During the Blog Tour, Becoming Beauty and Midnight Sisters
will be $.99 each on Kindle!
Author Interview:
If you had to pick another format for your books to be shared what would it be - musical, movie, public readings, serial release(a chapter at a time), graphic novel?
Preferably a made for TV movie on Hallmark or one of the coming of age Netflix movies. (Is it just me, or does their music sound like it’s from the 80s? Whatever. I dig it.) Basically, I’d be happy with anything that makes people say, “Ahhhh...” as they reach for the tissues. I’d want it to be the type of movie people watch again and again, and not just because it’s 3 AM and they’re bored but because they actually connected with the characters.
By the way, someone said that about one of my books once. Except I don’t believe the word they used was bored. I believe it was smashed. I should probably have been offended, but I wasn’t. B movies are my bread and butter, honey!
Do you have a favorite author that you would recommend?
I’m going to shine a little light on a friend of mine, Jo Ann Schneider. She’s still a fairly new writer, but she continues to challenge herself by writing in different genres. Her first two series are about magic, specials powers, and surviving the apocalypse. In her latest series, she delved into fairy tale retellings and created an entire Fairy Tale Academy where all her chapters interact. I’m completely in love with it. If you enjoy fairy tales, you’d love her novellas too.
Who is your favorite character (or two) in Golden Gown?
I LOVE the leading man in Golden Gown, Gilberto De la Vega. He’s an homage to Rumplestiltskin and Gilbert Blythe from the Anne of Green Gables series, which is a favorite from my girlhood. Additionally, I lived in Argentina for a couple of years and fell in love with the Latin American people, so I made Gil a Spaniard. That gave him the ability to taunt my heroine, Elyse, in Spanish every time they share a scene in the novel.
There was just something really fun about creating a man out of all the things I love. He’s not the perfect man, but he is delightfully flawed. Mischievous, secretive, and flaunting a hero complex as wide as the Rock Mountains are some of his less savory characteristics. However, Gil is also loyal and kind when he wants to be. I kind of love that.
Becoming Beauty, Midnight Sisters, or Golden Gown, do you need to read one to read the others? Do you have a favorite? Why or why not?
I always have a little overlap between stories and characters, but it’s not enough for you to need to read all my books to understand what’s going on. Isn’t it nice to know that if you see someone you love, like Jonas in Midnight Sisters, you can search out his first cameo in Becoming Beauty? Likewise, if you’re reading Golden Gown and you think, “Who’s this duke dude who’s related to Aunt Lydia?” you’ll want to read Midnight Sisters because the Duke of Trentwich’s storyline starts there.
I don’t really have a favorite novel. I kind of fall in love with whatever I’m working on at the moment. So I’m extra smitten with Gilberto De la Vega right now. As I continue to publish novels, I feel like I’m becoming a better storyteller and putting out better books.
That’s what I always tell new writers. You’re always a better writer today than you were yesterday. So put that manuscript you’ve spent years obsessing over away and start something new, honey!
What do you most like about this genre that you are writing in?
I am such a fairy tale junkie! Retellings are my favorite form, but I’ve loved reading the original fairy tales since I was a little girl. I don’t care if the characters are one dimensional, all the women are either helpless or ruthless, there’s always a slightly creepy moral at the end, and evil people get their eyes pecked out by birds. I’ve just always loved the magic of fairy tales.
Retellings are especially fun because you can take them in any direction you’d like. In my stories, rather than using magic, I set up scenes that would have appeared fantastical to the people not directly involved in them. Over time, that simple tale is passed along and becomes more and more grandiose. Eventually, fairy godmothers and talking cats are required to explain what happened long ago. In a similar way, rather than teaching a moral, I nestle a nugget of truth at the center and build the story around that. It’s my way of sharing who I am and what I value with the world.
About the Author:
Sarah E. Boucher is a lover of fairy stories, romance, anything BBC and Marvel, and really, really cute shoes. On weekdays she wears respectable shoes and serves as Miss Boucher, the Queen of Kindergarten. On school holidays she writes stories about romance and adventure. And wears impractical super cute shoes.
Sarah is a graduate of Brigham Young University. She lives and works in northern Utah. Midnight Sisters is her second novel.
Visit Sarah at SarahEBoucher.com
or connect with her on
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Enjoyed the review.
ReplyDeleteI love the premise and Elyse sounds like a wonderful character to get to know and root for as she tries to maintain her gown making business for royalty.
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