The Wedding Dress by Danielle Steel Review is here. This novel follows four generations of women within one family.
It starts off following Eleanor Deveraux and her mother, Louise. Eleanor grew up in the golden age within a wealthy bank family, never wanting anything. She was always provided for with the best of everything living in her family’s vast estate in San Francisco. During her debut ball, she meets Alex Allen. A wealthy bank owner who is over a decade older than her. However, they soon become an item and get married. It is then the Great Depression hits, and both families lose everything, including their homes. Eleanor and Alex no longer hold the status they used to and have to learn to adjust to their new life. Will they, especially when all her parents have left, is a sliver of property from their Tahoe estate?
As Eleanor and Alex live through World War II and the terrifying change it brings to their family, their daughter Camille grows up. However, the family dynamic changes when her rebellion stage sets in—can Eleanor and Alex reign her in before it’s too late? Camille is nothing like her parents and wants nothing to do with them. She doesn’t want to be apart of anything they did nor care about the lost history of her family. One thing is for sure when Camille gets pregnant and delivers Ruby Moon. She is the long-awaited blessing to the family.
Ruby grows into a beautiful young lady. She takes after Eleanor and loves learning this history of her family. Ruby works at her grandparents’ antique shop and enjoys studying computers. Ruby ends up going to a fantastic school where she is best friends with Zack. Will he be her happily-ever-after? All Ruby wants is a love like her grandparents that will last until the end of time. She learns the hard way, though, that for love to last, it has to be with the right person.
As Ruby gets older, so do her two children, Nick and Kendall. Nick takes after Ruby and his grandparents, always one to be by her side. However, Kendall has the same rebellion streak, as Camille did. In this generation, can Ruby reign her daughter in, or will it be too late? Each generation of women are vastly different, but at the same time alike. One thing they all share is the beloved wedding dress Eleanor wore on her wedding to Alex. Will it bring the same luck in the relationships as it did to the first generation?
Overall, this novel was a homerun for Danielle Steel. Yes, there wasn’t a lot of dialogue like I usually prefer, and it has a lot of descriptions. However, it is in the true Steel fashion of descriptions. Some parts were said more than a few times, which did hinder the movement of the plot. I would have enjoyed seeing more of the younger generations spread out a little bit more. I felt like reading an overview of the generations didn’t make the second part of the book as good as the first part.
Eleanor was my favorite character. She was dynamic, strong, and persevered through everything she went through. She truly loved Alex too, which made it an amazing part of the book. One thing I did enjoy was how different the characters were. Yes, some had similarities as family members too, but each was written vibrant and unique, which added to this story.
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Title: The Wedding Dress
Author: Danielle Steel
Pages: 291
Where to Purchase: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, Books A Million
I rate it: 4.5/5
