Little Black Dress: A Novel

By Susan McBride

“I’ll read anything by Susan McBride.”
—Charlaine Harris, New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels

“I’m madly in love with this full-of-surprises story about secrets, family ties—and one magical little black dress. One of my favorite novels of the year.”
—Melissa Senate, author of The Secret of Joy

“An enchanting escape into a magical world.”
—M.J. Rose, internationally bestselling author

Can there be magic in a Little Black Dress? Susan McBride, author of The Cougar Club and the Debutante Dropout mystery series, answers with a resounding, unequivocal, “Yes!” McBride’s mesmerizing tale of two sisters whose intertwined lives are torn apart by a remarkable dress that opens up doors to an inescapable future is an ingenious work of the imagination that recalls the novels of Claire Cook and Jill Kargman. A sometimes heartwarming, sometimes heartbreaking look into two generations of women, this Little Black Dress is something every fan of quality contemporary women’s fiction will want to own.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Aug 23, 2011
• ISBN: 9780062027337

Susan McBride

Susan McBride is the USA Today bestselling author of Blue Blood and the Debutante Dropout Mysteries that include The Good Girl's Guide to Murder, The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club, Night of the Living Deb, Too Pretty to Die, and Say Yes to the Death. She also writes the bestselling River Road Mysteries and has penned three women’s fiction titles: The Truth About Love and Lightning, Little Black Dress, and The Cougar Club. She chronicled her bout with breast cancer in the short memoir, In the Pink: How I Met the Perfect (Younger) Man, Survived Breast Cancer, and Found True Happiness After Forty. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri, with her husband and daughter.

Reviews for Little Black Dress

[theeclecticreview · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Relationships between mothers and daughters can sometimes be intense, but when you put a magical little black dress into the mix, it’s extremely life changing.The story carries you through the tempestuous relationship between Evie (mother) and Antonia (daughter) and the little black dress that brings them together.I literally could not put this book down. I read it in one sitting. Every other chapter is written in either Evie’s voice or Antonia’s voice and the author does a fine job in the transition.A great summer read!Thank you to BookBrowse's First Impression for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

[meadowmist_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“I watched her as she moved, saw the way the dress sparkled…….I thought it was evil at first, what the dress had done to us.” Page 286A little black dress with plans? Interesting......but don't we all have a little black dress somewhere? I bet we do, but not sure anyone has a little black dress with plans....well no one except Anna Evans and her sister Toni. And what fascinating plans they were....they were plans that affected the Evans women from one generation to the next. Its plans were both good and bad, and the dress never gave up. I really enjoyed this book....fantastic storyline and also great chapter set up...each character had her own chapter and went from past to present with stories of the ties, the secrets, and the fate each of the Evans women shared with the little black dress. The twists and turns just made the book so good……you even get a hint of mystery.It was a fun, clever read. The ending, and especially the very last line is SUPERB. 5/5

[mhanover10 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very enjoyable book. Had I been able to, I would have read this in one sitting. This book is about a magical little black dress. It's about sisters. It's about relationships. It's about how one choice you make can have a domino affect on other people's lives. It's about the path other people think you should be on might not be the right path for you or for everyone in the future. This book goes back and forth between Evie and her daughter Antonia (Toni) telling the story. Evie the past and Toni the present. It flows really well and the back and forth works. I got sucked into the lives of these characters and started to care for them. I found when I was done I wanted to know a little bit more. I wanted to know more details of their lives. I highly recommend this book.

[virginiag_868372 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

usan McBride wrote a perfectly charming romance with a touch of magic. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I loved the concept of a dress with a magical spell. The story is told by two characters, Evie, the mother and Toni, the daughter.Toni is having dinner with her longtime boyfriend. She thinks he is about to pop the question but instead he gives her a key to his apartment. Disillusioned, she doesn’t have time to give him an answer when her phone rings. Her mother is in the hospital. She rushes out and finds her mother has had a stroke and is in a coma. Each chapter alternates between Evie and Toni. Evie is remembering her past and her sister Anna while in the coma. Toni keeps herself busy sorting out her mother’s life after she becomes aware that her mother may not have been coping so well since her father’s death as she waits for her mother to wake up.The story is about a little black dress that Anna bought before her own wedding from a fortune teller. The dress foretold Anna’s future and because of the vision, she cancelled her wedding. It caused hard feelings between her family and the groom’s family who both owned local vineyards. Anna disappeared leaving her family heartbroken. Evie eventually tried on the dress and saw a vision of her future husband while Toni also gets her chance. Though the women are all different sizes and shapes, the dress adapts to their bodies and makes them all look more desirable.Toni learns about her mother and aunt’s past and also what she needs to do to be happy. Characters were well rounded with flaws that made them seem more real. I loved the magical aspect of the story and how sometimes things don’t work out the way we want them to but in the end that was what had to be. Would recommend this book to anyone who likes a little romance spiced up with magic.Virginia

[booboobad · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved the story of the relationship between the sisters and the mother and her daughter. The magical dress was believable without being overdone. Not everyone would drop everything to come home and care for a sick parent but Antonia does as soon as she discovers her mother has suffered a stroke. She tends to her mother and discovers what's been missing in her own life in the process.

[frisbeesage · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

On the eve of Anna's high profile wedding, she and her sister Evie find a magical black dress. When Anna puts it on she sees her future and, that night, runs away leaving the dress and her marriage behind. Evie is left with her shattered parents and the dress. Through the years the dress shapes the lives of those who wear it. When Evie is found, in a coma, in her attic, wearing the dress, her daughter Tony knows she must learn the significance of the dress and discover all its secrets if she is to bring back her mother.Little Black Dress is a light-hearted, entertaining read that reminds the reader of stories like Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Garden Secrets. The women in the story are strong and interesting characters who are romantics at heart. The story focuses on women's relationships with each other and the importance of sisters, mothers and friends in our lives. A perfect comfort read for those times when you don't want anything too intellectual.

[shapatm · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Little Black Dress is a novel about a grown woman waiting for her love life to start, her relationship with her mother, and a mysterious black dress in their past. Toni Ashton returns to her hometown after her mother suffers a stroke. She leaves behind her long term boyfriend who just popped a questions and her thriving party planning business. While Evie lingers in a coma, Toni attempts to set her mother’s house to right discovering some long hidden family secrets in the process. It’s a great fun read with a little love, a little mysticism, and a little wine. I love how the story is told from both Toni and Evie’s perspectives. It allows the reader to continually try to puzzle out the story and leave you slightly stunned when you get to the final resolution. Once the story grabs your heartstrings it is impossible to put down until you finish it.

[countrylife_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am both, and I have both, so I am drawn to stories about mothers and daughters. Toni is a wedding planner living in St. Louis. When her mother, Evie, has a stroke, she returns home to their small town near Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Sitting in the hospital with her mother, helping family friend and housekeeper, Bridget, with the clutter accumulated since Evie's husband passed, gradually coming to know her mother's background better, all these begin to ease the strain of their none-too-perfect relationship. And then there's the little black dress. The story is charmingly written in alternating chapters, mother Evie's in first person, and daughter Toni's in third person, with a weaving of time lines, contemporary and back some forty and fifty years, to Evie's young adult-hood, and the eve of her sister's wedding. Set in the vineyard lands near the boot-heel of Missouri, across the river from Illinois, this is a lovely and fertile area, very nicely described by the author. The family business is a vineyard; I enjoyed the descriptions of the business, but thought that part could have been more fleshed out. Also too short, though especially nice, was the scene of the ice grape harvest. I have a darling soon-to-be daughter-in-law, who brings me ice wine whenever she returns from Canada, so that scene brought a tender smile of reminiscence. This is chick-lit, nicely done. And if you like your little black dress to be a bit magical, this is the book for you. (3.7 stars)

[whitreidtan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Just about everyone has one hanging in her closet, a little black dress that is. They are the workhorses of the female wardrobe, generally flattering and appropriate for almost any occasion. But what if your little black dress was capable of giving you visions of your future, not a possible future but the fated, unchangeable future? You'd have the dress in this appealing, charmed novel. Toni Ashton is certain that her cautious accountant boyfriend is about to propose and this wedding and events consultant is going to finally get to plan her own wedding instead of other peoples'. Instead, she gets a phone call telling her that her mother has had a stroke and is in a medically induced coma. She rushes home, not ready to lose her mother, despite the two of them having had a difficult relationship for quite a while. Once home Toni must face her feelings about the relationships in her life, the secrets of her family's past, and figure out why her mother was up in the attic wearing a little black dress so early in the morning when she had her stroke. Narrated in alternating chapters by Toni and her comatose mother Evie, the tale also flips between the present and the past that led up to Evie and her sister Anna's estrangement, which is at the crux of the entire novel. Toni has no access to Evie's tale and so she must uncover answers herself. Meanwhile, Evie remembers the day that Anna bought the little black dress and the havoc it wreaked in their lives, causing Anna to run out on her elaborate, much anticipated wedding the night before the ceremony and devastating her family in the process. The chain of events leading from that moment onward seems fated and almost driven by the visions that the little black dress gave Anna and then Evie in turn. And now Toni, home and looking for answers, will inadvertantly try on the dress as well and discover the magic in it. The tale is whimsical although quite predictable and the source of the dress and its magic is a plot point that is quickly abandoned in favor of the family drama. The characters are generally likable although the obviousness of one particular plot twist will leave the reader wondering if Toni is particularly thick since she never does seem to cotton on. It is slightly strange to have a comatose woman narrating the back story so that the reader will understand far more than Toni does but if you ignore Evie's current circumstances, it does work. The narrative pace is generally steady until the ending, which is a bit rushed and has all ends neatly tied up. A novel of regrets, forgiveness, family, and coming home, this quick read enlivened by the hint of magical in the fateful little black dress was a pleasing way to spend a day. And while I don't know that I'd want to unleash the sort of chaos that ensued as a result of the titular little black dress, I might like a glimpse or two here or there or my own future when I next slip into my own little black dress.

[dksthomson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What an absolute delight to have a hometown author! I had no idea Susan McBride was from St. Louis until I received the book. It was so much fun to read of streets, neighborhoods and towns that are so familiar. Even more delightful is that the story kept me turning the pages at a rapid pace. Loved the magic of the little black dress, although I would have liked more detail about the gypsy woman and why she picked Anna for the dress, and then why did she (gypsy) completely disappear from the story? All in all, it was very good and I'll check out her other works :)And to respond to LostEntwife: Northern California is not the only place in the US to have wineries. Missouri has many beautiful wineries with some award winning wines.

[thelostentwife · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Little Black Dress provided me with a light, easy read that comfortably filled my Sunday afternoon. I enjoy stories with just a bit of magic in them, as evidenced by my love of Sarah Addison Allen, so with her endorsement on this book I decided to give it a go.While I appreciated the charm that Susan McBride tried to infuse into the setting, it was just hard to wrap my mind around any of it being set in the midwest. Especially a winery. While I appreciate that it’s possible for them to exist, I think the setting would have proven a lot more.. fanciful if put into Northern California, and I might have enjoyed it a bit more.As it was, I enjoyed it as much as I was able to – the setting, as mentioned, threw me a little bit, as did a glaringly obvious “twist”. I’ve spoken in another review about how seeing twists coming don’t necessarily mean something bad, or ruin my enjoyment of the book – but when the character affected by the twist is so oblivious to the glaringly obvious turn of events.. it makes it a little harder to swallow and changes the tone of the book a bit.Little Black Dress is a magical story of forgiveness, of family relationships – especially those of mother and daughter. It’s a story of being given an opportunity to start over and to begin again on establishing relationships. A sweet, if a bit mundane tale with just enough magic to infuse it into being more than just another title on a shelf.

[voracious_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Antonia Ashton owns her own wedding coordination business and is an independent woman with few ties to her family. When she receives a call that her mother has had a stroke, she returns to her small Missouri town to try to make amends for her prodigal status, but finds her mother in a coma. As she sifts through her mother's records, photos and belongings, she finds a black dress which appears to have magical powers to tell the future. This story is told from the perspectives of both Antonia and her mother, Evie, as their intertwining views explain the history of the family and how the dress has caused or predicted the Evie, Antonia, and the mysterious Aunt Anna to reunite in the present.At first I was somewhat disconnected from this story, as it appeared too similar to the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants", but after a while, I found myself swept up in the story, which spans several generations. I thought the author did a good job of connecting to the emotions of the characters and evoking an interest in exploring family history. I particularly liked the budding romance between Antonia and Hunter, as their chemistry was palpable and believable. I was glad to see the author gave credit for the dress idea to the Traveling Pants author in the back, but I felt the writing in this book would have been good enough to avoid using a magical device to pull it all together. I'd be curious to see what the author writes next, as she appeared to write in a captivating and convincing way, capable of exploring deeper themes beyond typical chick-lit faire.

[leadmomma · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This family driven story is told from different perspectives (a mother and a daughter) and it works well as a novel. I can easily see the book being transformed into a movie -- much of the place can be imagined. I like how there's just a little bit of magic in the story -- enough to keep your attention, make you believe it could be happening. This is a quick read and could be a good book club pick, especially in groups with varying ages. The characters could have been developed more, but it's hard to know if that could have made the story better or just been cumbersome. Overall, this is a good story and could produce some interesting discussion. It's not going to change your life, but it will be an enjoyable read for sure.

[punxsygal · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Independent business woman, Antonia Ashton, returns to her childhood home in Blue Hills, Missouri, following her mother's stroke. While her mother remains in a coma, Antonia finds herself dealing with the physical clutter of papers in the home, the management of the family winery, the interference in the winery of a neighbor, and the secrets that abound. Antonia's mother was found in the attic of her home wearing a black dress and surrounded by pictures of family, including the elusive, Anna, her sister. The tale is told in alternating voices of Antonia and her mother, each slowly revealing the psychic experiences bestowed by the black dress on the wearer going back to Anna's running away on the eve of her marriage. It was a light, warm read reminiscent of the books of Sarah Addison Allen.

[silversreviews · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“I watched her as she moved, saw the way the dress sparkled…….I thought it was evil at first, what the dress had done to us.” Page 286A little black dress with plans? Interesting......but don't we all have a little black dress somewhere? I bet we do, but not sure anyone has a little black dress with plans....well no one except Anna Evans and her sister Toni. And what fascinating plans they were....they were plans that affected the Evans women from one generation to the next. Its plans were both good and bad, and the dress never gave up. I really enjoyed this book....fantastic storyline and also great chapter set up...each character had her own chapter and went from past to present with stories of the ties, the secrets, and the fate each of the Evans women shared with the little black dress. The twists and turns just made the book so good……you even get a hint of mystery.It was a fun, clever read. The ending, and especially the very last line is SUPERB. 5/5

[cyncie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an enchanting story about a magical black dress with the power to show its wearer glimpses of the future, and thereby, making the first wearer do things that cause pain and chaos in the family. The story follows the first wearer and her family for the next 40 plus years to an eventual happy ending, with lots of twists and turns.

[soniamarie_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a very engrossing read. I found myself wishing I had a dress like this, that conformed to whatever figure I have, that sewed itself up immaculately, and told the future.. but is know the future really such a good thing?It can affect different people differently as we see here in this novel following the lives of two sisters and a daughter. Evie is the reasonable and smart older sister. She is the "good girl." When her younger sister, Anna, dons a little black future telling dress and just up and destroys everyone's lives by running off the night before her wedding, Evie struggles to hold her crumbling family together to no avail. And Anna never comes back... not right away at least and when she does, not for the right reasons.Anna and the black dress don't do so well together and she, on top of being selfish, self centered,and irresponsible, goes a bit batty and becomes manipulative and sly as well. At least, this is what I thought. Evie also experiences the magic of the dress, but reacts in an entirely different way.And there's Antonia... Antonia is 46 and still not married and waiting for Greg to pop the question, but the little black dress and the future it tells may show her something different. If it does, will she react like Anna or Evie? The sad thing is, Antonia must make some hefty decisions, experience the magic of the dress, and learn her family's secrets while Evie lies in a coma. Conclusion: Very well written, really sucked me into the story, so much so that I found myself wanting to rush into the pages and b**ch slap Anna to the moon. The book goes back and forth from Evie in the past (50s, 60s) to Antonia in the present and pulls this off perfectly, without missing a beat or confusing the reader.Quibble: I would have liked a more drawn out romance and just plain more of the romance between Antonia and... I'm-not-saying. He sounded like a hottie.

[forsix · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Some of the hardest reviews to write are those for novels that I love. Yes, this was a hard one. I was hooked from the very beginning. Little Black Dress has dual protagonists: Antonia, a success business woman in her early 40s who did all she could to escape her small town life, and Evie, Antonia’s mother, a woman loyal to the memory of her family but distant from them.The novel begins with Evie having a stroke and being put into a medically induced coma. Toni comes to her bedside, full of regret and wishing for a relationship that never existed. And so begins their story, told in the present through Toni and the past through Evie. This novel is incredibly poignant. I loved Evie’s journey. I thoroughly enjoyed how simply it was told, in her voice. Her chapters were the ones I couldn’t wait to read, the ones I loved the most, the ones that brought me to tears. Actually I really liked everything about Evie. She did her best to raise Antonia in a way that cultivated her freedom. She had the romance of a lifetime with her husband Jon. She was fiercely loyal to her mother and father, to their memory and their family business. So many times I wished I could have sat done for a cup of tea with Miss Evie, to ask her questions and hear her stories.One of the reasons I was so pleased with the story is that it had a bit of the jean magic found in Anne Brashares’ Sisterhood novels. I love the idea of a piece of clothing that fits everyone equally and has the power to foretell the future or make the wearer incredibly propitious. I also loved that family and history was at the core of Little Black Dress. Not all of it was peaches. Anna’s story (Evie’s vanishing sister) didn’t quite gel for me. I still don’t quite understand her journey. There is one thing that doesn’t fit into the Anna we meet. However if I’m being honest, I chose not to understand because I thought her journey was heartbreaking and sad. I really enjoyed this novel. Enjoyed doesn’t express it enough. This is the kind of novel I wanted under my pillow at night so when I slept, I’d dream about Evie and that magical little black dress. Heck it made me wish for a charmed little black dress of my own.

[willowone_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed reading this book. That touch of fantasy brings your imagination to life. Of course, it could never happen, but that is why it is so good. It sounds just plausible enough that you wish it could.Antonia "Toni" and her mother, Evie have a rocky relationship. They can not seem to see eye to eye on most things and are so different in their personalities it makes it hard to spend any length of time with one another. When Evie has a stroke, Toni comes back to the town and home she fought hard to get away from. What Toni finds is her history and an understanding of the special woman who raised her.The chapters alternate between the point of view of either Evie or Toni. Each beginning chapter page states which woman's perspective that chapter is about. Evie's chapters are written like you are hearing exactly what Evie is thinking while in her coma. I felt it was a great way for the author to write this character. You are able to understand both the strength, vulnerability and the driving forces of this character. By hearing her story I was then able to see why she was like she was and how with her daughter not knowing that background she was unable to relate to her mother easily.I look forward to reading more of Ms. McBride's work in the future.

[lewislibrary · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What would you do if you found a way to tell what the future held for you? That is the premise behind this story..... a black dress sold by a gypsy woman to Anna, who is about to get married. This one transaction changes the course of everyone's lives. This book is about that dress, and the lives of 3 women..... Anna, her sister Evie, and the daughter Antonia. This is a spell-binding story that you will not want to put down. I know you will enjoy it as much as I did.

[nitaneelyon · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great read, had to stay up until I finished it. I would have a liked a bit more infomration on Anna's whereabouts before she came back but other than that, I really enjoyed it.

[sherton_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Relationships between mothers and daughters can sometimes be intense, but when you put a magical little black dress into the mix, it?s extremely life changing.The story carries you through the tempestuous relationship between Evie (mother) and Antonia (daughter) and the little black dress that brings them together.I literally could not put this book down. I read it in one sitting. Every other chapter is written in either Evie?s voice or Antonia?s voice and the author does a fine job in the transition.A great summer read!Thank you to BookBrowse's First Impression for giving me the opportunity to review this book.