Reviews

Four Ways to Wear a Dress by Gillian Libby

blvckate's review

3.0

3,5, it wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great, you know??

abigailhartnett's review

2.0

Honestly, I had a really hard time with this main character. I understand this is a light beach read, but she was just too much for me—even for a beach read. She felt unbelievably, willfully ignorant enough about the world and the people around her to pull me out of the story many times throughout the book. I do think that was supposed to be her learning curve, but I didn't really feel like she learned for grew as much as things just kind of worked out for her. I do think a certain generation of people will probably relate to her (especially very young adults trapped in the social media vortex), but it definitely wasn't for me.

vjzacharias's review

4.0

This book will be a perfect beach read this summer!

I absolutely loved Millie and the Santana family. Their dynamic was fun and playful — and the romance was perfect. By the end of the book, I had to think hard to remember how the book started because I feel like Millie changed a lot. My only complaint is that I thought that the Peacock Bay influencers may have had nefarious intentions, but that didn’t play out the way that I thought.

Great book, fun read!

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for the advanced listen. The audiobook was fantastic.

andrea_author's review against another edition

5.0

This is an enjoyable book with a strong voice and fun characters. I liked Millie a lot. She and Pete had a ton of chemistry. It confused me that they continued to consider their relationship fake even after they started sleeping together. At that point, maybe they might have talked about having real feelings for each other? But in the context of the book, I suppose it made sense. This novel is an interesting look at influencer culture and finding the balance between your personal and professional persona.

The audiobook did a good job of capturing Millie's voice and personality.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

thebookjunkee's review

5.0

Millie can't seem to get her life together. She got diagnosed with ADHD and refuses to let that be the reason why she can't do anything right. After getting fired from her job, she wants to take things slow and decides to visit her best friend, Instagram influencer, Quincy in California. But visiting Quincy isn't the only thing she's hoping to see. Millie has been in love with her best friend's brother, Pete, for years. While packing for her trip, Millie gets some help from her friends Kate and Bree who discover the lucky black dress they shared in college. This dress helped them during every momentous moment in each of their lives (i.e. tests, dates, jobs, etc.) - bringing each girl the confidence they needed in that moment. The girls believe Millie could use a little bit of luck this time around. Upon her arrival to California, she is in a world of influencers which gives Millie the confidence to pursue her own social media lifestyle. After accidentally posting a few pictures of her and Pete at the beach claiming he was her husband, they find themselves faking it for the gram to help Millie in her new influencer career, and Pete's hotel business. Can Millie continue to fake this relationship with her long time crush? Or do the lines become blurry when things get a bit confusing when things get taken to the next level? What is real, and what is fake?

A Sisters of the Traveling Pants RomCom meets a Tessa Bailey/Emily Henry type read - it was full of love, humor and so many relatable moments. I love a good best friends brother trope. Add some real life issues like ADHD to the mix and you get one hell of a book. The chemistry between Pete and Millie flew off the pages and I absolutely loved their dynamic. I was engaged from the very beginning and it kept my interest the entire time.

Thank you Gillian for the advanced copy!

smalltownbookmom's review against another edition

4.0

I REALLY, really enjoyed this steamy summer romance set in a small beach town. Millie is a social media influencer whose lost her way (and her following). When a friend asks her to come home and help her out for a month she agrees easily, especially when she finds her lucky dress - the one that has brought luck to all her friends (think Sisterhood of the travelling pants!). Trying to help her friends, Millie ends up in a fake dating situation with her best friend's brother - the man she's happened to have a huge crush on since college.

Full of heart, humor and lots of relatable moments. I loved the mental health rep (Millie has ADHD and is constantly battling feelings of being a screw up) and also enjoyed that Millie was a bad-ass surfer chick (think Blue Crush). The exhaustion of being tied to a social media grid and constantly chasing followers is also very well done in this book.

Definitely add it to your summer #tbr if you like:
- women surfers
- neurodivergent MCs
- best friend's brother trope
- fake dating
- open door romance with TONS of chemistry
- small town setting
- great female friendships

This was honestly a surprise delight and I'm so grateful to have gotten an advance review copy thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks!! Great on audio narrated by
Erika Schindele and highly recommended, especially for fans of In the weeds or When in Rome!!

tulscip's review

3.0

I'm a bit conflicted about rating this book because I did have fun reading it, but there were things that irked me.
The dress motif was just so obvious sisterhood of the traveling pants that I felt it should have acknowledged it more head on.
It kept referencing the pandemic, lol, accurate, but wow jarring!
As far as the romance, I mean, it was just so obvious the MCs were in love yet narrator was going around telling herself he doesn't like her back.
There was fake dating and misunderstanding trope and I just dislike the latter so much when it doesn't even make sense with the character/world building.
Also the job she ends up taking is not even comparable to the one she was up for, salary wise, so she essentially just abandoned an amazing career opportunity for a boy.

lifeasmrsbaker's review

5.0

This book gave me a vibes of sisterhood of the traveling pants meets new age social media influencer. I was here for it. I loved the ADHD/ ASD representation in this book as well. I love the fake dating trope as well so this was great for me.

Read if you love: best friend's brother, childhood friends, friends to lovers, small town romance

Thank you to NetGalley and Gillian Libby for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

taryn_a's review

2.0

Picked this up because of endorsements from some of my favorite authors. But sadly, it wasn't a hit for me. There were some fun things and laugh out loud moments. It could also be that as someone who works in marketing and has worked in social media in the past, I don't need that world in my escapist reads.

And also good grief people can we just communicate like adults?!!

heatheradoresbooks's review against another edition

3.0

I'm at a 3 ⭐ for this debut.

This story follows Millie as she moves to California to figure her life out after being fired from her marketing job due to downsizing. She has always been interested in surfing, so she embarks on an adventure of her true calling. And lucky for her that her bff's hot brother who she's always crushed on, Pete, lives there
The story was easy to follow along, but it was very slow going for me. I didn't find myself overly invested in the story really.
It's heavy on being an influencer and having a lot of social media followers, which leads Millie and Pete to begin fake dating to drum up business. Fake turns into some steaminess rather quickly. Spoiler alert, but not really ~ they really secretly like each other.

9 hour and 40 minute listen and Erika Schindele did a fine job narrating, easy listen at 2x.

If you like books about fake dating, surfing, going after what you want and/or having many followers than this story might be for you.

*Thanks to [a:Dreamscape Media LLC|19425262|Dreamscape Media LLC|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], [a:Gillian Libby|21443764|Gillian Libby|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1648585683p2/21443764.jpg] and NetGalley for the advance audiobook. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review*