"Five Brides" by Eva Marie Everson transports readers back to the 1950s Chicago where five ladies from different walks of life meet and together they are connected for a lifetime through one dress.

Betty, Joan, Evelyn, Inga and Magda are five very distinct and different ladies we meet in Chicago, IL in the 1950s.  They are roommates in a small basement apartment, and with their different jobs and commitments, they hardly see each other.  One Saturday, they find themselves all free, and decides to go catch a movie. After the movie, as they window shopped, they were mesmerized with the Carson Pirie Scott & Co. wedding dress on display.  As they each take turns trying it on, they fell in love with it.  Each chipping in, they've decided to purchase this one dress for their  own wedding.  The funny thing is, none of them are even engaged to be married or even close.   How will this one dress change their lives or how will it tie them together?


Does the dress change their lives? Yes and no.  Yes, because this dress tied their friendship together one way or another. It's a lifetime of memories to keep account of the journey each one of them encounters, and with this one same dress, the start of a new journey with someone they love.  No - I guess because, it really is just a dress.

I love the premise of this one dress. To me, it symbolized much more.  One may see it as coincidence that they are roommates, they happened to be all free one Saturday, and they happened to see the dress on display; not to mentioned, they are all the same size.  Is it really a coincidence?  To me, it's divine intervention.  Each one are at different walks in life, logistically and spiritually.  However, God will use whatever and whomever are in our lives to bless us in more ways than one.  It is this one dress that tied each of them together, and with this one connection, we readers can see five different journeys.  Ms. Everson did a wonderful job in giving us five heroines, five subjects with equal development with a plot that moves along so well, that you can't help but follow along.  As you read, you want to continue to read and to find out what happens to each of them.  As story telling goes, Five Brides is a success.  It's successful to a point that I want to keep knowing their journey, not only after they're married, but more.  We do get a glimpse of it through the present day wedding story, which is how we are able to hear about the story of the Five Brides.

Personally, I want to add, I love Betty and Joan. Betty for her gracious nature and Joan for her resilience.  Thank you, Ms. Everson for giving us readers, characters and a story we can fall in love with in Five Brides.

NOTE:  I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher, Tyndale House Publishers for an honest review.