A Lowcountry Bride by Preslaysa WilliamsMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
2.7 stars
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
But sickle cell anemia flare-ups didn’t wait for bridal gown designers.
Maya Jackson has been trying to make her mother proud by working her way up to lead designer at the prestigious Laura Whitcomb Inc., the nation's top bridal gown designer. When a promotion opportunity opens up, Maya is ready to try and impress her boss who has a tendency to reject her Afro-Asian influenced designs in favor of more conventional. Life and timing, as it is, also has Maya asking for time off as she wants to go back home to the lowcountry to help her father who has just broken his hip. There in Charleston, Maya confronts if she can trust again, who she wants to be, and what she really wants out of life.
This man was not going to mess with her focus. Not happening.
Lowcountry Bride was a heartfelt story that didn't always delve enough into some of the heavy topics it incorporated but still delivered some incredibly sweet moments. The romance was low heat, just some kisses, and I thought the romance between Maya and Derek was actually the weakest of the story. Derek is a widowed single father who lost his wife to a mass shooting at the New Life Church and is trying to keep his mother's legacy of a bridal dress shop from going into foreclosure and repair his relationship with his daughter. His wife dying in a mass shooting is one of those heavy topics I mentioned wasn't delved into enough. I live in America, so maybe this hits me more than it would others but while it never came off as a salacious additive, it still didn't have the emotional depth I would have liked to see with such an impacting topic. I did enjoy how the author had Maya going home to Charleston to take care of her father but then backing off a little when his “friend” Ginger is there also trying to help him, especially when Ginger is set to retire from her manager job at Derek's bridal shop and has more time now. A bridal shop that Derek desperately needs help at and Maya's boss refused to give her paid time off so she needs to make some extra money on the side. This was all excellent plot threading and made these two entering each other's worlds believable.
“Excellent. Operation Save Always a Bride shall begin,” he said.
And Operation Save Maya would begin too, because the way Derek winked at her just now made her entire body warm.
