After a Fashion review

 After a Fashion by Jen Turano

⭐⭐⭐⭐ - 3.75 rounded to four

“Miss Harriet Peabody dreams of the day she can open up a shop selling refashioned gowns to independent working women like herself. Unfortunately, when an errand for her millinery shop job goes sadly awry due to a difficult customer, she finds herself without an income.

Mr. Oliver Addleshaw is on the verge of his biggest business deal yet when he learns his potential partner prefers to deal with men who are settled down and wed. When Oliver witnesses his ex not-quite-fiancée causing the hapless Harriet to lose her job, he tries to make it up to her by enlisting her help in making a good impression on his business partner.

Harriet quickly finds her love of fashion can't make her fashionable. She'll never truly fit into Oliver's world, with its fancy dinners and elegant balls, but just as she's ready to call off the fake relationship a threat from her past forces both Oliver and Harriet to discover that love can come in the most surprising packages.”

Series: Yes, book one of three in the A Class of Their Own series.

I was in the library browsing the shelves when I spotted a few Jen Turano books. Excitedly, I dropped down and found a few which interested me, one of them being After a Fashion. I was so glad to finally find the first book in this series because I had originally thought it was Playing the Part which was first and upon returning it to the library unread I ceased to look for the first book.

This book was a pleasurable read, one of which where the dialogue was well written. The use of words like abhorrent, horrid, or divulging was splendid along with how Mrs. Jen Turano arranged the lovely sentences to sound much more refined than most of today’s writing appears to be. This is one of the reasons I enjoy reading books set in this time period or regency era. Most books I have read placed in that setting write in a cultivated way, which brings me joy. Any time an author or speaker writes/talks using refined words it is a pleasant surprise.

Did anyone else feel Tangled vibes reading chapter 21? When it was found out that Harriet, or Julia as her real name is such, was the daughter of the Duke and had been abducted from her mother by the wretched Aunt Jane it was as if it had been inspired from when Mother Gothel stole baby Repunzel from the King and Queen.
Another flashback I had went to the Prodigal Son from the Bible where the son ran away from home and when he wandered back a long while later his father said to throw a party and give him a ring for his finger and sandals to grace his feet. I was reminded of that story when we were told that Harriet would be thrown a party or one or the other when she arrived in England to welcome her home. It’s a long shot, however it is where my wonderful mind brought me.
All stories do come from the three main building blocks: the Bible, fairy tales, and fables, (I hope I remembered that correctly,) which is why some books are similar to one another  and you can see the inspiration from the building blocks. Ecclesiastes says that there is nothing new under the sun.

Characters:

Mr. Oliver Addleshaw: At first I found him a bit disagreeable, however as the book moved on he revealed he did indeed have compassion. It was clear he was accustomed to ladies flocking around him that Harriet sure did show that not everyone was instantly attracted to him. (Of course we all should know by now how these kinds of stories end;) In those way he reminded me of Mr. Darcy. 

Ms. Harriet Peabody: I do not find her name suitable for her. Plus the name Peabody reminds me of some old lady or Peabody and Sherman. One of the traits I found pleasurable was how much compassion she held for those less fortunate. She was not found moping around that she was not of high class but interacting with those in the slums around her and making an attempt to help those people. Harriet was good for Oliver in that way, opening his eyes to the poverty stricken people. Both Mr. Addleshaw and Ms. Peabody were well suited for each other and helped counteract some of the traits they had previously possessed.