The Wedding Veil by Kristy Woodson Harvey

 

Do you have a special wedding veil in your family?  My Mom bought me mine and I have it sealed up for my daughter to use if she would like to in the future.

I’ve read and enjoyed Kristy Woodson Harvey’s romance novels and I was thrilled to be able to read her first historical fiction / contemporary novel.  The Wedding Veil is the intermingled stories of four different women through time.  In 1879, Edith Dresser dreams of the day she will wear her family’s historic wedding veil.  She grows up and marries George Vanderbilt in a beautiful wedding.  George has built the Biltmore estate in Ashville North Carolina.  After his untimely death, Edith tries to hold everything together for her daughter Cornelia to inherit.  Cornelia has the dream wedding of her own, but she wonders, is their more out there in life for her?

In present day, Julia Baxter is ready to be married using her family’s historic wedding veil.  After receiving a video, the day of her wedding showing her fiancé cheating on her, she knows she needs to change the direction of her life.  Luckily her Grandma Babs is there to support her.  After becoming a widow late in life, Babs wonders, can she move forward and have the life she wants while she still can?

I loved this novel.  The four women and two dueling timelines was intriguing and kept me vested in the story.  I enjoyed both timelines equally.  In contemporary times, I wanted Julia and Babs to figure out what they wanted to do with their lives and to solve the mystery of their family veil.  In the past timeline, I learned about Biltmore and the Vanderbilt women.  I had not read about them before, and I found their story to be fascinating.  I have always wanted to visit the Biltmore estate and Ashville ever since I watched Last of the Mohicans (filmed on location there) as a teenager.  This novel made me want to visit even more!  I also just love to read about weddings, historic clothing, beautiful estates, and this book had it all.  It also had very interesting characters and conflict as well.  I love that they all had to find their inner strength and forge their own paths.  It was an uplifting novel.

I enjoyed the author’s note at the end and hope that the author writes more historical fiction novels.   I think if you enjoyed The Gown by Jennifer Robson or The Last Dance of the Debutante by Julia Kelly, or any of Kristy Woodson Harvey’s previous novels, you will love this book.

Book Source:  A Review Copy from Gallery Books and Spark Point Studio.  Thank-you! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.