a vintage affair

This is the first book for my little book club. I think it was a good choice. The perfect chick book, full of romance and a little mystery centered on cloths. What more could you want?

I enjoyed this book very much. Isabelle Wolff did a great job creating parallel stories that made sense together, and heightened the emotions. 

As the titled suggests it is centered on vintage. Phoebe Swift, defiantly got more then she bargained for when she opened up her vintage clothing store, called Village Vintage. The story opened with her store Grand Opening. Fortunately it did not end with it closing. It did, however, end with a conclusion of a very long held secret. 

Throughout the story you lean not only about past struggles, but also about many problems that crop up in Phoebes' life as the story continues. Like so much of life, everything seems to intertwine. I feel that this is why vintage is the perfect theme for this story to be centered around. Vintage has many lives. It has had a previous owner, there are memories sewn into the fabric, but there are always more strands waiting for memories to become apart of the garment. Such a romantic idea. 

Phoebe has romance throughout the months that are covered in the book. And if it isn't her romance causing problems it is her mother or the people who come into the shop. Even if the past doesn't go as far back in time as the cloths it's self, vintage has a way of bringing up the past as well as desires that go deeper then could have been imagined. Vintage has a way to make things happen, as is proven time and time again.

When it came to Phoebe's romance, I was rooting for one guy, Dan. Guy was the romance love that occurred before the beginning of the book. He was a reoccurring theme, but was only really seen once in the book. Miles romance with Phoebe was also shown in the duration of the book. In some ways he is the unlikely lover. There were times that I rooted for him, but Dan keept my admiration over all. Dan just seemed so sweet, you know, the type of guy that you wish you could have type deal. Dan also had a love of vintage, but his draw was movies. But just like any good romance there is always another guy, and sometimes things don't turn out as the reader would like. 

The Village Vintage was an escape for Phoebe. She was running away from a great trama and loss of a dear friend Emma. This loss shaped the relationships and friendships shown in the book. It is a tragedy that anyone would see as life changing. In some ways she maybe took it a little too far, but then I think we are all guilty of that in our lives. The loss of Emma brought Phoebe to a relationship with an elderly woman, Mrs. Bell that would change her life forever.

The main side stories has to do with the friendship with the unlikely Mrs. Bell, is well, not a romantic one. This is the story that comes to a conclusion with the ending of the book. It is a sad story, and one that I would rather not give anything away about. It is, however, connected to a vintage garment, but it is beyond anything you could imagine.