The Keeper of Happy Endings

This novel kept me so totally enthused that I couldn't stop reading! I loved every second of it! Yes, it was a little 'unbelievable' but I think it makes the reader hope to believe! It provided just the right of descriptive prose about the weather, the sky, the light, etc.; unlike too many it gets it across without having to read 4 paragraphs about the rain or the gray sky! Perfectly done! If you need a book that keeps you hooked, hoping, wondering, and even smiling sometimes, this is it! As a Mom of 2 daughters, it also makes me hopeful that I'm keeping the right boundaries and letting them be what who they are! I also am so proud of both of them as they raise their children in this crazy world!

I really liked this book. It is about love and loss and relationships and a little bit of magic. I liked all the characters, and the writing style is very readable. Both Soline's and Rory's stories are interesting and entertaining, and I recommend this for anyone who likes the WWII-era books and is a romantic at heart. I will just mention for whoever is in charge of quality control for the publisher that there were several pages on which the printing was so light that they were hard to read.

Trite. And my paperback’s pages contained different size fonts on the same page for no reason.

Honestly one of the worst books I have ever read. If you like pretentious humble bragging, and and predictable outcome written at a 6th grade level, this book may be for you.

This book truly pulled on my heart strings. I’ve never found myself downright tearing up and crying while reading, but this book did something to me emotionally. It was moving and had beautiful themes. I was captivated and couldn’t wait to get back to reading! Definitely a must read!!!!

Wonderful! Couldn't put it down--and I had other things to do!!

Since this was a free kindle first reads book I guess I got my money’s worth. The first half of the book was good and insightful regarding what really happened during WWII in France. But the last half of the book, even though fiction, was too unbelievable. Definitely a fairy take ending. Many of these books are showing up in the fiction shelves of Goodwill. They all have a definite “look” to them in print - very similar to the harlequin paperbacks that also have a designated place on the Goodwill shelf. Good fiction is realistic even though it is fiction . This was just an average romance novel.

This is an amazing story of two women who cross paths and have led somewhat parallel lives. In 1985 Boston, Rory is barely existing. Her life has been on hold for months while she waits for word of her fiancé, Hux, part of a medical team that has been kidnapped while working for Doctors Without Borders. As she is walking a route she has walked many times before, she sees a building she’s passed that many times and has never noticed. It draws her attention in a real way so that she has to go look at it as she’s reminded of her missing love’s suggestion of opening her own art gallery someday.
Soline’s story really begins in this book in 1939 Paris. Soline is working with her mother in their dress shop preparing exquisite upscale hand-sewn wedding dresses with “happy endings.” Her mother, Esmee, who is known as “The Dress Witch,” gives us slices of her wisdom at the beginning of each chapter. The dresses have family spells stitched into each one on a token guaranteeing successful marriages. Soline, a talented designer with dreams and designs for gowns when it is her time to shine, doesn’t feel she has that magical gift. In the evenings after shop hours, she is busy sewing one of her own designs that her mother knows nothing about.
As time goes on, Soline becomes caretaker and supporter of the business as Esmee grows weaker with an illness to which she eventually succumbs as the Nazis take over Paris. After the loss of her mother and the business closing due to the war (no men = no brides), she is restless and begins volunteering in the hospital caring for wounded service men. It is there she meets Anson, an American ambulance driver. He is involved in the Resistance Movement and eventually has Soline evacuated to his father’s house in the US. He tells her he will meet her there to begin their life anew.
After several upheavals in her life, Soline is now also living in Boston in 1985. Her dress shop there has been destroyed in a fire, and she has injuries that will not allow her to sew again. She has become reclusive and spends her time dreaming of a lost love and an unused wedding dress as her former shop now sits partially rebuilt and vacant for several years…until Rory Grant notices it for the first time and can’t let the thought go of having an art gallery in it.
Very much against her domineering society mother’s wishes, Rory pursues leasing the building. Once cleaning has begun, she finds a box unscathed by the fire tucked away under a set of stairs. She knows that despite what the lessor has said, she tells Soline’s attorney that she must return it personally due to the contents. It is to be the beginning of a unique relationship between two lonely souls.
It has been a lloonngg time since I’ve read such a compellingly written story—one of those you don’t want to interrupt until finished…and then wish there were more. The chapters are clearly labeled so you don’t get lost on which part of the story you’re reading and Barbara Davis has done an exquisite job of weaving them together seamlessly (couldn’t resist the pun!).

I've been fairly blah on historical fiction lately. I feel like I keep reading the same thing about World War II over and over again. However, I decided to give The Keeper of Happy Endings a shot and I am so glad I did. Even days after finishing the book, I am still thinking about this powerful and incredibly original story that brought me to tears, gave me goosebumps and completely captivated my heart. I simply could not put this book down.

The Keeper of Happy Ending 40 years of history. Told in dual POV's, we meet Rory in 1985 who is devastated with the news that her fiance has been kidnapped while working with Doctors Without Borders. Struggling with a tumultuous relationship with her mother, she goes against her wishes to stay in school and plans to open an art gallery in an old wedding dress shop heavily damaged by fire years before. Her new landlady, Soline, is a bit of a recluse, but the unlikely pair strike up a friendship, when Rory returns a box of Soline's most prized possessions that she found while renovating.

This book intrigued me from the beginning; it was a surprise in the best way possible. Not heavy on history, The Keeper of Happy Endings is a story about hope and keeping faith, even when all is lost. It has air of suspense and mystery throughout. It gives just enough snippets of the past to wet my curiosity and then moves back to the “present."

I loved both Rory and Soline's characters and was deeply invested in their story. Soline's heartbreaking story of survival was completely captivating. The friendship between the two was so beautiful and I loved how there were lessons learned by all characters throughout. This is the first book to make me cry in a long time. I cannot recommend this book enough! It is surprising, wonderful, and so, so beautiful.

Thank you to the author and Suzy Approved Book Tours for the gifted copy.

This is my first book stop in October and it’s a good one y’all! Barbara Davis nails it with this split time historical fiction novel. Having two points of views allows the readers to get a deeper understanding of the plot and how it interweaves together as the story progresses.

A tale of two strong women, Soline who is schooled in the business of producing happy ending for brides in Paris as a part of a dress making family and Rory who decades later is dealing with tragic loss comes across a wedding dress in a box. You will have to read the book to see how these two women come together with a little bit of magic to produce happy endings.