[Review] The Shoestring Club - Sarah Webb

Title of Book : The Shoestring Club
Author : Sarah webb
Publisher : Pan Macmillan

Join The Shoestring Club
When the love of her life, Ed, announces his surprise engagement to her best friend, Julia Schuster is distraught but determined not to let them see how much she’s hurting. She spies a remarkable dress in Shoestring, her sister’s designer second-hand shop, and knows she’ll only be able to stagger through the wedding day, showing everyone how over Ed she is, if her body is wrapped in its soft silk chiffon. Unfortunately it costs mega bucks and she’s barely hanging on to her job as it is.
Arietty Pilgrim can’t and won’t attend her fiercely competitive school reunion unless she can arrive wearing exactly the same dress. But working as an elephant keeper in Dublin Zoo does not a millionaire make.
But fate has a funny way of bringing people together. Just as Julia starts to flounder amidst family troubles, problem drinking and a broken heart, she meets Arietty and the two of them set up The Shoestring Club – time-sharing one extraordinary dress and beginning a life-altering friendship.

The Shoestring Club is my September selection for monthly keyword reading challenge. It’s a chicklit about a woman, named Julia (or Jules) who’s broken hearted because her boyfriend is getting married to another woman. She’s also fired from her job because of her alcohol addiction. While she’s working at her family’s boutique, she found a beautiful dress which she thinks could help her find her confidence back. Since she’s fired and the dress is so expensive, she forms a club along with Arietty and two other girls to share the dress.
This is my first time reading Webb’s book so I didn’t know what to expect. I assumed her book’s going to be like Sophie Kinsella’s chicklit but I don’t find much humor in it. There isn’t a lot of romance too.  
This book mainly sets in Shoestring, Jules’s family’s boutique. There’s a lot of dress or frock mentioned here which makes the reading fun. I love dresses. Besides the fashion, this book particularly tells us about Jules and her ex, Ed. From what I read, their relationship was frustrating and unhealthy. In fact, I think Ed is the root of her alcohol addiction. Ed is a jerk and a typical character who we’ll hate in a chicklit book. 
The Shoestring Club reminds me of Sisterhood of Travelling Pants with the Faith Farenze dress as the magic jeans. But the story mostly revolves in Jules’s life, not in 4 girls’ lives. But that’s fine with me because she’s got much going on in her life. She’s got issues regarding to her mother’s death. She also has a hard time controlling herself around her ex which is not good because he’s getting married, with her best friend.
Actually, I love the idea of the dress sharing club. They share the dress and blog about it. Every time one of them gets a chance to wear the dress, she’ll take pictures of it and post them on the blog. That sounds fun … and less expensive too since they split the expense. 
Anyway, you might want to read The Shoestring Club if you like dresses (half part of the book talks about dresses or fashion). I don't really recommend it if you’re looking for a sweet and nice romance though.


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