I Wish I Had a Red Dress by Pearl Cleage

Rating:   PENS!!!!

Love wears a red dress

This sequel revisits Idlewild, Michigan and the characters we grew to love in What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day. Joyce Mitchell was widowed early, when the love of her life Mitch dies in a freak accident. Joyce has a busy, rich life.  It’s only when she has a moment to think, climbing into her empty bed, that she feels something is missing.
   
It has been years since Mitch’s death and though she still dreams about him, lately a new vision has been entering her dreams: a red dress.  In this red dress, she dances as if no one’s watching… remembering all those parts of her self neglected since she lost her Mitch.
 
Enter Nate Anderson, the new administrator at the high school.  A tall, dark and handsome divorcé, he and Joyce immediately connect—but experience has taught them to proceed with caution, one tiny step at a time…  After all, who has time for love?  They each have their hands full with work (and their own fears about love).
 
At first I wished Pearl Cleage hadn’t sent the characters I loved in her previous book off on a road trip first thing in I Wish I Had a Red Dress, but I quickly forgot that disappointment is the richness of Cleage’s story. The pacing is a little slow at first (which is authentic to the characters’ natures).  The “bad guys” are just a little too one-dimensional for my taste, but everyone else’s characters are strong.  Once the book got going, I found myself truly caring about what happened to the central characters, which for me is a mark of good writing.  My only other criticism would be that sometimes I found the conflict between Joyce and Nate a little superficial, and their resolutions not quite realistic.
 
This is a layered and compassionate book that I would recommend. The characters are strong and compelling, the plotlines intelligent, and the ending satisfying.  If you liked What Looks like Crazy on an Ordinary Day, pick up Pearl Cleage’s I Wish I Had a Red Dress.

Charisse Sisou

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