Brenda Janowitz is dressed for success...plus a book giveway

Photo by Cristina Calvi

We're pleased to have Brenda Janowitz back at CLC! Melissa A really enjoyed her latest novel, The Grace Kelly Dress and will be reviewing it soon. She met Brenda a while back and can attest that she's as delightful in person as she is online. Thanks to HarperCollins, we have one copy of The Grace Kelly Dress for a lucky reader!

Brenda Janowitz is the author of five novels and the Books Correspondent for PopSugar. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Salon, Redbook, USA Today, Bustle, The Forward, the New York Post, Publisher’s Weekly, Hello Giggles, Writer’s Digest Magazine, WritersDigest.com, and xojane.

Brenda attended Cornell University and Hofstra Law School, where she was a member of the Law Review. Upon graduation from Hofstra, worked for the law firm Kaye Scholer, LLP, and did a federal clerkship with the Honorable Marilyn Dolan Go, United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of New York. (Bio adapted from Brenda's website.)

Visit Brenda online:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Pinterest

Read her essay in the New York Times "Modern Love": https://nyti.ms/2NQxDEO

Melissa A and Brenda...almost five years ago

Synopsis:
Two years after Grace Kelly’s royal wedding, her iconic dress is still all the rage in Paris—and one replica, and the secrets it carries, will inspire three generations of women to forge their own paths in life and in love.

Paris, 1958: Rose, a seamstress at a fashionable atelier, has been entrusted with sewing a Grace Kelly—look-alike gown for a wealthy bride-to-be. But when, against better judgment, she finds herself falling in love with the bride’s handsome brother, Rose must make an impossible choice, one that could put all she’s worked for at risk: love, security and of course, the dress.

Sixty years later, tech CEO Rachel, who goes by the childhood nickname “Rocky,” has inherited the dress for her upcoming wedding in New York City. But there’s just one problem: Rocky doesn’t want to wear it. A family heirloom dating back to the 1950s, the dress just isn’t her. Rocky knows this admission will break her mother Joan’s heart. But what she doesn’t know is why Joan insists on the dress—or the heartbreaking secret that changed her mother’s life decades before, as she herself prepared to wear it.

As the lives of these three women come together in surprising ways, the revelation of the dress’s history collides with long-buried family heartaches. And in the lead-up to Rocky’s wedding, they’ll have to confront the past before they can embrace the beautiful possibilities of the future. (Courtesy of Amazon.)

What is a favorite compliment you have received on your writing?
I’ve gotten really lovely blurbs from some of my favorite authors for this book, and there’s no better compliment for your writing than one that comes from someone whose work you truly admire. Emily Giffin said that The Grace Kelly Dress was my “best book yet,” and Jane Green said it “is a book that has to be added to your nightstand immediately.” It doesn’t really get better than that!

Which of the three women in The Grace Kelly Dress do you relate with the most?
Each of the women in the book relates to a part of who I am, from Rocky’s rebelliousness to Joanie’s desire to figure out who she is in the world to Rose’s loneliness. So, I suppose there’s a little of me in each of my characters.

If The Grace Kelly Dress were made into a movie, who would you cast in the lead roles?
Oh, that would just be a dream come true! (Why, do you know someone?!)

For Rocky, I’d love to see Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, or Margot Robbie. Think they’d be up for dying their hair every color of the rainbow for the part?

For Joanie, I could see Jennifer Lawrence or Anna Kendrick. She’s got a lot of spunk in her, and I think either of these women could really convey that.

And for Rose, I would love to see Saorise Ronan or Emma Watson. Both women would lend the perfect amount of romance to that storyline.

If you could do something over from your wedding, what would it be?
Stress less and enjoy it! That’s advice I’d give to any bride.

But one thing I wouldn’t change? My dress. Due to my obsession with Grace Kelly’s wedding dress, my own gown had a few details in common with the iconic garment—a ribbon around the waist, a nod to Grace’s cummerbund, and delicate bows floating down the back.

What is the last movie you saw that you would recommend?
As a busy working mom, I’m afraid I haven’t been to the movies much lately! But I gobbled The Morning Show on Apple TV and Dollface on Hulu.

What is something new you want to try this year?
I’ve been getting into meditation, and that’s something I’d love to continue. It’s like exercise for your mind. And I feel a real difference in how I approach the day when I do it.

Thanks to Brenda for visiting with us and to HarperCollins for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here. 

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Giveaway ends March 17th at midnight EST.