Stevie‘s review of Tailor-Made by Yolanda Wallace
Contemporary Lesbian Romance published by Bold Strokes Books 11 Dec 17
I love a well-fitted three-piece suit, on myself or on an attractive person of any gender, not that I’ve yet managed to justify the expense of buying anything not off-the-peg. One day I’ll get there, and, in the meantime, it’s fun every so often to read stories about tailors and the clients who visit them for fittings.
Grace Henderson is one such tailor, working in her father’s shop, and hoping one day to take on the business herself. Although most of her clients have been men, particularly sports stars, she is unfazed when she receives a visit from butch fashion model Dakota Lane. Dakota has been invited to a wedding and wants to create an impression without overshadowing the bride: her sister. Although she mostly models menswear, nothing she has been allowed to keep in the course of her work seems suitable, and as her other work is as a bicycle courier, she has no appropriate work wear from that job either. The pair quickly establish a rapport, and Grace finds herself breaking all her self-imposed rules about mixing business with pleasure as Dakota invites her on a series of dates.
The chances of their having any kind of long-term relationship seem remote, since Dakota never stays with the same woman for long, and anyway is nothing like the kind of woman Grace is usually attracted to. On top of all that, both are beset by family and work-related problems: in Grace’s case, the two being very much interwoven and have little energy left to support each other.
I really loved this book. All the characters were richly portrayed, and I particularly liked the way Grace found herself dealing with an increasingly diverse clientele thanks to word-of-mouth recommendations first from Dakota and then from other clients sent to her via Dakota’s enthusiastic friends. I also liked the contrasts between Dakota and her main professional rival: another woman who has made a career out of modelling menswear, but who is markedly different in every other aspect of her personality and aspirations.
Both heroines have complex, though mostly supportive, relationships with their various family members, and it was good to see the debates taking place as Grace and her father try to compromise on their different ideas on how to take the business forward. I’d love to see much more of all these characters.
Grade: A
Summary:
Before Grace Henderson began working as a tailor in her father’s bespoke suit shop in Wiliamsburg, Brooklyn, she established a hard and fast rule about not dating clients. The edict is an easy one for her to follow, considering the overwhelming majority of the shop’s clients are men. But when Dakota Lane contacts her to commission a suit to wear to her sister’s wedding, Grace finds herself tempted to throw all the rules out the window.
Dakota Lane works as a bicycle messenger by day and moonlights as a male model. Her high-profile career, gender-bending looks, and hard-partying ways garner her plenty of romantic attention, but she would rather play the field than settle down. When she meets sexy tailor Grace Henderson, however, she suddenly finds herself in the market for much more than a custom suit.
Read an excerpt.
