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Love in the Time of Taffeta [Paperback]

Eugenie Olson (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

Price: $14.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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Book Description

March 28, 2006

Go back to prom and watch bumbling, lovable Iley Gilbert try to get it right this time around in Eugénie Olson's endearing story of love, bad behavior, and sequins.

At age 30, Iley Gilbert is thoroughly sick of trying to make it in the photo biz, and disenchanted after putting in stints at a Boston–area newspaper, a photography gallery, and even a pathetic frame shop. When she abruptly quits the frame shop, she's ready to give up for good, until she spots a compelling ad in the paper. A photographer who shoots high school prom photos is looking for an assistant. Not only that, he's willing to pay top dollar to someone who would give up Friday and Saturday nights to help take pre–prom pictures of high–school kids dressed in their finery and candid shots during the dance.

William Jasper, Prom Photographer, is not the brand of aging, greasy wedding photographer she was expecting. Rather, he's 35, strikingly handsome, and sharp–witted. Iley is instantly attracted to him and gets the sense the feeling is mutual. But William isn't everything he's made himself out to be–that is, he's not single. He's got a permanently out–of–town wife–he doesn't need a girlfriend. But Iley has lost her way, and she'll need her friends and her photos and a lot of bad proms before she can find her way back on track, away from the sleezeball, and into a life that's a little more picture–perfect.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An unusual day job complicates a struggling young photographer's personal life before it inadvertently sparks her career in Olson's diverting new novel (following The Pajama Game). After 31-year-old Iley Gilbert quits her tedious gig in a Boston frame shop, she finds work as an assistant to William Jasper, a sexy but married prom photographer who's a frustrated artist like Iley. Their attraction leads to series of post-prom motel room romps-a passionate relationship as dead-end as her last day job. While Iley and William take formal prom portraits, Iley idly documents the teens with candid shots. She regularly spots one promgoer ("the slutty girl, the one I hate to see for reasons I don't like to think about") with different dates at various proms, and carelessly outs her-an action she'll later regret. The reckless, self-destructive behavior of Olsen's imperfect but endearing heroine may frustrate readers, but as prom season gives way to wedding season-and the humiliating fallout of Iley and William's affair-they'll be rewarded with her growth and redemption.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

EugÉnie Olson lives in Somerville, Massachusetts, with her husband, David, their two cats, Loki and Kiddun, and their fish, Lulu. Her interests include belly dancing, low rider and hot rod cars, and makeup. This is her third book.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 297 pages
  • Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (March 28, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0060815442
  • ISBN-13: 978-0060815448
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,332,803 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars fascinating character study, March 29, 2006
This review is from: Love in the Time of Taffeta (Paperback)
Photographer Iley Gilbert feels depressed as recent decisions she made turned out bad for her career. Needing to make some money, she accepts a job as a prom assistant during the prom season. Her married boss William is a hunk and though she knows better she cannot resist the handsome William and soon they have an affair.

Iley knows the tryst with William is a nowhere street and needs to end it, but she cannot bring herself to do so. As the prom season continues Iley finds herself drawn to a bad girl waif who appears at each prom they shoot. She decides to help the teen, but in doing so Iley begins to help herself starting with ending her affair and finding her lost photographic muse. She even has hopes to find a true love, single that is, as the spiraling downward cycle seems ended.

As Iley makes one dumb decision after another, fans after awhile will hiss her as no one should be that hedonistically pathetic. Still in spite of readers unable to empathize with her needs, she is a fascinating character who, the out of character ending aside, seems unable to stop herself as she dives head first into one mistake after another. Eugenie Olson paints a picture of a woman who is her own worst enemy.

Harriet Klausner
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4.0 out of 5 stars Liked the book, disliked the errors, February 27, 2011
By 
SN "TxGirl" (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Love in the Time of Taffeta (Paperback)
I liked this book. I felt the character of Iley was well done and I could relate to a lot of her issues. Who among us hasn't felt like we aren't going anywhere in our career path? Who hasn't had that feeling of "How the hell did I get here from all those dreams I had for myself?" I also feel that Iley's decisions around her trysts with William were understandable. People make those kinds of ill advised decisions constantly. Love and/or lust makes you do stupid, stupid things.

On the negative side, the book had several typos throughout and in some cases, major errors. For example, in the beginning of the book, William's car is a Volkswagon. Later, it changes to a Volvo, but this was not simply a change in cars because the author describes Iley thinking about her first meeting with William where she heard the music coming from his Volvo. She first described the car as a Volkswagon.

She also made spelling errors such as the restaurant where Erin meets her mother. At first, it's Number Nine Park and then it's Number 9 Park. There are several places where sentences are incomplete because words like "of" are left off. Shoddy editing work tends to turn me off a novel. Generally, this is the editor and not the author who is to blame for this kind of thing, but I would suggest this book be edited again and re-released.
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2.0 out of 5 stars Hard to keep reading, June 24, 2009
By 
Mary (Crystal Lake, IL) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Love in the Time of Taffeta (Paperback)
I normally do not write reviews, but thought that I should with this novel. The pace was very slow, the characters unlikeable, and ultimately the story line predictible. I will not read any more titles from this author.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
There are few things more annoying than hanging up frame samples at the end of the day. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
darkroom space, prom girl, messenger bag, catering hall
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Peter Spring, Beacon Hill, Furious George, Las Vegas, Newbury Street, The Regency, Tom Cabot, Harvard Square, New York, Tina Kempczynski, Boston Herald, Boston University, Iley Gilbert, New England School of Photography, Red Sox, The Framery, The Pixies, Best Western, Comfort Inn, Commonwealth Avenue, New Hampshire, Valeria Gallery
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