Debbie Macomber's book are my go-to books for light, fluffy reading. I turned to these books over a year ago when I wanted escapist fiction with mostly happy endings mixed with romance.
The series starts with The Shop on Blossom Street. Lydia opens a yarn shop, a lifetime goal after surviving cancer - twice. Little does she expect to find friends among her customers. Each of the characters that attend Lydia's first knitting class are almost predictable in their characterizations. There is the hard-edge, streetwise girl that is doing probation, the infertile woman who wants a baby, the retiree, etc. That alone put me off reading the others in the series for a long time, though to be fair this first book was more successful than other books with a similar concept. Despite the shortcomings of the first story, it was worth going back to Blossom Street to read the rest. The first book came out at the same time that knitting and yarn shops were surging in popularity. Debbie Macomber later came out with a companion series of knitting patterns inspired by the series.
Each story in the series shifts to different characters that are connected to Blossom Street. This is a great way to build a series so that readers do not get bored by reading about the same characters every time. Instead, the reader gets updates on characters from the first book in later books, and occasionally they return as major characters in a new story. My favorite books in the series are Susannah's garden and Twenty Wishes for various reasons. Twenty Wishes was almost inspiring in how the women achieved lifetime goals by writing down their wishes. Their individual journeys was written well. My least favorite story is A Turn in the Road. In this story the major character tries to choose which of two men she should date - her ex-husband or a biker she meets on a road trip. The debate turns annoying when every other paragraph the character can't make up her mind, yet again. This story is a revisit of a character from an earlier book, in which the woman goes through a devastating divorce only to discover a hidden talent and self-worth. A Turn in the Road makes her appear very weak and stupid, which is a disappointment after her recently discovered self.
Debbie Macomber is still adding to this series. There are two more books I haven't read and will review later. I also want to tackle the Cedar Cove series, which is being made in a Hallmark TV series.
Series Ratings: 4 stars, skip A Turn in the Road
The books I select for review are books which I personally select from my local library. I do not receive any reimbursement from authors or publishers or free books. I do provide links to Amazon as a convenience to the readers of this blog. I do earn a small referral pittance which is not even enough to buy a soda.
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are gentle, Christian fiction. They are thoroughly predictable and expected. The last book in the series, Sky Full of Ribbons, has the most religious exposition. I don't have much to say about any of the books. Take them or leave them. I only stuck it out to see if Delia ended up with one of the male love interests. She does (sorry to spoil it. but considering the type of book it is, it is expected).
has a bright blue cover with a silver foil of a car*. It's appearance makes no sense and the title has no relation to anything in the book. The other two books have images of desert scenery. At the very least the third book should have been called Desert Love, or some such.
by Janette Oke is book 5 in the Love Comes Softly series. This story is centered around Marty and Clark again. Marty must deal with the departure of her youngest son to medical school and hopes to marry off her youngest daughter, Ellie. Most of her children are grown and independent, but Marty finds herself pregnant with another child. She has a hard time accepting the situation because of her age and the fact is already a grandmother. With faith, the family learns to accept Clark's disability and the new baby that is to arrive. Ellie even finds love.
is book 4 in Janette Oke's Love Comes Softly series. Marty and Clark return as the center of this story. Clark gives Marty a birthday gift of train tickets to visit Missie and Willie on the ranch. The story chronicles their journey by train and the happenings once at the ranch. In this particular story Clark suffers a near fatal accident that changes his life forever. Does he give into depression because of his handicap or will he emerge stronger? You can probably guess.
is book 3 in the Love Comes Softly series by Janette Oke. This series has recently been turned into a movie series on Hallmark and produced by Michael Landon Jr. I have been reading the books to see what has been changed and left out of the movies. The movies maintain the same mood and intent of the books but they are definitely not the same. I enjoyed both, but the books are better.
is a feminist version of the Da Vinci code. Kathleen McGowan throws every possible religious conspiracy theory regarding Mary Magdalene and Jesus Christ into her book. I don't know why I picked this book to listen to, but I guess I didn't read the abstract close enough. The story starts with the modern Maureen Paschal and later evolves to a rewriting of the New Testament story.
is another book of gentle/Christian fiction by Lynn Austin. I don't quite know how this style of book is coming home with me. I am so tired of some of the trash that passes for contemporary fiction that I feel I have to give them a try. This book was fine enough and may be worth a read.