Title: Blossom Street Brides by Debbie Macomber
Blossom Street Series Book Ten
Publisher: Random House/Ballantine Books
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 336 pages
Book Rating: B+
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss
Summary:
#1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber has won the hearts of millions of readers with her moving and inspiring stories. Now wedding bells are ringing in the tight-knit community that gathers around A Good Yarn, a store in a pretty Seattle neighborhood. Knitters come to the store to buy yarn and patterns but somehow they leave richer in friendship and love.
Lauren Elliott has waited years for her long-term boyfriend, Todd, to propose, yet he seems more focused on his career than their relationship. When Lauren learns that her younger sister is pregnant before she herself even has an engagement ring, she feels overjoyed yet disheartened. Knowing she can’t put her future on hold, Lauren prepares to make a bold choice—one that leads her to a man she never dreamed she’d meet.
Newly married to her second husband, Max, Bethanne Scranton is blissfully in love. But with Max’s job in California and Bethanne’s in Seattle, their long-distance marriage is becoming difficult to maintain. To complicate matters, Bethanne’s cunning ex will do anything to win her back.
Lydia Goetz, too, is wonderfully happy with her husband, Brad, though lately she worries about the future of A Good Yarn. As she considers how to bring in business, she discovers that someone has beaten her to the punch. Baskets of yarn are mysteriously popping up all over town, with instructions to knit a scarf for charity and bring it into Lydia’s store. Never before has her shop received so much attention, but who hatched this brilliant plan?
As three women’s lives intersect in unexpected ways, Lydia, Lauren, and Bethanne realize that love heals every heart, and the best surprises still lay ahead.
The Review:
Blossom Street Brides is another warm and cozy addition to Debbie Macomber’s charming Blossom Street series. In this installment, readers get the opportunity to revisit favorite couples and their families while a newcomer to the series unexpectedly finds love.
Blossom Street Brides provides in an in-depth and fascinating look into three very different relationships at very different stages in life. Lydia Goetz has been married the longest and while her marriage is rock solid, she has her hands full with an aging mother, a semi-troubled teenager and her struggling business. Bethanne and Max are also happily married, but their relationship is feeling the strain of their continued separation, Bethanne’s manipulative ex and her unhappy daughter. When Lauren Elliott’s sister announces her pregnancy, Lauren realizes her boyfriend of three years is never going to propose and after she ends their relationship, she falls for a man who is unlike anyone she has ever dated. Bonded through their love of knitting, the three women turn to another for comfort and the strength they need as they struggle to overcome life’s various trials and tribulations.
Lydia’s storyline is the most poignant of the three. Her mother’s declining health coincides with adopted daughter Casey’s recurring nightmares and Lydia is unable to help either of them. She is matter of fact about her mother’s future and while she tries to help her daughter, Casey refuses to discuss what is haunting her. What stands out most is Lydia’s patience with both of them and her willingness to give Casey the space she needs. Her husband Brad is a calming presence and they work together to come up with a solution for Casey. All in all, they are a normal family dealing with the typical ups and downs of family life.
Bethanne and Max’s storyline has the most drama. Despite their long distance relationship, they remain deeply in love but both are growing increasingly unhappy with living apart. With two businesses at stake, they are at an impasse over which one should relocate. With Bethanne’s ex-husband’s latest shenanigans and her daughter’s continued resistance to their marriage, Max is more than ready for them to make a decision about finding a way for them to permanently live together.
Lauren’s storyline is the most romantic. She meets a man that she falls head over heels for, enters into a whirlwind courtship and eventually makes an impetuous decision that she may come to regret. With a little determination and a lot of love, the couple attempts to sort through their complicated issues.
Blossom Street Brides is a fast-paced and entertaining read that is sure to be a hit with old and new fans of Debbie Macomber’s heartwarming and engaging Blossom Street series. The characters are down to earth and life-like and the issues they are dealing with are believable. The romances are quite sweet with love scenes taking place behind closed doors. The dialogue is realistic with no strong language. All of the various story arcs combine into a richly layered novel about love, family and friendship that I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend.
