Rating: 
Summary: This book was boring
Review: I was very excited to buy this book because it had been on a bestseller list. I honestly had to force myself to finish it. It was very boring. It jumped from past to present in nearly every paragraph and I could feel the writer writing the story, in otherwords, she did not accomplish making the reader lose themselves in the story, as if it were real. I felt like I was tripping through her first time book and that someone just wanted to be able to say they wrote a book. At the end, to summarize it, it was a fairly cute story, but you really had to force yourself to continue reading it until about page 179. I wouldn't recommend the book, unless you are someone who likes to say the read the book. Not any great work of literature, for sure.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I bought this book with enthusiasm soon after it was published, afer having listened to Anna Quindlen discuss it on television. After the first couple of chapters, I would read a few pages, put it down, and couldn't bring myself to pick it back up. It was sheer boredom, but I forced myself to get through it. I did like Skip and baby Faith, but too much else was going on to maintain interest. The writing was okay, but the flashbacks became very distracting and the ending was disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: A delightful, can't put it down, I want more book
Review: I read an excerpt from this book in Reader's Digest adn then noticed a lot of good reviews on here and the book kept getting recommended to me. So thought to myself I might as well and read it. I am glad I did. I have never read anything by this author before but I enjoyed her wrting, her style and her characters.
This story is about mainly an old woman, a young man and a baby that changes there lives.
Skip gets a job for ms. Blessings to be her handyman and after a month he finds a cardbox in the garage. Inside is a newborn baby. He decides to keep her even though he is scared to death. After a while Ms. Blessings discovers her. As the story goes on from there secerts are revealed from all around past and present. The baby brings out the best in everybody that comes near her in Skip's life.
I couldn't put this book down and I would recommend it to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Oh, please!!!
Review: ...The idea of the book in and of itself is plausible and poses some interesting qualities; it's the way the characters are written, shallow and unbelievable, and the typical format of a child changing everyone around him/her to such a degree as to be miraculous ...
Rating:
Summary: A Good Story
Review: Anna Quindlen has always been an excellent writer. I have enjoyed all of her novels, for the most part, although I have found that they all, save Blessings, contain a certain amount of annoying self-righteousness. Blessings, perhaps because of its subject matter is refreshingly free of that element. It is a pleasant, easy read--the story of a newborn baby left on the steps of the wealthiest home in a small town and how that baby changed the lives of the people she touched. The characters, while hiding a few surprises, behave reasonably. The dialogue is well-written. It's just a nice read. Enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: kazeyz
Review: I was throughly suprised by the power of this book for me.
I was taken in ...on the first pages, and although the writers style was different , I truly enjoyed it. It said to me that perhaps there is a chance for all of us , given the right choices, and time , and of course fate...
That the order of life is necessary...at times a comfort. It also speaks to an older generation where the same order of life held to much power, and secrets, and little time for the individuals thoughts and or choices.
Rating:
Summary: Heart Warming Story
Review: A newborn baby is abandoned at an estate called Blessings and is discovered by the young caretaker. The story that follows is a heart warming tale with wonderfully rich characters. There are many tender and sweet moments that made my eyes fill. Descriptions of an old, closed-off woman gradually opening up to the marvels of a small infant. A young man discovering he is an important part of someone's life. And the simple discoveries a baby makes every day. Quindlen has an interesting writing style. She doesn't describe her characters in full at the beginning, but reveals them layer by layer as the story evolves, like making a new friend in real life. The two main characters, Charles "Skip" Cuddy and Mrs. Lydia Blessing are absolute jewels and well worth getting to know. If you need a lift, this is the perfect book to read. And if you know a friend who needs to feel good about something, give them this book to read. It is a story for sharing.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: This is a great book. I was sad to finish it. She is a super writer.
Rating:
Summary: Better than reality
Review: I zipped through this book in a few hours while I was recovering from a root canal. I was in serious pain and needed reading material that was light, inoffensive, and easily digested. Blessings was the perfect medicine. Blessings unfolds in a style best described as cinematic. I could easily envision the opening scene--the couple driving onto the estate grounds and depositing the box with the baby (in the movie, this will occur during a rainstorm) to be nurtured by a repentant Skip (played by Rob Schneider) and a not-as-crusty-as-she-pretends-to-be Judi Dench as Lydia Blessing. Kathy Bates will get an Oscar nomination for her role as Meredith, Lydia's daughter, and critics will laud the return of the feel good movie. To enjoy this book, you can't look at the characters or plot too closely: nothing seems quite real. Except for a few token bad guys, everyone is a whole lot nicer than they would be in real life--including the baby, who has to be the most accommodating infant ever to serve as the focal point of a novel. The characters are given a few past-life quirks--Lydia's premarital dalliance, Skip's brush with crime--but these entertaining glimpses are not consistent with the portrayals throughout the rest of the book. No matter. No matter that the ending could not, would never have happened in real life--at least not as described in the book. Instead of depositing us in a scene of wrenching pathos or throwing us into a lawyerly slough, Quindlen lands us softly on the front porch of Blessings, where we can bask in the joy of having done the right thing. Five stars for the exquisite writing--there's nothing quite as satisfying as being escorted through a book by an author who knows her craft--and for the fact that this book goes down easy. Don't wait for your next root canal: get a copy now.
Rating:
Summary: Hopeless and sad
Review: I found this book quite depressing. I didn't mind the quick time-changes - where Lydia remembers something, and suddenly you're way back in time - but just as I thought Lydia was coming to life, and trusting and enjoying Skip and the baby, she ruins it. Skip is in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Lydia doesn't trust him. I found the book lacking in joy, and didn't really believe that the baby would be well cared for in the end.
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