Rating: 
Summary: EASY, RELAXING LISTENING
Review:
Obie Award winner and Tony nominee Linda Emond gives a light and sympathetic reading to this story of a group of four women who share a love for knitting and a determination to overcome obstacles.
Lydia Hoffman has overcome cancer and now she realizes a dream by opening a shop in Seattle called A Good Yarn. It's a comfortable, homey place that offers knitting supplies and patterns. Before long it also houses a knitting class. The first lesson? A baby blanket.
Jacqueline Donovan comes to the class hopefully. Her marriage has soured into a sometimes amicable, lots of space between each other arrangement. The blanket is for her daughter-in-law, the young woman who married her only son. Jacqueline doesn't care for her at all. Can a baby blanket cover those feelings?
Another woman comes to class who also has thoughts of a baby - Carol Girard and her spouse are making one more try for a child with in vitro pregnancy. Alix Townsend is almost the antithesis of Carol, reluctantly knitting her blanket as part of her community service project.
What a disparate, interesting quartet! Easy, relaxing listening.
- Gail Cooke
Rating: 
Summary: Debbie Does It Again.
Review: A delightful tale of four women, united by a knitting class where the first beginning project is to knit a baby blanket. That's it, a simple project.
But it becomes far more than that. Debbie Macomber uses this simple task as a window into into the lives of four women in the class. She uses this setting to explore relevant women's issues with unexpected insight and sentiment along with being a delightful yarn (sorry about that, but I had to).
Debbie Macomber is a knitter. She gets together with friends to sit and chat while working on projects. This is a very female form of bonding, perhaps the female equivalent of the guys going hunting. It's strange how we always seem to be going back to our cave man roots.
Her characters are diverse, united only by the baby blanket. Her characterizations are real, based on real people, with real lives, real families, real problems.
If you're a Debbie Macomber fan, you will not be dissappointed. If you're not, this is a good place to start.
Rating: 
Summary: Harlequin Strikes Again
Review: Books are supposed to make you think. They're supposed to take you away from where you are, and show you new things. Books like this are designed to show you places you have already been, giving you the message that everything is ok, and that everything will be ok forever. There isn't a challenging sentence in the whole work. I'm glad I read this after finding it left behind on a bus instead of spending my hard earned money on it. I'd give no stars if I could.
And yes, I am a knitter.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Yarn!!
Review: Debbie Macomber does a superb job of weaving together a tale of women from different age groups and backgrounds. Each of the women shows moments of courage, fear, turmoil, truimph, and love. If you were a fan of Thursday's at Eight, you'll love this book too.
The group starts out knitting a baby blanklet and ends up creating a friendship. I loved the way each of the characters relates to each other in their struggles (health, infertility, broken relationsips, etc.). In both little and large ways, the friendship that is created is stronger and more lasting then any of the blankets knitted.
Rating:
Summary: Great new novel by wonderful author!
Review: I have read almost every book that Debbie Macomber ever wrote, and this book is excellent! I started reading it at 6pm when my husband left for work, and I finished reading it at 11pm, when I finally crawled into bed. I COULD NOT put the book down until I finished it! There are so many characters in this book that could be given stories of their own, so I am hoping just maybe Debbie will consider a sequel.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book - AzKnitter
Review: I've never read Debbie Macomber's books, but wanted to read this one, since I'm an avid knitter. I found this book to be extrememly enjoyable and I couldn't put it down. Thank you!!!
Rating:
Summary: Women offer support to one another
Review: In this latest "gal pal" book, Debbie Macomber creates four very different characters. Lydia Hoffman is a two-time cancer survivor who decides to open a Yarn Shop as a symbol of her new life. Jacqueline Donovan joins Lydia's beginning knitting class, but has a hard time fitting in with some of the other women, due to her haughty and superior attitude. Carol Girard is a woman who is desparate to have a baby and she thinks that if she joins the knitting class and makes a baby blanket, that will be a good omen for her goal of motherhood. Alix Townsend seems like a real misfit when she joins the group. She is a tough young woman who has grown up on the streets and she is particularly prickly with the aristicratic Jacqueline. As usual, Debbie Macomber mixes these disparate characters together and somehow manages to "knit" them together in a lasting friendship. This is an enjoyable and easy read.
Rating:
Summary: Knit One, Purl One
Review: Knitters will revel in Macomber's newest novel. Lydia, a cancer survivor, opens a yarn shop on Blossom Street and offers a beginning class in knitting a baby blanket. Into her shop comes three disparate women seeking something more in life. Jacqueline, a 50's something county-club set woman, who's marriage is on the rocks but wants to prove that she will be the best grandmother ever. Carol, who desperately wants a child, and prays that invetro will be successful this time. And Alix, a young woman living on the edge, who has been beaten by life but still has her dreams in tact. To each the baby blanket means a different thing but with the knitting comes lasting friendships.
For those who knit, the statements at the beginning of Lydia's chapters will an affirmation of why we knit. For those who don't know how to knit, after reading Shop, go to your local knit shop and sign up for a beginner's class or see if your community has a knitting guild. We are always happy to share this enjoyable hobby.
Rating:
Summary: deep character study
Review: Lydia Hoffman has defeated cancer twice. To celebrate life, Lydia opens A Good Yarn, a knitting supplies store in Seattle. She also teaches a class on knitting. The first lesson is "How to Knit a Baby Blanket".Jacqueline Donovan reacts poorly to her son's news that she is to be a grandmother for the first time. She does not like her daughter-in-law Tammie Lee. Maybe her bitterness is because she knows her marriage to Reese, a partner in an architectural firm, is dying. She must make amends with her son Paul so she joins A Good Yarn knitting class. Desperate to become pregnant, Carol Girard joins the class seeking hope that her and her husband Doug's final attempt with in vitro pregnancy succeeds. This is her last chance to have the child she craves. The court ordered Alix Townsend to do community service as part of her sentencing. She decides that knitting for the Linus Project should satisfy her case worker. However, she needs to first learn to knit so she joins the class too. This four diverse women bond in friendship and love as they work on the baby blanket. Though their individual dreams may not be answered, a group dream forges as each learns the meaning of life. THE SHOP ON BLOSSOM STREET is a fabulous deep character study that rotates the narration between the women so that the audience has four subplots that cleverly knit together into a powerful look at the ups and downs of modern day living. Though not all dreams are fulfilled and some change for instance to cooking, fans will enjoy Debbie Macomber's strong tale of four females struggling to overcome different setbacks. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: A great comfort read
Review: Lydia Hoffman opens up a yarn store of Blossom Street. She is hoping to start a new chapter in her life, after battling cancer since her teens. Lydia starts a beginner's class for knitting. Jacqueline Donovan decides to join the group to make a baby blanket in the hopes it will make amends to her son and daughter in law. Carol Girard decides making a baby blanket will make her dreams of having a baby come true. Alix Townsend is the least likely to join a knitting class. Alix has had a rough life and is trying to get her life back on track. She decides to make a blanket for the Linus project All four women come into the class with various needs but they learn so much more about themselves as well as each other. Debbie Macomber writes such treasures of books. You feel like you know these characters and want to find out more about them.
|
