The Zimmer Zoo

I read Debbie Macomber’s Twenty Wishes for my book club. While reading it, it seemed like she mentioned characters – in passing – that I should already be familiar with, so I guessed (correctly) that this book is part of a series. I found the Blossom Street Bundle (3 books) plus more that are a part of the series. So far, I’ve read 5 of the books. It looks like there are 2 that should have been a part of the bundle since they were written between two of the ones included (I was a little disappointed that these weren’t included! I like to read things in order). I’ll probably go back and read them, but since I’ve read 5 in a row now, I need to get some other reading done first. Also, while it’s great to get to know the recurring characters and see what’s going on with them, these books are actually really good stand-alone as well.

Like I said, I read Twenty Wishes first, and I haven’t read them all (yet) but the order of the books is:

The Shop on Blossom Street
A Good Yarn
Christmas Letters*
Susannah’s Garden*
Back on Blossom Street
Twenty Wishes
Summer on Blossom Street
Hannah’s List*

*Haven’t read yet.

Obviously, I enjoyed Twenty Wishes enough to check out the other books. The main character in most of the books is Lydia, the yarn shop owner on Blossom Street, and most of the books revolve around the people who take knitting classes in her shop. The exception (so far) is with Twenty Wishes. The main character in this book is Anne Marie, the book shop owner on Blossom Street. She’s recently widowed and forms a group for widows in her book shop. They come up with the idea to create a list of 20 wishes and the book revolves around Anne Marie and the widows.

Each book has about 4 characters you follow. The nice thing – that actually bugged me at first – is that you get a little bit of a recap for each character when their chapter comes up. It bugged me at first because I was like, “I KNOW!!” …but then I realized, “Wait, I recall.” I’m not sure I would have remembered who was who and what was going on without the little bit of recap. Especially if I’d put the book down for a day or two (right…like THAT would happen 😉 ) The little recap worked between books as well – you got a taste of what had happened previously.

I call myself a “trashy romance novel reader” …but that’s not entirely true now. I’ve come to realize that I actually enjoy the romantic parts of book, but I don’t necessarily need the trashy parts… THAT’S where these books are absolutely wonderful. The story is there, but you’re not bombarded with pages upon pages of graphic descriptions. Perfect.

The stories themselves are wonderfully predictable. (C’mon, they’re romance novels, of course they’re predictable!) While you know what the ending is going to be (usually), the journey to get there is the wonderful part. And Ms. Macomber’s writing is such that she doesn’t draw things out. If she writes that two (nervous) characters are meeting up for a date, you don’t have to wait 10 or more pages for that date to actually happen. LOVE it!

One thing I noticed about the books with Lydia in them as the main character is that the chapters that are written from Lydia’s point of view are all in the 1st person while the rest of the chapters with the other characters are written in the 3rd person. I thought that was kind of neat.

An added bonus to reading these books? I’ve started knitting. The books with Lydia as the main character include knitting patterns!

And while I’ll read a book or two by another author before them, I’m looking forward to picking up the other books in the series.

Filed under: reviews | Tagged: A Good Yarn, Back on Blossom Street, book review, Christmas Letters, Debbie Macomber, Hannah's List, Summer on Blossom Street, Susannah's Garden, The Shop on Blossom Street, Twenty Wishes | 3 Comments »