The Blossom Street series

In this series of books, author Debbie Macomber manages to take simple stories about the intersecting lives of women and bring life, enthusiasm and warmth to some great characters. It sounds like it should be easy - but it is never easy creating characters that in the end the reader wants to chat and visit with -long after the story is over.

Her first book, The Shop on Blossom Street, starts with Lidia who is the owner of A Good Yarn knit shop. Lidia is trying to keep her newly opened store running. She is trying to set up a series of classes to bring more people into the store. Her students have had varied lives. Jacqueline is a bored older woman who is convinced her husband is cheating on her. Carol is happily married but is trying to start a family but with only painful results. And Alix is the younger one who has been reared by the school of hard knocks, and whose tough outer shell protects a creative woman inside.

The next book is entitled A Good Yarn. Lidia has started a relationship - but she is scared it will end like all the others. Her new batch of students are: Elise, an retired, older divorced woman who is not so pleased to have her ex-husband come into her ordered life; Bethanne is a mother with teenagers, who is going through the fallout of a divorce; and Courtney, a teenager, has just moved to the area to stay with her grandmother who has signed her up for the class.

Will Lidia make a success of the shop? Will the others meet their goals, and deal with the surprises - both good and bad - that happen in their lives? Macomber does deal with their disappointments and set backs. That is one of her talents in making these characters seems real. They could be the gal down the street or your mother's best friend. She also brings a nice inter generational theme to most of the stories. It continues to give you the feeling that you could be a part of this group of women. Macomber manages to combine their lives and twisting story lines to provide satisfying good reads. Try them. But I warn you - they might give you a craving to knit!