Good morning everyone! Yes, another review! I've been on a roll :) Mostly, it's because I have nothing to do and am too bored. Anyway, here we go for this review... I truly didn't intend to buy this book, because it was released in hardcover and while I liked the first book of the series, the second one was just meh. Then, curious as I am, I opened the book to read the end (I know, I know...) and I saw four words: Alix, wedding and Lydia, marriage. That got me really, really curious! First, I love Alix, she was my favorite character in The Shop on Blossom Street and so, curiosity won...
Back on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber: 3.75/5
published by Mira in April 2007
Series: Blossom Street series, book 3
Review: I liked Alix storyline, was a bit disappointed that we didn't see Lydia's wedding and there's a touch of disbelief in me at Colette's storyline. However, all in all, I did enjoy the book, especially for Alix and Jordan.
The Characters - This is a book that contains three distinct storylines: Alix and Jordan and their wedding, Colette's and Lydia and the drama in her family. I won't go through all the characters, but here are my thoughts about them... I like Lydia, but it seems to me she's a bit one-dimensional. Cancers hit her when she was in her teens and so, her life only started once she opened this yarn shop. In a sense, I feel we don't know enough about Lydia, although she is the narrator of three books. She's wise and calm and that's about it. You see what happens to her, but she doesn't have much personality shown in the book. Sure she is strong, she must be to have survived 2 cancers, and that's my problem: her illness has shaped her life and personality...
I thought Alix was a more interesting character... She's rough around the edge, tough outside, vulnerable inside. She was a rebel till she met Jordan, the love of her life. We get a lot more sense of her person than Lydia... I like her growth from the first book, the changes in her life. The fears she has that her future mother-in-law doesn't approve of her.
Finally, Colette... She's been a widow for a year and pregnant with another's man baby. Again, lots of drama recently in her life and so, events take over the personality. She's honest and straight, but aside from that? What was she like before her husband died? I understand that when tragedy happens, our lives change and we, personality-wise, change... however, there's still something that remain... how did we change? and that what missing from the book... you have the tragedy and the final result, but how were the characters before?
The Story & Writing - I like Ms Macomber's writing style. Very elegant and passive. It's not a bad thing for a book to be passive. The pace is much slower, there isn't much action, the readers are not overwhelmed... This is the kind of books I've been wanting to read lately. So Ms Macomber's writing is still at her best. The problem is perhaps the unoriginality of the storylines: bride who's mother and mother-in-law organize the wedding without asking her what she wants and she doesn't want to hurt them, widow pregnant with another's man baby and doesn't know what else to do then run (I have to say that Colette's romance story was hard to believe too... and the big secret about her love interest, while very probable in a mystery book, it's just weird in this type of romanc book)... Perhaps Lydia's storyline is a bit original - her niece was car-jacked and injured severely, which makes the whole family angry and worried about her and so on... the problem is that it didn't happen to Lydia... and so, it's remote from her... it just seemed to be she never really got that involved into it. Thus, the lack of originality is the main reason for the grade.
The Cover - Very nice, very soothing :) My only question is why put the flower shop on the cover though?
Am I keeping this book? Yes, mainly for Alix' storyline :D
Anything else? Susannah is the new flower shop owner and while reading the book, it seems as if we should have known her... and that's because she's the main character in Susannah's Garden. So I went out and bought the book... I haven't read it yet, but just so you know, you don't need to. Susannah's Garden deals with Susannah's troubles before she opened the flower shop... I would have liked to see what happened between the two books.
Back on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber: 3.75/5
published by Mira in April 2007
Lydia is a cancer-survivor who opened a yarn store on Blossom Street, not long after her father's death, to remind her that she was alive. Now few years later, many things have changed: she is now married to Brad Goerzt, is the stepmother of his son, has made a lot of friends, most of them befriended in her knitting classes, her relationship with her older sister Margaret has improved drastically and her mother is suffering from Alzheimer and had to be placed in a nursing home... Thus, good and bad things have happened and that is life.Genre: contemporary romance
This time, Lydia has decided to open a class for knitting a prayer-shawl and to her delight, her good friend Alix, who was one of her first student, enrolled. Alix is in the middle of organizing her wedding with youth minister and boyfriend, Jordan. Joining her are Susannah, the new flower shop owner, and Colette, Lydia's new tenant.
Series: Blossom Street series, book 3
Review: I liked Alix storyline, was a bit disappointed that we didn't see Lydia's wedding and there's a touch of disbelief in me at Colette's storyline. However, all in all, I did enjoy the book, especially for Alix and Jordan.
The Characters - This is a book that contains three distinct storylines: Alix and Jordan and their wedding, Colette's and Lydia and the drama in her family. I won't go through all the characters, but here are my thoughts about them... I like Lydia, but it seems to me she's a bit one-dimensional. Cancers hit her when she was in her teens and so, her life only started once she opened this yarn shop. In a sense, I feel we don't know enough about Lydia, although she is the narrator of three books. She's wise and calm and that's about it. You see what happens to her, but she doesn't have much personality shown in the book. Sure she is strong, she must be to have survived 2 cancers, and that's my problem: her illness has shaped her life and personality...
I thought Alix was a more interesting character... She's rough around the edge, tough outside, vulnerable inside. She was a rebel till she met Jordan, the love of her life. We get a lot more sense of her person than Lydia... I like her growth from the first book, the changes in her life. The fears she has that her future mother-in-law doesn't approve of her.
Finally, Colette... She's been a widow for a year and pregnant with another's man baby. Again, lots of drama recently in her life and so, events take over the personality. She's honest and straight, but aside from that? What was she like before her husband died? I understand that when tragedy happens, our lives change and we, personality-wise, change... however, there's still something that remain... how did we change? and that what missing from the book... you have the tragedy and the final result, but how were the characters before?
The Story & Writing - I like Ms Macomber's writing style. Very elegant and passive. It's not a bad thing for a book to be passive. The pace is much slower, there isn't much action, the readers are not overwhelmed... This is the kind of books I've been wanting to read lately. So Ms Macomber's writing is still at her best. The problem is perhaps the unoriginality of the storylines: bride who's mother and mother-in-law organize the wedding without asking her what she wants and she doesn't want to hurt them, widow pregnant with another's man baby and doesn't know what else to do then run (I have to say that Colette's romance story was hard to believe too... and the big secret about her love interest, while very probable in a mystery book, it's just weird in this type of romanc book)... Perhaps Lydia's storyline is a bit original - her niece was car-jacked and injured severely, which makes the whole family angry and worried about her and so on... the problem is that it didn't happen to Lydia... and so, it's remote from her... it just seemed to be she never really got that involved into it. Thus, the lack of originality is the main reason for the grade.
The Cover - Very nice, very soothing :) My only question is why put the flower shop on the cover though?
Am I keeping this book? Yes, mainly for Alix' storyline :D
Anything else? Susannah is the new flower shop owner and while reading the book, it seems as if we should have known her... and that's because she's the main character in Susannah's Garden. So I went out and bought the book... I haven't read it yet, but just so you know, you don't need to. Susannah's Garden deals with Susannah's troubles before she opened the flower shop... I would have liked to see what happened between the two books.
