Most Helpful Customer Reviews
53 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A treasure! Very heartwarming!, April 29, 2005
This review is from: A Good Yarn (Blossom Street, No. 2) (Hardcover)
There's something so soothing about knitting - the sweet clicking of needles weaving yarn into items made with love. It's a very calming hobby and it's no wonder that the beloved craft has made a resurgence in popularity. So it makes perfect sense for best selling author Debbie Macomber to combine her love of knitting and writing as she takes her readers on a trip back to revisit the lovely little yarn shop on Blossom Street in her latest novel, "A Good Yarn."
Lydia Hoffman opened her shop, A Good Yarn, a year ago as a celebration in her life of overcoming cancer twice in her young life. The shop was met with great success, and Lydia had found contentment in her life as she taught her beloved knitting classes and renewed her friendship with her sister Margaret who came to work with her. She also found love with deliveryman Brad Goetz and they planned to be married one day soon.
But life has a way of throwing monkey-wrenches into the best lives, and Lydia soon finds herself dealing with heartache as Brad announces that he is back on speaking terms with his ex-wife. As Lydia reels from this crisis-of-the-heart, her sister Margaret is also dealing with problems in her own homelife, and their mother is beginning to experience declining health problems that keep both sisters busy dealing with her care. But as always, her optimism for life, her love for and of family and friends, and her knitting carry Lydia through this rough bump in her life.
Customers of Lydia's shop flock to her store to find the best yarns and advice on knitting, but they also find warmth and friendship among the threads. In interweaving stories, three new ladies join Lydia's sock knitting class, and although they are all from diverse backgrounds and ages, they soon find a connection to each other as they click their needles away.
Elise Beaumont has recently retired as a school librarian, but
finds her dreams of owning her own home dashed as a con-artist makes off with her investment money. Forced to move in with her daughter, Elise is dismayed when it is announced that her ex-husband, a gambler who had been out of her life for many years, would be paying the family an extended visit. Would their former affection for each other resurface, or would old wounds still be tender? Elise finds an escape in her knitting and joins the sock class as a way of avoiding the tense situations at home.
Bethanne Hamlin thought she had a perfect life - a wonderful husband, nice home, and great kids. Then her world was turned upside down when her husband leaves her for a younger woman, and the stay-at-home mom must learn to make ends meet. As her daughter rebels and the financial situation declines, Bethanne splurges on a knitting class as a way of saving a little of her sanity. As she becomes acquainted with the class, she finds not only friendship but encouragement to pursue her dreams.
It seemed unusual for a teenager to be enrolled in knitting classes, but Courtney Pulanski's grandmother thought it would be good for Courtney to try this new activity, in addition to the swimming classes with her senior citizens class. The young girl has come to live with her grandmother while her father is working out of the country, and is somewhat depressed and overweight. Courtney soon finds a sense of accomplishment in her knitting and is surprised to find that the swimming and a new hobby of bike-riding is actually helping her physical appearance as well. When she befriends Bethanne's daughter and son, life takes on a new dynamic that makes it more bearable than the teen could have imagined.
The ladies from Macomber's book, "The Shop on Blossom Street," make appearances at the shop, interacting with the new ladies and bringing a sense of continuity to the story that I personally hope will continue in future books. (hint, hint!)
"A Good Yarn" is a heart-warming book that evokes laughter and tears. Macomber is a wonderful storyteller with legions of fans both in the reading world and now in the knitting world. This book includes patterns for knitting socks and sage advice from knitting experts sprinkled throughout, tying the story together as neatly as knit one, purl one. Knitters and lovers of women's fiction will find a treasure in among the stitches of this tale.
Sharon Galligar Chance
Wichita Falls Times Record News
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
She's done it again!, July 22, 2005
This review is from: A Good Yarn (Blossom Street, No. 2) (Hardcover)
This book just left right off and I couldn't have been more pleased. Truly money well spent on such a wonderful story about friendships, love, and family. Although once again you can guess for the most part what is going to happen, there are a few surprises.
This book tells us what is going on with Lydia and Brad, a little bit about our first three friends and of course Margaret. This book deals quite a bit more about Margaret in fact. The sisterly bond strengthens and parents get older.
We also meet three new people, whom of course become the best of friends, all the while dealing with life's curve balls.
Enjoy!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
No one does Women's Fiction better!, May 20, 2005
This review is from: A Good Yarn (Blossom Street, No. 2) (Hardcover)
Debbie Macomber is one my favorite authors. No one can write about women, for women better (in my opinion!!). A GOOD YARN is no different from any of her other books on this subject. It's not her best novel (BETWEEN FRIENDS has that honor!), but it's certainly a pleasant read, and would make the perfect "beach companion" or poolside read this summer.
The book is a sequel (or follow-up) to last year's SHOP ON BLOSSOM STREET, with the story revolving aroud the main character and shop's owner, Lydia. This year's knitting class teaches us how to make a pair of socks (an actual pattern is included inside the book), while Lydia meets and becomes friends with a new group of three women. The three characters from last year's book (students from her first knitting class) make "cameo" appearances, but the story focuses on Lydia and her three new students.
Written from the point of view of all four characters, the chapters once again alternate between narrators (which is actually typical for a Debbie Macomber novel). While this can become confusing or even a nuisance under the pen of other writers, Debbie Macomber does it flawlessly and effortlessly, so that readers get to know each character on an intimate level, and can actually see themselves becoming with friends with one or all of all of the book's main characters.
Lydia is the shop owner and the one who brings these women together (through her knitting classes which she offers at her shop). After battling illness for most of her life, she's given a clean bill of health and finally found, what she believes is true love with Brad (the handsome UPS guy!) and has made a connection with & become much closer to her sister, whom she has battled with for nearly as long as she's battled her illness.
Bethane is a recently divorced mother of two, who is learning how to live life on her own, discovering who she is, and what it is she can offer to those around her, all the while trying to deal with the emotional roller coster her children are on due to the divorce. Elise is also divorced, whose gambling ex-husband comes to town to re-accquaint himself with their now grown and married daughter, while trying to mend the fences with the one & only woman he's ever really truly loved. Courtney is a teen-aged girl who is new in town and has recently come to stay with her grandmother. After losing her mother in a car accident, her father to his work, and her siblings to marriage, Courtney must deal with a new school, making new friends, and all the other trials & tribulations that all teens go through, all without the guidance of a parent close by to lead the way. Each character has their own individual story to tell, while at the same time, we see how their paths cross and how each affects one another's life and help each other along.
The stories are fairly predictable, yet the familarity of each character with their trimumphs and tragedies makes this a comfortable, enjoyable read that most readers will certainly identify with and feel like one of the friends in the book. I'm sure many will be wishing that a similar shop existed in their own neighborhood!
My only "negative" thought about this book, and the reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5, is that I felt the characters & stories were too similar and parallel to the characters & stories of last year's SHOP ON BLOSSOM STREET. While most of Debie Macomber's books have a familar feeling to them, since most deal with the friendships of women and are often told in a similar way, I'd prefer to meet new charcters with new stories and go on a new journey. It didn't make this book any less enjoyable, it just left me with a feeling of "been there, done that."
I still think Debbie Macomber is one of the best authors of women's fiction today, and her stories and characters feel very real with many true-to-life experiences. If you enjoy stories about the love of friends and family with a little romance thrown in, you're certain to enjoy any one of Debbie Macomber's HC releases.
You don't have to have read SHOP ON BLOSSOM STREET to enjoy this book, but it will certainly help fill in some of the blanks. Once you've finished this book, if you're left wanting more, I highly recommend BETWEEN FRIENDS, which was written by Debbie Macomber and released about two years ago - it remains one of my favorite books of all time!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
