REVIEW: Blossom Street Brides by Debbie Macomber

In Blossom Street Brides (Blossom Street #10) by Debbie Macomber, Lauren Elliott never dreamed that she would be unwed and childless well into her thirties. And now with her younger sister married and expecting her first child, Lauren knows it’s time for a change. She’s enjoyed her relationship with Todd but even after expressing her concerns a year ago, he’s not ready to move forward and get married. Once Lauren makes up her mind, she doesn’t look back. She knows the right man for her is out there. It turns out he may be a whole lot closer, and much more different, than she imagined.

“My mind might be too tired to think straight, but my heart is wide awake. I’d rather be wherever you are.”
He sounded so sincere, so earnest, that Lauren felt like she could break into sobs. “You say the most beautiful things.”

Fate brought Bethanne Hamlin Scranton and her husband Max together a short while ago and she is still so much in love that she could burst. It’s tough with him running his business in California and her living and running her own party company in Seattle, but they’ve made it work so far, taking turns traveling. Unfortunately, her ex-husband Grant and her daughter Annie are doing their best to ruin things for Bethanne and Max. She’s determined they won’t succeed in hurting her marriage, but Max is worried she’s too trusting to see just how far they will go to get their way.

‘Grant was on the prowl. Bethanne knew Grant’s games as well as he did, and still she continued to play. She assumed she was immune to her ex-husband. Max, however, wasn’t willing to risk losing his wife.’

Lydia Goetz loves that her shop, A Good Yarn, is the go-to spot for women on Blossom Street to relax and get a little female encouragement and camaraderie. She just wishes it was a wee bit more profitable. Lydia is also concerned for her adopted daughter Casey who is having nightmares more often than normal. She knew there might be some issues where Casey had been in several foster homes, but her daughter won’t discuss the dreams at all. Add to that, her mother’s failing health, and you have a recipe for chaos. Then a good samaritan begins setting up baskets of knitting throughout the area for people to make scarves for the local homeless shelter and notes A Good Yarn as the dropoff point. Lydia is happy for the boost in sales but has to solve the mystery to find out who to thank for the good deed.

Blossom Street Brides is a sweet romance novel which focuses on three women going through life changing events while their stories overlap and intertwine.

Debbie Macomber is a master at writing clean romance with poignant, complex characters and involved plotlines. I loved how we got basically three stories in one here, learning about Lauren, Bethanne and Lydia. The best part, to me, was how they enhanced each other’s lives, supporting and cheering on one another, even though they had their own personal issues to deal with. It’s wonderful to read about such diverse female characters, each unique in their own way. I may not have always agreed with their actions, but I understood where they were coming from thanks to their well-developed backstories and the amount of detail in every scene.

With stories such as this that have many different characters, I don’t always have a favorite that catches my eye. However, Lauren’s situation and her surprise love connection really stands out. It was definitely a case of opposites attract–but in the best possible way. It was also very easy to commiserate with Lydia and Bethanne during their struggles. Lydia only wanted the best for her adopted daughter Casey, all the while trying to keep A Good Yarn afloat and deal with her ailing mother. Stressful to say the least. Then there’s Bethanne who is madly in love with her husband but having a hard time with their long-distance relationship. Her ex-husband and daughter really annoyed me, to be honest. Ms. Macomber did a great job creating those two antagonists, let me tell you! But even with so many issues to read about, there was just as much love to be found.

If you’re looking for a romance that has a softer side plus strong female characters to connect with, Blossom Street Brides is just the story for you.

Book Info:

Published March 25th 2014 by Ballantine Books

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Debbie Macomber has won the hearts of millions of readers with her moving and inspiring stories. Now wedding bells are ringing in the tight-knit community that gathers around A Good Yarn, a store in a pretty Seattle neighborhood. Knitters come to the store to buy yarn and patterns but somehow they leave richer in friendship and love.

Lauren Elliott has waited years for her long-term boyfriend, Todd, to propose, yet he seems more focused on his career than their relationship. When Lauren learns that her younger sister is pregnant before she herself even has an engagement ring, she feels overjoyed yet disheartened. Knowing she can’t put her future on hold, Lauren prepares to make a bold choice—one that leads her to a man she never dreamed she’d meet.

Newly married to her second husband, Max, Bethanne Scranton is blissfully in love. But with Max’s job in California and Bethanne’s in Seattle, their long-distance marriage is becoming difficult to maintain. To complicate matters, Bethanne’s cunning ex will do anything to win her back.

Lydia Goetz, too, is wonderfully happy with her husband, Brad, though lately she worries about the future of A Good Yarn. As she considers how to bring in business, she discovers that someone has beaten her to the punch. Baskets of yarn are mysteriously popping up all over town, with instructions to knit a scarf for charity and bring it into Lydia’s store. Never before has her shop received so much attention, but who hatched this brilliant plan?

As three women’s lives intersect in unexpected ways, Lydia, Lauren, and Bethanne realize that love heals every heart, and the best surprises still lay ahead.