Karen U. (editorgrrl) reviewed on 5/31/2006 + 255 more book reviews

I'd never heard of Debbie Macomber--I just wanted to read this book because it's about knitting. Then I saw it was published by Mira Books (a Harlequin imprint), as are some of the books by one of my favorite chicklit authors, Jennifer Crusie. Turns out Macomber is much more of a traditional romance novelist than anything I've ever read--Mira Books categorizes this book as a "relationship novel," whereas Crusie's books are "romantic comedy" or "contemporary romance."

"The Shop on Blossom Street" is about a 30-year-old virgin/two-time brain cancer survivor, Lydia, who opens a yarn shop on Blossom Street in Seattle, Washington, called A Good Yarn. She teaches a beginners' baby blanket class to three women: Jacqueline, a haughty, celibate fiftysomething society matron; Carol, an infertile woman in her thirties; and Alix, a surly twentysomething drug offender with black & purple hair. (Macomber just mentions in passing that Alix is not inexperienced. Unlike the others, she's not defined by how much play she's getting.) Each chapter focuses on a different woman; Lydia's chapters are first-person & begin with a knitting-related epigraph, such as "'The yarn forms the stitches, the knitting forges the friendships, the craft links the generations.' (Karen Alfke, "Unpattern" designer)."

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