Review: The Shop on Blossom Street

The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is the story of four women: Lydia, a cancer survivor who opens a yarn store, and her first three customers/students, Jacqueline, a society matron, Carol, a business woman trying to get pregnant, and wild-child Alix. The book takes us through their lives and how being in a knitting group together changes them.

This was, by far, the most predictable, formulaic book I've ever read. As soon as every woman's story, and those of supporting characters, was laid out, I knew exactly what was going to happen with each main character, and, sadly, I was right.

It's a fine story if you're looking for a comfortable, female-centric feel-good novel. But don't come to this looking for any depth. It's very simply a light, happily-ever-after.

As a yarn-crafter, and member of my own crafting group, I wanted to love this book. I'm a little sad that I didn't.

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Review: The Space Between

The Space Between by Alexandra Sokoloff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I got this book free from BookRooster.com.

This is the story of teenager Anna Sullivan, who begins have dreams of a something horrible happening at her school. When she begins interacting with school mates in her dreams, and discovers that they're having the same dreams, she tries to figure out if they can change the events of the dreams and, if they do, how/whether that will affect reality.

I enjoyed this book. The premise was quite interesting -- quantum physics, parallel universes -- and I think it was written at a level that those tricky ideas would be understandable to a teen audience. It was a bit repetitive, but that may have been the authors desire to make the principles clear.

I'm not entirely certain I understood the ending, but that's ok. I don't need to have everything spelled out for me. I like things being left open to interpretation.

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