Early Review: The Knitting Diaries

The Knitting Diaries: The Twenty-First Wish\Coming Unraveled\Return to Summer Island

Product Details

  • Pub. Date: April 2011
  • Publisher: Gale Group
  • Format: Hardcover
Knitting is many things to many people.

Knitting is a way of life
The Twenty-First Wish by Debbie Macomber
Anne Marie Roche and her adopted daughter, ten-year-old Ellen, have each written a list of twenty wishes—on which they included learning to knit. Like many of their wishes, it’s come true and now they knit practically every day. But Ellen has quietly added a twenty-first wish: that her mom will fall in love with Tim, Ellen’s birth father, who’s recently entered their lives.…
Knitting is a passion
Coming Unraveled by Susan Mallery
When Robyn Mulligan’s dreams of becoming a Broadway star give way to an intense longing for her childhood home, she decides it’s time to make a fresh start back in Texas, running her grandmother’s knitting store. But the handsome, hot-tempered T. J. Passman isn’t making it easy on her. If he can learn to trust Robyn, and overcome his tragic past, they just might discover a passion like no other.
Knitting is a comfort
Return to Summer Island by Christina Skye
After a devastating car accident, Caro McNeal finds healing on Oregon’s sleepy Summer Island, where she’s warmly embraced by a community of knitters. She also finds meaning and purpose in the letters she exchanges with a marine serving in Afghanistan. But when life takes another unexpected turn, will Caro untangle her fears and pick up the threads of hope, opening her heart to wherever it takes her?
KNITTING PATTERNS INCLUDED!

My Thoughts:

Sometimes I love these anthologies!  This one was great.  The authors all have similar yet different styles and each story made to want there to be more! Now while I don’t knit, I have zero patience, I like that this is what links the stories.

The Twenty-First Wish by Debbie Macomber

I was most excited about this section of the book.  I have read all of the other books about the women on

Blossom Street

and have fallen in love with their story.  This book start with Anne Marie Roche signing papers on her new home.  She is both excited and worried, as she is concern about her daughter, Ellen, and how she will adjust to the new home away from

Blossom Street

.  Anne Marie adopted Ellen in a previous book which also brought Tim Carlsen, Ellen’s father, into their lives in an expected turn of even shortly after the adoption was complete, but Tim had lied to Anne Marie and things were tense between them.  Anne Marie has been dating Mel for a few months, but doesn’t know what she makes of it.  Tim and Mel had a dislike for each other with Anne Marie and Ellen in the middle.  Ellen reveals to Anne Marie that she has added a twenty-first wish to the list that Anne Marie, Ellen and their friends on

Blossom Street

put together one Valentine’s Day.  Her wish – for her mom and dad to be a family.  Can this happen?

I love how this story is written from both Anne Marie and Ellen’s point of view.  This is a fun loving story that just sucks you in.  I finished this section wanting to know more about what was going to be happening in the lives of the friends on

Blossom Street

.  I can’t wait for more!

Coming Unraveled by Susan Mallery
I had never read anything by Susan Mallery prior to this book and I was pleasantly surprised.  I like her style of writing and that she had the foresight to hid an important part of T.J.’s life from us.

Robyn has arrived home to her grandmother home and knitting store after failing to make it big on Broadway.  Right away, T.J., a quiet stranger to her, yet taken in by her grandmother and her friends, feels that Robyn is back to take advantage of her grandmother since he did his homework and realizes that Robyn never made it on Broadway.  There is tension between them until T.J. realizes that she actually has a plan.  But what is T.J. secret that has hid from everyone in the store.

This was a well written story.  I would love to see another book that tell us more about the grandmother in this story and her friends got to where they are today.  I loved T.J. secret and who he really is.

Return to Summer Island by Christina Skye
After Caro is in a devastating accident in Chicago, she returns to Summer Island under her grandmother’s care.  She is frustrated and hurt.  She meets Gage, a marine, who is headed back to war.  As he is rushing out of town, his departure bumped up, he gets Caro’s email address and requests that she write him.  He plans to leave his beloved pets with a friend, who ends up being very ill as he is drop them off.  With no where to turn, he ends up at the pet shelter, where is pets are taken in and promised to be given a good home until he returns.  Caro finds his pets there and builds a relationship with them.  She writes with Gage and one night she wakes up with the horrible feeling that something is wrong.  Has something happened to Gage?

I think that this was a perfect fit for what is going on in our world today.  There are so many people separated by the war in the Middle East.  I love that this story shows us both what is going on in Gage’s war life and Caro’s frustrating recovery.  This story touched my heart – I actually had a tear at the end of this story.

My Rating:

4.5 Of 5 stars.  If you enjoy lightheaded romance, you should check this book out in April.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Mira Books for the oppotunity to preview this book

Review: Side Jobs by Jim Butcher

Side Jobs by Jim Butcher: Book Cover

Product Details

  • Pub. Date: October 2010
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
  • Format: Hardcover , 418pp
  • Sales Rank: 907

Synopsis

The first short story collection in the #1 New York Times bestselling series-including a brand-new Harry Dresden novella!
Here, together for the first time, are the shorter works of #1 New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher-a compendium of cases that Harry and his cadre of allies managed to close in record time. The tales range from the deadly serious to the absurdly hilarious. Also included is a new, never-before-published novella that takes place after the cliff-hanger ending of the new April 2010 hardcover, Changes. This is a must-have collection for every devoted Harry Dresden fan as well as a perfect introduction for readers ready to meet Chicago’s only professional wizard.

My Review:

I would highly recommend that one have read all of the books in this series before taking this one on.  I love the wit and humor in the Dresden Files and this book continues though it while filling in some of the blanks that I had while reading thought them.  Butcher does a nice job of explaining each short story, as well as, where it falls in the series.  I was pleased to see stories from Thomas, Dresden’s brother, and Murphy, cop he works with and has always had feeling for.  I enjoyed seeing the different styles that Butcher can write from outside of what I have seen him write in the past.  I was a little disappointed when this came out as the next book in the series because it felt like it was just a filler book and that the series might die off but after reading Aftermath I think there will be more to come for Harry Dresden.  It really does not give us any idea what is too come but leaves the door wide open for more.  4.5 stars for this book – mostly due to the fact that it is a collection rather than a continuation of the story.

Please be sure to check out review of Ghost Story the book that follows Side Jobs.