MamaKaty's Book Circle Book

[MamaKaty]

The Book I chose for the Book Swap Club is The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber

It's a novel about four very different women who come together in an unexpected way. It's about opening up to friendship and love.

After I read this book I wrote in my book journal 'A lovely friendship story, even if it wasn't terribly well written', but I found myself thinking about it later that day; I decided that if you don't take it too seriously it's just a lovely warm hearted read.

However when I started this thread I had a look at the reviews for it on Amazon and was surprised to realise that i had, in part, agreed with the 1* review about the stereotyping of the female characters.

I'm really interested to see what other people think of it and I hope you'll all add your honest views to this discussion.

Well I wouldn't have chosen this in a bookshop, I would have thought it too chick-litty. But it wasn't quite what I expected. I liked the knitting theme but agree that the characters were a bit obvious and it wasn't particularly well written. I wanted to know what happened but I was surprised by the pretty implausible scenario with Laurel (won't say more for those who haven't read it yet). The male characters were really one-dimensional. I am a sucker for a happy ending but I didn't really care about the characters that much, once I had finished it i didn't get that "but what happened next" feeling you get from a really good book.

Sorry for the delay in posting the review. I too looked at the cover and thought "not my cup of tea" however I read a chapter a night in bed and it was so easy to read. I liked the Alix character-however didn't feel I particularly warmed to any of them.
Its not a very memorable book but I enjoyed reading it despite initial reservations.