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Twenty Wishes: A Blossom Street Book

Review

Twenty Wishes: A Blossom Street Book

Thirty-eight-year old Anne Marie Roche’s husband Robert
died less than a year ago, while the couple was in the midst of
reconciling from a painful separation. During her marriage, Anne
Marie dreamed of becoming a mother. But Robert, who had been
married before and had a daughter and son by his first wife, wanted
no part of her dream of motherhood. Now, Anne Marie not only mourns
the loss of her spouse, she also grieves for the child they never
had together.

As the owner of the popular and successful Blossom Street Books,
her days are filled meeting her customers’ needs, spoiling
Baxter, her beloved Yorkie, and spending time with her friends. Yet
she yearns for happiness and desperately feels the need to do
something more with her life.

On Valentine’s Day, Anne Marie and several of her widowed
friends get together to celebrate their friendship and console one
another over lost loves. They also begin to make lists of 20 things
they’ve always wanted to do but never pulled off. The lists
of 20 wishes are as varied as the women writing them down. Lillie
wants to “fall in love with an honorable man.” At the
top of Anne Marie’s list is “Find one good thing about
life.”

When a friend mentions the satisfaction she receives from being a
“Lunch Buddy” for a student at a local school, Anne
Marie decides to volunteer for the program herself. Her previous
relationship as a stepmother to her stepdaughter Melissa
wasn’t a pleasant experience, so she’s not quite sure
how to act around Ellen, the eight-year-old girl she is paired with
for lunch. After sharing a meal with Ellen in the school cafeteria,
Anne Marie realizes that volunteering to be a friend to this child
is quite rewarding and uplifting.

But when Anne Marie returns home, she receives a message from her
troubled stepdaughter telling her they need to talk. Later, after
receiving distressing news about Robert from Melissa, Anne Marie
begins to doubt if she will ever be able to find one good thing
about life at all.

Debbie Macomber knows how to connect with her readers. In TWENTY
WISHES she has created a novel with sympathetic and realistic
characters who care deeply about others and have a zest for life.
It is a feel-good story about forgiveness, love and new
beginnings.

Reviewed by Donna Volkenannt ([email protected]) on January 24, 2011

Twenty Wishes: A Blossom Street Book
by Debbie Macomber

  • Publication Date: April 29, 2008
  • Genres: Fiction, Romance
  • Hardcover: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Mira Books
  • ISBN-10: 0778325504
  • ISBN-13: 9780778325505