This was a three book in one special, although they were more short stories than full books. Included in this collection were Debbie Macomber's The Twenty-First Wish, Susan Mallery's Coming Unraveled, and Return to Summer Island by Christina Skye. To be honest, I had never read anything by any of these author's before and was surprised by which one I liked the best.
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The Twenty First Wish
Adoptive mother Anne Marie Roche has a problem. Her daughter's biological father has recently come into their lives. He's handsome, smart, and good with little Ellen but Anne Marie is already seeing someone else, she can't fall in love with him. To Ellen though, that's just the plan she has for the two.
The characters in this book were ok. Unfortunately things were a little rushed due to it being a short story so there were a lot of unbelievable moments for me that I think had the book expanded on it, would have been better. It just didn't have the time for character development. The plot was also a little rushed, things happened so quickly that I needed time to catch up with myself while reading it.
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Coming Unraveled
I think this was my favorite story of the three. Robyn Mulligan has failed at Broadway and has come limping home to Texas. There she discovers a man named TJ has been taking knitting classes at her grandmother's knitting shop and he's not too happy she's returned. For the sake of her grandmother, who loves them both, she's going to have to figure out a way to get along.
The characters in this story were better developed. I genuinely liked all of them and thought Robyn's grandmother and her friends were just delightful. They brought some color to the story and even TJ and Robyn were nicely developed as characters. The plot was paced ok for a short story although reader's should be warn, there are a couple of risque parts in this story.
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Return to Summer Island
After a car accident Caro goes to stay with her grandmother at Summer Island. Here she spends her time trying to regain the use of her hand as she is an avid knitter and frustrated with her lack of progress. But then a new project arises in writing a handsome marine who has been shipped over seas to Afghanistan.
The characters were completely over the top in this one, performing all sorts of unrealistic activities, but despite that, I still liked all of them. The plot too was rushed and not quite realistic but it was still a nice story. I do have to say that the blurb on the back of the book says that Caro finds solace in a community of knitters, apparently they were reading a different book than me because I didn't see this anywhere in the book. So don't read the blurb!
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Since Debbie Macomber's name was twice as big as the other author's on the cover, I expected to enjoy her part in the book quite a bit. Surprisingly it was my least favorite while Susan Mallery's was the best for me. I know I didn't mention knitting much in the descriptions of the books, but it was a predominant theme. Every story the main character was a knitter or it involved a knitting shop and so across stories that theme held true. It even had patterns to accompany each story although alas I still haven't figured out how to read a knitting pattern. One day...
Its a nice little collection of stories and a fast easy read. Knitters should definitely enjoy it.
The Knitting Diaries
Copyright 2011
347 pages
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