TWENTY WISHES: A BLOSSOM STREET BOOK
DEBBIE MACOMBER
ISBN: (13) 978-0-7783-2550-5/ (10) 07783-2550-4
May 2008
Mira, an imprint of Harlequin
225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario Canada M3B 3K9
Hardcover
$24.95/$2495
368 pages
Fiction
Rating: 5 cups

Anne Marie Roche struggles through being a widow. There are a lot of loose ends that she feels were never taken care of. She loves the bookshop she owns but it is no longer enough. A meeting with friends inspires her to look outside herself, yet she is still unsure when she signs up to be a lunch buddy how much it will change her life. Work on wishes for her list is not coming easy but she knows she will figure it out in time. She knows that making sure of what the wishes should be is more important than how quickly the list is written.

Emily Faulk loves her grandmother but still feels like something is missing. When she meets Anne Marie at her school, she is slowly brought out of her shell. Her teachers always tell her that she is doing well, but finding someone else to approve of what she is doing makes her feel so much better. Yet she does not want to put trust in someone who will just leave her like her mother did. She wants to feel secure and hopes that she will have a family again.

Making a list of wishes with her friends keeps Anne Marie going everyday. It all starts with finding one good thing about her life. She really thinks about what goes on her list and she takes the time to come up with the other 19. When she goes to the middle school to be a lunch buddy, she meets Ellen who makes her feel good. She is starting to think her friend Elise is right. Helping another child feel good about themselves only reflects back on her. She does her best to keep her promise to be there every week for Ellen. She soon finds that she looks forward to it as much as Ellen does. Anne Marie’s involvement in Ellen’s life becomes more important than she ever thought. It might just be the answer to a wish that she has had for a very long time. Ellen also helps her see what her wishes should truly be about and how to make them happen.

Ms. Macomber has always been a favorite of mine. The lovely women in this book are so fun and energetic. They do not let anything stand in their way. I felt like I was home again since I have loved this series from the start. All the books are good and they build one on top of the other which makes them even better! I enjoyed seeing other characters reappear if only for a chapter. This story was so sweet that I could not put it down. The other women in this book were having wonderful adventures due to writing down twenty wishes. It is something that I think I will do myself.

Krista
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance
Reviewer for Karen Find Out About New Book