Book Review: Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber
360 pages (MIRA BOOKS)

There aren't many authors I will actually spend the money to buy their hardcover books however I've enjoyed Debbie Macomber books for more years than I can count. I'm a fan. And the top bookshelf in my bedroom is proof. She writes a book that I rather enjoy reading again and again and while I may shelve this one for a while, I'm sure I will revisit it sometime in the future.

Couple that with turning 38 and my parents sending me fun money to spend on a few treats to celebrate the momentous occaision and I knew this book was one I was going to buy.

Debbie is mostly known as a romance author but she has recently also expanded her stories to include friendships between women and knitting. I know next to nothing about knitting and I'm a firm believer that friendship is a lifelong learning process.

It was a rather appropriate storyline for what has lately tugged at my heart - hope, possiblity, and where the heck this life is taking me.

In the book several widows form a group and start a list of twenty wishes (kind of like the bucket list) and their lists inspire others to write their own lists. Quite lovely, the stories unfold as the women realize some of their wishes and, in turn become more purposeful in the way they relate to each other. Almost as if their wishes expand beyond being just about want for themselves but a desire to encourage others.

I still rather love the more "fluffy" romances debbie writes (I think my favorite so far has to be Cindy and the Prince or perhaps Rainy Day Kisses - a story about a cookie king who teaches a workaholic woman that sometimes it's better to drop everything and just go fly a kite.) however this book was decent. Had a spark of romance but the best thing was that it expanded characters enough so you could see a bit past the surface and as the story developed I cared about whether they might reach their wishes.

It also made me think of my own 20 wishes (which I think I did back when I saw the Bucket List) I will perhaps one day share them here...or maybe just a few.)

3 3/4 stars of five