Twenty-One Wishes

Finished February 9 

Twenty-One Wishes by Debbie Macomber

This volume is actually two books, the novel Twenty Wishes, and the novella The Twenty-First Wish. At the center of Twenty Wishes is Anne-Marie Roche, the owner of Blossom Street Books, in Seattle. Twenty Wishes is the fifth book in the series set on Blossom Street. The Twenty-First Wish is number 5.5 in the series but I found that the actions here came after those of the sixth book, Summer on Blossom Street, which I read a while ago. 

Anne-Marie is still recovering from the loss of her husband a year earlier. They had been estranged due to Anne-Marie's desire to have a child, something she'd agreed not to have when they married, but then had a change of mind about. They were starting to reconcile when her husband died suddenly. She has formed a small group with three other women who are widows. Elise has recently reconnected with her husband Maverick, only for him to be diagnosed with cancer. Lillie and Barbie are a mother and daughter who both lost their husbands when their plane went down on a business trip. Barbie was very close to her husband, and she and their college-age twin sons are finally beginning to move forward. Lillie didn't have a great marriage, but she pretended not to be aware of her husband's infidelity. On their Valentines Day get-together, the women decide to make lists of twenty wishes that they have for themselves, not necessarily with a definite plan, but as a way to move forward. 

We see them slowly develop these wishes, and each move forward in different ways. The story concentrates most on Anne-Marie, with Lillie and Barbie also having a fair bit of plot line. Elise is a more minor character here. 

The Twenty-First Wish is a development based on some of Anne-Marie's results to her wishes, and is definitely her story. 

I always enjoy the light romance, with some life decisions happening in Macomber's novels. And there is knitting involved again as a part of the plot, but no knitting patterns are included here. 

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy

Finished December 23
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding, read by Samantha Bond

This novel picks up where the second Bridget Jones left off, and her voice comes through authentically here. The format is diary entries as were the earlier books. Bridget is in her early fifties, still grieving the sudden death of her husband a few years earlier. Her friends want her to get back in the game, but she struggles with being faithful to his memory and being there for her kids. As she works her way through getting back to work, by writing a screenplay, and starting to date again, her emotions range widely. She has a core group of friends, that she has had for years, but finds that she also needs to connect with other mothers. She is drawn to a neighbour, Rebecca, who has kids of a similar age to her two children, and finds a new friendship. Her two children have distinct personalities that reveal themselves through her entries. She also interacts with other school mothers, such as Nicolette who seems superorganized and has it all together, and teachers such as Mr. Wallaker who always seem to be around when she is doing something wrong, or embarrassing. She ventures into social media through Twitter and as she gradually becomes more comfortable with the communication and with texting, you see her development.
I'm a similar age to Bridget, as I was when I read the earlier books, and her uncertainties read true to me. Her life isn't mine, and it wasn't mine then, but the underlying feelings, insecurities, and missteps are all ones I can relate to.
Fielding makes her characters come alive, and this hasn't changed. I thoroughly enjoyed this read, as a good escape novel that made me laugh from the heart.

Saturday Night Widows

Finished February 10
Saturday Night Widows: the Adventures of Six Friends Remaking Their Lives by Becky Aikman

The book chronicles a year in the lives of six women, all widows, none of whom knew each other before their first meeting. Becky had tried to go to a widows support group a few months after her husband passed away from cancer, but was asked not to return. She thought their had to be a better way than the short experience she had there of focusing on one's grief, and began research on this type of loss.
She participated in a psychological study, and discussed current research with a couple of psychologists doing research in the area of grief. And she got the idea to find other women who had been widowed relatively young and get together once a month to support each other in moving forward with their lives. The women all live in or near New York City, and have been widowed for between 5 months and 5 years at their first meeting. They range in age from their 30s to their 50s, and some have children and some don't. I would describe them as middle to upper middle class, and well-educated. Becky herself is already remarried by the time of their first meeting.
As she chronicles their growing friendship, the strong bond that grows between them, and their lives moving forward, we see that the women take the positive outlook, and while they will never stop loving their husbands, they do move forward with their lives and gain new experiences, and enter new relationships.
This is an interesting and uplifting book that begins with loss, but ends with optimism for the future.