Amazon.com: The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club (9781401341220): Gil Mcneil: Books

The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club by Gil Mcneil

Warning, plugging another book I enjoyed. Sorry, but no one has sent me a book to review, so I'm still practicing on things I pick up to read. I do promise not to give up on a book and to give a fair review on anything I do pick up.

So, the main character Jo is going through a huge mess. Imagine finding out your husband has been shagging other women for most of your marriage and now wants a divorce, he leaves and dies in a car crash. She is so angry yet is supposed to play grieving widow. He also didn't leave them much other than bills so she must find a way to scratch out a living.

Hence the move to the sea. Her grandmother owns a yarn shop and has agreed to give it to Jo to run. It's a tricky move, the kids are unhappy at first, but adjust faster than Jo. She has to deal with an employee who has been at the shop longer than she's been alive who is against any and all change. But her biggest challenge is being left behind to put Daddy on a pedestal. She is rightfully angry because he was a pretty poor father yet the boys remember him as perfect. And what can she do? He's not coming back and she's a good person.

But it all works out. She gets the shop personalized, starts a Stitch & Bitch group and becomes the knitting guru to a famous actress. She helps rally the town and gets the students involved in knitting projects and history. There's even time for a little romance.

This is a story that weaves on and you could read it forever. There's going to be a sequel and I was excited to see that at the end of this book. I will caution though that there is a fair amount of cussing. If you can get around that, you will love this book!

*note: I was not paid for this review, nor was it requested. However if you do follow the amazon link above, I will earn a commission...I think. lol

Blackbird: A Childhood Lost and Found

This week I read Blackbird by Jennifer Lauck. I have to figure out how to get my head around this book and explain how wonderful it was without giving the story away. It's one of those books that weaves through the life of a little girl as she grows up. It starts out with her as a preschooler and ends with her at about twelve years old. The lost and found is literally her childhood. So many things happen to this poor little girl, but she's an old soul and doesn't like to complain. Sometimes she is very childish and when she should complain she clams up out of fear. You really just want to rescue her. But she is a tough cookie and doesn't let anything get her down, no matter how angry and hurt she really is.

You must read this book and follow her journey. The character and the author have the same name, it is a memoir of her real life during this time period. She writes so beautifully that it has none of the boredom of a biography. It's a story, plain and simple told from her childhood perspective during a time of so much upheaval. Her mother has been ill Jenny's entire life, and all Jenny knows is helping her. When things start to go downhill her father moves them all to California where her mother finally dies and I think he feels relief that it's over. She just wants her mother back. Her father remarries, moves them around some more while he works himself to an early grave; leaving her and her brother alone with the evil step mother. It's a heartbreaking story, truly, but you will love this little girl's strength and courage.