I've read a lot of Debbie Macomber's books over the years, and one thing that hasn't changed is the audience that she primarily writes for: Christian grandmothers. That being said, Starting Now is not a bad book. It's predictable but sweet and interesting. The main character, Libby, has lost her job and now has way too much free time on her hands, which results in her spending time knitting and volunteering at the hospital rocking premature babies. This gives her a chance to meet new people, strengthen old relationships, and form new ones. Ultimately she has to decide if this new life is the one she wants or if her older career-driven life is still worth chasing. Two little things made me crazy in this book. First of all, everyone in this book eats soup all the time. People are constantly going out for soup, delivering soup to one another, or ordering soup to go. Debbie Macomber must really love soup. Also, Libby's answer to everything is "perfect." It's never "great", "sounds good", "wonderful"....it's always "perfect." I thought if I saw the word "perfect" one more time I was going to scream. Anyway, if you're familiar with Debbie Macomber then you will enjoy this book. If you enjoy light inspirational novels with family and relationship themes, you will enjoy it as well.

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I have to say I almost didn't want to read this book because of Libby's BFF Robin. I remembered her from A Turn in the Road and I didn't like her attitude one bit. With that said I decided to give it a try after god reviews. It was great as usual. Unlike the previous posts im NOT a Christian Grandmother but I absolutely love DM books. This book was great. Felt to bad for Libby n AmyJo and the end of her relations with Dr. Stone. I loved how she made things right in the end. Loved Robin and Joe and get to understand why Robin is the way she is. Overall a good read especially if you need to de-stress. Still not happy about the Ava part. There was so much left un-said that we as teh reader had to assume. That never happens in a DM book before....

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Hard book to rate; didn't totally dislike it but would never put it on my "favs" list. From the beginning I felt the book was extremely sappy and completely predictable. Felt like I'd picked up a D. Steele novel who I gave up on years ago. If you're into complete "no-brainer" novels one would probably like this book. Guess it's a case of different strokes for different folks.

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I enjoyed this blossom street novel very much. I enjoyed revisiting the old characters and meeting the new ones. Made me look at life and what is important. Hope a new blossom novel is in the works.

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While I'm not a Christain Grandmother I generally agree with the previous reviewer. I picked this novel up after a stressful work day and almost finished it the same night. Macomber does a great job describing the high stress law firm life, and the work acholics it creates. I work in that environment and have constant work life balance issues. Having had recent spells of unemployment I think Macomber gets that right too. The boredom and the ups and downs that go with every interview.
I had a serious problem with the secondary plot line revolving around Ava. Somethings about this story are just not right. Things are left dangling and justice is not served. This was not the best Blossom Street novel I've read.

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