Part of Blossom Street, book 5
First published 2008
Anne Marie Roche stands in her successful Blossom Street bookstore at thirty-eight, recently widowed and feeling empty despite her business accomplishments. On Valentine's Day, she joins other widows to celebrate hope and possibility. Together they create lists of twenty wishes for things they always wanted to do but never attempted. Anne Marie writes "Find one good thing about life" at the top of her list, followed by learning to knit, helping someone else, and falling in love again. She starts acting on these wishes and volunteers at a neighborhood school. There she meets Ellen, an eight-year-old girl who becomes much more central to her life than Anne Marie planned. Their relationship grows deeper and more significant than she imagined possible. Ellen helps Anne Marie work through her twenty wishes while both discover that dreams can become reality in completely unexpected ways.
Genres: fiction, romance, family-life, contemporary, contemporary-romance
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, second-chance, slow-burn
Setting: Blossom Street
Period: 21st-century
360 pages · Hardcover · MIRA