Starting Now: A Blossom Street Novel (Blossom Street, 12)

Starting Now is the ninth full length novel in the popular Blossom Street series by American author, Debbie Macomber. The main players are Libby Morgan, an attorney dealing with estate planning who finds herself unexpectedly unemployed, and the brusque, unpleasant Dr Phillip Stone, aka Heart of Stone, a physician working with newborns and premature births. Libby’s enforced leisure time leads her to A Good Yarn, where she makes friends with Lydia, Casey and Casey’s friend, a troubled teen named Ava. Other activities bring her into Dr Stone’s sphere. After some radical life changes, Libby thinks she has discovered what is important in her life. But another unanticipated event finds Libby trading her physical treadmill at the gym for a metaphorical treadmill at work. There is a background romance as one of Libby’s friends, attorney Robin Hamlin starts a relationship with widower, Judge Roy Bollinger. Macomber touches on quite a few topical issues: work/life balance, tattoos, teen pregnancy and adoption. Fans of the Blossom Street series will be pleased to encounter cameos or mentions of characters from at least four previous books. Discounting the naiveté that attorney Libby shows about adoption, and the inordinate amount of free time physician Dr Stone seems to be able to conjure for coffees and lunches and afternoons of sailing, this is still a sweet romance.