Reminded me a lot of the early Mitford books by Jan Karon - but with a bit more reality. Great tie-ins with other classic books. ( )

Nicely done tie of books, knitting, relationships. I certainly had a hard time finding these women as friends, amazed that they did not know some of the secrets being so small town. Liked using female children's books then their discussions of relating now to adult lives, use of knitting projects that related to the stories. Glad to see the behavior of the sister in love with a husband. Related to Hannah the teenagers story as realistic, as a librarian I laughed at the stereotype spinster and her stubborn ways. ( )

Fans of Debbie Macomber will probably enjoy this, but readers looking for complex characters and an original storyline should look elsewhere.

There's a sub-genre of women's fiction in which a group of characters meet on a regular basis to discuss books, or knit, or sew, or quilt, and whose friendships then resolve problems being faced by one (or usually more) of the attendees. Beth Pattillo has moshed two of them together to create the Sweetgum Knit Lit Society, which both reads books AND knits items thematically related to the book-of-the-month.

There's a sullen teen, a foundering marriage, and not one but two members pining for men married to someone else, and all of them manage to resolve the issues and start on the road to Happily Ever After by the end of the book. ( )

Quick read, a church based women's book group becomes host to a troubled teen, but along the way many personal problems hidden beneath the surface of the other members are revealed.

The story was entertaining enough and there were a few touching scenes, but the overall feel of the book was that it was missing something. There wasn't a satisfactory explanation for everyone's lives to change so dramatically, and some characters were more fully fleshed out than others, even though Ms. Pattillo tries to give equal time to each story. Maybe because this book has been written over and over again ("Friday Night Knitting Club", "The Knitting Circle", etc,) I expected more. ( )