Review: The Wishing Thread - Lisa van Allen

The Van Ripper women have been the talk of Tarrytown, New York, for centuries. Some say they’re angels; some say they’re crooks. In their tumbledown “Stitchery,” not far from the stomping grounds of the legendary Headless Horseman, the Van Ripper sisters—Aubrey, Bitty, and Meggie—are said to knit people’s most ardent wishes into beautiful scarves and mittens, granting them health, success, or even a blossoming romance. But for the magic to work, sacrifices must be made—and no one knows that better than the Van Rippers.

When the Stitchery matriarch, Mariah, dies, she leaves the yarn shop to her three nieces. Aubrey, shy and reliable, has dedicated her life to weaving spells for the community, though her sisters have long stayed away. Bitty, pragmatic and persistent, has always been skeptical of magic and wants her children to have a normal, nonmagical life. Meggie, restless and free-spirited, follows her own set of rules. Now, after Mariah’s death forces a reunion, the sisters must reassess the state of their lives even as they decide the fate of the Stitchery. But their relationships with one another—and their beliefs in magic—are put to the test. Will the threads hold?

My thoughts:

Something was not quite right. Sometimes I blame it on ebooks. And it might be the problem that I had this time. I never felt connected to the characters, or the book itself. Sometimes ebooks just loose the magic that books hold for me. Because the book itself was good or was it...? And just not for me this time.

The magic, was there magic at all? I like magical realism cos the magic is just embedded in the story. It feels normal or real. Here I never even knew if there was any magic at all and there it lost the magical realism for me.

The book is about 3 sisters and a knitting magic. They knit, people's wishes come true, sometimes. But the sisters have scattered and only lonely Audrey is left. Meggie is the wandered who comes back, and Bitty is the one who married rich but is still unhappy. They all have their problems to deal with and paths to find.

Conclusion:

The story is good, save the neighborhood, the house, themselves. There is a hint of romance too. But in the end, I was on the outside looking in and mostly got stressed cos I had to return the e-reader and the book took 2 weeks to finish.

Cover

Good

ebook, 400 pages
Published August 27th 2013 by Ballantine Books
Fiction
From netgalley