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somelazyreader's review against another edition
2.0
More 3.5 kinda stars.
Cute and creative idea. Sadly it's not that good adapted. There are too many repetitive paragraphs, to much going on that has nothing to do with a) bringing the plot any further or b) chaning anything character wise. In the end I got almost a little boored and please don't let me start about the ending (cringe!)
What I loved was the atmosphere the author created and that the romance wasn't this all over the moon, perfect and everything changing kind of love. It was one you could believe and that felt neither forced nor unreal. Something most romance books fail to bring to the table.
In the end it still couldn't live up to the potential the idea and the story have set.
Cute and creative idea. Sadly it's not that good adapted. There are too many repetitive paragraphs, to much going on that has nothing to do with a) bringing the plot any further or b) chaning anything character wise. In the end I got almost a little boored and please don't let me start about the ending (cringe!)
What I loved was the atmosphere the author created and that the romance wasn't this all over the moon, perfect and everything changing kind of love. It was one you could believe and that felt neither forced nor unreal. Something most romance books fail to bring to the table.
In the end it still couldn't live up to the potential the idea and the story have set.
chan_bean's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
colorism was an unexpected and undesired angle
emmabeckman's review against another edition
3.0
Ok. I wanted to love this one. It just missed the mark for me. I love the idea of four brothers taking over the yarn shop and having to figure out how to run it and relate to the employees and customers while also coming to the realization that one of them has been in love with this girl for a very long time. I just didn't really love the execution, I guess? I never really believed in the relationships that everyone had, they all felt a bit one-dimensional to me. We're told that Kerry is "part of the family" but every interaction she has with the brothers feels so awkward and like she is a clear outsider. I get that everyone is coming to terms with Mama Joy, the glue, dying and that leads to different dynamics but since we never got to see the before times, it just felt like there was no connection between Kerry and the brothers. Also, and I don't know if this is just me, the writing felt kind of stilted? But that could be down to dialectal differences, as I'm from white suburban SF Bay Area and the book is set in Harlem, and I'm just not used to certain sentence structure. OF COURSE it was NOT a bad thing and I KNOW that not everyone speaks the same way I do, but there were just some instances, especially in dialogue/internal monologue where it took me a second to figure out what the subject, verb, and object of a sentence were because of the word order and that distracted me a bit.
Also, the idea of "real men knit" is very fraught for myself as well as in the larger knitting community. I definitely back the idea that ANYONE can knit, and ideas about financial accessibility and the fact that anyone can find joy and help through knitting and how it can bring communities together were definitely discussed in a positive way in this book. I'm just not a big fan of the idea that men have to prove that it's "manly" to knit, like why can't it just be gender neutral, or better yet a thing that mostly women do that some men also enjoy without having to defend their "manliness". But I digress.
In sum, I loved the idea of the yarn store and the knitting and the Strong brothers, but the story itself fell a bit flat for me. I'll definitely hold on to my copy though because of my love for the idea!
Also, the idea of "real men knit" is very fraught for myself as well as in the larger knitting community. I definitely back the idea that ANYONE can knit, and ideas about financial accessibility and the fact that anyone can find joy and help through knitting and how it can bring communities together were definitely discussed in a positive way in this book. I'm just not a big fan of the idea that men have to prove that it's "manly" to knit, like why can't it just be gender neutral, or better yet a thing that mostly women do that some men also enjoy without having to defend their "manliness". But I digress.
In sum, I loved the idea of the yarn store and the knitting and the Strong brothers, but the story itself fell a bit flat for me. I'll definitely hold on to my copy though because of my love for the idea!
zneo7's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
smsienk's review against another edition
3.0
Very cute
Very cute setup - love all the knitting and the gender roles built into that. The story, characters, and dialogue got stilted at times and made it hard to dive fully in, but it was an entertaining read overall.
Very cute setup - love all the knitting and the gender roles built into that. The story, characters, and dialogue got stilted at times and made it hard to dive fully in, but it was an entertaining read overall.
cassiope_fastigiata's review against another edition
4.0
Light escapism - loved the knitting shop and the images of the « boy knitters »