Knot Again
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Revisiting the boys at Strong Knits was a mixed bag in the second book of Kwana Jackson’s Real Men Knit series. The brothers are all still absurdly attractive and have a great sibling dynamic - I’d love to see a Bridgerton-esqe adaptation of these books for the screen! Jackson also improved a lot of the things I was frustrated with in the first book, reducing (somewhat) the number of times women were harshly judging other women, and smoothing out the arc of get together/big fight/resolution as we follow Lucas and Sidney through their story.
I went back and forth on how much I liked Sidney, Lucas’s childhood crush returned. On the one hand her family dynamics were also very well done, and having her trying to find her way out of a bad marriage was a solid complication for the plot. But on the other hand she didn’t treat Lucas very well for most of the book, and it wasn’t always totally
clear to me why he liked her. That could easily just be me not clicking as opposed to any actual flaw in her character creation but it made it harder for me to root for them to get together. I would have been just as happy for her to make it out of her shitty marriage and two just settle into being good friends/neighbors.
Lucas I loved and thought his internal stresses were pretty well done. It can be a delicate balance writing men who are angsty about feeling like they’re holding the world on their shoulders without it feeling flat or trite, but Jackson hit a good balance here. If you’re a fan of second-chance love stories, enjoyed the first one, or want a good Friday night de-stress read, this one is worth picking up.
I paired this with the Harlem cocktail to match the setting of the book. It was delicious! Definitely one I’ll make again.
