And now I’m FINALLY to the book that started this binge and it was worth the wait. I was going to use “weight” for yarn weight but thought it might work so you get this awkward follow up.
Albert takes her characters even further away from your standard white male could be mistaken for straight romcom lead. We have Brady, the bisexual barista taking care of his four siblings after his parents untimely deaths, and Ev, the yarn store owner’s dedicated nephew who has come back to Portland because she’s dying of cancer who was originally sent from his home in Turkey because he was caught making out with a male friend.
Needless to say there’s a lot going on in this book. It wasn’t quite as bad as that makes it sound, but with so much baggage going in how can these characters EVER get together? But wait…there’s more:
“Evren’s frown deepened. ‘I do not usually do casual. Or bisexual.’ ‘You don’t do bi?’ I gaped at him, my jaw seriously hanging open. I could get not doing casual—more power to him. If my life had any room in it, which it most certainly did not, I wouldn’t do casual anymore either. But bi? What the fuck? Bi erasure was so five years ago. Ev needed to join this decade.” (Loc. 296)
Albert decided to include some bi-phobia to make it even heavier. As much as I appreciated this inclusion, as I’m writing this I honestly can’t remember whether or not it was resolved/successfully addressed. I mean they do get together, but I can’t remember if this was addressed at all.
I appreciated that this book was less sex driven than the other books. There were still a few hot and steamy scenes, but there were definitely fewer. The lack of sex came from the situations Ev and Brady found themselves, but also because of Ev’s weird hangups about Brady’s bisexuality, his cleanliness thing, and his machismo upbringing in Turkey. It weirdly worked as I was reading it, but sounds weird looking back.
There were mentions not only Chris from Delivered Fast and the hint dropped from Wrapped Together:
“Randy was a bit unpredictable, and not as caring as Chris, Randy’s ex-partner, who’d managed this location for as long as I’d been here before moving away with his new boyfriend last year.” (Loc. 205)
“…including both stationery store owners, who were managing to stand near each other without flames darting from their eyes.” (Loc. 1,700)
Recommendation: I liked that these characters weren’t your single men looking for a fling, but at the same time I felt like Albert had a weird agenda (maybe not weird, but I don’t have another word for it) that she decided to introduce into the series. Still worth the read and still blush-inducing.
Opening Line: “‘You’re my favorite barista,’ the girl said with a self-conscious giggle.”
Closing Line: “As we pulled apart, I laughed. ‘I freaking love Knit Night.'” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)
Other Books in the Portland Heat Series
Additional Quotes from Knit Tight
“It was a sign of how starved I was for adult contact that that sounded as good as a plate of wings and an icy brew. I quickly exchanged numbers with him before the next customer arrived and went home smiling. I had a date. Sort of. A phone date. A friends-only phone date, but it was more excitement than my Fridays had held in a long time.” (Loc. 434)
“Pile of goo, party of one. He noticed little things about me, like when I changed my earrings out or whether my hair was back or up on a given day. (Loc. 845)”
“I’d had a lot of kisses over the years from both genders, but Ev was the first to kiss me like I was precious, worth savoring. Ev kissed like I mattered.” (Loc. 861)
“‘When you’re older, you can kiss whomever you’d like, as long as they want to kiss you back,’ I said carefully, ruffling his hair.” (Loc. 1,051)
“Here’s the thing about having small children depending on you: You get really good in a hurry at plodding through even the deepest of heartaches, still slapping peanut butter on sandwiches and packing overnight bags and working one last shift before leaving—because calling in heartbroken to life isn’t an option.” (1,452)
“I told her she was the mother of my soul, but I do not think she heard.” (Loc. 1,549)
“You see, my Hala Mira didn’t just show me how to knit—she taught me how to embrace life. How to love it, stitch by stitch, as we made something beautiful from the broken ruins of childhood.” (Loc. 1,664)
“I decided that I didn’t love Ev despite quirks; I loved him because of them. Because of all the unique textures and patterns that made up my Evren.” (Loc. 1,822)
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