Review: Real Men Knit by Kwana Jackson

Real Men Knit by Kwana Jackson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was really cute!  I really liked the portrayal of men, fairly manly men doing something that is normally considered a "woman's thing".  I loved that Mama Joy taught her 4 sons how to knit and that they all found relaxation and focus in it.  I also love how they brought knitting into the community to the young kids as an activity.  No matter where you live or what your upbringing, kids need something to keep them busy.  If we destigmatize that crafts are only for girls and sports are only for boys or whatever the case, then kids can find their passion in all kinds of things and not worry about being made fun of.  I really loved that message.

This is a great family story, that also has a friends to lovers romance.  We have the four Strong brothers, who have just lost their mother, Mama Joy.  Mama Joy was a pillar of the community and owned the local yarn shop.  She adopted the boys and saved them from the foster system when they were younger.  Each of the boys has grown up and all of them but Jesse has found a successful career.  With her unexpected death, the brothers have to deal with not only their grief of losing their mother who held their family together but also what to do about her shop which was barely hanging on by a thread.  Jesse has held a bunch of odd jobs, but he is determined to keep the shop open and make something of himself.  He enlists the help of Kerry, one of the shop's part time employees, and while she wasn't officially a part of the family, Mama Joy treated her like a daughter and helped guide her through tough times.  Kerry has grown up around the brother's and they've always treated her like a sister, but it hasn't escaped anyone's notice that she's a grown woman now and that she can't work at the shop forever.  When she offers to help Jesse with the shop, everyone is skeptical.  It is no secret that they've always had feelings for each other, but Kerry's conservative ways don't mesh with Jesse's freespirit player lifestyle.  Fortunately, some unexpected circumstances forces both of them our of their comfort zones and to go after the things that they want not only to save the shop but in love.

I liked the main characters, and they both had decent development.  The interaction between the brothers felt a bit clunky especially when it came to running the shop.  They weren't 100% sure about re-opening the shop, but then they were there all the time helping out.  They never really discussing how things were going to work, just a few words about "I'll be there when I can".  I felt like there really wasn't a resolution to their internal conflict.  The chapters kind of alternate between Kerry and Jesse, sometimes they are at the shop and sometimes they are at Kerry's other part time job at the local community center.  The change of venue with a new set of characters kind of threw off the pacing a bit.  

Reading this book reminded me that I have a scart that I started knitting ages ago and never finished.  I had kids, we moved, and it has been sitting in a bag in my closet for more years that I care to admit.  I think I'm going to dig it out and finish it.  I remember it being really relaxing.  I'm a cross-stitcher myself and I always found relaxation and comfort in the neat rows of stitches and following the patterns.  Now that I've found audiobooks, I can craft and read at the same time.  Who knows maybe I'll get good at knitting.

I was provided an ARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: A Boy Made of Blocks by Keith Stuart

A Boy Made of Blocks by Keith Stuart
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was such a heartwarming story!  I've had this on my TBR to read and review for a very long time, but I never got around to it.  This was one of the very first egalleys I picked up from Netgalley, but it never seemed like the right book.  I found it on Hoopla last week and gave the audiobook a try.  The audio narration is excellent, and this was the perfect case of the perfect book at the perfect time.  I would not have understood the minecraft references had I not listened to Minecraft: The Island with my son a few years back.  I think that increased my enjoyment of this book because I have such good memories associated with learning about the game from my own son, much like Alex and Sam bonded over the game in this book.  Given the state of the world right now, I really needed something that wasn't violent or sad.

I think the author did a great job capturing the daily struggles of parenting and marriage.  Whether you have a child with autism or not, parenting and marriage takes a lot of work to make the machine work smoothly.  Throw in the added responsibility of having a child with autism. childhood grief that was never addressed, and a career you hate and Alex's life is a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.    Alex and his wife deal with problems differently, much like most couples do, but instead of coming to an acceptable agreement on what to do, Alex has learned to run from tough situations.  It has been his coping mechanism since childhood and now he has found himself jobless, homeless, and at risk of losing the two people he loves most.

I really liked the way that Alex turned things around in his life and the way the author supported Alex with friends that called him out when he was being difficult and not facing his fears and problems.  I liked that he finally took responsibility for himself and Sam and found a way to see the world through his son's eyes and find something they could do together and ways to support Sam when he was having meltdowns. Sam was such a beautiful boy, I really loved his character.  There were some really great moments in the book between them.

While this type of fiction is not normally something I go for, I really enjoyed it and if you are looking for a book that leaves you with a smile on your face give this a read.

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