Premise: 10/10. Execution...7/10? That said I did enjoy this and I will read future titles by the author.

I really wanted to love this book. A romance where the hunky hero knits?? Basically my catnip. But it just didn’t live up to its premise. There was supposed to be so much romantic tension between the leads, but I didn’t feel it. And Jackson couldn’t seem to make up her mind about whether Jesse had never noticed Kerry, or had been pining for her all along, like she had for him.

There wasn’t nearly enough knitting in the first 2/3 of the book, either, to justify the eventual conclusion (or the title). I wasn’t really sure if the author even knitted herself until Jesse finally started working on a hat, and she was able to accurately describe the process.

Very abrupt ending, too, after I hung in there with the characters for so long.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review.

A cute premise, I was excited about this one. But I needed more tension, drama, and romance. The pacing was weird, and the ending was so rushed. I was left confused and wanting more.

I really wanted to enjoy this book. Beautiful cover, awesome premise, great characters. It would be so great to follow all four boys in their own books! Unfortunately the actual dialogue and storyline fell flat for me, I was bored and had trouble getting through it.

Special thanks to Berkeley and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! The plot was light and entertaining, it didn't bore me at all and I didn't find it cliché. However, I found a little problem with the book, which was the slut-shaming part, I didn't like how the author handled it and I think it wasn't a good idea to add it to the plot. Even so, I liked the dynamics between the main characters and the brothers took my breath away, they were cute and funny. If the author makes a spin-off of them, I'll read it for sure.

Real Men Knit is the first book about the Strong brothers in what I hope is the first book in a series. Real Men Knits centers around the Strong Knits neighborhood knitting store which was run by the Strong brothers' adoptive mom Mama Joy, and around the youngest of the 4 brothers, Jesse. Jesse is a bit of a playboy and hasn't ever really shown that he is on the path to settling down or even really having a career in mind. So when Mama Joy unexpectedly passes away, the brothers are all surprised when Jesse wants to make a go of keeping the store open.

Enter Kerry Fuller, who has worked part-time in the knitting shop for years and doesn't want to see it close any more than Jesse, and offers up her assistance to help Jesse get the store back up and running. Kerry has had a crush of Jesse since they were kids, even though each of the Strong brothers has always seen her as more of a little sister. I loved that Jesse finally started seeing Kerry as an attractive woman the more time they spent together. I loved the slow burn of this relationship, and the fact they really became real friends first. I got the feeling while they had always been in each other's lives, they hadn't really been friends until they started working to save Strong Knits. Jesse seemed to be so laid back when we first meet him, so I understood his brothers all questioning his dedication to getting the shop up and running and back in the black. I loved how much he grew over the course of the story from basically a playboy to a real business man. He had such wonderful ideas for the store, and I loved that Kerry not only believed in him, but helped him make them a reality. I also loved that Kerry didn't lose herself in helping out Jesse. She stayed true to herself and her own goals, yet made the adjustments needed to have Jesse in her life.

I really loved the relationship between the 4 brothers. Damian is a total control freak, Lucas seems to need some measure of control, yet not as much as Damian. I felt like Noah and Jesse were more the laid back of the 4 brothers. I loved how they picked on each other as all siblings do, yet had each other's backs when needed. I also felt like them coming together to save Strong Knits helped them to grow closer to one another.

Real Men Knits was a very enjoyable story. I will say that I ended up loving Kerry and Jesse as a couple, and feel like they were on a good path to their very own HEA. I loved while Strong Knits is in Harlem, yet the entire area felt almost like a small town. I loved how everyone in the neighborhood seemed to take care of their own, and that especially included keeping Strong Knits going. Real Men Knits was filled with humor, love, and redemption, and I really can't wait to read more books about all the Strong brothers.

Rating: 4 Stars (B)

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group

This is one of those books that I honestly thought I was going to love. When looking at the synopsis and the title, I was hoping to get Bromance Book Club vibes.

Sadly that was not the case.

This book was an amalgamation of a lot of things I didn't like, mainly the miscommunication trope.

The crux of this story follows Jesse and Kerry and their attempt to save Jesse's late mother's knitting shop -- which is totally fine. I wanted more of that. I wanted more of this book exploring toxic masculinity and the notion that certain activities are only for certain genders.

Unfortunately, this book focused way more on the will-they-wont-they relationship between Jesse and Kerry. Now don't get me wrong, this is a romance, focusing on the romance is totally fine.

EXCEPT

The relationship in this book was insufferable. Jesse and Kerry have known each other since they were kids. Knowing each other for such a long time has led to Jesse and Kerry forming assumptions about each other that led to a lot of conflicts within their relationship.

For example: Once the two finally sleep together, Kerry tells Jesse that she knows that Jesse doesn't want a relationship and is okay with just being a hookup. This leads to Jesse being super mad at Kerry and feeling like she's looking down on him. The biggest problem with this entire fight that leads to the inevitable break up is that they never establish what they want their relationship to be. Jesse is mad that Kerry just sees him as a hookup, but he never tells Kerry that he wants a relationship. Similarly, Kerry just assumes Jesse will only want a hookup but never actually confirms this before said hookup.

This was super frustrating to read about as several conflicts in this book could easily be solved by simple communication instead of just assuming one character knew how another character was thinking.

The possessiveness was also a major turn off for me. This was a slow-burn romance. It took Jesse and Kerry quite a while to actually get together. Yet before getting together, they both got weirdly jealous and possessive over other people. Kerry gets made that Jesse hooks up with a long-term hook up an Jesse gets mad that the mailman supposedly was flirting with Kerry (it's unclear if he was but still).

All of that aside, the biggest downfall of this book is that absolutely nothing happens in this book. The pacing for the main goal of this book (deciding if they wanted to save/keep the knitting shop) was super off. We hit some major plot points way later in the book than I was expecting, leading to this book being super slow-paced. Also, because we spent so much time focusing on the romance, and getting some character details numerous times in quick succession, we didn't really spend enough time setting up why we should care about the knitting shop being saved.

Also we never actually got any confirmation on the state of the knitting shop. Like we know that the opening went well, but like that's it. I really wish we got an epilogue or something just to show if the knitting shop is doing well or if the relationship is doing well.

I feel like there is an audience for this book, but it just wasn't what I was looking for and sadly it was kind of a disappointment.

Liked this book - I think it will appeal to readers who like modern urban romance. Our library have a lot of readers who like modern romance so I have a group of readers I think this will appeal to.

I love the premise of this book. 4 adopted brothers trying to figure out how to run the family knitting shop after their adoptive mother’s death...With the help of a family friend, Kerry, who has long been nursing a crush on the youngest brother...That sounds so cute. And the first few chapters were cute. The family aspects of this were great and so were the community aspects. The book is set in Harlem and the community, particularly the older women, really rally around the knitting shop. But after a few chapters, things got really repetitive. The same conversations were had over and over and man, these people released a LOT of breaths. The romance was pretty lackluster as well. I never felt any sense of chemistry between the two leads. Ultimately this wasn’t a bad book; it was just sort of boring.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book!

DNF at 20%

I really wanted to like this book. I loved the concept and the diversity, and I love seeing more books where men are subverting toxic masculinity with hobbies and interests that go against preconceived gender norms. But from the very first chapter, I was bored. The entire first chapter was set-up, which is fine, but there was no dialogue and no action, and it dragged. I gave the book a couple of tries but ultimately set it book aside after 20% because it was still setting up the story and nothing was happening.

*Please note I didn't leave a star rating on Goodreads because I don't believe in rating DNFs, but for the purposes of Netgalley, I'm rating the first 20% of the book.

I enjoyed this one, but it was a slow read for me. The story was solid, but slightly predicable. The characters were good, but also a little predictable. The writing was a bit clunky in some places for me. I will try another title by this author at some point.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and Kwana Jackson for this ARC. I really enjoyed Real Men Knit. It was sweet as well as poignant. I loved the Strong Brothers and can't wait for the rest of their stories. Kwana Jackson created such wonderful, vivid characters and a world that I loved getting to take glimpses of. Definitely recommend picking up this book.

I just couldn't get into Kwana Jackson's Real Men Knit. Nothing wrong with the book! Probably with me!

This reminded me of the brothers. It features four brothers coping with the loss of their adoptive mother. One of the brothers falls for a woman in his late mother's knitting shop. It's a little dragging in some points but a cute cozy romcom.

Real Men Knit by Kwana Jackson is one of those books that stick with you. I fell in love with the story of Mama Joy, her four adopted sons, the yarn shop, and of course Kerry Fuller. I'm always a fan of a unrequited love story, and this one was super cute. This book took a little to get into, I think in part of the set up needed to set the stage for the rest of the series. Though set in Harlem, it had a little bit of that small town romance feel. All the side characters were well written and the community came to life for me. Probably the favorite part of the book for me was the story of Mama Joy. I hope we will get more of her story through the rest of the series. I can't wait to read the stories of the other 3 brothers!

I really liked this one however I felt like it lacked steam and more of a build up that makes a romance just pop.

*CW: Death of a parent

What it's about: After his foster mom, Mama Joy, passes away, Jesse Strong wants to start over. Done with being known as the brother who breaks hearts and doesn’t do much with his life, Jesse convinces his other foster brothers to let him try and save Mama Joy’s failing knitting shop. Jesse teams up with part-time shop employee Kerry Fuller--who also happens to have a crush on the youngest Strong brother. The more time the two of spend together trying to save the store, the more their chemistry is undeniable.

What I liked:
-I really enjoyed the setting and the knitting shop itself & I loved the sense of community of the knitting shop.

What I didn’t connect with:
-It felt like nothing really happened. This is so hard to go into without spoilers, but basically, the story just flowed from page to page, and I remember getting to the end and thinking, "Oh, that's it?"
-The romance. The romance between Kerry and Jesse felt a little forced to me. I rooted for them both individually, but I never really loved them together.

Rating: 2.8-3/5 stars

*I received an arc courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Strong Knits in Harlem has met a crossroads, the founder Mama Joy has passed, and her four sons are torn about the future of the shop. Adding more interest to the story, all four boys were fostered and later adopted by Mama Joy, and only one, Jesse, wants to keep the shop open. Starting from that simple premise, the story looks like things will move smoothly from introduction to romance, but there is plenty of backstory for all of the characters that we are given before we actually move into the developing relationship between Jesse and Kerry, a childhood friend and part-time worker at the shop, is allowed to develop.

Despite the story being set in the four walls of a knitting shop, and the shop being a staple in the neighborhood, there's not a ton of knitting going on. We have issues and plenty of internal dialogue, backstories, grief and the reputation of Jesse as a ladies' man. It was a slow start with large amounts of information dumped, much of it rather tragic as all the Strong men went through the gamut of foster care. But, while the information provided background, it didn't allow the characters to step forward and engage, with the exception of Jesse. He was intriguing from the start, even with the large info dump, and his determination to keep the shop open and do Mama Joy proud was engaging and intriguing.

Romance is slow to develop but creates major pacing issues once the 'fact' is established, and the pacing throughout the story was uneven, again I believe, owing to the info dump at the start. I would have liked to have a bit more development in the characterization of the other three brothers, perhaps bringing their dialogue to a point where it would have felt more natural to share a bit of their backstory - but without that, they felt rather wooden and one-dimensional. Surprisingly, the writing flow and lyricism was solid enough to overcome these hiccups in construction, and it does appear that this was the first book in a series about the Strong brothers and their lives after their adoptive mother's death.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-aHE/” > <a> I am, Indeed

This is a rough one. On the one hand, it was really well-written, and I absolutely adored the entire Strong family. The dynamics at play between all of them will be fascinating to watch play out over the course of the rest of the series. And I will be reading the rest of the series. On the other hand, the romance between Jesse and Kerry was lacking that something special that makes you realize that these two people have finally found their person.

Strong Knits has always been a place for the community to gather, and after the sudden death of Mama Joy, the proprietor of the shop, its future, and the future of that community space, is uncertain. I loved this whole story line. The initial reaction of all of the Strong brother, minus Jesse, is to shut it down. Sell of the inventory, the furniture, pay off any debts, divide the profits, and go about their business. And, really, that’s the smartest course of action, if you’re looking at the situation pragmatically. But family matters, and grieving in particular, are hardly situations we look at pragmatically.

Jesse is the outlier. He wants to hold on to the shop, build it back up, keep it running to honor the memory of their late foster mother. Whew. The conversation between the four Strong brothers was brutal. All Jesse wants is to keep the shop running, to run it himself, and keep Mama Joy’s memory and her space going, and not one of the brothers has his back even briefly. Not for one second. And Jesse’s frustration and his resentment at their lack of belief in him was difficult to read because it was so visceral. We’ve all experienced that – knowing we can do something and finding not one iota of belief or trust around us. (Well, I have. If you haven’t, I’m very envious of you)

It’s not until Kerry agrees to work with Jesse to open the shop back up and continue that safe space that the brothers even entertain the idea of keeping the store running. Even then it’s grudging, more of a way to placate Kerry more than because they trust Jesse to manage. They’re all assuming they’ll let Kerry and Jesse work on their little project for a little while, then go ahead and close up the shop anyway as they’d planned all along. They’re very condescending to both of them, but it’s clear that this is the dynamic in the family; the way it’s always been. No one is surprised that this is how it’s working, they’re only surprised that Jesse wants to step up and do the work to begin with.

But the interplay between Kerry and Jesse didn’t work for me. I never felt the chemistry between them as much as I could tell Kwana Jackson wanted me to. They had a solid relationship, but it didn’t strike me as a romantic. Late in the book, during Kerry and Jesse’s breakup, one of Jesse’s brothers says to him:

"You’re the one who was all torn and confused in your thoughts, not sure if she was some sort of sister, girlfriend or surrogate mother."

And that’s the issue in a nutshell. Damian, Jesse’s brother, is right. For at least the first three-quarters of the book, Jesse’s thoughts were all over the place, and his confusion about how to even see Kerry, much less to deal with his feelings for her, came through in the book in a way that just wasn’t romantic. There’s a mutual “Holy shit, they’re hot”, but nothing deeper than that; nothing that made me believe these two people needed to be together forever. Based on their interactions, Kerry could have felt the way she did about any of the brothers and I would have believed it as much.

On the technical/writing side of this book, overall I enjoyed it. But the characters tended to just lose themselves in navel-gazing over and over, even in the middle of conversations, which made it hard to keep track of those conversations sometimes. Character A would ask a question, then Character B would ruminate for 5 pages before answering. I’d usually end up having to back to check the question again because I didn’t even remember what they were answering. That was really the only issue

Honestly, I’d read the rest of the series just to watch the relationship between the brothers. Because that part of it is perfect, and as a novel, I loved it. As a romance novel, though, it’s lacking. The romance piece isn’t a slow burn, it’s a non-burn until more than three-quarters through.

As soon as I started the book, I realized that the writing style wasn't going to work for me. I found it very dense, and I got the impression that everything that happened and everything that anyone thought, plus their backstories, was literally spelled out, and I found it exhausting to read. I did read a few chapters to get a better impression of the book and give it a fair chance, but it didn't improve for me, and I found myself uninterested in continuing.