“If you’re looking for an easy charmer, this is the novel for you.”—Shondaland When their foster-turned-adoptive mother suddenly dies, four brothers struggle to keep open the doors of her beloved Harlem knitting shop.Jesse Strong is known for two things: his devotion to his adoptive mom, Mama Joy, and his reputation for breaking hearts. When Mama Joy unexpectedly passes away, he and his … passes away, he and his brothers have different plans for what to do with Strong Knits, their neighborhood knitting store. Jesse wants to keep the store open. His brothers want to tie off loose ends and close shop….
Part-time shop employee Kerry Fuller has kept her crush on Jesse a secret. When she overhears his impassioned plea to his brothers to keep the knitting shop open, she volunteers to help. Unlike Jesse, Kerry knows the “knitty-gritty” of the business, and together they make plans to reinvent Strong Knits for a new generation.
But the more time they spend together, the stronger the chemistry builds between them. Kerry, knowing Jesse’s history, doesn’t believe their relationship can last longer than she can knit one, purl two. But Jesse is determined to prove to her that he can be the man for her forever and always. After all, real men knit.
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Real Men Knit is marketed as a multicultural romance, and I suppose it is, but it’s so much more than that. This is an absolutely charming story of family, friendship, community, and finding your place in this world, and as an added bonus, we get some romance in there too. This is a completely engaging book from page one, but the characters are where it really shines. They’re well rounded and interesting, and – well, real, they just feel real. Of course, that just adds another layer to an already good story, plus it’s pretty easy to root for a couple when you feel like you know them. The romance here may have been between Jesse and Kerry, and I don’t know if there are plans for a series or not, but I’d love to get each brother’s romance in turn. The book is well written, fast-paced, and in a crazy world full of troubles, it’s exactly what we need – something to leave us smiling.
This is a slow-burn, friends to lovers, found family delight that leans more towards women’s fiction than romance. Jackson created memorable characters that will stick with you for a long time. Plus, I got to learn what a chopped cheese sandwich is. I can’t wait to see which of the Strong brothers is the next to fall. Jackson is firmly on my auto-buy list.
CW: grief
If Kwana Jackson’s sweet confection of a book doesn’t make you yearn to knit, then nothing will. For one thing, you have the four Strong brothers: four ripping hot men brought together by a fierce woman, the appropriately named Mama Joy, who adopted them, showing them love and security. But with her death come painful decisions. Do they keep her knitting store open?
Fortunately, the youngest Strong, the rascally Jesse, is determined to keep Strong Knits going. Equally as fortunately, Kerry has volunteered to help him, her massive crush on him notwithstanding. She’s the right woman for him, even as he comes by his player reputation honestly.
The romance is important because it allows Kerry to come into her own with confidence and strength and for Jesse to learn that he is more than his reputation. But the romance is almost secondary to the culture of Strong Knits. Kwana Jackson’s supporting cast is fun, and you want to get to know them. They form a community that supports Jesse and Kerry, even as they increasingly rely on the duo to support them as well. There will be times when you want to weep, whether with joy or sadness.
I adored this book! I love the characters Kwana Jackson creates, and I love the sweetness of this romance. I can’t wait to get to know the other three Strong men.
Real Men Knit is the cozy tale you didn’t know you needed. Jackson reminds us that in life, as well as in knitting, there’s never a problem that can’t be fixed.
I couldn’t get enough of the Strong brothers! With the right amount of heart and heat Real Men Knit is the perfect book to get lost in.
In Real Men Knit, Kwana Jackson weaves a beautifully rich story about love, loss, redemption, and found family. This emotional, funny, and sexy friends-to-lovers romance introduces us to the enticing Strong brothers & has me clamoring for more!
Kwana’s characters and vivid world-building leap off the page in this hilarious and heartwarming frenemies-to-lovers story. I can’t wait to read about the rest of the Strong brothers!
I love the premise of this book, I love the Strong brothers, and I especially love Kerry! Jesse and Kerry are perfect for each other, and their romance gave me all the feels! This story has it all…love, romance, friendship, family, community, and some sexy times! I’m already obsessed with a couple of other characters I think need to be together in a future book!
* * * 3/4
Mama Joy’s death is a sudden and unexpected loss to her four sons and the tight-knit Harlem community they live in. Her store, Strong Knits, has been an institution providing not only beautiful ware for knitters to buy but also a haven for like-minded folk and anyone looking for a place to belong. Nobody knows that more than Jesse and Kerry.
Jesse was one of Mama Joy’s four adopted sons and this has been his only family. Even though he’s recently been adrift with regards to his personal life, Mama Joy never made him feel unloved. While his brothers may view the future of the shop differently, Jesse firmly believes that he can carry on Mama Joy’s legacy and make the store successful. All he needs is a little help and for someone who believes in him. Enter Kerry, who’s known the Mama Joy and the boys for years. She feels the loss as much as they do and wants very much to keep Strong Knits going. She offers to help Jesse whip the store into shape and show him what she learned from working with his mother.
I liked the setting of a knitting store and come on, four men who inherit it as part of their family’s legacy? That’s an intriguing concept. It obviously challenges the concept of gender roles with these four guys who grew up learning how to knit. They’re self-assured young men with different careers, except for Jesse. But it’s okay that he hasn’t quite figured himself out yet because that’s what he’s doing now. He’s filled his time with distractions, like the endless women that he’s hooked up with. Now he has to prove that he can handle responsibility and make good choices. This is about keeping the store in business as it is about his own direction. Kerry has seen the parade of women and can only eyeroll at him though it never stopped her from falling for his charm. She offers to stay on to help while putting a pause on her own career ambitions.
I have to say that I was excited about how Jesse and Kerry would save the store but there didn’t seem to be much time spent on that aside from vague references and ideas scattered throughout the story. I really wanted to see more of their business ideas to get a tangible picture in my mind. That was the book’s major pull for me, initially. Instead, a lot of time was spent on Jesse’s missteps with the women in his past and facing down his brothers when they became skeptical of his plans. Between those two subplots I was more interested in him strengthening his bond with his brothers. There was plenty of longing going on between Kerry and Jesse that took its time to come to fruition.
While I would’ve preferred a more streamlined plot that focused more on the store and the artistry of knitting as Jesse and Kerry gradually fell in love, Real Men Knit is still an interesting read and I’m glad I’ve finally read my first Kwana Jackson book!
~ Bel
Source: ARC provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review
Real Men Knit
Kwana Jackson
https://www.facebook.com/KmJacksonAuthor/
Release date 05/19/2020
Publisher Berkley
Blurb :
When their foster-turned-adoptive mother suddenly dies, four brothers struggle to keep open the doors of her beloved Harlem knitting shop.
Jesse Strong is known for two things: his devotion to his adoptive mom, Mama Joy, and his reputation for breaking hearts. When Mama Joy unexpectedly passes away, he and his brothers have different plans for what to do with Strong Knits, their neighborhood knitting store. Jesse wants to keep the store open. His brothers want to tie off loose ends and close shop….
Part-time shop employee Kerry Fuller has kept her crush on Jesse a secret. When she overhears his impassioned plea to his brothers to keep the knitting shop open, she volunteers to help. Unlike Jesse, Kerry knows the “knitty-gritty” of the business, and together they make plans to reinvent Strong Knits for a new generation.
But the more time they spend together, the stronger the chemistry builds between them. Kerry, knowing Jesse’s history, doesn’t believe their relationship can last longer than she can knit one, purl two. But Jesse is determined to prove to her that he can be the man for her forever and always. After all, real men knit.
My Review :
Will they be able to see past their own preconceived ideas …
I do not often read contemporary romances, but the blurb of this book caught my eyes, I so loved the idea of men knitting, sexy men.
It is romance first but also a tale of family love and friendship.
This story demonstrates the power of a mother’s love, Ma Joy with her wise words and enormous heart brought and raised together four very different boys, becoming the cement between them. But she didn’t stop at her home door, taking under her wings many of the lost kids in the area like Kerry, if they were willing to accept her free affection. Not up to her sons to entertain her life’s work or bury it forever.
So Jesse, the youngest of Ma Joy’s boy, finds himself even more lost than before with the sudden death of his adoptive mother. And for her, he is unwilling to let her legacy go. Still, to make it work, he will need to bring himself together, and figure out what he really expects from life.
Jesse is very flawed, having a hard time to stay put, always moving from one place to another or one he’d to another. Like many kids rescued from the foster system, he hides some deep wounds, like seing him as unable to hold and keep someone else’s love, thus him running away from any commitment.
Kerry nearly grew up in Ma Joy’s shop, when at first, it was her escape from her too small home and always in love’s mother, soon more than a refuge, it became her second family. There she found a listening ear and a purpose.
For years those two turned around each other, Kerry watching him from a for hopping from one meaningless fling to another, when she was only Kerry girl for the four siblings. Jesse blinded himself, afraid of being once again left behind, he refused to see what was right in front of him.
Their romance is on the slow burn side as slowly Jesse reconsiders everything he thought and knew about Kerry, she is any more a girl but a woman, a woman who appears to know what she wants. So while Jesse falls for her, she tries to distance herself, refusing to be the one pining for him when he might leave her as he did all the others. By denying their feelings in the hope to not get hurt, they let their pride be a shield to their soul as if they could avoid to feel and stop their heart to beat.
4 stars for this sweet tale exploring Harlem community, with behind closed doors sensual scenes.
Now who’s next brother?
I was granted an advance copy by the publisher Berkley, here is my true and unbiased opinion.
https://www.facebook.com/429830134272830/posts/625812591341249/?d=n
I was looking forward to reading this book after seeing the blurb and the cute cover . Unfortunately, it was not what I’ve expected! I’d say this book is more about family relationship and community support than about romance. The romance element is too slow, not until 70% in the book did they just start to have a little spark .
Growing up, Kerry Fuller had always sought shelter at Strong Knits, a little knit shop run by Mama Joy. It was her safe haven where she embraced Mama Joy’s love and comfort. When Mama Joy died suddenly, she had to face a decision to get out of this comfort zone and into the real world, yet she didn’t want to lose this place where it held so many warm memories…
Jesse Strong was the youngest of 4 boys from different backgrounds whom Mama Joy took in from group homes and officially adopted, and he was the only one with no real career or life purposes. Upon their mother’s death, they had to decide on the fate of the shop. Against his brothers’ skepticism and objection, Jesse convinced them to let him give it a try to revive the shop and to continue their mother’s legacy. And they couldn’t be more grateful when Kerry offered to stay and help them transform the shop…
While it’s quite a pleasant read, I just didn’t see much connection between Kerry and Jesse. The close proximity would have had so much potential for romance development. But she was too guarded, pushing him away at every turn, and he was too busy swimming in his shame and self-reproach , to the point I got frustrated and wanted to knock some sense into both , which was almost at the end of the book . That being said, I did enjoy the relationship among the brothers, their love and respect for their mother, and how much effort they all put in to keep the shop open and thriving, as well as the supportive community that helped them through the tough time. I just wish the romance were stronger and more convincing .
3.5 read for me!
*Special thanks to Berkley romance for this free ARC via Edelweiss.*
[book will drop May 9,2020]
“Though she didn’t want to admit it, she was putting a portion of her life on hold for their needs”
Kerry Fuller and the four boys adopted by Joy Strong were left with a conundrum when Mamma Joy died of a heart attack. What would the boys do withe their legacy: Strong Knits, a touchstone for generations in Harlem. Since Mamma Joy’s funeral, the 5 of them were looking toward the future…well, the 4 men were. Kerry, who’d been connected to the store since the 4 boys were adopted by Joy when they were young, now saw clearly exactly what Joy had done to keep the brownstone over their heads and the store running. Would they be able or, or even want to keep it?
Kerry, who’d helped Mamma Joy keep the store running as her clerk, even as she’d gone on to get her degree, offers to show them the ropes, and much to her surprise, Jesse steps up and says he’ll try to keep the shop running. Kerry, who’s been attracted to him since they were young, has really mixed feelings about all this… can she keep her feelings in check?
I had such high hopes for this book, but it read a bit like my own attempts at knitting with dropped story lines. It was disappointing that we were almost to p 235 before the actual store: Strong Knits was the focus. Jesse, Noah, Lucas and Damian- the “real men” have tangled and entangled lives yet the act like the messed up kids they must have been growing up. And, IMHO, “Kerry Girl”needs to be seen as a grown woman, NOT a substitute for Mamma Joy personally or professionally.
I might want to visit the store, but I wouldn’t be a regular customer. I’d really be interested in what might have been edited out of the story…. I liked it 3/5