Real Men Knit by Kwana Jackson Review
Title: Real Me Knit
Author: Kwana Jackson
Part of a Series: Standalone - Though could see books coming out about the brothers.
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Plot: Four adopted brothers inherit their late mother’s knitting shop in Harlem. Jesse, the youngest and playboy of the group, decides that he wants to give running the shop a go. The other three brothers, Damian, Noah, and Lucas are against the idea because they don’t believe in Jesse’s work ethic or follow-through, but decide to give him a shot.
Jesse enlists the help of Kerry, Mama Joy’s part-time employee and surrogate daughter for nearly a decade, to help get him up to speed and reopen the shop for business.
Kerry agrees to help but keeps one foot and her heart firmly out the door because she’s heartbroken over Mama Joy’s passing, and worried she’ll lose her heart to longtime crush Jesse.
Thoughts:
I absolutely love the premise of this book. Four hot biracial adopted brothers inherit a knitting shop? Um, yes, please! However, this book was not a romance. It felt more like a family drama or a women’s fiction book.
I had a hard time getting into the writing style and the pacing felt very confusing. The first third of the book was very heavy on the exposition and telling me the plot versus helping me feel invested in the action and showing me what was happening.
At one point, I thought a chapter was setting up a menage between the brothers and Kerry, and then realized I was crazy and that was not happening even though I wished it did.
Since they introduced the four brothers and how different they were, I was expecting a set up for the “next” romances with the other brothers in future books.
Unfortunately, since this book was marketed as a romance, I will say that Jesse and Kerry in their minds said they liked and lusted after each other, but their words and actions didn’t help me feel like they had chemistry. They were both all in their heads constantly with their needs, feelings, and desires and I did not think their romance was front and center, nor was the HEA earned.
A lot of romances will plant the seeds of the “obvious” solution to the main couples and to me, the obvious ending was that she uses her art therapy degree and runs her sessions/classes out of the knitting shop. This never happened but I kept thinking it would.
McDreamy to McSteamy: I think he's supposed to grow into a McDreamy, but didn't get there for me. Classy to Nasty: PG-13 Vanilla fade-to-black
Classy to Nasty: PG-13 Vanilla fade-to-black
Hero rating: 🍆🍆 Again, I feel like the descriptor of him had me, but the actual reading of him fell so flat for me. Never feels good enough, doesn’t feel like he deserves love (which is warranted from his childhood, except that he got adopted by Mama Joy who loved him wholeheartedly and he has 3 brothers who love him). I liked that he went and made amends with his past lovers, but didn’t like that the reason was for the business and not because he realized what a dick he was by dating and dipping out. I didn’t like that he wasn’t willing to put his feelings on the line and talk to her honestly, till the grand gesture.
Heroine rating: 🍑🍑 I wanted to like her and for sure did at moments… like when she was taking care of herself, showing she was a grown woman, running her job/store capably, but didn’t like the way she lied about her feelings, and despite him trying to include her kept distancing herself the whole book, all the way to the end. Hard for me to root for and believe in their love when she didn’t.
Overall rating: ⭐⭐ Honestly, if I wasn’t reviewing for the podcast, this probably would have been a 1 star DNF since the opening 1/3 was so slow.
Buy it on Amazon | Bookshop: Support Local Bookstores
Recommendations: