Knit the Season by Kate Jacobs

Knit the Season is the third novel in the Friday Night Knitting Club series by Kate Jacobs. I first read the Friday Night Knitting Club this past spring for my book club. I quickly read Knit 2 to find out what would happen next. I was very excited to read on Suko’s Notebook that there was a new third novel in the series and it was a Christmas book. I love Christmas books!

Knit the Season picks up right after Knit 2 ends. Dakota Walker is becoming quite the young woman and is trying to determine what direction her life should take. Should she spend this Christmas with her family or take a wonderful intern opportunity at a great restaurant? Peri, Darwin, Lucie, KC, Catherine, and Dakota all help Anita plan her third wedding to her beloved Marty. Anita’s putz of a son, Nathan, has managed to thwart the previous attempts at a wedding. James tries to put away the memory of Georgia and move on with his life, while Catherine must decides whether to risk it all for love with Marco. The novel runs from Thanksgiving until New Year’s, therefore it is the perfect holiday novel!

I loved this novel as I love all of the characters and really enjoyed learning more about them. My only hope is that there will be more future novels. I wish that the novel would have been longer as characters such as Darwin, Lucie, and KC were very much relegated to the background. Also I like how the characters reflected on favorite past memories of Georgia, but I hope that future novels will move on from Georgia.

I’m not sure I would recommend this novel to someone who has not read the previous two books. I don’t think you would get the same amount out of the book if you didn’t have their background from the previous novels.

Overall, this was a great addition to the Friday Night Knitting Club series. This is my fifth and final book in the Christmas Reading Challenge.

Book Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

Knit 2 by Kate Jacobs

Knit 2 is the follow-up to Jacob's best seller, The Friday Night Knitting Club.

Knit 2 follows the members of the club five years after The events of The Friday Night Knitting Club. Several members have life changes, and several travel to Italy. Anita searches for her long lost sister. Dakota finds love and as a young college student, tries to determine what to do with her life.

This novel was okay, but The Friday Night Knitting Club was far superior. This novel was several random stories about the club members that were not tied together with a main character or problem as the first novel was. The novel spent far too much time talking about a dead character from the first book. Several storylines seemed to peter out before the end without resolution. I did enjoy reading this book, but it was a slow moving, and slow reading book.

The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs

I just finished reading The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs for my Lakeshore Mom's Book Club . . . just on time since my book club meeting is tomorrow night!!

Georgia Walker is an independent woman who owns her own knit store "Walker and Daughter" and struggles with trying to raise her 12-year old daughter Dakota. A core group of Walker and Daughter patrons organize the Friday Night Knitting Club where a little bit of knitting gets done, but also a lot of bonding. The book tells the story of the main group of Club characters, but focuses usually on Georgia, Dakota, and Georgia's mentor, Anita. When Dakota's father James reenters Georgia's life, things are brought to a turmoil.

I thought this book was a great story of female friendship. I also thought it was a good story that was true to life . . . as in life doesn't always go according to plan, but we make the most of it. One thing that can keep us all together is our bonds with others. These bonds are most important during times of crisis. I won't say more than that you need a box of kleenex with this book!

My only complaint is that I felt that some of the secondary characters were not developed enough. I loved some of them. . . Gran reminded me of my Great-Grandma Kile and Anita was a terrific friend. Others had good starts of stories (Cat-Georgia's "frenemy" from the past, Darwin-doctoral student with woes, Lucie-a woman starting out as a single mother), but they weren't well rounded or fleshed out behind 2-D characterization. A lot of questions were not solved by the end .. . hopefully they will be more developed in the sequel, Knit Two.

Overall I thought this was a great book and I really enjoyed reading it. I read online that this may become a movie starring Julia Roberts - one can only hope!