Book Review: Knit the Season

Last year, I included the book Knit Two by Kate Jacobs in my Holiday Gift Guide and reviewed it, even though I hadn’t quite finished the book at the time – nor had I read the first book the series, “The Friday Night Knitting Club”. Which is something that I quickly remedied, and can now say that these books are among my current favorites. So I was incredibly excited to have the opportunity to review the third and newest book in the series, which was just released a few days ago. “Knit the Season” continues the story begun in the first two books and offers another look into the lives of the women from the Friday Night Knitting Club.

What it is:

Knit the Season by Kate Jacobs takes place one year after the events of Knit Two, and brings us back into the lives of Dakota, Peri, Anita, Lucie, Catherine, Darwin and KC who are still struggling to accept the loss of their dear friend – Dakota’s mother Georgia Walker, the founder of the Walker and Daughter knitting shop and of the Friday Night Knitting Club which began and still takes place there. Although their lives have changed in various ways, the group of women still gathers on a regular basis to talk, gossip, catch up, munch on Dakota’s newest baked goods and of course, to knit. Here’s a synopsis of the book:

Knit the Season is a loving, moving, laugh-out-loud celebration of special times with friends and family. The story begins a year after the end of Knit Two, with Dakota Walker’s trip to spend the Christmas holidays with her Gran in Scotland-accompanied by her father, her grandparents, and her mother’s best friend, Catherine. Together, they share a trove of happy memories about Christmases past with Dakota’s mom, Georgia Walker-from Georgia’s childhood to her blissful time as a doting new mom. From Thanksgiving through Hanuk­kah and Christmas to New Year’s, Knit the Season is a novel about the richness of family bonds and the joys of friendship.

Knit the Season was published by Putnam Adult on November 3, 2009 and is 272 pages (hardcover edition). Courtesy of Kate Jacobs and G.P. Putnam’s Sons, I received an advance copy of the book to read and review.

Here’s my take on it:

Kate Jacobs is one of those authors that doesn’t just write books – she creates a world filled with characters whom seem real as you read their stories. I’m always disappointed when I finish a book like those she’s written and can’t follow the lives of the characters any further (at least not right away). It’s probably the biggest reason why I like to read books multiple times – to immerse myself back into the characters’ lives again.

I love the first two books in this series and was incredibly excited when the new one arrived. In fact, I finished it within 24 hours of receiving it, and have re-read the book twice since.    The book begins with Dakota having made plans for her Christmas vacation – without telling her father, James, about them. And James has made plans of his own as a surprise for his daughter – needless to say, the two sets of plans don’t exactly match. Dakota wants to sink herself into an exciting opportunity to intern in the kitchen of a prestigious hotel chain during her break from culinary school, where her father has booked a trip for them to visit Dakota’s great-grandmother in Scotland. The rest of the knitting club members have their own challenges as well – with Peri debating over a job offer that would take her far away from the Walker and Daughter knitting store that she’s managed since the death of the owner, and Lucie and Darwin raising their children out in the suburbs. Then there’s the oft-rescheduled wedding of Anita and her beau, Marty, who struggle with trying to tie the knot over the strenuous objections of Anita’s son Nathan. With the holiday season as a backdrop, each of the members of the Friday Night Knitting Club struggles to make the choices and decisions that are both in their own best interests, without tearing apart the group that’s come to mean so much to them all.

This series isn’t just the story of a group of women who bond over knitting (a craft which I enjoy as well), but a look into how different people cope with loss, especially over time and after the rest of the world generally expects you to be able to ‘move on’ with your life. Having lost a mother, a surrogate daughter, a lover, a mentor and a friend, the characters who inhabit Kate Jacobs’ books all know that they need to move on – but how to do so without forgetting or dis-honoring the woman who brought them all together, is one of the central themes of the second two books in the series. I fully admit that this is one of my all-time favorite series and I greatly hope that Kate Jacobs will write another one soon. 

The bottom line:

Knit the Season by Kate Jacobs is a moving continuation of the story begun in The Friday Night Knitting Club and continued in Knit Two. Over the holiday season, the knitting club group comes together once again to celebrate new beginnings, mourn their loss yet again, and help young Dakota Walker understand her mother through sharing their memories of her.

Where can you find it?:

You can purchase the hardcover edition of Knit the Season anywhere that books are generally sold, as well as on Amazon. The list price for the book is $24.95.

This post courtesy of: Kate Jacobs and G.P. Putnam’s Sons. No payment or compensation, other than product samples as described above, was received for this post.