Blurb:

Stanley’s life took a left turn at a knitting shop and hit a dead end. The closest thing he’s had to a relationship breaks things off to date a “nice boy,” and none of the pretty young things in Boulder’s limited gay scene do it for Stanley. He needs to reevaluate whether working as a floor designer for a series of craft stores is really where he wants to be.

Then Stanley does a peculiar thing: he starts to live the life he fell into. Stitch by stitch, he knits his life into something meaningful. Just when he does, Johnny, the store’s new delivery boy, walks in.

Johnny is like no one Stanley has ever met: he doesn’t believe in quickies in the bathroom and has a soft spot for theater and opera. There has to be a catch. When Johnny’s dark past comes back to haunt them, Stanley realizes how much he loves his cushy life in the yarn store—but he’ll give it all up to keep the man who makes his ordinary life extraordinary.

 Stats:

Rating:        ??????.5

Ratings are 1 to 5 stars and based mostly on GoodReads standards.
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Review:

Warning: I’m hopped up on cold meds. These are my thoughts as best I can cobble them under the influence of the strongest over-the-counter decongestants available. Don’t ask how I’m doing because being sick really just pisses me off. But I’ll tell you: I’m doing great, getting better every day. I’m in that stage of having sexy, sultry Kathleen Turner voice that I’d like to keep awhile so I can work on my life-long dream of being a lounge singer. If only I had a grand piano to sprawl across…or a decent singing voice.

I’ve digressed.

A lot.

This is pretty much classic Amy Lane.

And one of the many examples of why I love her stories.

Did ya see that cover?
There’s that adorable, fuzzy lambikins decked out in an adorable knitted sweater and adorable knitted hat, his little knock-kneed legs, and those ears that look so soft, and those lil’ lamby lips smilin’ a lil’ lamby smile. The background of skeins of colorful yarn that would make any granny…sorry, can’t go there about grannies…that would make many a knitter/yarn enthusiast quiver with glee.

You’re not sure what you’re gonna get with an Amy Lane book. The title, cover, and blurb don’t always quite give you all the info you need.

It’s always worth the risk, though.

Even when you think you’re settling into a cozy read about folks with an affinity for fuzzy-wuzzy lambs and knitting falling in love with people who love them for who they are with their quirky yarn philosophies and stuff-n-stuff, with a side of hot chocolate and marshmallows.

‘Cause, see? This is when !Amy Lane! will smack you upside the head with STUFF you’re not prepared for. THINGS begin to HAPPEN.

Your emotions get cranked through the wringer and juuust when you think that crank can’t go another round Amy Lane throws a little extra muscle into it for good measure.

You might cry…like I did just a little bit. You might laugh…like I did a lot. You might get a little tense, or angry, or scared…like I did some. And your heart might beat a little faster because of all the feels. But, in the end, you know down to your toes that her characters belong together. They’ve earned it.

So these characters…these are now my people. I’ve adopted them. All of them. I’m packing my bags as I type (I’m talented like that) and moving to some little town named Granby, Colorado I’d never heard of before this series. I don’t know nothin’ bout living in the mountains with snow and ice and stuff. And I don’t know how to knit a lick. I’m starting to think I might want to learn how so they’ll keep me.

This story about an aging (NOT OLD!) hoorish, snarky queen meeting a hot Eye-talian guy fresh out of the family kind of family and learning aaaaall about what love is supposed to be was fun and goodness with lots of sweet—and a few dashes of tense and some delightful purls of wisdom. (See what I did there? A knitting pun!) It’s kind of insta-love, which often doesn’t work for me. But, these guys have to work for it in life-altering ways that make me feel like it’ll stick.

I still think book two was my favorite in the series, but this was a blast and book four is definitely on my TBR list.

Review also posted on GoodReads and Amazon.