Flynn has always taken a backseat to everyone else in her life. Her father, with his drinking problems, her siblings, who she's raised ever since her mother was diagnosed with an incurable disease, and even her knitting club, where she only pretends to know how to knit and instead spends the time playing hostess to the ladies who come over. The only person she hasn't put first is her boyfriend Beau, the town Sheriff, who has asked her so many times to marry him that it isn't a new thing anymore. And she isn't certain why she doesn't want to marry him. It can't be that she still has a crush on a boy from highschool. A boy who went to prison and has recently returned to town. After all, loving him would not be the responsible thing to do.
Flynn was too flighty for me. She's supposed to be a level-headed, grounded person, and yet she flys off the handle on nearly everything that's presented to her. She's a hard worker, but doesn't take time for herself and the martyr act is tiring after awhile and makes it hard to like her. By contrast, Jesse is actually one of the better characters. At least you understand his motives and he's not as far out there as Beau and his weird need to rescue damsels in distress. Jesse may have gone to prison and had a wild youth, but at least he's more level-headed than everyone else in the book. I really can't say there were a lot of genuinely nice characters here, they all have motives and imperfections and are a bit selfish. Yes, that's realistic, but it's a romance novel, I need warm fuzzies too!
If it weren't for the weaker characters the plot was actually interesting. You have a guy just out of prison who's the main love interest. Which is unusual. A sheriff who's the bad guy. Ok, not so unusual, but still a good antagonist as there is a lot of power there. And then you have your typical strong female romance protagonist who doesn't need any man. Yet wants one because he curls her toes. Add in a lot of people who make bad personal decisions and the book has a lot going on at least. Although for as thick as it was, it was fast paced and the ending felt a bit rushed. I also didn't learn anything new about knitting than I did before and having rushed into this thinking it was sort of a crafty, cozy novel, I was a bit disappointed. Yes, the main character is in a knitting club and has aspirations to open a knitting shop, but that was mostly how the knitting was described. No in-depth descriptions of projects, no how-to's on knitting something. In fact, I think the sex scenes had more detail than the knitting scenes.
I would probably read the next in the series (just because it has quilting in the name) but I'll be forewarned that it probably won't have much to do about the craft. I just hope the characters are a little more likable.
The Sweethearts' Knitting Club
Copyright 2009
384 pages
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