Title: Knit the Season

Author: Kate Jacobs

Genre/Pages: Fiction (Series)/272 pages

Publication: G.P. Putnam’s Sons; November 3, 2009

Book Source:  Review copy courtesy of G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Rating: 4 Bookmarks

The third installment of The Friday Night Knitting Club, Knit the Season is a feel-good holiday book that celebrates friendships, family, new milestones, and unlimited possibilities for the future.

Knit the Season offers readers the chance to revisit the characters from The Friday Night Knitting Club and Knit Two, following them as they reconnect during a holiday season in New York and abroad.  A novel that continues to explore the dynamic of friendship between a group of diverse women, Knit the Season offers readers hope and joy after the long and sometimes painful road they’ve traveled with Georgia Walker, her daughter, friends, and family.

I, like many others, had a difficult time with the plot twist at the end of TFKNC, but this newest installment helped me see that  it served as an impetus for the other characters.  Kate Jacobs used the twist as a motivation for all the changes the characters make–they are dynamic–altering their life courses as a result of plot events. 

By using memory flashbacks from various characters’ perspectives, we get a closer look at how one character can influence the life path of others.  The flashbacks in Knit the Season also serve to enhance the characterization of Georgia Walker in her role as mother, sister, daughter, granddaughter, lover, and friend.  Like the Christmas tree garland she and her Scottish grandmother knit over the years, the characters are connected to each other by Georgia and form a strong chain that can’t be broken by the passage of time, distance, or age.

Fans of TFNKC and Knit Two will really enjoy catching up with the circle of friends, especially when they are each poised to embark on new and wonderful opportunities.  Knit the Season, to be fully appreciated, needs to be read after the first two novels.  Those books help build the relationships and back story that pave the way for the happiness and closure of  Knit the Season.

An enjoyable read, Knit the Season put me in a festive, upbeat mood.  Jacobs includes some knitting patterns and delicious recipes at the end of the novel, inspiring me to get in touch with my inner Martha Stewart!  If you’ve yet to read the TFNKC, consider adding it and the two follow-ups to your holiday wish list.

Thanks to Lydia at Putnam for this review copy!