Book Review: The Woolly Hat Knitting Club (Chick Lit)

The Woolly Hat Knitting Club

by 

Poppy Dolan 

 

Publisher: Canelo

Publication date: 25th September 2017

Pages: 300

Format read: eBook

Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley

Finding happiness one stitch at a time

When Dee Blackthorn’s brother, JP, breaks both wrists not only is he in need of a helping hand – or two – but the knitting shop he owns can’t function. Sisterly duties take Dee away from her demanding job and she is unceremoniously fired amidst rumours of inappropriate behaviour. Dee is certain that her hot-shot nemesis, Ben, is behind it all but has no proof.

When Dee bumps into an old friend who is new mum to a premature baby she convinces JP to enlist his knitting pals to make lots of tiny woolly hats. Then Ben turns up denying involvement in Dee’s sacking and she ropes him into helping the knitting cause.

But before long Dee’s good intentions backfire and she risks losing her friends, her family and Ben, who’s turned out to be not so bad after all…

A feel-good romantic comedy about learning what life is really all about, The Woolly Hat Knitting Club is perfect for fans of Cathy Bramley, Tilly Tennant and Carole Matthews.

 

Delilah, Dee to her friends and family, has a high powered corporate job that she loves. She knows she is the best at her job always working long hours, going above and beyond for clients. Work is her life!

Dee gets unexpectedly fired, over rumours of her behaving inappropriately, which leaves her free to help her brother with his knitting and haberdashery shop.

I really enjoyed Dee and JP’s relationship. Dee is the big sister and it was plain to see she would do anything for him. JP had found his niche in life after dropping out of the corporate world following a break down. Initially knitting was used as JP’s therapy but he loved it and was good at it. With Dee’s financial help he opened a haberdashery and also started a knitting blog called “About a (Knitting) Boy”.

Dee throws everything into helping JP boost his business. This is what she is good at. But she always thinks she knows best and forges ahead without consulting JP. Cracks start to appear in their relationship. Cracks she may not be able to mend.

Dee is still seething over losing her job. She knows exactly who back-stabbed her and she is going to make him pay. But is she right?

The Woolly Hat Knitting Club is the perfect read for any knitting enthusiast. The story is filled with knitting, humour, community spirit and a tiny bit of romance.

Dee catches up with a friend that recently gave birth to a premmie baby and a scheme slowly develops across the plot to knit hats for premmie babies, getting the whole community involved in the venture.

There are plenty of familiar features for knitters, like CraftCon, knitathons and beginner knitting classes. All with a good dose of humour included.

The main characters are all likeable and relatable. Dee and JP have a wonderful relationship, they tease each other and bicker occasionally but you can see the closeness there. Ben, Dee’s work nemesis, knows Dee doesn’t like him and can’t understand why. He never gives up on her. Best friend Beckie is the quintessential new mum; she is scared, tired, and rundown but totally in love with her new baby boy. Maggie, the adopted Grandma, is the epitome of selflessness; she looks after her own ageing mother but always has time for Dee and JP, never once complaining.

The Woolly Hat Knitters Club is a feel-good story about finding what makes you happy, with themes of knitting as therapy, new motherhood, premmie babies, judging people by appearance, work overload, community spirit and men who knit.

‘Turns out that knitting is pretty perfect for those times when your head is reeling and your hands need something to do.” – Dee Blackthorn

Do men knit? I think we all know that men knit but do they knit and blog? I thought I would do a quick Google search and this is the first one I found; Good for a Boy Knitting  www.goodforaboy.com  It’s definitely worth a look.

Content: Minimal swearing

                 Clean romance

My Rating    4/5       🌟🌟🌟🌟

Poppy Dolan is a rom com afficiando. After watching When Harry Met Sally at the impressionable age of 14, she’s never stopped dreaming of having the perfect ‘meet-cute’, that one-liner that steals your heart and the grand romantic gesture to end all grand romantic gestures. Since her real-life dating experiences were more often situated at Nando’s than the top of the Eiffel Tower, she turned to fiction and wrote romantic comedies of her own. She self-published her first novel,The Bad Boyfriends Bootcamp, in May 2012 and made it into the Kindle top 100.

Poppy lives with her other half in Buckinghamshire and now finds romantic value in a cup of tea appearing on her desk and someone who gives you the other bit of their Twix without being asked. Besides, the top of the Eiffel Tower is most likely very chilly and Ryan Gosling won’t return her calls.