Member Reviews
Thanks NetGalley for the preview!
This book started slow but I loved the concept! I love the idea that crafters all come together for a common goal. The narrator was pleasant and did a good job.
Thoroughly enjoyed Poppy Dolan’s audiobook, The Woolly Hat Knitting Club, read by Lizzie Wofford. I’ll be looking into Poppy’s other books, hopefully also on audio, for some summer reading! Lizzie’s performance is fantabulous! Check it out!
I was really excited when I got approved for this one as this book combines my two passions - knitting and reading!
Overall I enjoyed the story and watching Dee grow, but I was having trouble connecting to her as a person. I wanted more from the side characters, and I wished this one would’ve had more romance! I think I might have enjoyed this more if I opted for the physical copy instead
This was an easy and pleasant read, great for those looking for something fluffy to binge if they don’t have the mental capacity for heavy literary fiction. But ultimately the plot wasn’t groundbreaking. Still highly recommend!
*I want to thank Netgalley for this free ebook in exchange for an honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This was an easy and pleasent read for me. At first I found it difficult to connect with Delilah but once I did, I loved her and her kind heart.
The book had many funny moments but lacked a bit in the romance department.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed this book.
I really enjoyed the relationship between Dee and Jp.
All the yarn and knitting talk was great. I am a knitter
so I could relate. Overall this was a fun crafty read.
Thanks Net galley for the Audio Arc.
This was a cute story about family helping family, reconnecting with old friends, figuring out what is important to yourself, and of course with a little enemy to lovers romance thrown in for good measure.
I really enjoyed this story. It was cute, quirky, and just the right amount of romance. The characters were all lovable, even when they were being less than loveable. Overall, a great little read.
I loved this book!
The story is so heart warming and had such a feel-good vibe to it that I couldn't help smiling along while listening to the story.
I usually listen to audiobooks while I'm out walking, and I really enjoyed passing the time with such likeable characters. The relationships in the story seemed so genuine, from the friendship between Dee and Becky, to the brother-sister camaraderie between Dee and JP.
The narrator had a fabulous tone and the range of voices for each character was delightful.
A very enjoyable read with a great story behind it.
I'm a sucker for a romance set in a knitting shop and this was a really sweet one. I loved the relationship between the protagonist and the love interest - but also her relationship to her brother and her community.
5 Words: Betrayal, knitting, family, friendship, ambition.
This book was absolutely delightful. It was heartfelt and inspiring.
Before reading this book I had never knitted in my life. Now I'm a knitting machine (kind of) and halfway through the super-long, super-soft scarf of my dreams. I'm nowhere near knitting woolly hats for premature babies, but that's my goal.
Fun, sweet romp. Love the idea of a male knitter becoming a celebrity. It touched on all the right notes for pandemic reading - not challenging or upsetting. Uplifting and refreshing. Nice twist. Enjoyed it.
Lobed, loved , loved this book! So delightfully charming and funny, with a great narrator. Brilliant.
I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the audio version. Very cute story! The cover is really adorable! Highly recommend! I am an avid crocheter and also made hundreds of premie baby hats for a church group and then were sent over to Africa. This reminded me so much of that!
#thewoolyhatknittingclub by #PoppyDolan is a lovely wee story featuring a sibling relationship, and a sister who is lost in her own life but will move mountains for her brother. There’s a side of romance which I am relieved wasn’t the main focus. It is a predictable but an easy read and I kept setting it down and then picking it up a week or two later. Thanks to #netgalley and #sagaegmont for gifting me an arc in exchange for an honest review
I received an audiobook ARC of The Woolly Hat Knitting Club from NetGalley and Saga Egmont Audio, despite this all of my opinions are my own.
First, I want to start talking about the actual novel itself. The Woolly Hat Knitting Club follows Delilah when her life drops into what feels like a downward spiral, issues at work and her brother being injured to the point of needing great help in daily tasks has her traveling back to her home town to help out with their family run knitting store. This story weaves together fun light moments with some deeper soul searching all with the background of the amazing and intricate crafting world. I feel like this novel really does have a little bit of everything, you get to see aspects of the corporate world, small business, crafting, it brings you on a all around journey. If you're a romance fan this novel has a little dash of it for you, if you're looking for the type of main character who's a little bit oblivious when it comes to love then find it right here. Near the end of this novel there were parts of the story that had me grinning so bright, blushing so read and just genuinely screaming into my pillow because of how sweet and wonderful it had gotten. Overall, if you're a fan of Sophie Kinsella, I'd say pick this up, and it's not just because they're both English.
Now, in terms of the audiobook aspect, because yes I did listen to the audiobook. Over this past year I've listened to my fair share of audiobooks, once voiced by men and women as well as both, American ones, English ones and so I feel like I have a good foundation to talk about it. This novel has a single narrator, this is standard, the book is only from Delilah's perspective. In terms of the actual voice acting, I found that it was sometimes hard to distinguish characters if I wasn't paying full 100% attention, the voices just didn't feel like they had a lot of distinction to them. The other thing that I found quite difficult with this was sometimes it was hard to tell if something was just narrative or if it was actual dialogue, this may have been because the story, if I'm not mistaken is in first person, but overall it just felt hard sometimes to fully grasp what other characters knew and didn't as I couldn't figure out what they were hearing, this isn't fully on the audiobook narrator though, this could also be due to the writing. Overall, the audiobook wasn't bad, it continued to get better and better as we got closer to the end, but I do think that the audiobook presentation of this brought my rating down just a tad.
This was a fun and cute little story, but nothing more than that. Ultimately and perhaps unsurprisingly, I think I probably would have enjoyed this book more if I were a knitter or at least knew more about knitting.
It is a cute and cosy read ofcourse. But sometimes I felt it was stretched a bit so I had a hard time focusing on. The romance bit was quite not strong but it was not an issue. Thank you Netgalley for approving my request.
This seemed a cute and cosy read, especfially as it focused on knitting. Unfortunately, I found it dragged quite a lot and never really picked up.
I also felt it wasn't super heavy on the romance so it was mis-marketed, and I never particularly connected to any of the characters in this book. It felt as if they hadn't been at all developed or fleshed out as much as Dee, but were only there for decoration.
This just wasn't for me.
This is a very sweet story filled with those things that should be the most important in our lives - family and friends and a nice hobby that should be learnt in our spare time. :)
Since the topic of the book is mostly centered around knitting I felt great being able to learn something new and to enjoy the inner and outs of a lovely craft.
Since this was an audio book I feel the need to praise the narrator a LOT! She was simply amazing and brought the story to life totally and utterly. She represented the voices - literally and figuratively - of all the characters in a right manner and I was compelled - in the good way - to listen to her.
That the love story isn't the focal point made it a very nice book to enjoy and that the forging friendships were the important part of the story was a huge pulse.
But why only 3 stars you may ask? It was in the end a very predictable story, one that I probably won't remember for long and one that won't stay with me.
That said it was a pleasant read and made me smile. :)
The story goes mostly the predictable fashion, as does every book in this genre. But where it really clicked with me was in the following points:
👉 The sibling relationship between Dee and JP is so well-written! Rarely does a book show all sides of a sibling connection from overprotectiveness to tussles to teasing repartees to mutual love (though secret). I loved that this book put the sibling relation first in its priority. Every other relationship came second.
👉 The characters are pretty loveable within their straightforward arcs. Dee especially worked her way into my heart. She is passionate about whatever she takes up, to the point of ignoring everything else. She thinks she is a good judge of people, falls flat on her assumptions almost every time, and still stands tall, learning from her mistakes. The contrast between hers and JP’s characters is amazing, adding further fun to their sibling banter.
👉 The romance is clean, really squeaky clean. Such a relief to see that in contemporary novels of this genre!
👉 While I’m not into knitting, I still enjoyed all the knitting-related activities detailed out in the book. JP’s fervour for knitting was almost contagious. The way the knitting community comes together to support premature babies was heart-touching.
👉 I have it on good authority (read, two of my knitter friends 😛) that women love men who knit. This fact doesn’t really rock my boat, but if you are one of those who went ga-ga over Tom Daley and his Olympic knitting activities, well… you have TWO good-looking blokes in this story, one who knits passionately and one who attempts knitting for his passion.
👉 The pace of the book also works in its favour and it goes by very quickly.
👉 There are some really lovely lines in the book. Here’s one:
"When you have no say in the big things, you can at least choose to notice the small things and enjoy them right there and then."
👉 Additional bonus points for including detailed knitting instructions for a preemie hat at the end.
I don’t really have any major negative points for this book. My only issue was with the start because it was too straightforward, but once Dee was fired from her job, the book became much more interesting. (Of course, predictability can’t be a negative here because this genre needs formulaic storylines and happy endings.) The story was as I expected, maybe even a teeny bit better. As a chick-lit, it does its job really well. It’s a warm and cosy read, perfect for the days you want something relaxing and heart-warming.