This author is my heroine, so I was really, really excited when Hodder & Stoughton gave me the chance to read this new book to review! What an opportunity it was!!
Well I wasn’t disappointed! As always the story was beautiful, the characters were inspiring and it all tied up together beautifully!
Basically, the story follows Gertie, a young Scottish lady, who still lives at home with her mother and grandmother. They had a knitting circle of friends, who spent every day all together, gossiping amiably about all the things that were going on in their little village. Gertie however, although she has a job at the local shop, and has done for several years, gets a little fed up sometimes but wonders if she has the courage for a change, being so painfully shy as she can be! She’s also very much single and has struggled to find anyone to share her life with, but trying is not the problem!.
Struan, the local music teacher and band member, lives with his girlfriend in his flat in town. He loves everything about it, the view, its location and the fact he can play his music late at night if he fancies without disturbing anyone!. He’s getting a bit worried that he and Saskia don’t want the same things anymore. If they ever did really! That’s a tough one to acknowledge. He loves her, so he carries on trying to please her…
Morag and Nalitha need to cover Nalitha’s maternity leave, and want Gertie to take the job. They think she’d be perfect, after they witness her dealing with a difficult customer.
Morag is still with Gregor, the ornithologist who lives on the remote island of Inchborn. Their story was told in the last book Jenny Colgan wrote The Summer Skies.
So Gertie has lots of adventures in her story and a happy ending, as always in Jenny’s books!!
Thank you so much to Hodder & Stoughton for the opportunity to read this arc copy via Netgalley. My opinion is my own.
#Netgalley, #HodderStoughton, #JennyColganBooks.

Another great story from Jenny Colgan - set in the Scottish Highlands, we revisit some old friends but this can be read as a stand alone. A bit slow to start, but I really enjoyed it.

Set in the Scottish highlands this lovely book follows the lives of Gertie, who lives with her mum and grandmother in a tiny cottage and Morag, a pilot who runs a small airline which runs between the islands in the north of Scotland.
Surrounded by the knitting circle (a group of knitters to come together to knit and chat) and living her life with 3 generations of women and a simple job in a supermarket Gertie isn’t thrilled by her life.
When the chance comes to make changes - a new job working with old schoolfriend Morag on the local airline, new friends and even a possible new romance - a world of possibilities opens up before Gertie. Is this the way to make her dreams come true?

I found this slow to get into to begin with during the first half, however it picked up in the second half and went from a 3 star book to 4 stars towards the end. An enjoyable read.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

A gentle book set in the Northern Isles of Scotland. I have never read anything by Jenny Colgan previously. Very pleasant and good read for a rainy day.

Gertie has a head full of romantic dreams and her hands full of knitting. Lacking confidence and reaching thirty without much happening in her life, she takes a new job at the small island airport.
From this she starts to make friends, gain confidence and falls for handsome Calum.
Set in a small village in Scotland, this book has a great cast of characters.
An enjoyable read.

This is a beautifully written and wonderfully warming heartfelt story set in beautiful Scotland and featuring a group of characters that by the end of chapter one you can’t wait to find out more about.

Morag and her grandfather pilot a small local plane and their trusty ground crew/stewardess is nearing her maternity leave. In a small town there are few who seem likely replacements, however Gertie who works in the local shop and has been a perennial wallflower is offered the job.

This is essentially the story of Gertie, her loves, quirks, objects of admiration and her development into a heroic and caring woman. The book sees the children of the town on the plane to an annual walking and climbing trip, which is unexpectedly snowed in. Gertie and teacher Straun are both challenged to keep the charges safe and get down in one piece.

Great writing and fun characters facing real challenges and matching up to them. Loved it.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Read as a stand alone, a lovely cosy feel good story with a real sense of community pulling together and very vivid descriptions of the Scottish landscapes.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

Cute book and I was so relieved that the ridiculous errors and spelling issues that seem to plague JC's books have been sorted. I liked the setting, most of the characters, but I did think the romance was completely negligible and seemed to have been just shoved in almost as an afterthought. Fairly disappointed by that but I did enjoy the book overall.

🧶🧶🧶🧶🧶🧶🧶

Romantic knitter Gertie is filled with dreamy aspirations, especially when she crosses paths with the dashing millionaire Calum Frost through her new job at Carso's mini-airline.

After all, aren't millionaires looking for a grounded, down-to-earth girl to connect with?

Struan, a passionate Primary school music teacher and ceilidh musician, loves his job and his girlfriend Saskia. However, he senses that her ambitions for their future might differ, particularly since he's content with his life and not eager to move into her newly built apartment complex.

With familiar characters like Morag and her boyfriend Gregor, her grandad Ranald, her friend Nalitha, and Calum, the story unfolds in a gorgeous, soothing setting, peppered with subtle humour.

@jennycolganbooks offers another rich, summery delight, perfect for a summer read, complete with moments of peril towards the end and beautifully developing relationships. Jenny's brilliant writing style and the characters' witty conversations had me laughing out loud.

Read this book if you like:

🧶Contemporary Romance
🧶Cosy Humour
🧶Uplifting Drama

Romantic knitter Gertie's head is full of romantic dreams, particularly when - through her new job on the mini-airline at Carso - she meets glamorous millionaire Calum Frost. Because after all, millionaires just want a down-to-earth girl to connect with, right?

Struan loves his job as a Primary school music teacher and a ceilidh musician, and his girlfriend Saskia, but suspects that her dreams for him might be different from his own, especially as he's happy where he is and not in her new-build apartment block.

With some familiar characters (Morag and her boyfriend Gregor, her grandad Ranald and friend Nalitha, and Calum), a gorgeous, soft, instantly relaxing setting and some subtle humour, this is another rich summery pleasure from Jenny Colgan to follow up 'The Summer Skies.'

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for this ARC from one of my favourite comfort-reading authors.

Another gripping read by Jenny Colgan. I felt the first two or three pages were quite slow but then the story really took off. It was exciting, filled with adventure and I lots of interesting characters. It has brief glimpses back to the past to fill in some details about the main character as her personal growth develops. There were a few love stories going on. Wonderful - great descriptions of scenery, and I’m going to get my knitting needles out!

Set in the Scottish northern Isles, Gertie has never left her close knit family and circle of friends. Part of a knitting circle her life revolves around island life and her job at the Scotnorth supermarket. Until she meets Morag who runs the local airline and becomes an air stewardess.

She flies for the first time, develops a crush on the airline owner and leaves home.

She enjoys her freedom and develops her confidence.

I enjoyed learning more about the characters on the island and it was lovely reading about Gertie blossoming!

I was a tad frustrated by her endless daydreaming and the uneven pacing of the book but despite these I enjoyed this book.

Just with any of Jenny Colgan’s books, this was the perfect Sunday evening, warm hug of a book that I was expecting.

She really knows how to balance the mundane and cosy, with the dramatic and slightly thrilling! I loved this narrative and the full cast of knitters, students, plane staff and more. I especially loved that the romantic narrative was not at the forefront but alongside family relationships, coworkers and community.

I’m always going to love whatever Jenny Colgan writes, and this was just wonderful

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for a review.

We're back on the island of Carso with pilot Morag who we met in Summer Skies. We also follow the story of Gertie who works in the local supermarket and enjoys knitting. An unlikely friendship but one I'm sure you'll enjoy!

As a huge fan of this authors I was so excited to delve straight into this.
From that first page it is an absolute joy to read. I LOVE the characters.
Literally couldn't put this book down.

Another lovely Scottish island read with Jenny.

Gertie doesn’t exactly live na exciting life - living in the same house that she grew up in with her mum and grandmother whilst working in the supermarket. Surely she is due a change?

Morag needs a change too, after making the move back to Scotland and piloting for her grandfather’s airline. But she can’t carry on living with him and now her best friend and coworker is pregnant, she needs a work change as well.

I love the way these books subtly throw back to previous reads - it’s like seeing old friends!

A great summer read, with some peril thrown in towards the end as well as some lovely relationships developing.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and review.

i loved catching up with the characters in this book,
Gertie loves to daydream and she gets caught up in her own world, the the KC’s knitting group and their gossiping, and morag the independent pilot.
it’s a great fun cozy read but let me tell you it also has suspense and will have you routing for gertie to find her happy ever after!

Never mind falling in love with Jenny Colgan, I have already fallen in love with Gertie, Carso, and the Scottish Islands.
As the book says so vividly, the sands are whiter than white - and empty. After all, not places to sunbathe, except I have walked them, and the wild flowers from the old potato fields, in 30 degree weather, with no breeze and a bluer than blue sky, and the sea a pale blue green with white caplets.
They feel like the ends of the earth, and if you go right out to the far western islands, they are so flat, and low, and you just know that next stop is America and you are already part way there...
The seals bask on the rocks as move (by WWII land-sea lander) from one to the next, and the post-bus waits for passengers, and the locals descend on the ferry to drink a pint or two, as there is no pub! Just the ferry...
Idyllic. But isolated. And no place to live if you are ill, need company, or activities outside the home and hearth. But if you want feral children...
Lovely, story about lovely people in a lovely part of the world.

Jenny Colgan's books are a reliably warm and funny read, and Close Knit was no exception. It revisits the Scottish town of Carso, and pilot Morag MacIntyre, who we previously met in The Summer Skies. While Morag (and the airline) are still major features here, the main focus is on Gertie, a shy, dreamy young woman who is also a gifted knitter

I absolutely love Jenny Colgan books and was delighted to get an early copy of her newest book Close Knit. As expected, I was not disappointed and simply could not put the book down once I started! Another triumph from Colgan and eagerly look forward to reading more from the author in the future.