The trouble with reading a book by Jenny Colgan is that you want to read it slowly to savor the story but you ending up reading it fast because you are enjoying it too much and want to know what happens - guess what I did!
Close knit is set up in glorious Scotland with the story continuing from Morag in The Summer Skies, this book can be read before The Summer Skies, as the story is self contained, but we do have some of the characters dropping in.
Gertie is at a cross roads, she wants a change but doesn't really want her leave her comfort zone, so takes a leap and goes to work at Morag's airline.
We learn all about Gertie's past including her school crush, through the story weaved beautifully is Gertie's and the KC passion for knitting and the bonds this makes.
A comfort read from a wonderful storyteller, roll on the next book.

Jenny Colgan does what she does best! A warm cosy story, relatable FMC and all the drama!

The storyline was plodding along at a regular pace and then bam, drama filled 3rd act that I just couldn’t put down!

A cute cosy knitting themed story about a girl who has never experienced much out her in secluded home in the Scottish highlands until some girls from school persuade her to take on a new job and a new home!
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This is Gertie’s story but it features Morag from The Summer Skies. Although this can easily be read as a standalone book.
I absolutely loved this book and fell in love with the character of Gertie. The story has romance but also plenty of other storylines and likeable characters.
Jenny has a brilliant style of writing and some of the characters and conversations had me laughing out loud.
A brilliant 5 star read I would definitely recommend.
Thanks to NetGalley, Jenny Colgan and Hodder and Stoughton for an advance copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Love love love. Jenny Colgan is one of my favourite romance novels authors and I have enjoyed the rest of this series so knew I would love this one. It's feel good and heart warming

Overall this was a good book but the first half was painfully slow; so slow that I questioned why I was reading it. The second half was much better and managed to save the book. All the action and interest was towards the end and I felt like I missed something by not reading the previous book in the series. An easy read with great descriptions of the area.

This is the second in this series of books the first one being summer skies although it can be read as a stand alone.

This instalment was focused on the character of Sherrie and how she found her inner confidence and wings and came out of her shell We also reconnected with the previous characters especially Morag. The book had some humorous parts mixed in with some more serious ones.

This was a quick easy read with a community feel and loved the descriptions of the setting.

I can never resist jumping into a new Jenny Colgan book, so this was barely on my kindle before I dived right in.

And it didn't take me long to feel right at home within the pages of this story. It's set clearly in Jenny Colgan's Scotland, there are mentions of Mure (which will please fans of that series), and we also get a fair bit from Morag from The Summer Skies too.

But it is a totally standalone story, having never really come across Gertie before, or Struan before who are our other main leads in addition to Morag.

And Gertie who starts with her head in the clouds as an almost professional daydreamer, living a very sheltered sort of life that she seems to enjoy. But she is rather fed up with her bedroom being full with enough wool to open a shop with, and would love to move out of the family home.

And as Gertie slowly lets the world in, the rewards are so great, and the more we see her grow, and turn into a really fabulous person.

There is humour in the story, there is warmth, there is a whole deal of utterly unputdownable edge of the seat drama, and a lot more besides. I was loving the community on this island and how many side characters had nice little storylines too.

There is also as the title suggests, a great deal of knitting in this book, from the Knitting Circle (I'd argue a circle of gossips), to Gertie who even in stressful situations is able to pull out her knitting to calm down and focus her mind, this just adds to the warm and cosy nature of this book.

I am loving these books featuring Morag, who is shaping up to be another one of the author's iconic characters, and hope to see her again soon.

Everything you want from a novel from this author and more. Brilliant.

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this ARC.

I love Jenny Colgan's books and have read them for years, whether it's the early standalones, the series with the sad immigrant doctor on Mure or this book's predecessor, Summer Skies, which detailed pilot Morag's romance with ornithologist Gregor.

The action takes place in Carson, a small town near the sea in the north of Scotland, in the beautiful Highlands, described so vividly, that I, a content Londoner, immediately wanted to move there, for the views, the animals and the close-knit community.

Morag is still in this book quite a bit as new boss of Gertie Mooney, 30, naive daydreamer and knitting enthusiast who hates her old-fashioned name but finds much needed self-confidence with her new flat and new job at the airline as maternity cover for Nalitha. There are plenty of other lovable side characters like all the women from the Knitting Circle - or should I say Knitting Coven? There is mother Jean, grandmother Elspeth and Majabeen whose name immediately made me think of the German cartoon series Maya the Bee (die Biene Maja). I'm sure that's quite unintentional but you can't help your childhood heroes!

As love interests, we meet Calum Frost, rich owner of the airline, and Struan McGhie, dishevelled teacher and musician, and old flame of Gertie's.

Gertie's love language is knitting things for people - socks, sweaters, gloves, scarves, you name it. Unfortunately, it looks like not everyone appreciates the sentiment, and she has to be talked down the ledge when she behaves like a love-sick teenager.

This is a gentle, character-led story which bumbles along quite nicely until the daring mountain rescue in the snow that covered the last 30% of the book and meant I couldn't put the book down until everyone was safe, even silly Mrs McGinty. It was heart-warming to see Gertie find unexpected bravery when she hadn't even flown before!

Jenny Colgan's writing is so descriptive and evocative, I was shivering on my warm sofa while reading the snow storm scenes. I also learned a few new words, like stocious and bampot!

What I love is that Jenny Colgan never just concentrates on a couple of main characters - we meet the whole eccentric community to really round out what it's like living there.

As a small niggle, I have to object to the use of the word "stewardess". It is old-fashioned and generally no longer in use as it's been superseded by the more gender-neutral "flight attendant".

This is a funny, uplifting easy read that will steal your heart completely. I will always read everything Jenny Colgan writes as she has an effortless writing style that gives her wonderful characters enough space to shine while still making sure there is a plot.

"Love wasn’t about grand gestures and showing off; like stories or daydreams. Sometimes love was just about joy, and togetherness, and itself."

Although this is a book about Gertie, a nearly 30 year old who has always lived a very small life yet day dreams of more, for me this felt more like a continuation of The Summer Skies as it also features quite a lot of pilot Morag along with another new character in schoolteacher Struan. At the start of this Gertie doesn’t have much of a life just working at the local mini mart and spending her time with her mum, grandmother and all their knitting friends but when Morag gives her the opportunity to work for her (mostly due to desperation as her applicants had been amusingly lacking) Gertie’s world starts to expand. This is slow getting going but there’s a lot of action in the second half, the characters are great and it was good to catch up with Morag but I think I would personally her to be a background character. It’s a positive and uplifting read though with good moments of drama, some light humour and a wonderful setting.

Yes to this!!! Jenny Colgan is one of my favourite authors and I knew I would love this following on the from her other Scotland ones. This is an easy, heartwarming read

I will preface this with the fact that I have not read any of Jenny Colgan's previous novels but was enthralled by the Scottish setting of Close Knit. The writing hooked me with the vivid descriptions that felt like I was immediately transported to the vast Scottish highlands! The community/found family also intrigued me and I felt that Colgan gave enough of glimpses to entice new readers while also satisfying original fans! While the pacing was slow, it did give our main character some time to develop. My biggest issue was with Gertie, our heroine, who's supposedly 30-years-old but acts like a disillusioned teenage girl. I'm all for girlhood but when it comes at the cost of maturity and realism, it grates if it's an adult romance, and not a high school YA novel. I expected more from the main character and while her daydreaming-personality may be relatable to some, it did not work with the pacing and story development for me.

I have always loved Jenny Colgans books so was excited to read Close Knit, unfortunately I found it very slow to start, the descriptions of the gorgeous Scottish scenery, the weather and community spirit was wonderful, however I found Gertie the main character a bit wishy washy, and it took her a long time to mature into the 30 year old women that she was!
As the book progressed it did improve the second half being far more enjoyable.
Thank you NetGalley for this early read

This is the first Jenny Colgan book I've ever read and all in all it was enjoyable. The characters were likeable and funny, the plot was interesting. I loved the drama as the book came to a close and the ending was brilliant.
I particularly enjoyed some of the sub-plots and minor characters which really added to the whole story.
I did find the pace of the story slow at times and there were big chunks of narrative I read that I wasn't sure what it added to the overall storyline.
It was a fun, enjoyable book and I would definitely pick up another Jenny Colgan book.

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 - hence the title.

There's also Struan, a schoolteacher/musician (and Gertie's former crush) and his class of children, who head off on an outdoor expedition which doesn't go quite according to plan.

A very enjoyable read, and it was good both to reconnect with former characters and to follow the journey of Gertie, who's generally underestimated both by herself and those around her. (Being a young woman with the quintessentially old-lady name of Gertrude probably doesn't help.)

Thanks for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy!

This was an interesting read. I enjoyed watching Gertie grow and unfurl and find her happiness.

At first I found her to be a bit too day dreamy and wishy washy but as I followed her taking chance after chance I saw her change. That moment when she realised she could be strong and she was useful was brilliant. She was brave to step up and help the children on the mountain and then so calm and caring to Straum when he was hypothermic.

Some great friendships were forged and a surprise side relationship with Jean and Morag’s grandfather. Some amazing descriptions of the far north of Scotland that really made me want to visit.

A great read, and with all that snow and ice it’s probably best to read on a hot sunny day!

Oh wow, quite an adventure this book. I loved the descriptions of the setting of the village and its surroundings. You could feel Morag's love for flying, for instance.
And yet, the main character Gertie was a bit bleak with her daydreaming and her life slipping away. While at the same time I thought her quite kind but forceful when helping a slightly confused homeless man in a certain situation where that was exactly what was needed.
The second part of the book had me glued to the page, while its outcome also got me confused. It made me think that you actually don't need to climb a mountain to be brave, Gertie's sympathetic gestures towards the homeless man were just that.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.

This is a tender book about Gertie, who embarks on a journey to self-discovery. She lives in a small seaside town northern Scotland, and things start to change for her.
I found this book a bit uneven in its momentum and pacing. Gladly, it is more of a suspense. I enjoyed the setting and many of the details and the characters. Gertie was mostly complex and nuanced. Though, I liked the first and the second parts for very different reasons, and ended up liking this book less than I wanted to.
I am interested in Colgan’s other work; she can write the slice of life and poetic, and when it serves the story, her action-writing craft is great. It is just that these two belonged to two different books for my taste, or the blending could be a little more smooth.

I do expect and hope many people (to) like this book. It deserves the attention.