Knot Again

A recently divorced single mother gets another shot with her high school crush in Jackson’s lackluster sequel to Real Men Knit. After leaving her unfaithful husband and heading home to Harlem, Sydney Harris’s focus is on her nine-year-old daughter—but she just can’t shake the hold that firefighter and knitting enthusiast Lucas Strong has always had on her heart. Lucas has become a local celebrity thanks to his participation in the FDNY calendar and finds refuge in the quiet of the 24-hour laundromat—which just happens to be where Sydney works. Though Lucas regrets not making a move years ago, guilt and grief over the deaths of his birth and adoptive mothers makes him reluctant to do so now. But then Sydney’s ex-husband starts sniffing around, and Lucas realizes that he needs to voice his feelings or risk losing Sydney forever. Jackson drags out the will-they-won’t-they for far too long, with Sydney running hot and cold in a way that will leave readers as confused as Lucas is. Indeed, the couple spends more time alternately reminiscing and pushing each other away than building a fresh start. Series fans will be pleased to see that the camaraderie between Lucas’s brothers carries through from the first book, but the romance itself disappoints. Agent: Evan Marshall, Evan Marshall Agency. (July)