Knot Again

May 30, 2022
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.

June 1, 2022
Jackson unspools another sassy and sexy love story, following Real Men Knit (2020), in a series that will hook romance readers with its focus on a multicultural community that makes this Harlem neighborhood feel like a cozy small town. Firefighter Lucas Strong has a plan to drive business to his family's yarn store, Strong Knits, but his involvement in a sexy charity calendar has unexpectedly made him a hot local celebrity. His only refuge is Scrubs, a 24/7 laundromat where he makes friends with a little girl who has an interest in knitting. But it turns out that his soapy sanctuary is actually owned and operated by his newly single high-school crush. Sydney Harris-Hughes moved from D.C. with her daughter to escape a bad marriage that she made look glamorous on social media, and now that she's back in Harlem, she's excited and scared to see Lucas again. When Lucas shows tenderness and patience with her daughter, Syd's heart begins to thaw and a slow-burning passion reignites between Lucas and Sydney. But is it just a shallow infatuation or real love?

COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 15, 2022
A firefighter with a tragic past rekindles a 15-year-old romance when his newly divorced crush moves back to town. After having been crowned Mr. November for this year's upcoming FDNY calendar, firefighter Lucas Strong is plenty exhausted keeping his Harlem neighborhood safe and dodging passes from CPR patients. Since his foster mother, Mama Joy, died almost a year ago, he works extra hours helping his three brothers at their yarn shop, Strong Knits, on top of his shifts at the firehouse. He can barely sleep, and when he does, he's plagued by nightmares about the deaths of Mama Joy and his birth mother. The only place Lucas truly finds comfort is Scrubs, the laundromat owned by Sydney Harris-Hughes' grandfather. Sydney, the no-nonsense "Ice Princess of Harlem" and his high school crush, left home to study at George Washington University and started a family as a D.C. society wife to appease her mother. Lucas never felt that he could have offered a grand enough life for her, but when Sydney returns to Harlem, divorce papers in hand, to help Pops at Scrubs, he realizes he may finally have a shot at telling her his true feelings. Yet with Syd's disappointment about what she sees as her failure to be "Mrs. Perfect" and Lucas' fear of not being able to save the women he loves, they both run the risk of leaving too many words unsaid. The second book in Jackson's Real Men Knit series follows the second Strong brother as he navigates family, romance, and unresolved trauma. Jackson excels at the family portion, breathing personality into each of the Strong brothers and Syd's 9-year-old daughter, Remi. Lucas and Syd's union is underwhelming, though, and they spend so much time talking in circles that you'll get whiplash from wondering how they finally ended up at a resolution. A promising second-chance romance that takes one too many tumbles.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.