First, let me say that I think the title of this book does it an injustice. Sure, it would appeal to knitters (and there are plenty of us out there) but I’m afraid that some one who doesn’t consider themselves “crafty” might shy away from this book and they really shouldn’t. As it turns out, The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs is a well written book about so much more than a knitting club. This novel is mostly a book about relationships - marriages, friendships, first loves and broken hearts.  

The book centers around Georgia Walker, owner of Walker and Daughter, a New York City yarn shop. Georgia is a single mother to a pre-teenage daughter Dakota. Having had her heart broken by Dakota’s father James while still pregnant, Georgia was left to find her own way to make a living and support her family. In comes Anita, a spunky, confident, wealthy widow in her seventies who not only helps Georgia start her business, but also works at the yarn shop to keep herself busy after the death of her husband. One day Anita suggests to a regular customer that she could take a seat in the shop and do some knitting. Quickly joined by Dakota (who not only is an accomplished knitter at the young age of twelve, but also an entrepreneur like her mom) Darwin, K.C and Peri and the Friday Night Knitting Club is born.

Throw into the mix the fact that James has made an appearance back into his daughter’s life and Georgia’s long lost BFF from high school, who is now a snobby New York socialite, has suddenly showed up at the shop and Georgia’s life gets a bit more complicated. I loved the fact that Georgia wasn’t a one dimensional character. Jacobs brought a lot of depth to her main character that I think a lesser author would have missed.

I was secretly happy when my friend Tracy suggested this for our February book club read - I had just bought it at Target a few days before and was anxious to start reading it. I also contacted the author (you can visit her site here) and she not only agreed to call into our book club meeting, but also had her publisher send me another copy of her book for a giveaway.

So, if you would like to win a copy of The Friday Night Knitting Club, please leave a comment here by midnight EST time February 13th to be automatically entered into the drawing. For an even better chance to win, post about this contest on your own blog (linking back to this post) and your name will be entered twice! And because it’s Valentine’s Day coming up and I’m all for passing on the love, the winner will also receive a Starbucks gift card!

The winner will be announced on Thursday, February 14th. I will also be posting an interview with Kate Jacobs, where she answers questions about the book publishing industry, what books she has been reading and a little bit about her next book coming out this spring.

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