Jenny Colgan writes the coziest small town stories. Her writing is beautifully immersive and her characters and settings are easy to get lost in. Relatable stories and characters, her books are like a warm hug. There is plenty to keep the plot interesting and moving while being atmospheric.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a cozy, delightful book. I loved it!

Such a great read! Highly recommend this one.

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Knitting is a soothing, creative way to relax. The same can be said for reading Jenny Colgan’s Close-Knit. The setting is Carso, the roof of Scotland, known as the friendliest, safest, best place in the world. Colgan stitches family, love at any age, and adventure into a comforting, satisfying pattern. Gertie Mooney lives with her mother, Jean, and grandmother Elspeth, in a tiny yarn filled cottage, which is the meeting place for the Knitting Circle. These women who essentially raised Gertie, are the town busy bodies; feared, admired, and full of advice. Colgan’s humorous descriptions and truthful hints at personalities and their favorite yarns and colors make them lovable, too. Key to the story are Gertie’s friends, Morag and Nathalie, who remind her of the stings of adolescence. Gertie’s self-talk perfectly accentuates the anxieties and hurtfulness of memories and how these feelings stick with us. Morag, a female pilot whose love for flying adds a different angle to the story, is searching for a replacement for pregnant Nathalie. The adventure begins as Morag is to fly Dolly, the 16-seater airplane, for the epic primary school camping trip.
Colgan’s expressions describing the thrill of flying: “from beetling around on the surface…to breaking the bonds of gravity,” and her poignant descriptions of mountains, glens, and children singing, add comfort and overall joy to her prose.
Indulge your creative side with this self-soothing Scottish tale that delves into loneliness in spite of wealth, shaking free of the bonds of “sameness,” and gaining the courage to take Elspeth’s advice, “Live every day. Grab it!”

I loved this book by Jenny Colgan. I've often enjoyed their books, and this one did not disappoint. Great characters and a great location!

Cozy to the knit degree. For anyone who feels like they lost years to the pandemic and are suddenly wondering how to get unstuck.

Gertie is comfortable in her life, but unhappy. When chance allows her a new job opportunity she takes it, after much convincing and day dreaming about all the possible encounters with the gorgeous, worldly airline owner. The charming cast of characters with thoughtful backstories are the driving force while the plot is secondary. Readers will cringe at Gerties one sided romance that's all in her head, but who can't relate?.

If you love small-town romance, cozy Scottish setting, and books by Beth O'Leary or Mhairi McFarlane does miss this.

What a cute read! I thoroughly enjoyed Close Knit. I loved Gertie and the rest of the cast of characters in this book. I loved the setting and always love when a book takes me to a place I’ve never been before.

A sweet, quick read that I definitely recommend!

I really liked Morag, the pilot, and the other employees of MacIntyre Airlines as well as the other residents of a tiny village in the north of Scotland. I wish there was more focus on Morag and Nalitha. I also wanted more on other members of the knitting club. Jenny Colgan is very good at those cute, quirky children, grumpy shopkeepers and septegenarians who add color to the story.

Gertie who is the female main character spends 3/4 of the book in her head, crafting elaborate alternate realities and generally mooning about. It's very repetitive and portrays Gertie as an immature tween, not a 30 year old. The action in the final chapters wasn't enough to make me believe Gertie's character arc.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley for the advance reader copy. I am required by law to disclose this.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this novel. I just couldn't get into the premise and didn't love the writing style.

I adored this book! What drew me to it was the knitting group circle. I love to crochet and its my other favorite passion besides reading these lovely books.

I loved the cozy feel of the story and the characters. Gertie lives in isolation and the only family and friends she has is her knitting circle. She decides to take a job with the local airline in her small Scotland town because she has a crush on Callum Frost, whom owns the local airline. Can she hack it as a stewardess in small puddle jumper with the only freedom she has ever had or will she crash and burn? Will she do anything about her crush?

You will have to read the story to know but Gertie is craving adventure in this book.

Great novel and can't wait to read more by Jenny Colgan.

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley for review. My opinions are my own.

3/5 stars

I enjoyed this book. It was a fun and easy read. I’m not entirely sure that it draws me to read more of the series because I did find it to be a bit predictable.

I loved the KCs - the elderly women of the knitting club - and wanted to know more about them. Though supporting characters, I felt they could have played a bigger role.

This book was a charming novel that beautifully captures the essence of small-town life in the Scottish Highlands. With its heartfelt depiction of community, friendship, and personal growth, this book is a warm and delightful read that will leave you smiling.

Jenny Colgan does it again with a romance set in Scotland's windy Northern isles. Come for the romance, stay for the supportive and loyal women surrounding Gertie MacIntyre as she sorts out her life.

This book was gripping and hard to put down. It didn't feel like everything else you see out there, it felt very fresh. I really enjoyed this book!

I love Jenny Colgan books thats why I requested it from Net Galley but couldn't get into Close Knit.
It is really really slow and it was hard to stay awake while reading it.
Story is unevenly paced.
I didnt like the long day dreaming of Gertie.

I expected so much more from a Jenny Colgan book.

Classic Jenny Colgan, comforting and cozy. I did like this book but it wasn’t my absolute favorite of hers, would still recommend.

Slow to start, but I was hooked about halfway through. Jenny Colgan writes people so well and this book was no exception.

I usually like Jenny Colgan's books, but I couldn't get into Close Knit. It felt really slow and it was hard to make myself stay interested in the book. I also got tired of the day dreaming.

I always want to start by thanking the author and publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy of the book! Sweet, sweet book! I enjoyed it!

Thank you Jenny Colgan and Harper Voyager and NetGalley for this ARC.


I enjoyed this story but it wasn't my favorite of Colgan's. There were so many characters and side-stories that I honestly wasn't clear whose story this really was. It should have been Gertie's but there were just so many others. I didn't realize how many of the characters from Summer Skies would be in this story such as Morag and Gregor and while it was nice, at points I wondered if this was a sequel to their story?

I was disappointed by the lack of romance. I was also extremely confused who the love story was about and I had ideas early one that it wasn't between who you'd think it was -- which is a confusing way to say, there was absolutely no romantic build up or any really tension in the story. It felt kind of like characters just ended up with each other -- maybe out of loneliness? Which is also to say that it isn't a bad thing or even unrealistic -- but the point of a romance is that the reader expects -- well romance.

This was really a story about a community which was sweet and a quick read. I would just warn readers that again -- there really wasn't any romance and the character arcs were very subtle.