Brady is a barista at a coffee house that hosts a weekly Knit Night, an event that typically leaves him frazzled by the chaos. But things are different this week when hunky Evren shows up. Ev is the nephew of the knitting store owner and has come to help his aunt out while she undergoes cancer treatment. Brady is immediately hot for Ev, but his life is total chaos as he is raising his young siblings and doesn’t have a moment to himself. For his part, Ev is dedicated to his aunt and doesn’t have much time either, and the guys agree that being friends is probably the best they can hope for.

That doesn’t stop the attraction between the men, however, and as they get to know each other better, they begin stealing moments where they can. The attraction between them is intense, but finding time when they can be together is almost impossible. Both men have a lot to handle and are used to going it alone. Now Brady and Ev must learn to lean on one another and try to find away to have their own happiness together in the midst of their busy lives.

Knit Tight is the fourth book in Annabeth Albert’s Portland Heat series. The other three released all in a row last year and I thought that was the end of the series, so this book was a nice surprise. Although Brady makes appearances in the other stories, this book completely stands alone.

This is really the story of two nice guys who are overwhelmed with responsibility and have no time for a relationship. Yet at the same time, despite the attempt to stay friends, the connection between them is too intense and they are forced to squeeze in little moments where they can be together. I liked that both Brady and Ev are caring, reliable people who put their family first. They are both in tough situations, yet at the same time neither would even consider not being there for the people they love. So I enjoyed seeing them figure out a way to be together and to find their happiness, as both guys totally deserved it.

The story is told in Brady’s POV and at times I felt I missed some of Ev’s perspective, especially in terms of how he feels about the relationship. We know fairly early on that Brady is hoping for more between them than friendship and is sort of pushing things forward on his end, but I wasn’t so clear on what Ev thought. We do get glimpses from him in short excerpts from his knitting blog posts at the start of each chapter, but I did wish to be a little more in his head. I did love the little touches about knitting, however (as I am a big knitting fan) and I loved hearing about his projects. I also felt that things resolve kind of neatly at the end, given that there is still a lot to deal with between them and I wanted a little more detail on how things managed to work out.

The other place I struggled a bit was with a side plot related to Brady participating in a major barista competition. We are told early on that he is doing the competition and that the prize money is a big deal for them as the family is really struggling financially. But the whole issue is barely mentioned throughout the book and it seems put there solely to enhance the conflict late in the story. We never learn anything about the competition, where it is, how Brady was picked to get in, or what is involved. We don’t know where he gets the money for plane tickets, hotel, and presumably entry fee. We never once see him practice or seem to prepare in any way other than making some art in the foam of some coffee cups. I also found it kind of hard to believe that he could potentially win enough money to allow the family to move to a new, much larger home. So I wish this plot had either been developed much more, or else left off because it felt like somewhat of an afterthought to create conflict.

Overall this is a enjoyable story with two really likable characters. Both Brady and Ev face some tough circumstances and are really good-hearted guys who sacrifice of themselves for others. You can’t help but root for them to work things out and I definitely enjoyed their story.

I started this series forever ago and was excited when I saw the continuation of the series so I jumped at the chance to read and review. Then life distracted me and the series became out of sight out of mind. Yikes!

Once I picked it up I was hooked again. I absolutely adore Annabeth Albert her heartfelt stories.

This time around it's Brady one of the Seattle's best barista and sweet knitting guru Evren. The last thing Brady has time for is a relationship with his guardianship of his siblings and him working full time to help raise them. Evren comes to town to help his Aunt who owns the local wool/knit shop.

Both have their own burdens, but they can't stay away from each other. They both have to work through their issues and once they figure their shit out you can't help but love them together.

~ You see, my Hala Mira didn't just show me how to knit - she taught me how to embrace life. How to love it, stitch by stitch, as we made something beautiful from the broken ruins of childhood.~

I loved Mira and what she brought to both Brady and Evren and Brady's siblings. She was such a huge part of the story. I can't wait to finish the series and regret I letting myself get distracted from it to start with.

Knit Tight is an emotional romance following two very different men finding love and comfort with one another while going through difficult, seemingly hopeless situations in their personal lives.

Brady is a twenty-three-year-old bearded, long-haired Portland barista working himself ragged trying to support his four younger sibling and keep the family together after the death of their parents. Evren is an elegantly masculine twenty-eight-year-old knitwear designer and blogger of Turkish descent who’s recently left New York and returned home to help his ailing aunt in her battle with cancer.

Despite how outwardly different the two appear, Brady and Evren share an attraction from the moment Evren walks into the door for Knit Night at People’s Cup. Sadly the timing isn’t right as neither really have time for romantic entanglements, and then when Evren finds out Brady is bisexual, he tries to put a kibosh on the whole thing (some bad experiences have left him with an aversion to dating bi guys). It’s a bit of a mess all around, but eventually they both need somebody to lean on in the midst of their individually difficult situations and a friendship develops and then something more.

This book is too short to say it’s a slow burn, and it’s not really, but there are a few false starts for these two where I thought “ok, now they’re going to be together for real”, and then they weren’t. However, although it takes a while for them to get “together” together, the two share plenty of sexy phone calls and stolen moments along the way.

The fading health of Mira, Evren’s aunt, plays a pivotal role in the plot, leading to much shared heartache, not only among Evren and the knitting community, but Brady and his family as well since she’s one of the only people in their neighborhood who knows about his family situation and went out of her way to be kind to them, even knitting ornaments for the kids during the holidays.

All in all, Knit Tight was a semi-short read, that didn’t feel short at all, packed with emotional feels that had me rooting for the main character to find some much needed happiness in each other the whole way through. I loved the coffee shop setting (of course), loved the characters, and loved the writing. Knit Tight read as a standalone, but I enjoyed it so much I absolutely plan on picking up the rest of the books in the Portland Heat series.