Cosy, festive and magical - everything a Christmassy read should be!
“Can knitwear mend a broken heart?”
Synopsis
Jilted at the altar, Sybil has a hard time trying to get over her ex-fiancé, especially because he left her for her sister. No wait, her twin sister! Atop of this, Sybil also fears having made a huge mistake at work, and expects to be fired for it. This is why she decides to pay a visit to her friend Cher in Tindledale, a tiny village, to escape the mess of her life at least for a weekend. Unfortunately, Cher isn’t home, but Sybil decides to stay anyway. The villagers are (mostly) very nice, and Sybil finds her much needed escape in Hettie’s House of Haberdashery, a shop dedicated to knitting – Sybil’s favorite pastime. The old lady Hettie could need some help in her shop, and Sybil is more than eager to help her. Together with the other villagers, Sybil and Hettie prepare a magical Christmas window display, and maybe, just maybe, Christmas time is also the time to help mend Sybil’s broken heart…
Review (might contain minor spoilers)
I really liked The Great Christmas Knit Off! I was looking forward to reading it for a really long time, but, it was definitely worth the wait! First of all, I love the cover. The small golden details add such a nice touch to it, and I like that it shows Sybil and her little dog Basil, who plays an important part in the story, too. Secondly, the book has a map – Tindledale being a fictional place and all – and who doesn’t love a book with a map? Well, I always get very excited when I find a book has one, but anyway – I just find it a nice little detail J I also loved reading about Tindledale and the villagers, especially Lawrence and Marigold, who were so nice and supportive to Sybil. I love stories taking place in tiny villages, it makes life feel so cosy and warm, and like the bad urban world problems can’t touch you there.
Now, on to the things that stopped me from giving it the full five stars: When reading the blurb, I somehow expected Hettie’s and Sybil’s relationship to be a bit more like a granny-granddaughter relationship, much like the ones I know myself, but unfortunately, I didn’t really see it. Yes, they do get along quite nicely, but I still expected a bit… I guess a bit ‘more’. The same was the case with Sybil’s new relationship with the handsome but shy doctor of the village. Although he seems swoonworthy – being unbelievably handsome, but unaware of it – I wished that their relationship was a teeny tiny bit more in focus.
Overall, I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed The Great Christmas Knit Off; it gave me this warm, festive feeling that only Christmas can give me. I would definitely recommend it throughout the whole wintertime, and I will be looking for more from the author!
