Review: Blackbird Knitting in a Bunny’s Lair (Knitting #5) by Amy Lane

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Just when Aiden Rhodes is sure that he has his Jeremy Bunny ready to settle down and commit to a relationship with him instead of always being ready to “rabbit’ away, Jeremy’s past arrives to shatter everything. After Jeremy endured a horrific near death beating by a mobster, he faces multiple surgeries on his way to recovery, a recovery that will still leave Jeremy with physical scarring he will carry for life.

All in the tightly close group of people around Jeremy have been affected by this horrendous event. Aiden is facing his own anger at Jeremy’s actions and he needs time to work through all the thoughts and emotions that this brutal beating has created. Aiden needs space but with Jeremy in the hospital and needing Aiden, that is the last thing he is likely to have. Jeremy is afraid that his scarred face and body will mean that he is unlovable and unwanted. Craw and Ben are keeping the mill going without their friends but only just. And Ariadne lies in the hospital bed next to Jeremy with complications to her pregnancy and worries of her own. Even as everyone is giving as much of themselves to help support Jeremy’s surgeries and recovery, they are in need in equal amounts of support themselves.

But the answer for this overly stressed and worn thin group comes in the tiny form of Ariadne’s baby girl who needs them all in her own time of need. To help Ariadne and her baby, Jeremy pulls himself together and starts to move forward in his relationship with Aiden and his friendship for everyone around him, including Ariadne’s little blackbird. And Aiden sees a Jeremy he had always hoped to find….a man who has stopped running from love and commitment and is ready for all Aiden has to offer….a future together.

I am going to start this review with a personal note to Amy Lane.

Amy Lane, Amy Lane……I have been waiting for you to fix Jeremy Bunny since you left me (and Jeremy) wrecked at the end of Knitter in His Natural Habitat (Knitting #4) two years ago. When I finished that story I felt I had been run through Craw’s temperamental woolen mill drums myself until my heart was flattened and my stomach was in knots. I love your stories and this series but that was one review I didn’t want to write because I was so upset at the end. But now I can finally say, without compunction, that you did Jeremy Bunny right in Blackbird Knitting in a Bunny’s Lair. And you made the torturous events that occurred in the fourth book feel as though they had to happen for the growth and maturity that Jeremy gains here throughout your story. I didn’t think that was possible but it did and it felt true. So, thanks. Now I can reread that book again with my tredpidation pushed aside and my love for these characters up front and secure in their futures together. Brava!

Now back to the originally scheduled review.

When discussing a book about endings, I think its appropriate that a summary of the series and the first story is in order. The first book in the series is called The Winter Courtship Rituals of Fur-Bearing Critters (Granby Knitting, # 1) and truthfully it wasn’t even a series yet. It was a story in Dreamspinner’s I’ll Be Home for Christmas collection. It featured a romance between a burly monosyllabic knitter and a newly arrived self employed young man who moves in next to his alpaca ranch. Rance Crawford ” is an alpaca rancher, fiber mill owner, and self-proclaimed grumpy bastard” in Amy Lane’s words. And he was grumpy perfection. Lane paired him up with Ben McCutcheon, a sweet Easterner who inherits the house next to the ranch. It was a slow, sometime frustrating and always amusing light hearted romance filled with the author’s love of all things knitting and love of yarn. It had an endearing cover and a wonderful ending.

That first story was quick to capture the hearts of readers along with all the other memorable characters that Amy Lane created to work at Craw’s mill and yarn shop, helping to dye and create designer yarn that people would scramble to own and knit with. We met a young Aiden Rhodes, a teenager on the way to adulthood and a genius with dyes and wool. Living in the barn in a small room was Jeremy Stillson, an enigmatic skittish young man of indeterminable years. Oddly young and old at the same time, Jeremy was clearly haunted by a past and childhood that only one person knew about. He talked too much, loved the company of the animals and was as skittish as a wild bunny, ready to “rabbit” away at the first sign of approaching danger or even commitment. His vulnerability touched the readers, myself included, deeply. We took Jeremy Bunny to heart then and never let him go. Neither did Aiden Rhodes, a wolf with surprising darkness inside and a love for his Jeremy. Just as important was Ariadne, the sharp faced, thin young woman who runs the mill’s shop and teaches Jeremy to knit. We all fell in love with Ariadne too. Leaving this group of people behind in that first story was hard not only for us but for Amy Lane as well. And so the Knitting series, also known as the Granby Knitting series was born.

Four books followed, the full list is posted at the bottom of the review. Lane would take up Aiden and Jeremy’s story in How to Raise an Honest Rabbit (Knitting #3). Between those indescribably adorable covers and their marvelously quirky titles, this was a series that was attracting attention for more than just the stories within, there was also the knitting patterns featured in each book, with instructions included at the end. How I love those too! Did I say I was a avid knitter? This series just reached out and pulled me in. Any idea of maintaing any sort of emotional distance was thrown out the window from the get go. Objectivity, thy name is some other reviewer when this series is involved.

Anyhow, How to Raise an Honest Rabbit (Knitting #3) is Jeremy’s story. We find out why Jeremy is the way he is and how he came to Granby and Craw’s Alpaca ranch. It is also the beginning of romance between Jeremy and Aiden, hints of which were only floating around the narrative in the first book. And it is here that the darkness and depth found in the Knitting series is revealed. Yes, there are still some amusing scenes and joy. But the pain of the past and Jeremy’s fragile emotional center is revealed as is the explanation behind his situation and behavior. The angsts and gravity of the story brings a “realness” to these characters, with all their flaws, intelligence and loyalty to each other. If you weren’t in love before, you were by the end of this story.

Then came Knitter in His Natural Habitat (Granby Knitting, #4) and the revelatory style and genius of Amy Lane came together in an emotional rollercoaster of a story. I loved it, hated it, and cried buckets of tears before it was over. It was two romances in one. Lane continued to follow the growth in Aiden and Jeremy’s relationship while also introducing another major romance that included secondary characters from previous stories. That would be flamboyantly gay Stanley, who managed a fabulous craft store in Boulder and Johnny, a dark horse of a delivery man with secrets of his own. Like some intricately woven specialty yarn, Lane spun a tale of revenge, love and a past that refused to stay hidden. It was mesmerizing and Lane skillfully built up a atmosphere of danger and suspense that exploded in an emotional ending that left us all shattered.

This story was released two years ago in 2012 and my memories of it today are as fresh as if I had just finished the story yesterday. That fact just demonstrates what an incredible writer Amy Lane is and the power present in all her stories. Light and fluffy? I don’t think so. I don’t think she can do that. Lane’s stories always take twists and turns that will puzzle and shock you. They might leave you reeling in pain from the events and situations her characters find themselves in as well as the loss that can run like a river of angst through her stories. But never will you be able to remain objective because she has breathed life, in all its complexity, into her people and you start treating them and their stories as if they were your own.

Anyway, back to Blackbird Knitting in a Bunny’s Lair (Knitting #5). I have waited 2 long years for this story and it was beyond marvelous. The title, in part, comes from that haunting Beatles song “Blackbird” that goes “Blackbird singing in the dead of night. Take these broken wings and learn to fly…” Are you humming it yet? There is more than one blackbird here in this story and yet by the end, they have all learned to fly or will be able to do so. So many people are in all types of need here. Emotional, financial, you name it and this tight circle of friends requires it. But how Amy Lane resolves each and everyone’s situation is believable, warmhearted and totally satisfying. I finished it at 3am and promptly went and started it all over again. I mean, really, people, I had waited two years for this to happen. It wasn’t going to be over that quickly.

This review could have been finished in a few concise sentences. It would go something like this. Here is my cliff notes version:

I wanted this. I read this. I love this. I whole heartedly recommend it to all who need romance, great story telling, and knitters in love in their lives. There are bunnies galore, and mittens and knitting patterns. And characters you will never forget. Amy Lane does it again.”

But what fun is that?

Blackbird Knitting in a Bunny’s Lair is a book I will return to often. The resolution to Jeremy’s story and his and Aiden love affair has staying power. So do all the other romances found within this series. These people, these characters have become old friends and I will want to revisit them from time to time. If you are new to this series, start with the first story and work your way through the novels and the gamut of emotions Amy Lane will put you through. It is worth it. Blackbird Knitting in a Bunny’s Lair is one of ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords Best of 2014. And don’t miss out on that terrific Chain Mail Scarf pattern so important to the story and whose instructions are included at the end. I am already planning what yarn to use.

Cover art by Catt Ford who created all those incredible covers in the series. I have included all of them as well.

Books in the series in the order they were written and should be read:

The Winter Courtship Rituals of Fur-Bearing Critters (Granby Knitting, # 1)
Super Sock Man
How to Raise an Honest Rabbit (Granby Knitting, #3)
Knitter in His Natural Habitat (Granby Knitting, #4)
Blackbird Knitting in a Bunny’s Lair (Granby Knitting #5)

Book Details:
Buy Links: Dreamspinner Press ARe Amazon

Also available The Granby Knitting Menagerie by Amy Lane Paperback: Buy it here at DSP

ebook, 244 pages, A Granby Knitting Novel

Published May 2nd 2014 by Dreamspinner Press (first published May 1st 2014)
ISBN 1627988742 (ISBN13: 9781627988742)
edition languageEnglish
urlhttp://www.dreamspinnerpress.com
seriesKnitting #5

Covers to love in reverse order:

Review of Knitter in His Natural Habitat (Knitting #4) by Amy Lane

Rating: 4.75 stars

Stanley loves his job as floor designer and store manager of Ewe’ll Love This yarn store, he loves his condo and his cats. And at 35, by following his strict regimen of diet, exercise and new hair plugs, he’s looking pretty darn amazing. So why is he feeling sort of hollow? Ever since Craw dumped him for Ben and true love, not even going to the clubs for a quickie is appealing any more. In fact, just watching Craw and Ben together highlights to Stanley just what he wants in his own life but he’s not sure how to get it or if its even possible at his age. So instead of looking for love, Stanley finally decides its time to learn how to knit to fill the void in his life. Then a funny things starts to happen, As his knitting progresses, so does his life start to knit together. He finds a family in the people around him, from Craw, Ben and Ariadne to the store owner and her daughter. And then the new delivery man walks into the store and into Stanley’s life. Johnny is unlike any man Stanley has gone out with. Huge, older with an air of the city and East Coast about him. He likes opera, the theatre and Stanley.

Johnny is just settling into his new life in Boulder and his new job. But he has plenty of secrets and a dark past that only one person in Granby knows about. Just when Johnny and Stanley realizes the depth of their feelings for each other, Johnny’s past arrives in town to threaten them both and everyone around them.

A Knitter in His Natural Habitat is the fourth book in the wonderfully endearing Knitting series and each book just keeps getting better and better. We started off the series with Craw and Ben in The Winter Courtship Rituals of Fur-Bearing Critters (Knitting, # 1). It was cute and as adorable as the critter on the cover. And as much as I loved Craw and Ben, it was the ancillary characters that really captured my attention. In How to Raise An Honest Rabbit, it was Aiden and Jeremy, who took possession of my heart, especially Jeremy, our broken little bunny of a man. They are all back of course as well as some splendid new characters unforgettable in their own right. Especially look out for Jeremy who figures large in this new story but more than that I can’t tell you unless I want to head into spoiler territory.

With this fourth installment, Amy Lane turns her attention to Stanley, someone we meet in the very first book. Stanley was Craw’s bed buddy to use the mildest of terms. To Craw, Stanley meant someone he could count on for casual sex without complications with someone he saw only when he was delivering his yarn to the shop. Unfortunately, Stanley’s feelings were a little more engaged than Craw realized and Stanley was very hurt to find himself dumped not only for a younger man but someone Craw was deeply in love with. One of the marvels of Amy Lane’s characters is that they are so very real in every aspect. Stanley is meant to come across as a superficial, flirty little queen on first impression and he does. But just as quickly we see the loneliness and pain underneath the artifice he has constructed to fool others. Again, the author flips the perspective and we see Stanley and Craw’s “relationship” from Stanley’s POV and what a difference that makes. I love the details the author gives us that adds up to a complete portrait of a man who has reached the age of 35 without having one meaningful relationship and now realizes it. From his tan, his egg-white omelets and this rainbow painted condo, each personal detail is perfection. Layer upon layer piles up until Stanley and her other characters breath, flirt and knit their way across the pages, larger than life.

This of course, includes Johnny who we met briefly in How To Raise An Honest Rabbit. Johnny and Jeremy come from the same dark past and Johnny played a huge part in Jeremy’s survival. And much like a East Coast fish out of water, he is so different from every other character in the story and that makes him perfect for Stanley. I loved his courtly manner towards Stanley. In Stanley’s world, Johnny’s small gestures and gentlemanly behavior is just what is needed to win him over. I immediately got how and why they meshed so quickly. As I have said before, Amy Lane understands relationship dynamics and uses that to create realistic romances for her characters, an aspect of her stories I also love.

But it’s not just the romantic angle of Amy Lane’s stories I look forward to, it’s the family of characters she creates and brings together that enriches her stories and embed themselves into our hearts and memories. Here it is the group of people that gather around Ariadne in her hospital room as she awaits the birth of her first child. The doctor has put her on extended bed rest due to complications with her pregnancy and you fear for her and the unborn child’s safety even as person after person comes to knit, gossip, and tend to her emotional wellbeing. I wanted to climb into their midst and settle in with my knitting as well. There’s Stanley working the stitches on his first scarf, and Alice who bonded instantly with Ariadne, and of course, Jeremy and Aiden whose sex life speculation enliven each knitting session. It’s the author’s ability to make them all so real that when she causes them pain, we feel the impact as intensely as the characters.

I know that Amy Lane considers some of her stories light and others dark in nature but I just don’t see that. Even her “lighter” efforts have dark threads running through them, and such a thing is necessary if her characters are to be truly human. One of the aspects of the Knitting series is that each person has a “true color” that represents them. Jeremy sees Aiden’s true color, not as Sunny Sky Blue as Craw sees him but the blue of a sky streaked with the dark shades of purple and black This is the darkest, most angst filled of the series so far. In fact, at one point, I felt that I could have smacked the author silly with a hank of heavy worsted because of the pain she caused one beloved character.Deep breath. And that is also the reason that it didn’t get 5 stars. I needed the ending to be more complete, the characters more settled after the traumatic events towards the end of the story. This series isn’t over yet so I feel that is coming, which is great. Because as much as I have come to love these people, I need it to see them happy. I trust Amy Lane to deliver that too.

So don’t dawdle, run, jump and skip over to the next eBook store and pick this one and all the rest up. You will love them as much as I do.

Cover: Catt Ford’s covers for this series continue to delight and enduce smiles. How can you not love this cover?

Note: Along with great covers, I love the titles of each chapter. Here is chapter two “Sometimes a Perfectly Placid Knitter Will Startle”. Love this series for so many reasons.

Here are the books in the series in the order they were written and should be read:

The Winter Courtship Rituals of Fur-Bearing Critters (Knitting #1) read my review here.

Super Sock Man (Knitting #2)

How To Raise An Honest Rabbit (Knitting #3) – review here.

Knitter in His Natural Habitat (Knitting #4)

Review of How To Raise An Honest Rabbit (Knitting #3) by Amy Lane

Rating: 5 stars

When ex con Jeremy Stillson ends up begging for money on a street corner in Boulder, Colorado, he has no idea that his life is about to change when he spies the looming figure of Rance Crawford heading towards him from the nearby yarn shop. Instead of money, Rance offers him a job that comes with a small room to call his own in the alpaca barn and fiber mill that Rance owns. Here is the chance Jeremy has wanted, a way to be honest and to go straight, leaving the illegal lifestyle behind that he learned from his conman of a father, a father who died when a con went bad.

But living a honest life doesn’t necessarily mean Jeremy’s past is gone with the old lifestyle. Rance turns Jeremy’s training over to a young gorgeous man named Aiden, a master at colors and yarn dyes even as a teenager. Aiden is everything Jeremy has always wanted to be and Jeremy idolizes the teenager from the first moment they meet. Year after year, Jeremy slowly adjusts. He learns to love his new life, he learns how to knit and gains a family with the people he works with at the alpaca ranch. And most importantly he falls in love with Aiden as Aiden ages and matures into a wonderful young man.

Jeremy’s feelings of insecurity and low self esteem have never gone away and when Aiden starts to return his affection, Jeremy is petrified. Jeremy’s first instincts are to run, rabbit away but Aiden has Jeremy figured out. When Aiden first met Jeremy, one of the things he taught him was how to hold a angora rabbit, to make it feel secure so it can be petted and brushed. So when Jeremy shows signs of rabbiting away, Aiden knows exactly what he has to do to keep the one man he has wanted from running away and make him trust in Aiden.

What a wonderful story. I will be the first to admit that Amy Lane is a “go to” author for me. An Amy Lane book to me means an outpouring of human emotions from characters so real I expect to meet them on the streets. An Amy Lane story means that the situations and events her characters find themselves entangled in comes across so authentic, so genuine that not only my empathy but my heart is engaged from the very beginning. If they weep, then I find myself sobbing along as well. And when they find joy, then my heart feels replete with happiness.

How To Raise An Honest Rabbit (Knitting #3) brings back the characters we learned to love in The Winter Courtship Rituals of Fur-Bearing Critters (Knitting, # 1) . Present and accounted for are Rance Crawford, owner of the alpaca farm and yarn mill, Ben McCutcheon (Rance’s lover and neighbor), Aiden fabric designer extraordinaire and Ariadne shop manager and spinner, and of course, Jeremy. The first story in the Knitting series gave us Rance and Ben’s courtship from their POV, with the other characters circling around like satellites, albeit family member satellites. And as much as we learned to love Ariadne and Rory her husband, it was Jeremy and Aiden we kept returning to and we wanted to know their stories too. And thankfully, Amy Lane gives us that and more in How To Raise An Honest Rabbit.

It was hysterical to see Rance and Ben’s meeting and courtship from the other side, so to speak as Rance’s meeting with Jeremy predates Ben moving in next door. But the heart of this story is Jeremy, his pain born out of his past and his slow emergence into the man he wanted to be but never thought possible. Jeremy’s history is heartbreaking in that Amy Lane way, which means the angst of his past is brought vividly home to the reader but in small subtle ways that build over the length of the story into a horrific portrait of a young boy lost to society at the earliest of ages. We learn in tiny increments about the jars of peanut butter Jeremy has stashed so he always has something to eat, and the true reason he talks so much yet values silence and the awful fact that Jeremy doesn’t even know his real name. The story is told from Jeremy’s POV which is so important as we hear his thoughts about his life, his panic attacks, his growing affection for Aiden and everyone else around him.

And as we learn about Jeremy, we are also creating a strong picture of Aiden as well. From Aiden’s interaction with Rance (overheard conversations) and his talks with Jeremy, we watch a young fiber genius mature into a man who realizes that patience and perhaps ear plugs are the way to capture the skittish man he has fallen in love with. It was Aiden’s careful, loving interactions with Jeremy that made me fall in love with Aiden completely. And with Ariadne as well. Really, there is just an endless stream of gems that I could be quoting from the story but that would take away some of the magic to be found from discovering them on your own as I did.

And finally as a knitter myself, I loved every aspect of knitting that appears here, from the carding machine’s noise to the method Ariadne used to teach Jeremy to knit (and his own rhyme he made up). There are the dye vats, color cards, and descriptions of how the same colored strands can be spun in different manner, ending up as completely different yarns. And I don’t think you have to be a knitter to find all this information fascinating, it just is. But did I love the patterns for the fingerless mittens at the end? Why yes I did and will try my hand at making a set this winter.

There is another Knitting series book on the horizon, Knitter in his Natural Habitat (Knitting #4), Johnny and Stanley’s story. I can’t wait. In the meantime, I will just shuffle off and reload Winter Courtship Rituals back onto my Kindle and start from the beginning once more as I wait.

Here is the order the books were written and should be read:

The Winter Courtship of Fur Bearing Critters (Knitting #1)

Super Sock Man (Knitting #2)

How To Raise An Honest Rabbit (Knitting #3)

Knitter in his Natural Habitat (Knitting #4) coming in November 2012

Covers by Catt Ford. Are these not the most adorable covers ever? I heart them all.

Hurricane Sandy Relief Organizations, Donations, Plus the Week Ahead in Reviews!

Brrrrrr, it’s gotten cold here in Maryland. While most of Maryland got very lucky with respect to Hurricane Sandy, she brought the artic air from Canada down with her swirling air masses so we have 3 ft of snow in Western Maryland and our ski resorts are very happy indeed to get a jump on the season. Our fall ended with the roar of winds and rain as the remaining autumn color fell with the torrential rains. We might actually have a real winter once more. And looking at all the fallen leaves and branches, I am reminded that people not that far away desperately need our help.

My thoughts and hopes go out to all those in need in New York and New Jersey. The devastation is unbelievable and Hurricane Sandy’s impact on human lives continues to widen along with the death tole. There are several reputable organizations that are accepting donations to the Hurricane Sandy relief effort. The Red Cross is one of them. The American Humane Society is another. I have a list below that will link you directly to the organizations accepting donations.

One close to my heart is the Ali Forney Center for housing homeless GLBTQ youth in NYC. It was badly damaged. Here is the link. Every dollar counts. If you can spare $1 or $5, everything is needed, everything helps. However you can help, even if it is just re-tweeting the call for donations, all assistance is appreciated and direly needed.

Red Cross

Ali Forney Center Housing for Homeless for GLBTW Youth

ASPCA

Humane Society of the United States

So, turning away from the subject above, here are the books I am reviewing for the upcoming week. Don’t be surprised if I throw in some extras. Without further ado:

Monday 11/5/2012: How To Raise An Honest Rabbit by Amy Lane

Tuesday 11/6/2012: One True Thing by Piper Vaughn and MJ O’Shea

Wed. 11/7/2012: But For You by Mary Calmes

Thursday 11/8/2012: Ralston’s Way by Talia Carmichael

Friday 11/9/2012: Long Hard Ride by Talia Carmichael

Sat. 11/10/2012: Back To Hell by Amber Kell, Whispered Secrets and Hidden Eyes by Amylea Lyn

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