I believe that these stories are available only in ebook format at the moment. I put the link for each of the individual books as well as the collection below.
The Granby Knitting Stories is a collection of four gay romance novellas by Amy Lane: The Winter Courtship Rituals of Fur-Bearing Critters, How to Raise an Honest Rabbit, Knitter in His Natural Habitat and Blackbird Knitting in a Bunny’s Lair which follow a group of fellows who either work for or are associated with an Alpaca farm and fiber mill. Oh, and just about everyone in this story knits — and knits a lot — which is one of the themes running through this series which I found cleverly unusual.
So the first story, The Winter Courtship Rituals of Fur-Bearing Critters, follows Rance Crawford who is a crusty, somewhat gruff Alpaca rancher and the owner of a fiber mill. But his tough exterior softens when handsome city-boy Ben moves in next door and next thing you know, Rance is knitting the newcomer hats to keep warm during the winter. A sweet and charming novella!
So things get a little more serious in the next book, How to Raise an Honest Rabbit. This follows one of Rance’s employees Jeremy who we learn was a former con man (at the urging of his father) and ex-con. But Rance gives Jeremy a chance and Jeremy is determined not to let him down. He’s also determined not to let anyone get too close to him but his coworker Aiden is not so easily deterred. Aiden however, has to tread carefully around a man who’s accustomed to “rabbit away” at the first sign of conflict and instead, must get Jeremey to trust him and trust himself, which turns out to not be such an easy task, especially when Jeremy’s past shows up one day on their doorstep.
The third and probably the darkest book in this series is Knitter in His Natural Habitat. This follows Stanley, who works at the knitting shop in Boulder and who occasionally had dalliances with Rance before Rance met Ben. In this book, there’s a new delivery man in town named Johnny who drops off a delivery at Stanley’s shop and both men are instantly smitten with each other. But Johnny is not quite as he seems and as we learn, he has a very dark past which threatens to destroy everything he’s been building with Stanley as well as put the people he cares for the most in the world in extreme danger.
The last book in this collection is Blackbird Knitting in a Bunny’s Lair. I can’t say too much about this one without giving anything away. Let me say that one of our favorite characters is on a long road to recovery after a heinous event and that there’s a new addition to our beloved cast of characters in this book. This story is where it all comes together and does a fantastic job of pulling on the old heartstrings.
I loved reading this story about a group of passionate knitters and passionate men, and by the end of the last book, I found myself loving this colorful…and endearing… cast of characters. At first, I thought this was going to be a sweet holiday story, and ultimately, it was. But there are some darker aspects to this story as well which made it all the more compelling. Additionally, I liked the continuity with these four books in which all of the characters appeared in every story which provided us the opportunity to really get to know them.
I thoroughly enjoyed all these characters as well delving quite deeply into their lives and into their psyches. I’m glad I read these stories back to back, which start out with a sweet romance, then the morph into the more dramatic, grow a tad darker as the stories continue to progress and culminate in many intense emotional experiences by the series end. All in all, I loved this moving and heartfelt series which can be enjoyed by anyone regardless of whether or not you are a knitter.
Purchase The Granby Knitting Stories at Amazon
Links to individual books:
The Winter Courtship Rituals of Fur-Bearing Critters
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