Reviewed by Ro

TITLE: Weddings, Christmas and Such: A Collection of Holiday Stories from Granby

SERIES: Granby Knitting Stories

AUTHOR: Amy Lane

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 272 pages

RELEASE DATE:  December 12, 23

BLURB:

Welcome back to the world of Granby, where the yarn is soft, the knitting is fine, and the critters are never far off….

After the happy ever after of Blackbird Knitting in a Bunny’s Lair, Jeremy and Aiden continued to be fan favorites, and author Amy Lane visited them from time to time in a series of whimsical shorts that were posted on her blog and Patreon. Those shorts, together with a brand-new, never before seen Christmas novel featuring the entire Granby family, are gathered here in Weddings, Christmas, and Such, a collection of stories that show the good times in the bad, and the hope even in the darkness. Welcome back to the world of Granby—Jeremy, Aiden, Craw, Ben, Stanley, Johnny, Ariadne, Rory, and baby Persephone are all happy to see you again!

In This Collection:

The Gift of a Birthday: The folks at Craw’s mill and shop have always knitted for each other’s big holidays, but one person in their midst hasn’t been entirely honest about his own birthday…

Bunnies: Ariadne and Rory are going off on a much-needed vacation–are Jeremy and Aiden prepared for full-time childcare and all the hard questions it might entail?

And the Mountains Should Crumble: Hard times have come to Granby–can Craw and his small patchwork family survive fire in the pandemic, and find something to be thankful for on the other side?

Weddings and Such: After all the troubles and some years of peace, it really is time for everybody to get married. Has Jeremy come far enough along from his rabbit days to be the center of attention while his boy makes an honest man out of him?

Crocheting Hawks and Knitting Christmas Angels: Gideon Haze and Pippen Madison commit a near-tragic mistake, and everybody’s favorite bunny is laid up for Christmas! Can the bodyguard and his vulnerable charge find a way to atone for their lapse in judgment and grow into the men who can make themselves and their new Granby family safe from Pippen’s dangerous father?

REVIEW:

So I was expecting this to be all shorts from Granby.  Revisiting Jeremy and Aidan, Ben and Craw, Ariadne, Rory and Persy, and even getting to see Johnny and Stanley.  And for the first part of the book, that’s exactly what I got to enjoy. Giving Jeremy No-Last-Name not just a birthday but a last name.  It was lovely. ”Aiden loved him, and he’d be young and beautiful forever.” Jeremy is such a good person, so it was heartwarming to get to see him start to realize that, even as he fights it. “What are you going to do? Compliment me to death?” And I should have realized there would be much more when I saw the blurb and read Pippin and Gideon. Who were Pippen and Gideon? Imagine my joy to realize, it’s a new Granby story with a new couple!

First off, the shorts made me happy. If you haven’t read the Granby series the shorts aren’t going to make much sense. If you have, they are an awesome continuation of nearly losing everything in a fire, showing much Craw takes care of his own, and just getting to see the rabbit finally nest. I loved it.

Then on to the new story. Pippen and Gideon are rich man’s son and his bodyguard. At least on paper that’s all they are. They have to be very, very careful because Talbot, Pippen’s father, is an evil rich man. He is routinely verbally abusive to Pippen, though no longer physically abusive since Gideon nearly drew a gun on him. To let off steam, Pippen and Gideon go snowmobiling in a not responsible way and a stampede of the herd nearly kills Jeremy as he is shielding Persy. It was so awful to see Jeremy get hurt again. Pip and Gid own up to what they did and show up at the farm to see how they can help. Luckily for them, from his hospital bed, Jeremy is a big believer in second chances. “I don’t get a free pass cause you love me, boy. It needs to be part of your soul.” The Granby crew take that to heart.

“Jeremy’s why we believe in second chances. He’s why we didn’t turn our backs on you and Pippen. And you almost took him out of the world. Make your own second chance count, right?”

When dealing with Talbot, you immediately want to slap him, at the very least. The amount of damage he could do is astonishing. I loved how the crew pulled together and incorporated Pippen and Gideon into their circle. This was a perfect new addition to the Granby series.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

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