As you might deduce from the title, this is a romance with a strong secondary plot about knitting.

Specifically, when Owen Bancroft returns to a small California coastal town to get his mother settled in a memory-care facility, dragging his former bad-boy reputation behind him, it stirs up a lot of memories for Lucy Harrison, who harbored a secret crush on him in high school. True to the romance formula, they meet under heightened (but not cute) circumstances (for which Herron gets props), and things go along about as the reader expects, with various small-town characters and members of Lucy’s family providing color and depth.

Things get hotter as the pair flirt and draw away, both reluctant at first to get involved with what looks to be a really bad idea, but of course finally get together, right on romance-novel schedule with a sizzling sexual encounter which is followed (again, right on romance-novel schedule) by a high-stakes argument that ends with bruised pride and I-never-want-to-see-you-again all around. Until, of course, they do, and have to join forces to find Owen’s mother, who has wandered away from the memory-care facility under maximum dramatic circumstances.

What lifts this one out of the ordinary is a well-developed subplot involving some lost writings by a late knitting guru who called the town home, and how threads from the past wind through the future (pun intended), eventually connecting many of these characters.

Overall, this was an enjoying read. ( )

2nd book in the Cypress Hollow Yarn series, which is just pure fun fibery fluff. But it's well-written fluff. I'm really loving the characters Herron creates. And I love the idea of Eliza as matchmaker from the great beyond! ( )

I actually love this book more than the first one. And I love all the knitting reference. ( )

I actually love this book more than the first one. And I love all the knitting reference. ( )

Lucy has always had a crush on bad-boy Owen, but she keeps busy with her book store. Owen comes back to town after a medical retirement from the police force in another city. ( )