t.s. easton - Queen of Contemporary

5 Essential Books to Catch Up On This Summer

Posted on 6 July, 2015

In my opinion, summer is the best time to get lots of reading done. I look forward to summer each year, when I can catch up on all the reading I’ve missed out on since the summer before. Here are a few books I think are essential to catch up on this year:

My Second Life by Faye Bird

What if you were born again, into another life, another body, but you had to live with the fact that you did something terrible in your previous life? All of the details, however, are just outside of your grasp… This is the premise of My Second Life, a thrilling, mysterious novel that I wish more people would read because I adored it. It kept me on my toes as I read on and on, not being able to put it down. A must read!

Boys Don’t Knit by T.S. Easton

To put it lightly, Boy’s Don’t Knit is the perfect book to make you cry with laughter. It’s about a boy who gets in trouble with the police after an unfortunate accident involving an old lady and a stolen bottle from Waitrose. As part of his community service, Ben has to take up a hobby and he chooses knitting. The book follows Ben as he learns that knitting isn’t just something for grannies, and tries to keep his new hobby a secret from his friends. I LOVED it!

REVIEW: Boys Don’t Knit by T.S. Easton

Posted on 13 January, 2014

I don’t think you can go wrong with a book that makes you laugh. The thing is, though, Boys Don’t Knit didn’t just make me laugh. It made me ROAR with laughter, so much so that my shoulders shook. I haven’t read such a hilarious book in a long time.

After an unfortunate incident involving a lollipop lady and a bike, Ben Fletcher is on probation. This means that he has to choose a course to attend at the local college as part of his rehabilitation. So, believing the gorgeous teacher from school is taking the class, Ben starts knitting. Hilarity ensues as Ben tries to hide his new hobby from his family, his friends, and also has many other problems at him.

I think the thing I liked most about this book is that, although it may seem like it’s only for boys, anyone, of any age or gender, will enjoy it. The protagonist, Ben, is someone you can’t help but warm to, and he wasn’t your stereotypical teenager. There was a lot more depth to him and Easton has really captured that. As a teenager myself, I’m often frustrated by unrealistic portrayals of teenagers so Boys Don’t Knit was a very refreshing read.

There was so much packed into this novel. There wasn’t a moment throughout when I wasn’t completely hooked and I want to read more books like it now because I feel like there aren’t enough books like this that I’ve read.

Although I’m absolutely hopeless at knitting, I felt myself learning through Ben’s eyes and I still managed to connect to the story even though it was new territory to me. I think this is an incredible skill to achieve on the author’s part and I just know other people will enjoy it too.

The contrast between Ben and his friends really intrigued me. They were very different characters and, whilst they had fallings out, were still loyal to each other. Through each of them, we got a very good picture of teenage life, and I enjoyed that we got to see how everyone differs. I think it’s something that can be forgotten by quite a few people sometimes.

I cannot wait for the sequel to Boys Don’t Knit because I know it won’t disappoint. I’ll definitely be re-reading this if I’m feeling a bit down or want to read something that will have me chuckling because this book put a massive grin on my face.