Yarn & Yearnings

I’ll admit, I rolled my eyes at the ‘knitting shop owner pines for his mysterious biker ex’ premise—until about 20 minutes in, when Harper’s internal monologue about ‘the difference between a scarf and a noose’ had me actually laughing out loud. *Yarn & Yearnings* subverts expectations at every turn, and the audiobook format amplifies its strengths. Earlywine’s performance as Harper is a revelation: he nails the character’s defensive humor, the way he weaponizes politeness to keep people at arm’s length, and the cracks in his voice when he’s finally cornered by his own feelings. Holland’s Rex, meanwhile, is all swagger and suppressed vulnerability, his deeper register making even throwaway lines like ‘You still knit those ugly-ass sweaters?’ sound like foreplay. The pacing is where this audiobook *shines*. Mack’s dialogue is razor-sharp, but the real magic is in the pauses—Earlywine and Holland let the beats land, whether it’s the comedic timing of Harper’s sarcasm or the loaded silence after Rex admits he ‘maybe’ Googled Harper’s shop. My only critique? The flashback scenes to Harper and Rex’s first night together are *so* electrically charged that the present-day tension occasionally pales in comparison. And while the small-town side characters add texture, a few of their subplots (looking at you, Harper’s overly chatty employee) drag when the core duo isn’t on-screen. But these are quibbles. The final act, where Harper’s knitting metaphors collide with Rex’s ‘no strings’ philosophy, is so satisfyingly specific that I immediately restarted the last chapter. This is a romance for people who love romance but are sick of the genre’s usual bullshit—messy, funny, and brutally honest about how hard it is to let someone see you, stitches and all.