Knit Tight is the 4th book in the Portland Heat series but you don’t need to have read the other books to enjoy this one and there is no cliffhanger. I have read all of the books in this series and I loved all of them. Baked Fresh was my favorite but now it’s tied with Knit Tight.

This book stirred up my emotions and just about broke my heart in places. That’s about the highest praise that I can give a book. I know not everyone likes an emotional read but they are my favorite kind of story.

Knit Tight is told in first person POV by Brady. Brady is a barista who works hard and is trying to keep his family together. When his mother and stepfather were killed in a car accident he fought to take custody of his younger siblings even though he was still young himself. The love Brady has for his siblings, and his desire to care for them is amazing.

Evren (Ev) is visiting his aunt Mira to help out with her yarn store while she undergoes treatment for cancer. Customers from Mira’s store visit Brady’s place on Wednesday’s for Knit Night. Things can get pretty wild on Knit Night and Evren steps in to help calm two customers after coffee gets spilled on their knitting projects. Brady is immediately taken with Ev and wants to see him socially not just when he comes for coffee. Things get off to a rocky start when Ev finds out that Brady is bi; Ev doesn’t do bi and he stops coming in to get his daily coffee. They finally agree to be friends and Ev resumes his daily coffee habit.

I wish I was better at putting things into words about how much I liked this book. The way Ms. Albert writes Ev’s dialogue is so good I can “hear” his New York, with a side of Turkish, accent. His speech pattern has a wonderful lilt to it that I really enjoyed.

Another thing I enjoyed about this book is that Evren loves to knit and design patterns. Most chapters begin with a passage from his blog, Evren’s Yarnings, which are fun to read and can be very poignant – especially the ones towards the end of the book.

Brady’s trials and tribulations with his family are skillfully worked in and around his and Ev’s budding relationship. This book is so much more than a story about Brady and Ev. It’s about their love of their respective families and the lengths they are willing to go to for them. I guess I should also mention that the sexy time between Brady and Ev is HOT! 🙂

I am amazed at how well developed the characters are in this story – especially since it’s only 132 pages long; it seemed much longer and I definitely mean that in a good way. Portland Heat is a series that I can highly recommend. If you like MM stories with lots of feeling you will love these books.

Reviews for Annabeth Albert

“Why? Am I turning you on?” My hand wandered over my fly. Not stroking, just firm pressure. We’d danced past sexy talk, far out of the friend zone, now meandering into something dark and heady. I pressed hard against my aching erection as I waited to see how far Ev would let himself go.

“Perhaps. I told you some things, now you tell me. What is your favorite thing?”

“Uh. The long, slow grinding ending in oral that you just described sounds amazing and hits a lot of my buttons. For the record, I’m totally good with…mess. And I like giving oral. Love getting my throat fucked. Being pinned down while grinding or getting my throat fucked, that gets me going.”

Ev was silent a long moment. Perhaps I’d pushed him too far. “Tell me about this throat fucking. How do you like it?”

 Aw yes. I’d never had phone sex, but I had a feeling we were about to head in that direction. “Where are you right now?”

“In my bed. With a closed door. Are you going to ask me what I’m wearing next?”

“Knitted underwear?” I laughed as I headed for the bathroom—the one room with a lock. My usual jerk-off method was a locked door and a longer-than-necessary shower.

“Sorry to disappoint. Pajama bottoms. I worry Hala Mira could need me in the night.”

“Hey, you don’t have to apologize to me. I share a room with a ten-year-old. I’m going to the bathroom now, though. And locking the door.”

“You require a locked door to tell me about giving head?”

“I require a locked door, a quiet house, and about three hours to show you,” I countered. “Fuck, Ev. I want you to wear me out.”

“Oh, I could. Do not doubt that, Brady. You want me to wear your throat out? Use you so much you need me to feed you some gelato after?”

“Fuck yes,” I whispered. “I’d like it if you were on the bed or in a chair and I were kneeling in front of you. Or you were standing in front of me. Me on my knees is the key thing.”

“You ever try with your head over the edge of the mattress? It happens that this bed is the perfect height for that…”

“Oh yes. Tell me more. I want to jerk off while you fuck my throat like that.”

“Ah. But I don’t want that. Perhaps we will need to find other occupation for your hands.”

Oh man. Ev knew how to turn my crank big-time. “I’m good with having my hands tied.”

I could tell from his inhalation that it worked for him, too. “How flexible are you?”

“Bendier than I look. I had to do yoga stretching exercises to rehab a skateboarding injury. Turns out I dig it.”

“Nice. Very nice. I like your mouth very, very much.”

“Like the beard? Because if you want my mouth more…exposed, I can work with that. Beard is pure Northwest laziness on my part.”

“The beard is…part of the appeal. Your mouth is very full and your beard always seems like it’s…teasing. I think I want your hair down, though, yes?”

“Go for it.” Getting into it, I pulled my hair free of the ponytail, let it flop against my shoulders. Spit gathered in my mouth like I really was about to get a go at Ev’s cock. Fuck. Just the thought had me throbbing. I unzipped to get a little more breathing room. “I want to—”

Knock. Knock. Knock. “Brady, are you in there? I don’t feel so good,” Jonas called through the door.

Fuck. I kept my curse to myself. “Just a minute, buddy,” I called.

“You need to go?” Ev said in my ear. “I understand.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry.”

“Another time, Brady, another time.”

Even if he just meant the phone-sex version of the fantasy, part of me thrilled to his words. And I was pulling hard for the in-person

Annabeth Albert grew up sneaking romance novels under the bed covers. Now, she devours all subgenres of romance out in the open—no flashlights required! When she’s not adding to her keeper shelf, she’s a multi-published Pacific Northwest romance writer.

Emotionally complex, sexy, and funny stories are her favorites both to read and to write. Annabeth loves finding happy endings for a variety of pairings and is a passionate gay rights supporter.  In between searching out dark heroes to redeem, she works a rewarding day job and wrangles two children.

You can find Annabeth at

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