Contemporary Romance

Review: Completely by Ruthie Knox

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Title: Completely (New York #3)
Author: Ruthie Knox
Date of publication: 26 Sept 2017
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Author's links:
Add to Goodreads 

My rating: 3 stars
Blurb

Everest. If they can make it there, they can make it anywhere. Maybe even New York, where Ruthie Knox takes her charming rom-com style to new heights.

Beneath her whole “classic English beauty” appearance is an indomitable spirit that has turned Rosemary Chamberlain into something of a celebrity mountain climber. But after an Everest excursion takes a deadly turn, Rosemary is rescued by her quick-thinking guide, New York native Kal Beckett. Rosemary’s brush with death brings out a primal need to celebrate life—and inspires a night of steamy sex with the rather gorgeous man who saved her.

The son of a famous female climber with a scandalous past, Kal Beckett is still trying to find himself. In the Zen state of mind where Kal spends most of his time, anything can happen—like making love to a fascinating stranger and setting off across the world with her the next morning. But as their lives collide in the whirlwind of passion that is New York City, the real adventure is clearly just beginning. 

Review

I loved the previous book and was really excited to read this one when I learned that it will be about Winston's ex wife. We rarely get romances with older women (she is 39) and I was looking forward to see how her second chance romance was handled. Sadly, this book did not work for me as well I expected. There are some things I liked about the story and the characters but the things that bothered me outnumber them.

This is a kind of opposites attract story, where she is white, older, richer, determined to find a new direction in life, while he is of mixed origin (white/Sherpa), a bit lost and directionless after having given up on his dreams.

They meet and come together under very dramatic circumstances, surviving an avalanche in the en route to mount Everest. It affects them deeper than anyone of them thinks initially and brings them very close together in a very short amount of time. But real life is not that simple and they have to face all the challenges it poses to them actually being together in the long term.

I loved all the tidbits on Everest and Nepal, Nepalese culture, the whole climber's/Sherpa's world we get to see in this story. They did give us a rich background into Kal's (and his family) world.

Still, I felt the story is very much focused on Rosemary and her journey to her new, post-divorce self. her personal struggles overshadowed to romance. As a whole it was Rosemary and the other women (her daughter, Kal's mother, May and Allie's mother) who were at the centre of this story and not the love between her and Kal. I would have loved to see more of the main characters together, working out their issues, overcoming their pasts and exploring their growing feelings for each other. 

That said I liked a lot of things about Rosemary. She has a complicated past that has shaped her, wants desperately find herself, to get her life back in track. She acts like an ice queen on the surface, she is very human on the inside, dealing with her own fears and insecurities. She seems to be goign in the wrong direction for most of the story, trying to make a clean break with the past only to come to realise that this is not possible, your past is part of you, it shaped who you are today and can help you become a better person in the future, avoiding the mistakes you have already made.

I found Kal rather interesting but sadly his character' arc felt very underdeveloped to me. He came second to the women in the book and we only got to see bits and pieces of his personality and the motivations behind his actions.

The i-love-yous were a bit sudden, too flashy and they didn't have me convinced of the depth of feelings between the hero and heroine. Overall, I was very underwhelmed with the romance aspect of the story.

My biggest issue beside the ones pointed above, is the white saviour narrative I read into the relationship between Rosemary and Kal's mother. I got the impression it was all about the personal fulfillment and professional success of the white woman who managed to convince the troubled and misunderstood WOC to let her tell her story to the world. And this all didn't sit well with me at all.

Overall, after loving Madly so much (it's one of the best romances I've read in 2017 so far) and generally being a fan of this author's work, I found Completely rather a let-down. I expected a lot more from it but ended up not enjoying it as much as I wanted to.

Purchase links: Amazon


Contemporary Romance

Review: Madly by Ruthie Knox

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Title: Madly (New York #2)
Author: Ruthie Knox
Date of publication: 14 March 2017
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Author's links:
Add to Goodreads 

My rating: 4.5 stars

 Blurb

Allie Fredericks isn’t supposed to be in Manhattan, hiding in the darkest corner of a hip bar, spying on her own mother—who’s flirting with a man who’s definitely not Allie’s father. Allie’s supposed to be in Wisconsin, planning her parents’ milestone anniversary party. Then Winston Chamberlain walks through the door, with his tailored suit, British accent, and gorgeous eyes, and Allie’s strange mission goes truly sideways.

Winston doesn’t do messy. But after a pretty stranger ropes him into her ridiculous family drama with a fake kiss that gets a little too real, he finds out that messy can be fun. Maybe even a little addicting. And as the night grows longer, Allie and Winston make a list of other wild things they could do together—and what seems like a mismatch leads to a genuine connection. But can their relationship survive as their real lives implode just outside the bedroom door?

Review 

Ruthie Knox is one of my favourite authors of contemporary romance. I have enjoyed most of her previous books but somehow I missed that she started a new series. I haven't read Truly yet but after I finished Madly which I absolutely loved, the first thing I did was to go on Amazon an get it :)

Madly is exactly the kind of contemporary romance I like to read - life-like complex characters, struggling with life and love, discovering themselves, making mistakes and growing up as people. And the romance part was just perfect - a bit whimsical, both characters acting simultaneously slow and fast, cautious and daring.

The heroine, Allie, is fabulous in my opinion and I feel there is a lack of heroines like her in romance. She is young and independent and smart and financially successful. She doesn't depend on no man and doesn't need a man in her life to support her, take care of her. She needs and finds a partner, someone who appreciates and loves her with all her contradictions and complexity - being smart and beautiful, young and rich, self-confident but also desperately trying to keep her family together, hungry for the love and approval of her loved ones, deeply involved (albeit, often misguidedly) with their lives.

Winston was an interesting character as well. He has just turned 40, divorced, re-evaluating his life. He appeared stuffy and distant, too set in his ways, deeply unhappy and lost. he was not prepared for Allie and all the possibilities she brought with her. And it took him some time to grasp it and take a chance on being happy, on falling in love, on being vulnerable and honest with himself and the peole in his life he cares about.

I liked how Allie and Winston challenged each other, how they opened up to one another. The game of the list of sexual dares that want to try was an interesting and effective way to bring them together in raw honesty. Their romance was a curious mix of daring and hesitation, of I-don't-need-this-in-my-life-right-now and This-is-so-exciting-and-new-and-perfect-for-me.

The story explored different family relationships, between sibling, between parents and children, withing the romantic couples themselves. in all their complexity and dysfunction. And I liked where the author went with all of them. Through them she built a compelling picture of the characters' lives - complex, interwoven, changing and evolving.

I have only one minor quibble with the story and this has to do with Allie's mum and her relationship with her dad and her artistic career. I was surprised with the development of this plotline and I am not sure how to take it. On the one hand she is presented as a strong woman, one that balanced having a family and a suitable way to express her creativity. She is someone who hasn't sacrificed her dreams but have found an alternative way to pursue them. On the other hand, I felt her behaviour was deceptive to her family, keeping a secret like that, leading a double life. This didn't sit very well with me. I'd say it is a matter of personal preference and not a weakness of the story itself. Other readers may not feel like that about it, so don't let this minor issue of mine stop you from taking a chance on this wonderfully complex romance. 

Madly it's a beautiful and compelling modern day love story that fans of contemporary romance would greatly enjoy.

Purchase links: Amazon / B&N / Ibooks / Kobo

Reviews

Review: Roman Holiday by Ruthie Knox

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Title: Roman Holiday: The Complete Adventure
Author: Ruthie Knox
Date of publication: 25 March 2014
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Author's links: Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads
Purchase links: Amazon / B&N / iBooks / Kobo

My rating: 4 stars

Synopsis

Ashley Bowman has always been impetuous, but even she is a little shocked when she chains herself to a palm tree in the Florida Keys hours before a hurricane is due to blow in. It’s all with the hope of saving her childhood home from a heartless Miami developer. But the moment she meets Roman Díaz she realizes he does have a heart—it’s just encased in ice. Ashley’s determined to get Roman to crack . . . even if she has to drag him all over the eastern seaboard to do it.

Roman can hardly believe he’s been talked into driving across the country with this brazen wild child in a skimpy bikini. He tells himself he had no choice—Ashley insists he meets the elderly snowbirds whose community will be displaced by his career-making development deal. But in truth he knows that there’s something about Ashley that makes him want to get a little wild himself . . . and the closer they get, the more tempted he becomes.

Review

I'm a big fan of Ms Knox contemporary romances and this one didn't disappoint. Her Camelot series is one the my favourite reads of the past year.

This is a standalone book which was initially released as a serial with 10 parts. This review covers the complete story. Ms Knox tells an amazing roller-coaster romance between two very interesting and unusual characters. One the main strengths of Ms Knox's writing is her character depiction - she creates these complex, unique people who feel very real and easy to relate to.

It's enemies-to-lovers story between Ashley, who grieving the loss of her grandmother and the hotel which she had sold to Roman, the hero, who is this mysterious Cuban entrepreneur. They are complete opposites, at least so it seems, but as the story unfolds and they open up more and more with each other, we see that they are rather similar - both are lost, both strive to gain other people's love and appreciation. They just reacted to the pain in their lives in completely opposite ways - she had thrown herself into anything, desperately trying fit in and to please everyone, to be what they needed her to be. He, on the other hand, had chosen to lock himself tight and not to care about anybody but himself.

Ms Knox told their journey to one another with compassion and understanding. The gradual change of the characters was cnvincingly presented. Their relationship grew slowly despite Ashley's reluctance to give in to her desire for Roman, and even more, Roman's strong, almost painful resistance to allow himself to feel anything for her.

The road-trip as a journey of self-discovery and true love is an often used trope and I can say it worked well here. Being on the road, dealing with more than one stressful situation and unexpected obstacle, meeting friends and strangers, it all help Roman and Ashley re-evaluate their lives. 

There is a secondary romantic plot - between Noah, Roman's best friend and Carmen, Roman's ex-girlfriend. It was not very well developed and though it was nice and I was not really engaged in it and I found it distracting me from the main story. 

There is a cameo appearance of characters from the Camelot series, Nana with her grand-daughter Carly, her husband Jamie and baby Dora from Along Came Trouble joined Ashley and Roman on their road trip and I really enjoyed their short but sweet visit. 

My main complaint is that the book was too long, some details were unnecessary, at times the inner monologues of the main characters, Ashley in particular became repetitive and boring. The last 15 % despite the action of them and the resolutions of some of the conflicts in the story, seemed to focus too much on the same inner musings of Ashley and Roman. Their hopes and dreams, their fear and insecurities were presented in detail over and over again. In a way this reflects who pre-occupied they were wit this issues, but still it was overdone at times, and I found it annoying. 

The story has the expeted happy-end and a lovely epilogue. If you have read more of my reviews, you've probably noticed how much I love a good epilogue and this one made me a very, very happy reader.

This is definitely a recommended read for fans of Ms Knox' writing and to all the fans of contemporary romance who love a good story with interesting characters told with a touch of humour and. Did I mentioned  that it also was hot? :)

Feature

Teaser Tuesday 54

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Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Here are the rules:


• Grab your current read 
• Open to a random page 
• Share two (2) or a few more “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 
• Be careful not the include spoilers!

My teaser this week comes from the book I'm currently reading, Roman Holiday: The Complete Adventure by Ruthie Knox. Ms Knox is one my favourite writers when it comes to contemporary romance and I'm enjoying this one very much. It's a enemies-to-lovers story which features one very impulsive, chaotic heroine and one disciplined, invincible hero going on a road trip of sorts.


He needed to recalibrate his expectations, somehow. It shouldn't be possible for her to keep knocking him off balance, and so easily. The deeper she disturbed the stillness he'd spent so many years cultivating, the happier she seemed to be. 


Synopsis 

Ashley Bowman has always been impetuous, but even she is a little shocked when she chains herself to a palm tree in the Florida Keys hours before a hurricane is due to blow in. It’s all with the hope of saving her childhood home from a heartless Miami developer. But the moment she meets Roman Díaz she realizes he does have a heart—it’s just encased in ice. Ashley’s determined to get Roman to crack . . . even if she has to drag him all over the eastern seaboard to do it.

Roman can hardly believe he’s been talked into driving across the country with this brazen wild child in a skimpy bikini. He tells himself he had no choice—Ashley insists he meets the elderly snowbirds whose community will be displaced by his career-making development deal. But in truth he knows that there’s something about Ashley that makes him want to get a little wild himself . . . and the closer they get, the more tempted he becomes.
 Purhcase links: Amazon / B&N / iBooks / Kobo

Reviews

Review: Along Came Trouble by Ruthie Knox

06:31

Title: Along Came Trouble (Camelot #2)
Author: Ruthie Knox
Date of publication: 11 March 2013
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author's links:
Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads

My rating: 4 stars
Goodreads Blurb

Ruthie Knox’s Camelot series continues in this sizzling eBook original novel, featuring two headstrong souls who bump heads—and bodies—as temptation and lust bring nothing but delicious trouble.

An accomplished lawyer and driven single mother, Ellen Callahan isn’t looking for any help. She’s doing just fine on her own. So Ellen’s more than a little peeved when her brother, an international pop star, hires a security guard to protect her from a prying press that will stop at nothing to dig up dirt on him. But when the tanned and toned Caleb Clark shows up at her door, Ellen might just have to plead the fifth.

Back home after a deployment in Iraq and looking for work as a civilian, Caleb signs on as Ellen’s bodyguard. After combat in the hot desert sun, this job should be a breeze. But guarding the willful beauty is harder than he imagined—and Caleb can’t resist the temptation to mix business with pleasure. With their desires growing more undeniable by the day, Ellen and Caleb give in to an evening of steamy passion. But will they ever be able to share more than just a one-night stand?


My Review


This is the second book in the Camelot series about the Clark siblings. After giving the readers the beginning of Amber and Tony's story in the novella How to Misbehave, Ms Knox continues with Caleb's story in Along Came Trouble. 

I enjoyed this book a lot but not as much as Flirting with Disaster (the final one in the series, dealing with Katie and Sean). Just as in her other works, here Ms Knox created a complex love story with strong characters involved in deeply emotional relationships. Surprisingly, what made this story work for me was not the hero, as is generally the case, but the heroine. Don't get me wrong I loved Caleb, he is a great guy, but Ellen was amazing. 

Ellen is a divorced mother of a two-year old boy dealing with a number of personal issues. She is a wonderfully complex character. She shows both strength and determination and at the same time she is vulnerable and insecure. I really liked the way her character developed throughout the story and I found her easy to relate to and to understand. So, even though I appreciated Caleb for the badass alpha male that he was, it was Ellen who was the star in this story for me.

Caleb was also a great character, albeit a bit more predictable and cliché. His character was presented through his relationships with the rest of the characters - his family, his employees, his friends, his clients. He was a bit static as a character, certain of himself and his feelings from the very beginning, yet I found him quite likeable. He acted Mr. Know-it-all, yet he took time to listen to everybody and tried to help and support them in the best possible way. 

My main complaint is that the relationship between Ellen and Caleb felt a bit like insta-love, especially on his part. I liked how certain Caleb was of his feelings, yet they developed a bit too fast, a bit out of the blue. Ellen's fears and insecurities seemed more genuine and realistic. 

There was also a strong secondary love story going on - Ellen's brother Jamie and Carly's turbulent relationship was really entertaining and fun to read. It provided quite a few laughs coupled with some pretty serious reflections. He is a mega successful pop star and she is a pregnant divorced small town girl. I really liked Jamie and his transformation from a spoiled celebrity into a responsible and caring family man and father.

I liked how Ms Knox introduced and explored complex family relations - divorced single mother Ellen, divorced and pregnant Carly both meeting wonderful men willing to commit to them and their children.

I loved that the love stories involved women with children/pregnant. Realistic characters, likeable, easy to relate to. We see Caleb's relationships with his parents and his sister, Ms Knox explores the complexy of family ties and they affect us - Carly and her grandmother, Ellen and Jamie and the way their mother treated them, Caleb and his mother and father, Katie's failed marriage.

The greatest strength of Ms Knox''s writing are the unique, yet ordinary character she creates. They feel like real people living real lives, experiencing real emotions. I can recommend her books to all fans of contemporary romance - steamy love stories with a touch of humor grounded in the complexity of modern-day family and friendship ties.

My journey into the lives of the Clark siblings will continue with Making It Last, a novella of Amber and Tony's well into marriage, undergoing a crisis. You can look for my joint review of the How to Misbehave and Making It Last in the coming weeks. 


Feature

Teaser Tuesday 29

21:51


Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Here are the rules:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not the include spoilers!
• Share the title & author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

I have modified them slightly for my Teasers. It will not be two sentences from a random page but two, usually more, sentences from the pages I have read so far that have struck me as most interesting, original or that I just happen to like a lot.

After reading Flirting with Disaster (Camelot 3) by Ruthie Knox last week (my review) and featuring it in my Teaser Tuesday post, this week I continued with Ms Knox's book and went to the beginning of the series. The first book, How to Misbehave, is a short story/novella, which I finished in one day and really enjoyed. Currently I am reading the second book in the series, Along Came Trouble, which is a full-length novel and so far it is quite good. What I find most appealing in these romances are the rich complex characters in them.

Here is my teaser this week:

"No one had the right to make his Ellen feel anything less than amazing. Independent. Strong. intelligent. Beautiful.
His Ellen.
That was when he understood how far gone he already was. He hadn't even kissed the woman, and he already thought of her as his."

Along Came Trouble by Ruthie Knox
Synopsis

Ruthie Knox’s Camelot series continues in this sizzling eBook original novel, featuring two headstrong souls who bump heads—and bodies—as temptation and lust bring nothing but delicious trouble.

An accomplished lawyer and driven single mother, Ellen Callahan isn’t looking for any help. She’s doing just fine on her own. So Ellen’s more than a little peeved when her brother, an international pop star, hires a security guard to protect her from a prying press that will stop at nothing to dig up dirt on him. But when the tanned and toned Caleb Clark shows up at her door, Ellen might just have to plead the fifth.

Back home after a deployment in Iraq and looking for work as a civilian, Caleb signs on as Ellen’s bodyguard. After combat in the hot desert sun, this job should be a breeze. But guarding the willful beauty is harder than he imagined—and Caleb can’t resist the temptation to mix business with pleasure. With their desires growing more undeniable by the day, Ellen and Caleb give in to an evening of steamy passion. But will they ever be able to share more than just a one-night stand?

Feature

Teaser Tuesday 28

00:00



Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Here are the rules: 

• Grab your current read 
• Open to a random page 
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 
• Be careful not the include spoilers! 
• Share the title & author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers. 

I have modified them slightly for my Teasers. It will not be two sentences from a random page but two, usually more, sentences from the pages I have read so far that have struck me as most interesting, original or that I just happen to like a lot.

My teaser this week comes from Flirting with Disaster by Ruthie Knox. This is the third book in her Camelot series and I haven't read the other yet, but I really enjoyed this one. It is funny and steamy contemporary romance with great characters. I just posted my review on the blog, so can check it out if you are intrigued by the teaser. 

"If Sean had put himself in a dumber situation in his life, he was hard pressed to remember it.
Driving to Louisville with Katie Clark  was beyond dumb. It was such a bad idea, it deserved its own category. 
Lost causes Sean's Dick Talked Him Into, maybe."
Flirting with Disaster (Camelot 3) 
by Ruthie Knox

Goodreads Blurb

In the latest eBook original novel in Ruthie Knox’s scorching-hot Camelot series, a no-strings fling looks an awful lot like falling in love—or flirting with disaster.

Fresh out of a fiasco of a marriage, Katie Clark has retreated to her hometown to start over. The new Katie is sophisticated, cavalier, and hell-bent on kicking butt at her job in her brother’s security firm. But on her first assignment—digging up the truth about the stalker threatening a world-famous singer-songwriter—Katie must endure the silent treatment from a stern but sexy partner who doesn’t want her help . . . or her company.

Sean Owens knows that if he opens his mouth around Katie, she’ll instantly remember him as the geeky kid who sat behind her in high school. Silence is golden, but he can’t keep quiet forever, not with Katie stampeding through their investigation. It’s time for Sean to step up and take control of the case, and his decade-old crush. If he can break through Katie’s newfound independence, they just might find they make a perfect team—on the road, on the job, and in bed.


ARC

Review: Flirting with Disaster by Ruthie Knox

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Title: Flirting with Disaster (Camelot #3)
Author: Ruthie Knox
Date of publication: 10 June 2013
Genre: Contemporary Romance


Author's links:
Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads

My rating: 4 stars

Goodreads Blurb

 In the latest eBook original novel in Ruthie Knox’s scorching-hot Camelot series, a no-strings fling looks an awful lot like falling in love—or flirting with disaster.

Fresh out of a fiasco of a marriage, Katie Clark has retreated to her hometown to start over. The new Katie is sophisticated, cavalier, and hell-bent on kicking butt at her job in her brother’s security firm. But on her first assignment—digging up the truth about the stalker threatening a world-famous singer-songwriter—Katie must endure the silent treatment from a stern but sexy partner who doesn’t want her help . . . or her company.

Sean Owens knows that if he opens his mouth around Katie, she’ll instantly remember him as the geeky kid who sat behind her in high school. Silence is golden, but he can’t keep quiet forever, not with Katie stampeding through their investigation. It’s time for Sean to step up and take control of the case, and his decade-old crush. If he can break through Katie’s newfound independence, they just might find they make a perfect team—on the road, on the job, and in bed.
My review

This is a typical steamy contemporary romance but what makes it stand out among its peers are the strong and complex characters and the realistic and engaging writhing style of Ms Knox.

What made this book work so well for me was mostly the hero, Sean. Don't get me wrong, the heroine, Katie, was a great character as well, but Sean just stole the show. He is a hot alpha male who stutters, hacks computers and has had a crush on our heroine since high school. Did I say he is hot? :)

I loved how complex and multidimensional the main characters in this book are. Katie is in bad place in her life - divorced, back to her home town, working for her brother's security company, not knowing who she is and what she wants to be. Enter Sean - he owns a successful Internet security company in California and is back to Camelot (temporary) to settle his mother's estate after her death and in the meanwhile starts working for Katie's brother. Put together on an assignment (more about later on) they get together more than just professionally.

Sean seems to be the exact opposite of Katie - he is in control of his life and at least on the outside, seems to know who he is and what he wants. Yet, as the story goes and his relationship with Katie develpes into something ore than casual fling, Sean questions his choices in life and facing his past, he turns out to be just as lost as Katie.

I liked the way Sean's problems with stuttering are presented. I can't tell if it is realistic or not, but his character is created with compassion and understanding. He is not just your typical super successful, possessive alpha male. He loses all his cool in front of Katie and becomes the awkward, lonely teenager he used to be. That's what makes him so cute and just irresistible.

Katie struggles through her own issues in this book. After a disastrous marriage where she sacrificed herself for the success of her husband, he is desperately trying to find her independence and is afraid to let herself care about other people (Sean, as well as their client, Judah) too much.

The struggles both Katie and Sean go through en route to their happily ever after feel very real. They both make mistakes which only makes them more human and even more likeable.

For me the weakest element in the story was the plot line with the security assignment Sean and Katie worked on. Judah is an ageing pop star who hires them because he was receiving threatening messages. He wants their help, but it takes him quite a while to share his true problems with them. I liked Judah's character and enjoyed his POV in the book but I found the whole situation with his protection/security totally unprofessional.

This was my first book by Ruthie Knox and I really enjoyed it. As a big fan of contemporary romances, especially well-written and character-driven ones, I definitely plan of checking more of Ms Knox's Camelot series.

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