Madly
by Ruthie Knox
Synopsis:
An impulsive trip to New York City, a heartthrob from London, and a scandalous to-do list turn a small-town girl’s life upside down in this sultry romance from the New York Times bestselling author of Truly and About Last Night.
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:
So, so good 🙂
I loved both Allie and Winston–they shouldn’t have worked together at all, but OMG they so did somehow. I’m going to give the credit to Ruthie Knox’s writing here–she really knows how to write characters who shouldn’t at all be made for each other but totally are. I also really liked that their age difference was practically a non-issue for everyone involved; that was unexpected but also absolutely worked.
Seriously, she’s a romance wizard.
The whole what-is-Allie-and-May’s-mother-doing-in-NYC subplot was a little iffy–it worked to bring Allie and Winston together, but then took up a bit too much page time in parts of the book, finally ending up…just okay in the end. It was ultimately pretty feel-good, though a bit out there on the realism front.
Allie and Winston are both siblings to previous Knox characters–Allie’s May’s sister from Truly and Winston’s Nev’s brother from About Last Night–and though it could be read on its own, I did find myself wishing I’d had a recent refresher, especially for Truly (mostly because of how much I loved, loved, loved May and Ben’s story, but also because it seems like that book came out ages ago).
Now–how about a book for Winston’s daughter? 🙂
Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
