convoluted but cute story of opposites attract and all the zaniness that can ensue when you think your mom is having an affair and you want to spy on her to prove it.

Another smart, sexy book by Ruthie Knox. I adore her writing and especially her heroes. When they come with a British accent, I’m officially done. I love an is-this-really-fake trope, and Ruthie delivered.

What a fascinating book. I was impressed by the storyline and the characters were all well written and complex. Where there are complex storylines combined with intriguing characters the reader experience is magnified tremendously. To have a book that is well written as well as entertaining is a delight. Reading is about escaping your world and entering another one. The word building was phenomenal in this book. Here I forgot about my own life and was immersed in the world created by the author. I would recommend this book.

I am not sure why it took me soooo long to read this book, but it was amazing! I was drawn in from the first page and couldn't stop reading. I enjoyed Ruthie Knox's writing and I look forward to reading more by her in the future!

MADLY - Ruthie Knox

#2 in the New York romance series

FUN FROM THE FIRST PAGE - 4 stars

Plot - 4 stars - Allie has impulsively come to New York to follow her mother, whom she suspects of having an affair. She wants to "fix" their family, and she has taken this step to somehow do so, but she hasn't figured out a plan or even what the right conclusion should be. But because she's an action person, she jumps right in. When she randomly enlists the help of Winston in a bar (I had to laugh when she said, "Hey, wet guy, over here!" since he had just come in from the rain.), she makes him feel alive and excited to spice up what has become his routine and unsatisfying life. Even when they're just starting to get to know each other, they make a list of all the sex-related things they've always wanted to do, or have needed, or whatever. But many of them are sweet, like a 30-second hug. And every now and then, when one of them needs it, they decide to do something on the list. And the one who added it will explain what they were thinking when they did. It's really enlightening, and the things they say make so much sense.

Writing - 5 stars - This book captured my attention from the first page. As with the first book in this series, I totally loved the interaction between the characters and seriously wanted them to get together.

Characters - 4.5 stars - This is where the story really shone for me. Allie gets herself into crazy situations, then she has to figure out how to extricate herself. This quote says it all, to me: "One downside to letting her mouth run the show was that it said the most insane things, and then her brain had to hear them." She's cute and silly, but she's very passionate about things, especially her family. She wants to do the right thing, but she feels that she often makes mistakes because she acts rather than thinking things through first. Winston is just the opposite. He feels strongly, but he is careful and methodical and a proper English gentleman. But inside he's loving and intense and emotional, wanting to do the right thing. They are absolutely perfect for each other. And I loved getting back with May and especially Ben (who is just the same grouchy bear that he was in the first book).

Title - 3.5 stars - This goes with the theme begun with the first book in the series of a one-word title with "LY" at the end. Madly is actually pretty apt for Allie's craziness.

Cover - 3 stars - A pretty woman in a sweet embrace, but nothing in particular to draw the eye. Not much color, fairly bland.

Overall - 4 stars - When I read the first in this series, I found that the characters weren't particularly nice, but they fit with each other and brought out the best in each other. Knox seems to have a knack of creating just such characters this time too. Allie and Winston are such opposites on the outside and you'd never think they'd fit, but actually they are perfectly suited. They complement each other and made a wonderful pair.

Probably the most accomplished of Knox's works to date, with protagonists who have perfectly weighted concerns and attention to those concerns. I find that romances often focus on the needs of the heroine more closely than that of the romantic lead -- which makes sense, given a largely female readership -- but Madly draws a nice portrait of Winston and his hang-ups and foibles. Comes to that, I am also happy to see Winston, who was almost a villain in Knox's ABOUT LAST NIGHT, return for a closer look, and Mae's sister Allie from TRULY. As something other than bit characters in someone else's drama, they became interesting folk in their own right.

Allie's quest to figure out what her mom is doing (and by extension meddle in her parents' marriage) seemed doomed to end in tears. It more or less does, but they're the good kind of tears, the cleansing kind. I'm almost jealous watching something so harebrained work out. Not because it's unbelievable or badly written, but because Allie really does do the requisite work in her relationships with her family. (To a lesser extent with Winston, but only because they relationship is so new.) Really good stuff.

I don't like books with misunderstandings that lasts years and then there's 200 pages of more misunderstandings...I just don't have the time for that much agnst... so no.

I was looking forward to this book so very much. TRULY was the kind of delight that only comes along rarely. I loved it with all of my heart and eagerly anticipated May's sister's story. And the opening scene in MADLY is such a good hook. But from that point on, things seem to spin a little out of control craft-wise. I couldn't seem to really feel the connection between Allie and Winston. And it felt as though the story kept telling us that Allie was growing, kept telling us that she and Winston were merging together into something new and important, but it completely failed to show us those things. Which sadly left me, the reader, unable to believe them, to buy what I was being told, or to deem the happy ending worth its salt. Underwhelming.

I struggled to finish this book. Though I tend to be a heroine centric reader, Allie from this book was not appealing to me and I struggled to identify with her motivations. Zany and madcap characters are often difficult to pull off successfully and here I thought the characterization greatly missed the mark. Winston was difficult for me to like either as he was painted so unpleasantly in the preceding book that his transformation never felt believable. This is the second Ruthie Knox book and neither have been very appealing to me, and so I most likely won't try again.

I have not had a chance to read this book, Once I have gotten a chance to read it I will edit this review to reflect my thoughts and feeling on the book.

Wonderful.! I love this author so much. Her stories always keep me engaged. Can't wait for the next one.

The day-job ate all of MissB’s reading time in the past few weeks. She greatly missed writing her blog and is so happy to be back this week with a review of Ruthie Knox’s Madly. Hopefully, a two-week hiatus won’t be repeated.

Truth be told, part of it was work and part of it was MissB trying to get through Knox’s long-anticipated return to romance with New York #2, Madly. And, it is “mad,” a wildly unhappy, chaotic romance about Allie Fredericks (Truly‘s heroine’s, May’s, baby sister) and Winston Chamberlain (About Last Night‘s hero’s, Nev’s, older brother). Madly is one of the most fraught romances Miss Bates has ever read (barring Judith Ivory’s Beast, which MissB. loathed).

[THERE BE SPOILERS.] The opening scene was intriguing, though Knox’s need to remind us that life is about screwing up and dealing with randomness is a trying coloured it: “Allie made bad decisions when she felt uncomfortable … Bad decisions were just in her” and “Any life could turn on a dime. Hers had. Twice.” Also, the repetitive “I’m making a point” with the staccato sentences. BUT, it opens in a bar, the same one that Truly opened with, Wisconsin-in-NYC, Pulvermacher’s, and MissB. does enjoy a bar-opening. Allie is incognito, dressed in some silly get-up (there are MANY descriptions of ridiculous outfits in Madly, which signal the characters’ quirkiness to the reader, but chic MissB shuddered: not cute, not attractive, not fun to read about) spying on her mother and a supposed lover. Allie’s in charge of getting her parents’ 30th anniversary party off the ground. How can she, with her mother cavorting in NYC with a lover purported to also be Allie’s biological father? In walks the quite likeable hero-wimp, Winston, a divorced English banker of a certain age. Allie, to prevent her mother identifying her (Miss B. is confused on this point) launches herself at Winston by “licking his teeth.” MissB’s reader-antennae went on high alert.

BUT, still, somewhat amusing. Allie and Winston have insta-physical connection, as Allie muses, “This was so stupid. And awkward. And wrong-hot … his eyes crinkle[d] in a way that was caper-interested.” Okay, Miss B. also loves a good caper (though her first thought was that Winston’s eyes were green), she could go for this. Then, she read poor Winston’s response to Allie: “She was a small woman. Interesting to look at, but not beautiful. Painfully, hopelessly his type.” Oh dear.

Pain is the novel’s centre: psychic pain, painful fashion choices, and the pain of always screwing up, things spiraling out of control, and our inability to put them back together, except by the grace of embracing uncertainty. Winston, for one, carries a lot of pain, lingering after he almost screwed-up his baby brother’s life and destroyed his marriage: “Four years ago he’d made sense … Winston hadn’t understood that pain could live quietly in a room inside someone, locked down and fed by routines, by rigidity … ” Routines and rigidity are death-knells for Knox’s characters: healing is found when presuppositions, all the evils one has lived in one’s past through fear and fulfilling roles, are given over to living in chance and not-knowing-ness.

Winston muses about Allie: “What makes a woman fly hundreds or perhaps thousands of miles, don a disguise, hail a stranger, grab him by the lapels and lick his teeth? What’s got you scared? What’s made you sad? What’s your story, and can I get in on it?” Um, Win, honey, if you walk into a bar, and a wannabe-Wisconsinian-Mata-Hari, licks your teeth, I’d run as far away as I could get. Miss B. knew she was in reader-trouble at the first appearance of the second-person. But, no, Winston likes Allie and, given that his life consists of a Netflix queue of movies and TV shows (it appears that, for Knox’s characters, binge-watching Netflix is a sign of soul-healing), what does he have to lose: “It felt like at least this time, this one night, the adventure would be whatever happened between them.” Well, there you have it, folks, surrendering to adventure and chance with a self-pitying, whiny, crazypants-dressing woman will bring Winston what he never knew he wanted.

In the end, MissB could not really like Allie and she certainly, it follows from, couldn’t like Winston and Allie together. Winston is old and tired, or as he says in another prosy act of redundancy, he was “old and old and old.” However, it needs be said that Winston, unlike everyone else, is a sharp dresser. Allie is an immature, self-pitying, scaredy-cat bore. She means well: … so many things she didn’t understand about herself that she needed to figure out if she was going to do her job and bring everyone back together again”, but the reasons she wants to “bring everyone back together again” is to ensure that she’s the centre of their attention. There’s a smidgen of growth there and Madly may be a better Allie-coming-of-age story than it is a romance. No one really emerges smelling rosy: characters readers may have loved in other books, like Nev and Cath, Ben and May, are rendered unappealing. It’s as if Knox is bringing out the worst of qualities she redeemed in previous books.

There’s also unfun, unsexy sex in Madly. Winston and Allie make a list, itemizing everything they want to do that is, ahem, non-invasive. There is physical pleasure in the acts Winston and Allie share, but, to MissB at least, Allie’s perspective is she’d rather not be doing whatever she’s doing. Which is not to say that Winston is a rapey hero; on the contrary, he asks politely, respectfully, and frequently. It’s more that Allie does what she does, despite her preferred state, celibacy. None of this bodes well for the HEA, thought Miss B. And she was right, Madly throws a bone to the HEA (well slathered with life advice) and a definition of love that goes something like: love is leaving your sense of humour at the door, forgiving bad fashion choices, living with uncertainty, and unsexy sex. Now, THAT sounds more like life and MissB can’t say she enjoys it in her romance-reading. Knox is not interested in the fantasy, MissB gets that. And, she suspects that there are readers enthralled with what Madly is trying to do with the genre. Miss Bates would’ve preferred to see Winston and Allie end up friends, give Winston a nice HEA with his badass, totally rocking PA, Chastity, and Allie another five years of badly-needed growing-up. With her reading intimate, Miss Austen, Miss Bates deems Madly “had a high claim to forbearance,” Emma.

Ruthie Knox’s Madly is published by Loveswept. It was released in March and may be procured from your preferred vendor. Miss Bates received an e-ARC from Loveswept, via Netgalley.

Its hard for me to love a book when I can't relate to the heroine (even a little bit). Winston deserved more than Allie and it just made it hard for me to love this well written story between two self-discovering characters.

I waited for what seemed like a long time for the sequel to Ruthie Knox's book, Truly. I loved Truly and the main characters May&Ben are in Madly, which is great! I actually wanted a little more of them together in the sequel though.

Maybe my expectations were way too high. Madly was superbly written (as usual) and it had complex, interesting characters. But it was heavy on the family angst and didn't have enough steam or romance IMO. I loved both parts of the couple separately, but their chemistry and relationship seemed to be missing something. I felt that Winston and Allie could be more successful as friends. Their "list," although a cute idea, made the romance side of things things seem a bit robotic.

I liked the story but it literally took me weeks to finish. It's probably just me though! This author's books usually work for me and I have many on my favorites shelf. The family drama and the characters being mad all the time seemed stressful so I just didnt love it. I wanted more "madly" in love and less, well, MAD.

I will definitely read the next one, though, and anything else by this author!

3 Stars!
Madly by Ruthie Knox is the second book in her New York Trilogy. Truly was released August 2014 and it was a long time waiting for this installment. Completely is the third and final book of the series and its release date has been pushed back a few times. It is scheduled to release in late September 2017. Ruthie Knox is one of my favorite romance authors and she’s also a very nice person. After an absence from publishing, she is back, and that is a blessing!

Unfortunately, I am sad to say that Madly left something to be desired. This is the story of Allie Fredericks and Winston Chamberlain. We met Allie in Truly and Winston in About Last Night. Although we’ve met these main characters before, it’s not necessary to read those books to appreciate this story.

Allie has come to New York to spy on her mother and meets Winston when she kisses him in order to stay unnoticed by her mother. This sets the stage for a romance that begins after a chance meeting and continues when Allie needs a place to stay for the night.

This is an opposites attract type of romance and Winston is also quite a bit older than Allie. By the end of the book, I really didn’t care about the age difference. Ruthie does a great job building this relationship from lust to something more.

The reason for my 3-star rating was the fact that I really struggled with the plot of this story. There is a mystery surrounding Allie’s mom and her many “disappearances” that happened throughout Allie’s life. This “mystery” was not interesting to me and I really disliked Allie’s mom.

Allie’s character was also difficult for me to relate to and care about. She was somewhat manipulative, struggled with communication, and was quick to “quit” when things get hard. This is my least favorite type of heroine.

Winston was your quintessential Englishman, and I LOVE those men!! Maybe it’s my obsession with Colin Firth, but I am a sucker for the proper Englishman who comes undone by love. Winston was like this and he saved this book from the “did not finish” abyss. There is a fun and sexy list and game that Winston and Allie play that I will always remember. Ruthie knows how to write and although Madly will never be a favorite, it’s still written by the amazing Ruthie Knox, and thus worth the read and the time spent.

I am anxiously anticipating the release of Completely.

I pretty much love everything Ruthie Knox writes and surprise, surprise...this one was no different. Knox pulled me in with great characters in book one (Truly) and continues this by giving us a better introduction to Allie, May's sister. I loved finding out more about who she is and what has been going on with her. It was also great to see May and Ben show up in this one.

Allie happens to be in New York...even though she is supposed to be in Wisconsin but she has some concerns about her mom and dad's relationship so she is trying to figure out what her mother is up to and while spying on her in a bar, she meets Winston. I loved these two together and loved how they challenged each other and the bucket list was fantastic.

There is a great link to one of my FAVORITE books by Ruthie Knox, About Last Night, that until I read it I didn't really make the connection. I guess that means I should be doing a re-read of that one soon. Honestly, Ruthie Knox is one of my auto-buy authors and this book is one of the reasons why. If you haven't read anything by her yet, you are missing out and should fix that. She always writes great stories with characters who aren't perfect but make you love them anyway. Go check this out soon!

This is the second book in the “New York” series after "Truly", which was May and Ben’s story (I adored Truly!). This is Allie’s story, May’s sister. While I did enjoy the book, it was really hard getting into the characters Allie and Winston. I read a lot of mixed reviews on this book, and others felt the same way as me. Just didn’t like the characters as much is all, and I couldn’t relate to them. I put this book to the side a several times because I couldn’t quite get into it. Some books are like that.
This can be read as a standalone book, but I find it’s helpful to follow the order of a series so you know all the characters. This book was okay for me, and I do want to read the third book “Completely”. This one wasn’t one of my favorites, but I love Ruthie’s writing and look forward to reading more from her.
*A special thank you to NetGalley and Random House-Loveswept Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.*

I've been waiting for Madly FOR AGES. I was late to the Ruthie Knox party, but I fell in love with Truly back in 2015. Since then, I've been stalking Goodreads and other sites, waiting to find out when Madly would *finally* be published. You can imagine how excited I was to see it up on NetGalley for request... and how much more excited I was when I was approved.
I absolutely adored Allie and Winston and their story. From their first meeting in the bar where she was spying on her mother to their decision to continue the night at his apartment, I was sucked in from the very start. It was all swoons and cheesy grins as they made their list of sweet and sexy things and, naturally, began checking things off. Despite the big age difference here, these two just worked so well together. They complemented each other perfectly, which made them so easy to cheer for. This book was a joy to read. The only thing that took away from it, in my opinion, was Allie's mother's story. I just didn't care that much about that for the bulk of the book. I understand why it was important, but I'd have personally been happier with more Allie and Winston time. Regardless, this was an excellent read and one that I'm likely to reread in the future.

The next book in the New York series is slated for release in September 2017. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it stays that way, because I can't wait for more of this series, these characters and Ruthie's writing.

FAVORITE QUOTES

"Because you never know when the person you meet at a bar might turn out to be the most interesting thing to happen to you in all your life."

They'd made a list of ways for two people to belong to each other, and so he belonged to her a little more tonight than he had yesterday, and the day before. Just as she belonged to him.

Allie Frederick is May Frederick's younger sister from [book:Truly|18481904]. She is supposed to be in Wisconsin organising her parents' wedding anniversary party but instead she has flown to New York to spy on her mother and another man. Throughout her childhood Allie's mother has taken off for days or weeks at a time, her father has always tried to gloss over her mother's absences but early on Allie learnt to hack her mother's computer and read her private papers. The kicker is that the man her mother is meeting is a well-known artist who goes under the pseudonym "Justice" and is Allie's biological father. Allie feels like the family screw-up, an entrepreneur extraordinaire she runs a business buying and selling bric a brac (although we soon find out that is just the tip of the iceberg). Since splitting from her ex Allie has indulged her eclectic fashion sense by wearing some of the vintage clothes she sells online.

Allie is trying to spy on her mother and Justice in a half-empty bar when Winston Chamberlain walks in. Allie enlists Winston in her madcap scheme by asking for his assistance in hiding her from her mother's gaze. After a drunken afternoon and evening in the bar, drinking whisky and spying on Allie's mother, Winston offers Allie the use of his daughter's flat for a couple of nights while she is in New York.

Winston is a very proper English lawyer, divorced with a daughter at college in New York, he has reached a kind of midlife crisis, he realises that he stifled his ex-wife's personality while they were married and spent his entire adult life doing what was expected, not even acknowledging that he didn't want to do those things (and neither did his ex). He has moved to New York to be with his daughter but she seems to avoid him as much as she can, he feels out-of-place, unwanted and irrelevant.

Allie decides to try an experiment that her friend Elvira calls talking to the mailman, where you unload all your deepest darkest secrets and issues on a complete stranger (or mailman), in the belief that it helps prepare you for maybe having those difficult conversations with someone you love. Allie confesses that she broke off her engagement at the altar and yet her ex-fiance is a constant presence in her life. Winston confesses the issues with his marriage. Together they draw up a TO DO list of things they never did with their other halves or wish they had done. It starts innocuously enough with a 30 second hug but gets more risque.

So we have a clash of opposites: Allie is an eccentric dresser, from Wisconsin, a small-town girl from a solid middle-class family. Winston is the sort of guy who wears a three-piece suit seven days a week, he's from a wealthy English family. And yet they find a connection.

Ruthie Knox writes such different romances and such fascinating characters with plots that defy expectations. Winston is desperate to find some passion in his life the way his ex-wife and daughter have done, he feels like he is sleep-walking through life. Allie feels that she is responsible for fixing her family, dragging her mother back to Wisconsin in time for her wedding anniversary party to make her father happy. Gradually they both begin to change their lives and their outlooks, but what future can they have when Allie is going back to Wisconsin and Winston wants to go back to England?

Well! I started this book and 7% in I was hating it. Allie seemed to be one of those "mad cap" heroines that [author:Elle Casey|5423648] writes (and I have now vowed not to read another Elle Casey book because 75% of them raise my blood pressure to dangerous levels). I was going to DNF this book but felt 7% was too little to read before throwing in the towel. Also, I had loved the previous book so much I had pre-ordered this one (before getting an ARC from NetGalley) so I should really try a bit harder. And just like that I became engrossed. EDIT: apparently I did actually buy this book in 2015 but didn't read it!

This was great, I loved Winston and his suits and cufflinks, I loved the story about Allie's mother, I loved the love/hate relationship between May and Allie that all sisters have. Now I'm off to buy the third book in the series!

Ruthie Knox is a new author for me, and I am certainly glad that I found her! When I agreed to review this book I didn't realize at first it was a sequel in a series. So I was equally happy to have found and read Truly before I tackled this one.

It's rather hard to separate the books as they are so closely intertwined. I loved May and Ben's story so much, I wanted to give them both a hug. I related to their personalities, even though they are pretty atypical for this genre.

And then in Madly we get to know Allie way better and achieve a deeper understanding of her relationship with Matt. And suddenly it all makes a lot more sense! This book is one that points out in a very profound way that things are often NOT the way they seem to be on the surface.

Ally is so much more than you would expect. And Winston is just wonderful. I love his honesty and how he had to learn to express it in order to not lose those who are important to him. He's really a beautiful character.

So often in the book I found myself becoming frustrated with how the family members were not communicating with each other, Eventually I realized they were all along though, and it was more a matter of misconception. It all seemed very real actually and exactly what happens with families.

I really disliked May and Ally's mother in the first book, and I have to say that no matter how it turned out in this one, she still isn't my favorite character. But that is not to say I disliked the story at ALL. She fit into it perfectly.

I can't wait to read the final installment, and I've just started About Last Night to get the backstory on Cath and Neville. I suppose it will fill in some about Winston as well.

Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC.