I tried to read this twice, but I just couldn't stick with it. I can't even really say what my issue was. Maybe just the wrong book for me at this time.

I wasn't sure I was going to like the female lead in this book, but to my great surprise I did. Actually, she made me laugh quite often and made the whole story so enjoyable.

Such a silly story. Could not figure out any of the characters reason for any of their actions. From the first chapter I knew how it would end.

Loved the cover and the concept. And while I very much appreciate the free copy, I was disappointed with the overall story and a few of the characters.

Ruthie Knox is back BIG TIME!!!

I’ve been waiting forever for this book, any of her writing, actually, but this book especially. I didn’t even know what it’ll be about (only that it deals with Allie Fredericks) but I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. And then Ruthie gave us the best surprise and launched it as a double sequel. Double. Sequel.

*squeeeeeee*

What does that mean? Neville Chemberlain (About Last Night – a must read!!) has this brother that was trying to sabotage his relationship, remember? Well… said brother, Winston Chemberlain is our hero in Madly.

The story starts in such a crazy way, I couldn’t not believe (sorry for the double neg) it to be unrealistic. It is NYC after all. Allie is spying on her flakey mother, trying to figure out what her deal is disappearing every now and then for weeks on end, leaving her dad so miserable and seemingly brokenhearted. Winston, bless him, goes with the flow, immediately intrigued and enjoying her crazy behavior. Especially when he realizes he’s linked to Allie’s investigation.

From here to there we meet Winston’s free-spirit college age daughter, who’s awesome on a different level, May and Ben make an (important) appearance and let us not forget Nev and Cath who visit and join the fun. And I can’t ignore Winston’s assistant, who’s grumpy as hell, and also - a hoot.

I swear this book is like the nuttiest party and it’s SO MUCH FUN!

Trying to figure out why her mother is cheating on her father and why her father seems weirdly okay with it, it a strange ride all these characters go on. Each of them take a part in trying to solve the puzzle, and everything flows beautifully towards the resolution of the mystery.

Their relationship evolves as they’re checking off sexy fantasies bucket list they share, and by going through each “item” on the list, they reveal more about themselves, open up and grow closer. It’s so beautiful and unique and that’s what I think I loved most in the story.

I think that while it’s not imperative you read Truly or About Last Night before you read this book, you’d want to as many of the details will make little sense to you.

Fun, romantic, unique and a hella sexy – it’s every little thing you’d want in a contemporary romance.

Perfection!

This book was totally far fetched. I think Allie was a flake, but to me what saved it was Winston, in my eyes anyway. It was good to read about past characters, but probably will not continue this series. To me this author is hit or miss.

I enjoyed this book, but to be completely honest it took me a good while to get into the book. Allie and Winston definitely had chemistry. And once I got into the story, it was a fast read.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

This is a delightful book that captured my attention from the very beginning when Allie, an unlikely spy, enlists Winston, a total stranger, to help her observe a woman at a bar. Almost immediately, the sparks of attraction ignite between Allie and Winston. They are most definitely opposites, but are drawn together in a way neither is quite sure of.

As the romance develops between the two, Allie's family drama, and the true purpose of her trip to New York City, heats up. Allie has tracked her missing mother and is determined to find her. Based on her research, she is convinced her mom is having a long term affair with a mysterious artist based in NYC.

While I was enjoying the romance, the family drama snuck in on me and had me totally engrossed before I even realized it had happened. I was so hooked that I stayed up late into the night so see what happened.

This is the first book I've read by this author, but it won't be the last. I've added her to my must read authors' list. Fans of the genre will love this book.

I didn't really enjoy it as much as I thought i would. After reading the first few chapter I felt like the plot was going very slow. Meeting him in the beginning seemed so unrealistic and I know this is fiction, but for me it just didn't work. Then she went to his apartment without knowing the guy? I liked the way the book was trying to go but it just didn't work for me.

This ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I squealed--no joke--when I saw that a Ruthie Knox novel was available on NetGalley and crossed my fingers that I would be granted a copy to read. She is a must-buy author for me, and all of the books I've read by her so far have been 5-star keepers.

This was a good book, and I enjoyed it, but it wasn't up to par with the others by Knox, so I'm giving it 4 stars.

I liked the characters well enough, though I liked Allie better somehow in Truly, the previous book in the New York series. For a young woman who has so much business and artistic savvy, she just kind of falls apart through most of this story. She's pretty ineffectual, and I wanted her to have more strength, more direction, more gumption to go with her quirkiness.

I liked Winston too, certainly more here than when he debuted in About Last Night (which I loved so, so hard). He was an unmitigated ass in that story, and is a completely different person here. Time has passed, and explanations for the character growth are given, but it all feels a bit distant.

Really, I think that was at the root of my problem with this story--everything felt a bit distant, like the hero and heroine were several steps removed from the reader as well as from each other. There wasn't the immediacy of emotion that I've seen in Knox's other books, and I missed that. The tension and conflict between the two main characters was absent, or cursory at best. You never really doubt that they'll end up together because there isn't any compelling reason for them not to. The end result of their relationship is never in doubt.

All of that said, I loved the secondary characters in this one. I loved Jean (Winston's driver), Allie's father (in the few short appearances he made), her sister May and her boyfriend Ben (from Truly, though I would have liked it better if May hadn't been quite such a pill through much of it), Winston's daughter Bea and his assistant Chasity (which I mentally revise to Chastity for reasons). They brought most of the color to the story when I would have expected it to come from Allie, at the very least.

I know that this review may not seem to rate 4 stars, but even sub-par Knox is better than a lot of things out there, and I'll admit that I hold her to a very high standard. I'm definitely looking forward to her next book, and hope to find that old spark has returned.

Everything was pretty shallow and fast paced, not a lot of substance.

This quirky, intriguing book is different than any romance novel I've read before. The story is interesting, the characters are delightful, and the uniqueness is refreshing. I was filled with so many emotions while reading this book, and it caused me to reflect on my own life and how many times I lost myself. I connected deeply with the characters and thoroughly enjoyed their journey. This author has an amazing gift, an incredible talent. And I'm so glad I've now found her.

This book had me laughing at Allie’s “Meet Cute” with Winston. She is in a bar spying on her mother and she might be recognized so she ropes in a stranger, Winston, for a fake kiss as her mother passes on her way to the Ladies’ room. From there Winston becomes her aide de camp in her spying mission when he discovers he may have a key to her quest.
This story starts off with lots of promise. It is rather a convoluted plot that sometimes left me scratching my head wondering “Why” or “What” it was always interesting and very well written. There are some sexy, steamy downright kinky bits. Allie’s sister May and her boyfriend Ben play important roles their story was in the first book of this series, TRULY. Also Nev, Winston’s brother, and Cath show up which is a definite treat since they were the H/h of Knox’s ABOUT LAST NIGHT a 5-star joy of a book. Winston had a role in that book also which is not billed as part of this current trilogy but worth a read. Back to this book; it slows down a bit in the middle and really has some over the top drama. Can this many characters all have this much angst? Yes, yes they can, and it is a bit exhausting.

You don’t need to read any of the aforementioned books, in and out of this series, to enjoy this book. But I do encourage you to delve into a Ruthie Knox book. She writes fun, intelligent, sensuous contemporary romance that can be topped by no other.

I'm a huge fan of Ruthie Knox, and she charmed me again with the second book in her New York series.

If you liked Truly, you will probably enjoy Madly as well. It had the same vibe, the same strangers-meeting-with-intense-chemistry thing, and had a steady pace for easy reading. Sure, the plot is far-fetched to the point of unbelievable, but I was so into the characters that I didn't even mind that much.

This is an opposites-attract story, which is a favorite theme of mine in romance. Allie is a bit of a misunderstood, zany free-spirit, and Winston is buttoned-up and polished moneyed shine. They played off each other, and their chemistry was intense. I loved their sex to-do list, and I found them to have a refreshing raw-ness as a couple. I think that they could have communicated a bit more, but I enjoyed them a great deal together.

What struck me most about the story was how readable and interesting it was. We learn a lot about each character, even the secondary characters, and not everything is as it seems. It isn't a high angst or dramatic story, but it makes a big impact all the same. Plus, it takes place in my neck of the woods, so bonus points for that.

A must-read for all fans of Ruthie Knox, Madly did not disappoint!

*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*

DNF so I will not be rating or reviewing. Thank you for the opportunity to read this title.

I read the first book in this series, Truly which follows May and Ben. Madly stars May's sister Allie as she follows their mom to New York City trying to figure out what she's doing every time she runs away. Allie meets Winston in a bar as she's hiding undercover stalking her mom. She asks Winston to make out with her. Allie and Winston's entire relationship was a bit weird, at times hesitant because they made a list of sexual things they wanted to check off their list but half the time Allie was so uncomfortable doing it. I liked Winston with his daughter Bea. Not sure how Bea's mother was to figure in the story because she was brought up enough but no resolution. Bea's mom and Allie's mom drew parallels about mom's maybe resenting to be mom's while putting their careers on hold, not sure if that's what we're suppose to get out of it. Allie seemed a little to easy to forgive her mom in the end when a lot still needed to be discussed. I didn't like this as much as the first book.

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?

Allie Fredericks is trying to save her family. For as long as she can remember her mother has randomly disappeared from their lives in Wisconsin. Allie’s dad always said that she was taking time for herself. This time Allie found out that she headed to New York so she decided to follow her to finally get to the bottom of everything. She’s stalking her mom at a bar (with the man who is her biological father) when she enlists the help of a stranger – Winston Chamberlain. He not only helps her but ends up giving her a place to stay after she loses her mom in the New York shuffle. While trying to find her mother she enlists the help of all of Winston’s friends and relatives and even his personal assistant. Her simple sleuth job turns into a major deal and soon everyone is looking for her mom.

Allie is distraught about a great many things and decides that she needs to unload her woes to someone. She uses Winston as she doesn’t know him and it feels safe to tell him things she maybe wouldn’t have told someone she knew well. When they start talking though they find they have an attraction to each other and also sexual issues that have never been discovered or worked out (she with her ex-fiancé and he with his ex-wife). They decide to make a list (sexual) and get through it before she heads back to Wisconsin.

While in New York Allie also tries to reconnect with her sister but that ends up causing more issues than fixing anything. Allie soon realizes that she has to figure how to get her own life in order and let everyone else live their lives their own way. She also has to figure out what to do with her growing feelings for Winston and that’s not an easy thing to do.

Madly was a pretty fun and interesting book. Despite that, however, I found it to be exhausting. The characters, especially Allie, made me a bit crazy at times and I just needed Allie to take a deep breath and be calm for one moment. Lol

Allie was a crazy girl who was business wise and personality strong. She loved her family but pretty much felt that they were falling apart and she took it upon herself to fix everything. I think it was because she couldn’t fix her own life the way it needed to be therefore she needed to fix everyone else’s. She had a big personality and this was shown to us again and again. She wore me out, truth be told. I was quite happy that Winston could bring her down to earth once in a while.

I didn’t connect completely with either Allie or Winston but I did like them together. I thought that they played off of each other well and the scenes when they were alone together were my favorite.

This is a sequel to the first book in the series, Truly, but it also catches us up with Nev and Cath from About Last Night (a book I loved). It was good to see Nev and Cath again and to meet Winston's daughter, Bea, who was awesome.

Overall a good book but a frenetic one. I’d say you definitely have to be in the mood for a wild ride to truly enjoy this story.

Rating: 3.5/3.75 out of 5

This will post as a guest review on The Book Binge.
http://bookbinge.com/

This book will keep you on your toes and maybe even thinking of what you do when your scared and what kind of person you are deep down..Allie and Winston are two people that are meant for each other that met in a bar . Allie was trying to fix her family but in the process she was loosing who she was and her family...lots of obstacles for both of them but as they work on finding her mom things started to come crystal clear and the relationship between everyone became closer and more loving..highly recommend this book to anyone

Oh what is it with Children trying to manage their parents... We have a woman who sees her mother living this other life in NYC. She is compelled to find out what exactly is happening....and in this endeavor learns more about herself, life and love.
Winston is the man who is there and assists her with this self discovery and he is wonderful... Along the way, he too discovers who he is, what this new woman means to him and what is a HEA...

What a charming little story this turned out to be. While reading it, I thought "This is a 3-star read." Then I thought, no 3.5 stars. By the end, it definitely is a 4 star read for me.

First, let me say, I absolutely loved Winston. I mean serious book-boyfriend adore this man. He is kind and gentle and smart and suave and mannered and thoughtful...and I could go on. If he showed up on my front doorstep, I'd be ushering my husband out the back door!!

This story had so many facets - finding your tribe, falling apart and coming back together, healing, loving without needing to control another person, loving with acceptance of the other person and allowing them the space they need to be who they are, within a family or within a romantic relationship.

There wasn't huge drama or angst - this book was just simple, sweet, insightful...with quite a little bit of steaminess thrown into the mix!!