Review: Madly by Ruthie Knox

Madly (New York, #2) by Ruthie Knox
Formats available: ebook
Series: New York #2
Pages: 274
Published by Loveswept on March 14th 2017
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo
Goodreads

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?

My Review:

Madly is the follow up to two of Ruthie Knox’s best contemporary romances, not that all of her books aren’t utterly marvelous.

But this second book in her New York series pairs the sister of the heroine in the first book, Truly, with the brother of the hero from her award-winning About Last Night. And this surprising couple may look oh-so-wrong on paper but they are oh-so-right in this book.

Allie Fredericks comes to New York on a whim. And not a very good whim, at that. She finds herself at Pulvermacher’s, the Green Bay Packers-themed bar in New York City, watching her mother seem to flirt with a stranger. A stranger that Allie knows is her, well, let’s call him bio-dad. He’s not the man who raised her, but he’s definitely her sperm donor.

It looks like Allie’s mom has bailed on her father just days before their 30th wedding anniversary to have a fling, or something, with her on again, off again New York lover. And somehow Allie believes that this problem is hers to fix. Now that she knows she’s the proverbial cuckoo in her family’s Wisconsin nest, she can’t stop herself from thinking that everything that appears wrong with her family is all her fault, and all her responsibility to fix.

Winston Chamberlain is in Pulvermacher’s to meet his investment client, Justin Olejniczak, better known to the art world as the mysterious performance artist Justice. (Think Chilhuly but handsomer and with cloth). The very straight-laced Winston finds himself at loose ends when he walks in to discover his client talking very seriously with a woman at the bar.

And that’s when Allie ropes Winston into helping her spy on her mother. And all the straight-laces that have been tying Winston’s life into very uncomfortable knots all start coming loose. At once.

It turns out that they both need someone with whom they can be their authentic selves. Winston used to be as devil-may-care as Allie seems to be, or as his brother Neville (see About Last Night for the glorious deets) now is. But Winston shoehorned himself into all the responsibilities he thought he was supposed to take on, and somewhere along the way built a career but lost his wife and his daughter. The marriage is long over, but the daughter is here in New York, and he still has a chance to salvage that relationship.

Allie, on the other hand, seems footloose and fancy free. She seems like a creative spirit who dresses in vintage clothes and never quite takes responsibility for much of anything. But her real self is not merely responsible, but actually an extremely savvy and successful businesswoman. A woman that no one seems to see behind the out-there outfits.

They are absolutely perfect for each other. And they are the absolutely perfect people to help each other find the way out of their respective conundrums. If only Allie doesn’t crash and burn all of her relationships with her family on the way to that happy ending.

Escape Rating A: This was the perfect book for me on a weekend where I was laid up with both a cold and a bruised leg. I was feeling out of sorts in so many possible directions, and Ruthie took me away to her New York for a whirlwind tour.

Like so many of the author’s previous stories, this is a romance between two people who simply shouldn’t work together, but absolutely do. It just takes them a while to recognize it.

Winston seriously needs a “do-over” in his life. He has become so good at being serious and responsible, that he’s lost track of the person he really is. His obligations and his career have become a straight-jacket that never fit, it’s just that nearing 40, he’s finally come to recognize that it isn’t working for him. At the same time, all those years he spent being the perfect everything are a part of who he is. He needs to find a blend if he’s to keep his relationship with his now adult daughter.

This is a case where the age difference between the hero and heroine works well. Allie is in her mid-20s, but she also isn’t typical. Her artistic and free-spirited manner and clothing make her seem as if she is young and irresponsible, but that’s only on the surface, much as Winston’s ultra-responsibility is. She is also a very savvy, responsible and successful businesswoman. She needs someone who appreciates both sides of who she really is. But because she is a conflict-avoider, people often see her as less, particularly her douchebag ex-fiancee.

The lesson that the pain is the same whether you talk about it or not is one that we all need to learn.

I also loved the resolution of Allie’s family issues. Nothing, of course, is exactly as it seems. But it seems the way it does to Allie because there are so many secrets, and no one is dealing with them. Like many children, even as adults we think that we are responsible for the problems between our parents, even when we’re not. Perhaps especially when we’re not. The way that this particular aspect of the plot resolved was a big part of the winning formula of this story.

Although Madly uses characters from both About Last Night and Truly, I don’t think it is absolutely necessary to read either or both of those antecedents to enjoy Madly. However, they are both absolutely fantastic contemporary romances, and definitely worth reading. Or re-reading.

Excuse me, I’m off to read About Last Night for the third (or maybe fifth) time.

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