REVIEW: About Last Night by Ruthie Knox

About Last Night
by Ruthie Knox

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance

Pages: 216 (ebook)

Publication: June 2012

(Random House)

Goodreads Summary: Cath Talarico knows a mistake when she makes it, and God knows she’s made her share. So many, in fact, that this Chicago girl knows London is her last, best shot at starting over. But bad habits are hard to break, and soon Cath finds herself back where she has vowed never to go . . . in the bed of a man who is all kinds of wrong: too rich, too classy, too uptight for a free-spirited troublemaker like her.

Nev Chamberlain feels trapped and miserable in his family’s banking empire. But beneath his pinstripes is an artist and bohemian struggling to break free and lose control. Mary Catherine—even her name turns him on—with her tattoos, her secrets, and her gamine, sex-starved body, unleashes all kinds of fantasies.

When blue blood mixes with bad blood, can a couple that is definitely wrong for each other ever be perfectly right? And with a little luck and a lot of love, can they make last night last a lifetime?

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Review: BtCers, I have a confession. *looks around, leans close, whispers* This is the first contemporary romance I’ve read in... about a bijillion years. *nods and crosses heart* Seriously, I can’t remember the last time I read a straight contemporary romance. For-almost-ever now I’ve been reading paranormal romances. On those rare occasions when I read something other than PNR, it was usually a historical romance. Even most of my YA romances have a PNR element to them. There’s a reason for that... I was burned out on contemporary romances. Totally. Boy + girl + some big bad person / thing = HEA had me bored down to my freshly pedicured, midnight nail polish colored piggies. I couldn’t take one more predictable ending without screaming obscenities... *adjusts hem of decorum* ...which we all know nice Southern girls don’t do.

But I’d been hearing good things about author Ruthie Knox. Several of my tweeps had been buzzing about her, and it piqued my interest. I requested one of the 200 copies of About Last Night which were available and was selected to receive one.

I am so glad I did.

From the opening scene where Cath hustles her friend into letting her have a much lusted after straightjacket for an exhibit, I knew I was going to like this book and that I was going to want Cath for a bestie. I was right.

Cath is fun. She’s quirky, snarky and wholly irreverent. All qualities of which I highly approve. She also wears almost nothing but black, so we could totes share wardrobes... if she was a little taller, that is. She’s also very real. Knox did a great job making Cath relatable, making her interesting, vulnerable, and giving her believable flaws. Such as the way she misjudges Nev, seeing him as ‘Prince Charming in a suit.’

Nev... Neville Chamberlin, that is... is everything you could want in a guy: smart, artistic and sex on a stick. But this hottie has a strong moral code, which is shown when he helps an inebriated Cath out by bringing her back to his flat to sleep when he finds her wandering around late at night. What follows is a fun, if misunderstanding filled, ride to the eventual and much deserved HEA.

But here’s the thing... I wasn’t bored. The story wasn’t predictable. I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen next. And I loved it. Cath and Nev are very well written, as are the secondary characters. The settings are interesting, which is something I never thought I’d say when there is talk of antique knitting in a book. *laughs*

In the end, these two characters belong together; Nev helps Cath heal from the mistakes of her past, and Cath helps Nev break free from the mold his mother has tried to force him into. And the author sums the entirety of why the story of these people falling in love is so good to read up in this one line of Nev’s at the end: ‘Your past-- It’s not a series of mistakes, love. It’s just you. All the things that happened to you that made you who you are.’ That’s the key to this book, why these characters work and why I enjoyed it so much; they accept and love each other for who they are, flaws and all.

A happily ever after doesn’t get any better than that.

Rating: 4 stars