All tagged Ruthie Knox

Recommendation Tuesday: Summer Rain Anthology

Recommendation Tuesday: Summer Rain Anthology

Sarah Moon
Books

Recommendation Tuesday started as a joke and is now an official thing. Basically, this is my way of making Tuesday a little more awesome. If you've got a book to recommend on this or any Tuesday, tweet me at @FullShelves and I'll help spread the word.

View all of the past recommendations over here. 

When author Ruthie Knox emailed me about a review copy of the Summer Rain anthology, I jumped on it when I saw the lineup of authors contributing to this collection of "novelettes." In addition to Ruthie, favorites like Molly O'Keefe and Mary Anne Rivers also contributed to the anthology which supports the important work of RAINN. 

Each of the nine novelettes is a complete story (unlike so many anthologies which are too often stuffed with teasers for other books *shakes fist*), thematically bound together by the idea of summer rain. The major are contemporary stories, but there are a couple of science fiction/fantasy entries and there's also a "new adult" entry from Audra North. 

12 Tiny Reviews

12 Tiny Reviews

Sarah Moon
Books

I have a ton of posts and reviews in various stages of completion, but my real-life (paying) work just keeps getting in the way of my actually finishing anything. So, I thought I'd post a bunch of rapid-fire tiny reviews. Items with an asterisk (*) are currently planned for a longer post.

Unraveling & Unbreakable by Elizabeth Norris (Audiobooks) 

This series was a wonderful surprise, full of action and an authentic teenage voice. I loved that despite that it's a very plot-heavy story, lots of different types of relationships are explored as well.

Read the rest-->

Review: How to Misbehave (Novella) by Ruthie Knox

Review: How to Misbehave (Novella) by Ruthie Knox

Sarah Moon
Books

Ruthie Knox's Ride with Me was a favorite at Clear Eyes, Full Shelves in 2012. Both Rebeca aka Renegade and I immensely enjoyed Ruthie's clever, witty storytelling that was both light-hearted and grounded.

Her books very much have a Julie James vibe (good humor and great character chemistry) with more of a blue collar sensibility.

In 2013, readers can look forward to even more Ruthie, with two full-length books and a novella featuring characters in the fictional town of Camelot, Ohio. 

The novella, How to Misbehave, introduces Camelot and the family each story centers around by taking us back toY2K and introducing Amber Clark (whose siblings are main characters in the other two books in the series) and Tony Mazzaro, a contractor.

Amber and Tony meet at the community center where Amber works and Tony is supervising a construction job. As one does, Amber spends her spare time ogling Tony and his fine ass while he supervises the job-site. 

Amber is a rather unusual (at least to me) character in romance. While at first glance, she appears like a same old, same old shy romance lead, she's more complex--and that's quite a feat for such a short story (it's approximately 100 pages). Amber attended a Christian college but ultimately left that conservative world (and her virginity) behind. She's had boyfriends, but none have been particularly, uh... satisfying, if you know what I mean. 

Frankly, Amber could have easily been a stereotype, but one of the things that Knox does with How to Misbehave is play with the "good girl" archetype.

Joint Review: Ride With Me by Ruthie Knox

Joint Review: Ride With Me by Ruthie Knox

Sarah Moon
Books

Ride With Me by Ruthie Knoxa joint review by Sarah & Rebeca aka Renegade

After Rebeca discovered Ruthie Knox with About That Night, which charmed us both, Racquel from The Book Barbies insisted that we read Ruthie’s other book, Ride With Me. Our arms were twisted, so we had a little Clear Eyes, Full Shelves readalong. 

Ride With Me is, in a lot of ways, a classic road trip/oil and water type of book, except it’s set against the backdrop of an epic bike ride across the U.S. Lexie places an ad for someone to cycle with her, and winds up with Tom, whose sister answered her ad on his behalf, unbeknownst to him. The two clash, as Lexie’s by-the-rules personality and Tom’s laissez faire approach make for amusing cycling companions against the backdrop of their cross-country cycling tour.

On the Plot

Sarah: I love that this is a road trip novel. I mean, they’re on bikes, which doesn’t sound too fun to me because of the whole sore ass thing, but hell, yeah roadtrips. Throw in the bonus of the opposites-attract trope, and I’m sold. I don’t know how creative Ride With Me’s plot is at its core (there are a lot of tried and true plot devices), but it feels fresh and fun regardless. And, I thought the bike ride made for a great backdrop—there’s something about the pursuit of something physically challenging that works for me when it’s done well. Yay sports and all that. 

Rebeca: I’m not a big biking fan either, but reading this book made me want to try this route out myself. Knox does a good job of conveying the feel of the country. Hillsborough even made an appearance for one of the best scenes, the hot-sauce challenge. I bought the need for these two clashing personalities to stick together despite their disagreements. Sparks were a natural result of this forced intimacy, setting the stage for a really fun story.

Sarah: I am, however, not convinced as to how realistic Tom’s, uh, “prowess,” would be after all that bike riding. Yeah, I’m talking about this.

Rebeca: The first time you shared that article I had to leave the room. My DAD rides his bike to-and-from work every day. Eww.

{Review} About Last Night by Ruthie Knox

Rebeca aka Renegade
Books

About Last Night by Ruthie KnoxThe romantic hero of About Last Night is named Neville. Oh yeah, you heard me.

For anyone who’s ever enjoyed a Harry Potter film or movie (and I sincerely hope EVERYONE has had that pleasure), this is obviously a dream come true. It doesn’t hurt that his character reminds me of my favorite YA hero, Wes from Sarah Dessen’s The Truth About Forever.

The heroine isn’t too bad herself. Mary Catherine is a former Catholic schoolgirl with a painful history and an intense love of art. She’s trying to break into curating for The Victoria and Albert Museum in London by assisting them in putting together their new knitting exhibition. She has no credentials, but plenty of expertise and passion.

Cath sees herself as a screw-up. She doesn’t trust herself, so she can’t trust anyone else either. She tattoos herself to enumerate her many self-perceived mistakes.

It had taken four hours for the tattoo artist to inject the warning she’d devised into the soft flesh of her belly, and she’d welcomed every bite of the needle, hoping the pain would become a carapace she could use to protect herself from repeating her mistakes.

One stranger in particular fascinates her. She nicknames him City, because his clothing and his habits make her think he works in the City of London, the financial district at the center of town. She sees him in the mornings on their commute in to work and on weekend runs. She muses in her journal about him. But she never even dreams of introducing herself. In fact, it’s only after he’s rescued her from an ill-conceived night on the town that she finally tells him her name.

“I’d never heard you talk before. You ought to do it more. It’s charming.”

“People who talk to themselves at the train station are generally understood to be crazy. Especially in your country.”

“I hardly know you.”

“I’m superb,” he said. “You’re going to like me.”

She does like Nev. Hell, so do I.