Series: Camelot #4
Format Read: eGalley
Source: From the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: July 15, 2013
Buying Links: Amazon* | Barnes & Noble | ARe
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Blurb from goodreads:
RITA finalist Ruthie Knox returns with a brand-new eBook original novella, the finale of her delightfully sexy Camelot series.
A hotel bar. A sexy stranger. A night of passion. There’s a part of Amber Mazzara that wants those things, wants to have a moment — just one — where life isn’t a complicated tangle of house and husband and kids and careers. Then, after a long, exhausting “vacation” with her family, her husband surprises her with a gift: a few days on the beach . . . alone.
Only she won’t be alone long, because a handsome man just bought her a drink. He’s cool, he’s confident, and he wants to take Amber to bed and keep her there for days. Lucky for them both, he’s her husband. He’s only got a few days in Jamaica to make her wildest desires come true, but if he can pull it off, there’s reason to believe that this fantasy can last a lifetime.
Bea's Thoughts:
OMG, I love this book. I cried through about 90% of it but I cried because it was so damn good and made me feel so very much.
The first book in this series, "How to Misbehave", introduced Tony and Amber; they met and got involved. I loved it. In this book, more than 10 years have gone by, Tony and Amber are married, and they have three kids. Knox examines what happens to love after time has passed and life has become routine. The "I do's" have been said, the honeymoon is over, and life's daily grind has taken over. Does the passion stay? Can the spark be kept alive?
We spend much of the book inside Amber and Tony's heads but there's enough dialogue and action that I hardly noticed and when I did, it didn't bother me. Tony and Amber still love each other but they've slowly drifted away from each other - Tony's business is suffering and he works 80+ hours a week, Amber is a stay at home mom taking care of three boys, but with all of them in school now she doesn't know what to do with herself. Neither one has shared their fears with each other and even their conversations and lovemaking have become perfunctory. Amber is losing bits of herself and doesn't know how to stop it or even what she wants. At one point she tells Tony that she tried to make a list of ten things she wanted for herself and after much struggling, she managed to come up with three. Only three things that she wants for herself. Tony has been drifting along, afraid to admit his fears or to look too closely at his marriage in case he loses it for good. Neither one has wanted to burden the other with their fears or wants and so they have drifted apart.
In "Making It Last" we see Tony and Amber struggle to find themselves and to find their way back to each other. Knox shows us that couple can still love each other, still want to be together but have problems. Those problems don't have to mean the end of the marriage if you're willing to put in the work. It's rare to find a romance novel that occurs after the wedding and looks at a couple's marriage. "Making It Last" is an honest, real, wrenching love story. This story will tear you up, make you cry, make you think and make you feel. There's a hot sex scene but the story is so much more. Knox is one of the best romance writers there is and you need to read her.
I like the sound of Tony and Amber!
ReplyDeleteAwe, I don't want to cry, but it does sound really good. Their relationship sounds like one I could relate to and want to root for them. Great review.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see more books like this. I enjoy romance novels, but they are always so focused on building the relationship. Yeah, sometimes it's rebuilding, after a breakup, but it's always about getting together, not staying together. We need books that tell us that it takes work to stay together, but it's totally worth it.
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