Eliza's Reviews > Madly

Madly has been a long time addition to my tbr, and I was glad to finally have the opportunity to have Allie’s story told. If you have read Truly, you’ll remember Allie as the flighty younger of May. It isn’t necessary to read Truly first, but I would recommend revisiting it for the enjoyment factor alone.

Along with Truly, About Last Night was another novel of Ruthie Knox I very much enjoyed. Why is that relevant you ask? Well, our male protagonist is none other than Winston Chamberlain, brother to Nev. As excited as I was to realise this, I worried it would be quite the challenge to change a previous opinion on two somewhat unlikeable characters.

The introduction to both story and characters soon quashed any hesitations I may have had. It’s an unconventional “meeting” to say the least. Allie is on a covert operation having followed her mother from Wisconsin to a New York bar. Her amateur skills of espionage require a diversion which involves the nearest person to her - who happens to be Winston.

Although Allie’s mission is never far from her mind, her diversion with Winston becomes a new focus. I wouldn’t like to describe Winston as stuffy, but it’s certainly a word that comes to mind. It’s adorable how much Allie helps to loosen him up. There is a guilt they both carry and the author did a great job in conjuring my empathy for them both.

Madly is romantically serendipitous, whilst being a fun quirky read. It was a pleasure to see the worlds collide and I look forward to the next novel in the series.