About Last Night by Ruthie Knox

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4.5 stars

Official Synopsis: 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?

“About Last Night,” is definitely one of the better romances I read this year. It is smart, romantic and incredibly sweet. Not sweet as in ‘It gave me a toothache,’ this book is sweet as in ‘if only I could find a love like that.’

 Cath is messed up. She has a messed up past, has tattoos of her mistakes and is on a campaign to be a better Cath. The new Cath doesn’t make mistakes, focuses on her career, does not party and absolutely does not have sex. She gets her entertainment by people watching and coming up with lives for the people she sees. There’s the busty redhead, the bag lady and the handsome guy in the fancy suit that she calls “City.” Following a series of unfortunate events, Cath finds herself hung over in City’s apartment and discovers that her uptight banker has another personality all together. City is actually Nev, an undiscovered, laid back and very sex artist.  What follows is amazing dialogue, chemistry that explodes off the page and a love story with great romance.

 I really really enjoyed Ruthie Knox’ dialogue. I’d only gotten about 11% into the book before I realized I loved Cath and Nev. They are funny. Their chemistry is like a physical thing that emanated from my nook. It’s amazing when an author can write dialogue and write characters that blend so well together. Their conversation is sharp, intelligent, witty and yet so real. It’s as if Knox listened in at windows in the most intimate moments of a couple and wrote what she overheard. That’s how good the writing is.

 My favorite aspect of this book is that Nev is correct. He’s not perfect and thank God Ruthie Knox didn’t even attempt to write him as such. Nev is strong, but never domineering. Possessive but never acts as if he in anyway owns Cath. He’s persistent, but never stalks. Nev is not perfect, because perfect does not exist in human form, but he’s correct. Nev has the correct attributes for a perfect romantic hero. There is this disgusting and in my opinion wrong trend in romance where the hero is borderline abusive. Being claimed like an object is not sexy. Having every guy who looks at you punched in the face is not sexy. Being stalked and pestered to give in is not sexy. It’s about time that an author gave readers an approach that is actually sexy.

The ending of this book is a bit over the top, but I love over the top in my romances. I love when the characters make big gestures and risk everything in order to win the person they love. Romance novels talk about forever. If you are going to spend the rest of your life with someone, yes an epic gesture is needed. I thought that Nev’s final bid for Cath’s heart was romantic and beautiful.

Recommended for readers of Contemporary Romance, anyone who likes a few good love scenes and readers who like smart, witty and charming dialogue between main characters.

For more info: Goodreads page and Author website.