Review: A very good "real" romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 6, 2013
Making It Last is my first Ruthie Knox book but it won't be my last. What a lovely surprise. A novella that didn't read like many novellas tend to--a short book that should have been longer. Miss Knox manages to pack in a lot of story into these pages.In the Note From the Author at the beginning of the book, she indicates that readers were first introduced to Amber and Tony Clark in How to Misbehave. They are also glimpses of them in Along Came Trouble and Flirting with Disaster. Of course now, I must go back and read all those books.To briefly summarize the story, Amber and Tony are a married couple with three young boys, ages ten, eight and six. They are on an extended-family vacation in Montego Bay and when we meet them their six-year-old is throwing up in the bushes and their vacation is hours from being over.Amber doesn't end up going home with them, her aunt generously offering the remainder of her reservation so that Amber can get a break from the boys and some time alone with Tony. Tony insists he can't stay, he has work, the boys etc. But once home, his mother-in-law has a heart-to-heart with him and makes him see that his marriage needs work. Needs his attention. He's losing his wife. Tony flies back to be with Amber. There they are able to reconnect.My summary, though, doesn't do the story justice. There's so much more to their time alone together than the simple matter of reconnection. Making It Last is real life. Sometimes almost unflinchingly so. Miss Knox deals with the issues of this couples' financial problems, intimacy and parenting issues. Marriage is hard work. Not that I didn't know this. I do. We see this when reading about Amber and Tony's life.Amber is completely relatable in her thoughts about feeling adrift in her marriage. She really does feel lost. The boys are all in school and she's at home in her "dream home" all day. This should be a happy, peaceful time for her but it's not. Tony works long hours and by the time he gets home, she's asleep or/and he's exhausted. Subsequently, their love life suffers. What is she besides a wife and a mother? Who is she apart from that?Both Amber and Tony know something's off with their marriage but they've sort of just drifted on this way for years. Ironically, now they are both afraid of losing the other. Amber has thoughts that one day Tony will leave her for a younger more exciting woman and Tony is simply afraid that Amber won't come home. Even their boys are afraid that their parents will get a divorce.This is one of those books I had to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy--which thankfully I was--because it's so real. The love scenes are surprisingly hot and romantic and the way Amber and Tony connect in their short time alone together far away from home is funny, nostalgic and heartwarming.Making It Last is definitely a book I'd recommend to anyone looking for a wonderfully written romance about a real married couple finding each other and reestablishing an understanding and intimacy they'd lost. They also do this role-playing thing that I found both amusing and hot.Reviewed by TammyOriginally posted on The Season (www TheSeasonForRomance com)