Review: Powerful story
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 15, 2013
Making It Last is the fourth book in Knox's Camelot series, which follows the stories of the Clark siblings in the fictional town of Camelot, Ohio. It continues the story of Amber Clark and Tony Mazzara that began in book one, the novella How to Misbehave. For fans of the series, it's a must-read. As the author herself points out in her note at the end, romance novels tend to end at or around the wedding, and readers are to assume that together they will have a happy ever after which readers don't have to read to believe. This novella, though, takes place almost fourteen years after the characters' first one ended, so we get a chance to see what comes after "the end". Did they get their HEA?As the novella begins, we're thinking maybe not. As Ladies' Home Journal likes to ask, can this marriage be saved?For me, this novella was satisfying on so many levels. First, it was a very realistic look into what comes after--many years after--the "I do"s. It is heartbreaking in its honesty; for goodness' sake, even the author's note had me tearing up--let's not even discuss my mindset while reading the book itself! Oh, Amber. Oh, Tony. I just wanted to reach inside my e-reader and give them both huge hugs. And then smack them upside the head. And then another hug...or ten. The story ends on an optimistic note, but there's no quick fixes and easy answers there--again, wonderfully realistic. Amber and Tony's kids are delightfully demonic (Yay for the absence of perfect fictional children!)--and I loved seeing them both as parents. The novella manages to fill in many of the blanks in Amber and Tony's lives that don't show up in the other books, which was only fair since they didn't get their own full-length novel. And we get to see snippets of Caleb and Ellen's wedding (a very small one, but one nonetheless) and a few gratifying glimpses of Katie and Sean, who I adored in book three, Flirting with Disaster. Seriously, how Ruthie Knox can pack so much into such a relatively short piece of text continues to amaze me.I finished this story with a great big happy sigh.And then cued up How to Misbehave. Because clearly, I needed to refresh my six-month memory of how awesome the beginning of Amber and Tony's story was. Yep, it was still awesome.In a nutshell: fans of the series need to read this to bring the Clark siblings' stories to its finale. For those less familiar with the series, it's still a powerful story about how to survive the best and worst that marriage brings. Five stars.(I received a digital copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)