ARC Review: Truly by Ruthie Knox

Truly by Ruthie Knox started out as a serial that she published on Wattpad, but is now being released in its entirety. I have become a fan of Ruthie Knox and her pen-name Robin York, so I couldn't wait to read this story as well. While there were parts of this story that I really liked though, there were also things that just didn't work for me with this book. For me while mostly enjoyable, this book wasn't one that held my interest or that will be memorable. I had a tough time getting into this story, and felt myself wanting to skim through much of it.

May Fredericks has just moved to New York to live with her NFL quarterback boyfriend when he decides to propose to her in a very public place in the worst way possible. After stabbing him in the hand with a shrimp fork and getting their story plastered all over online thanks to a video or the entire thing, May decides that she can't be with Dan anymore and leaves him a break-up note and leaves his apartment while he is gone. She leaves his building just to be robbed and is left with nothing but her metro card and five dollars. She heads to a bar and ends up meeting Ben. At first Ben wants nothing to do with her and tries everything he can to show he isn't interested but before long they are talking and Ben offers to let her stay with him for the night while she tries to contact friends and family back in Wisconsin where she is from. When one problem after another happens with her trying to get home, Ben asks to show her around NY and they get closer to one another. Ben offers to drive her home to her sister's wedding and they both begin to realize that they are falling for one another even though it is really quick. But May's ex isn't willing to just accept her break-up note and Ben is dealing with his own set of issues despite his growing feelings for May.

I really liked Ben. I thought that he had some anger issues and that he also had some other things that weren't the best about him but he was a good guy. He was really great with May, and he didn't expect anything in return. He had his moments when he was really sweet and nice, and I loved that he was always trying to show May that even though she might not have been what most people consider to be ideal body type that she was still beautiful. He also was able to help her realize that she needed to live her life for her and not based on what others though or said was best for her. I loved how passionate he was about everything he did, and that he was such a great beekeeper and chef. May on the other hand I had problems with. She was cowardly for most of the book and was really insecure. Even after Ben kept telling her that he thought she was beautiful and radiant, she was constantly backsliding and would doubt herself. I wanted her to get with it sooner, and I felt like she was a real coward about how she handled the situation with her ex Dan. She needed to grow up a bit and I felt like she was pretty immature. She relied far too much on others, so I thought that it was great when Ben helped her to see that she needed to do things for herself. I also felt that while they did work well together and they had some really great moments between them, that they weren't super hot together. They had some chemistry, but I wasn't really seeing the strong connection that they were claiming and I think that it was really quick for them to be in love with each other when she had literally just broken up with someone she had been with for four years.

Overall, this wasn't a bad book and it had enjoyable moments. But for me this wasn't really great or memorable, and it wasn't one that I would go back and read again. I liked Ben a lot, but I just couldn't connect with May and I didn't really like her. I also really didn't like May's family, and I really hated her mom. Besides Ben, the characters in this story just drove me nuts for the most part. I also wasn't able to really get into this story very easily and I thought it was really slow at times. It just didn't hold my interest and I found myself wanting to put it down or skip portions of the story because I just didn't really care. As much as I love other books that Ruthie Knox has written, this just wasn't for me. If you are a fan of sweet contemporaries and don't mind a quick relationship, then you might give this one a shot. I will still read stories from Ruthie Knox in the future, and I look forward to seeing what she does next.

**ARC Provided by Random House Publishing Group-Loveswept**

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