Along Came Trouble by Ruthie Knox (Camelot #2)
Contemporary Romance
Releases: March 11, 2013
Loveswept

Reviewed by Mandi

I’m a big Ruthie Knox fan, and was anticipating this book as it’s her first full length. Her writing style again impressed me as she writes very smart, witty, sexy characters. I do have  complaint about this one though, which I’ll get to in a minute.

Ellen lives in her peaceful hometown of Camelot, Ohio, except the peaceful part has gone out the window. Her brother Jamie is a very famous pop star who recently visited and had a passionate affair with Ellen’s pregnant next door neighbor Carly. But Jamie and Carly had a fight, and Jamie has fled back to California, leaving Ellen and Carly to deal with the massive amount of paparazzi who still want a picture of Carly. Jamie hires a local security firm to keep Carly and Ellen safe, and this is where our hero comes into the picture.

Caleb Clark is done with the military, and has started his own security firm who gets contracted with the firm Jamie hired for security. Caleb takes one look at Ellen’s house, with no alarm system, flood lights or dead bolts and has big changes to make. Except – he doesn’t factor in Ellen, who is totally against anything being changed in her house. Ellen has a two year old son and an ex-husband who not only cheated on her, but completely ran her life when she was married. She is slowly regaining control of her life, and doesn’t want anyone telling her what to do, no matter how sexy he is. But Caleb refuses to see Ellen or her son come to harm, so a battle of wills emerges.

First, I absolutely adored Caleb. He is super sexy, mature, funny. Ruthie Knox writes him in a way that is so masculine, yet not totally alpha. I can’t explain it but he has this charm that won me over and made me swoon. His parents are struggling finically, he has several siblings who all have issues, and he feels like he has to keep everyone together. This security job is a big deal for him and he wants to make a good impression. But he never expected Ellen to put up such a fight and this is where my complaint comes in. Ellen comes across so selfish at times in this book. Her constant fighting with Caleb over a new deadbolt or a new light bulb gets really old. And Caleb is a saint. At some points I didn’t know why he was so attracted to her because even in bed, she can turn cold and fight with him. Ellen was all about her needs, constantly. Yes, she didn’t want to end up with someone watching her every move like her ex-husband, but it’s not like Caleb created this situation. Her brother, whom she loves and adores got into this mess, and she needed to be more respectful to Caleb. Never thinking about Caleb’s job or his feelings got on my nerves. I will say she apologizes for this at the end. Her attempt at redemption is noted, and for that reason, I can look back on this book with a smile…but she is definitely not a favorite heroine of mine.

We also get a side story with Jamie and Carly which I absolutely adored. Both of them are just so cute and the author gives us just enough page time with them to be invested in their story but they don’t’ overshadow Ellen and Jamie. I thought the conflict with Ellen’s ex-husband turned out okay, although the paparazzi involvement seemed a little dramatic. And even though I complained about Ellen, she did have great chemistry with Caleb.

When she dared to look up, he was grinning at her. “I’m standing right here, trying to figure out why I haven’t kissed you yet.”

“You’re not standing, you’re slouching. And you haven’t kissed me because we just met yesterday, so kissing would be way out of line. Plus, you have a couple employees who are probably watching us right now, so you can’t even afford to look like you want to kiss me, much less actually go through with it.”

“It’s going to be fantastic, though, when we finally do it. Fireworks are going to go off. Pyrotechnic kissing. Your hair will probably catch on fire.”

She laughed, and some internal switch flipped from Maybe to Definitely.

I’m super excited for the next book…you’ll discover the hero and heroine in this one. I disliked the heroine, but not enough to dislike the book.

Rating: B-

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