Flirting with Disaster by Ruthie Knox

Grade: B+
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary
Series: Camelot #3

Published: 6/10/13

Reviewed by Anne

298 ebook pages

Sean stuttered so badly in his childhood that he was essentially not speaking at all in high school.  This is why Katie, who went to high school with him, just always thought he was a quiet guy and never realized he stuttered.  This is why, when Sean comes back to town and ends up working with Katie that he chooses not to speak to her rather than reveal his stutter.  

Katie doesn't really know what to make of Sean.  She hears him talk to other people, but he never speaks to her.  (His stutter is selective, and only shows up in certain situations or around certain people, such as his secret high school crush, Katie.)  She wonders if he's just rude and mean, or if she has done something to offend him.  Then she tells herself not to worry about what HE thinks, because she's done living her life for someone else.  Baggage from a failed marriage left Katie hurting, but she's getting stronger each day and discovering what it's like to live life for herself, not in service to someone else.

I loved these two and this story.  And the more I read, the more I liked them.  In fact, when I got toward the end and the confrontation between the two of them that had been building throughout the story... it blew me away!  I don't think I've ever been so happy about how a situation played out.  I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just say Katie and Sean both have issues and they work through them in this book.  The way they do this is so wonderful!  Neither can save the other;  they have to fix themselves!  And it just happens that they're falling in love at the same time.  That really was a wonderful story to watch unfold!

The secondary story line in this book worked less well for me.  Judah is a rock star who has been receiving threats and Katie and Sean are helping figure this whole situation out.  I think I just never really liked Judah, but I felt like I was supposed to.  So for me, this story line just provided a reason for Katie and Sean to road trip together, and I didn't care about it a whole lot more beyond that.

One thing I really appreciated about this story is that there was no magical mystical healing of Sean's stutter.  I think whenever I read a book where a character his some sort of disability, I cringe and worry that the author will use the Voodoo of the Magical Vagina or the Power of the Healing Penis to "fix" that problem.  Not so with Ruthie Knox and I LOVE that.

I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to read this installment in the Camelot series.  The others have all been favorites of mine.  I'm looking forward to more writing and to finishing up my reading of Knox's backlist.  This is the 3rd story in the Camelot series, but it stands alone well.  I recommend this book and this series!