What an engrossing read. Cal and Rosemary are thrown together in the midst of a tragedy and keep holding on through break-downs, break-throughs and some meaningful self-discovery. To me this is more women's fiction than amromance because it deals with Rosemary as a woman working to capture and celebrate female achievement. It also puts her role as wife (ex) and mother under a microscope leading to hard truths and some much needed self-awareness.

The story is non-traditional and one what you should read when you have some time for self-reflection.

I received an ARC of this book, from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

One of the things about series romances is that there’s a tendency, or more likely a downright desire, to make sure that everyone within the series’ orbit has found their own HEA by the end of the series. Even if it’s not with the person they began with. After all, just because a story features a second chance at love doesn’t mean that second chance has to occur with the same person the first one did.

Especially when that option has been rendered moot by an earlier book in the series, where one half of the former couple finds their HEA with somebody else.

In the case of both Friday’s book, A Snow Country Christmas, and today’s book, Completely, the last unmatched person standing is the ex of the hero of one of the earlier stories. In both cases, of course, not an evilex (™) but just the other half of a relationship that wasn’t meant to be.

About Last Night by Ruthie KnoxWe originally met Rosemary Chamberlain all the way back in About Last Night, which is one of my favorite contemporary romances of all time, and if you haven’t read it you really should. Not because you need to have read it for the New York Trilogy in general or Madly and Completely in specific to make sense, but because About Last Night is just plain awesomesauce and wonderful and every time I have to refer to it for something I get sucked right back into it again and again and again.

But way back then, Rosemary was still married to Winston (the hero of Madly) and still living in England, being, as she puts it, “wallpaper”. Rosemary felt like she sacrificed all her own dreams to become the perfect wife and perfect mother. The new post-divorce Rosemary is obviously no longer the perfect wife, which is a good thing, but her daughter Beatrice is very unhappy and overdramatic and just a general pain about Rosemary no longer being the perfect mum.

Instead, Rosemary is climbing mountains. We meet her again as she’s ascending Everest. Not figuratively, but literally. She’s part of an all-woman team that is planning to ascend the tallest mountain on each continent, starting with Everest. And then she’s going to write a book about the experience.

That’s the plan until it all, equally literally, goes smash. A deadly avalanche ends the ascent to the summit, as the Base Camps below Rosemary’s party are all in various stages of wiped out. The mountain is closed. And Rosemary finds herself alone, evacuated by helicopter to the tiny town of Lukla, home of the most dangerous airport in the world and the nearest airport to Everest.

She’s numb. She’s spent. Her adrenaline has crashed to sea level and she’s not processing the sudden end to her plans or her overwhelming grief at all the lives lost. And into the middle of her complete mental shutdown steps Kal Beckett. Kal is the son of two famous climbers, half-Sherpa, and one of the “ice doctors” on her run up the mountain. He’s also the only person who sees that Rosemary’s British stiff upper lip has finally failed her, and that she needs food and rest and human companionship to help her through the darkness that surrounds her.

What he’s not admitting to himself is that he is just as lost in the dark as she is, and that he needs those things equally badly. He brings her food, and companionship, and a desperate need to remind himself that he’s alive – a need which Rosemary turns out to be intensely enthusiastic to meet.

Their lovemaking should have been a one-night stand. Or one day and one night, considering how sleep deprived they both were. But it isn’t. Rosemary isn’t ready to pick up all of the obligations that await her. She wants to go to New York and see her daughter. Kal needs to go home to New York, but all his money and equipment have been stolen while he and Rosemary slept the sleep of the “grateful not to be dead”.

They team up. Rosemary spots Kal the plane fare home. They help each other stay grounded, and make it through the rough spots left by experiencing something terrible and profound that no one else could possibly understand.

And along the way they figure out that no matter how temporary their relationship should have been – it’s anything but. Even though it makes no sense at all. Love and sense obviously have nothing to do with each other. At least not for them.

Escape Rating A-: I’ve loved everything that Ruthie Knox has written, and Completely is no exception.

The story in Completely, while it focuses on Rosemary and Kal, is also a very nice wrap up for the entire New York Trilogy. And it adds a nice little fillip to About Last Night as well, as Completely ends with the wedding of the couple from About Last Night. It was great to see Cath and Nev again, and to know that they’ve firmly cemented their HEA.

And even though this is Rosemary’s story, it also ties in nicely with Madly. Not just because Rosemary is Winston’s ex, either.

Rosemary can’t face going back to the climbing group. Not out of fear, or any of the other reasons that might stop someone from returning to something so incredibly dangerous. Instead, it’s because she’s finally letting herself acknowledge that while climbing mountains may have been a dream of her younger self that she gave up to become that perfect wife and mum, she has changed and the dreams she dreamed at 20 are not the same dreams that move her now.

She still wants to write, but the stories that she wants to write are women’s stories. Not women’s fiction, or fiction of any kind. What moves her now are women’s voices, and the true stories that have been left untold because they happened to women. All the ways that the world is different from the perspective of a female body and all the stories that have been suppressed because the teller is a woman and not a man.

And she wants to start with Kal’s mother Yangchen Beckett, the only woman to summit Mount Everest seven times. A woman who was only able to summit Mount Everest at all after she divorced and possibly murdered her violent, abusive ex-husband.

It’s a story that even Kal doesn’t know – and isn’t quite he’s ready to find out. But Yangchen is ready to tell it, and ready to manipulate her son and this surprising woman that he has come to love in order to both get her story out into the world and to finally help her son find the elusive happiness that he deserves – but can’t make himself reach for.

Most of Ruthie Knox’s stories feel very real, featuring people who seem like they could live next door or across the street. And the tensions that keep her romantic couples apart before they figure out how to be together also feels real. Life happens. Stuff happens. People don’t always deal well with the stuff that happens to them. And they screw up the best things in their lives trying not to deal with their own shit.

So even though Rosemary and Kal meet in a situation that is far from ordinary, the issues and problems between them still feel real, as does the love they have unexpectedly found with each other. And it’s marvelous.

I don’t know where Ruthie Knox is going next, or what terrific new stories she’s planning to tell. But I know that I plan to be there whenever she tells them.

I liked this one but I felt like something was missing.I don't know where exactly was it in the romance, the characters ? I couldn't feel connected to the story and this just left me underwhelmed.

I really enjoyed the first two books in this series. This had a slightly different feel from the others, but it was still a very interesting story. I really enjoyed learning a little bit about Sherpa culture, that was a good change of pace. I thought Rosemary and Kal were a great couple, and definitely steamed up the pages. It was also great to reconnect with the characters from the first two books.

A celebration of life can turn into a complete life make-over as in the case of Completely by Ruthie Knox. The third book in the New York Series has Rosemary Chamberlain’s as the most unique of the three. There is much about this story that I liked. The beginning when the climb turns deadly is an instant page-turner. The likable characters Kal and Rosemary who survive which bonds their connection. The theme of love empowering you dreams instead of holding them back.

The story takes place in just a few days which is quick to fall in love it seemed to me. The epilogue gives a snapshot of a later period which help but still the adrenaline rush hardy had time to wear off too show that it is a love that will survive the day to day stressing of normalcy. The rush feeling of the relationship between Kal and Rosemary, was the biggest complaint I had with their story. Still, I guess some may fall just this fast in love. Mostly, I prefer to see a normal progression of the relationship between characters.

3.5 stars

Completely by Ruthie Knox is a beautifully written romance that will entertain you all through out and keep you turning the pages.
I enjoyed watching the relationship between Rosemary and Kal unfold and thought they made a good pairing.

I'm a huge fan of author Ruthie Knox's writing and highly recommend all her work.

Although this is the third book in Ruthie Knox's "New York" series, it can definitely stand alone. I have not read the previous two books, and did not feel lost or confused regarding any of the characters.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read. There was nothing over-the-top or gimmicky in the storyline or the writing, which was refreshing. The push and pull of the inevitability of Rosemary and Kal's love is frustrating, but that's what love is, isn't it? It's messy, complicated, surprising, challenging, unexpected, but so totally worth it. And that's what these two characters needed to figure out.

Rosemary was on a quest to rediscover her true self by climbing seven mountains, starting with Everest (who *starts* with Everest!?). She not only discovers who she is and what she wants, but she discovers that she can give herself and her love to another person without completely becoming "wallpaper" again.

This book was unique and wonderful! Rosemary and Kal couldn't be more opposite but somehow their coupling felt natural and organic. It starts off while they are both on Everest, Rosemary trying to summit and Kal as an ice doctor with mixed feelings about being back on Everest. I won't tell you what happens next but it all felt very real. My only complaint is that the conflict resolved a bit too easily for me and the ending came up quick. I think a few other areas could have been shortened to develop the ending a bit better. That being said, this was enjoyable and I highly recommend this entire trilogy. You can read my review of book 2 in this trilogy HERE (note: they can definitely be read stand-alone!)

He would miss her face. He would miss seeing her when he woke up in the morning, spending time with her, hearing what she thought about things. Kal was no Buddhist, but he had enough of a basic grasp of chains of causation to understand that the fact that he'd invited Rosemary into his life, promised to help her with her book, and taken her home to meet his mom meant that for reasons he couldn't being to understand, this was what he wanted. Every action he'd taken since Everest had been leading him to this moment, the chain of causation a gigantic arrow pointing Kal toward the obvious reason why a man would upend his life for a woman, invite her into its messiest corners, want to tell her everything even when he couldn't quite bring himself to, want her to stick around, want her in his bed, want to buy her coffee.

Well there was a definitely winner in this battle between opposites attract contemporary romances! The Corner of Forever and Always and Completely come out next week on September 26, 2017.

This one has me torn. At first I could not put it down but then it started to drag. Rosemary Chamberlain is part of female team that are climbing the highest summits on each continent starting with Everest until they are caught in an avalanche. Kal Beckett is the ice doctor on that excursion and he and Rosemary evacuate on the helicopter and the close proximity and close brush with death bring them together. The morning after finds Kal as a crime victim with nothing left but the clothes on his back and his passport which he luckily left in the safe. Up steps Rosemary this time with the money and she finances their trip back to New York. Rosemary and Kal are really opposites who complement each other. Rosemary is trying to find herself but then again so is Kal, even though they have totally different backgrounds, and they complete each other. Bring in the rest of the extended family, including the ex-husband and his girlfriend and her family, Kal's family, and Beatrice who treats everyone great but her mother and no one speaks to her about it.

As I said, it started so good I couldn't put it down and then I had to slug through it until the last couple chapters where it redeemed itself and ended on a high note. I enjoyed book 2 much more and if I hadn't read that one first might not have finished this one.

**Received this ARC for review from the publisher via NetGalley**

3.5 Thirty-nine year old Rosemary Chamberlain [ex-wife of Winston, the hero of the previous book in Knox's New York series] is tired of being the expensive decorative paper on someone else's wall. To regain her sense of self post-divorce, she's decided to live out her pre-marriage dreams, joining an all-woman expedition to scale the world's seven largest mountains and writing a book about the experience. But shock, not empowerment, sets in after an avalanche buries the base camp, killing several of Rosemary's friends and acquaintances.

Rosemary is a take-charge, cool-headed Brit, so no one realizes how much she is reeling emotionally in the aftermath of the natural disaster—no one except Kalden Beckett, one of the "ice doctors" guiding Rosemary's party. The two end up in a hotel together, drowning their shock and fear by eating, drinking, and engaging in life-affirming sex. Needless to say, such behavior is pretty shocking for self-contained Rosemary. It's less shocking for for thirty-two year-old Kal, the son of a famed British mountain climber and the first Sherpa woman to reach Everest's peak. Kal has been drifting after his ambitious plans to improve the environmental impact of climbers on Everest and simultaneously help improve the working conditions of the Sherpa run into major red tape, and gets sucked into her orbit, equally attracted by the strength of Rosemary's drive and by his unexpectedly protective feelings for the icy "princess" when she's in the midst of a major melt-down.

Yet their night together is not the end of their relationship; both Rosemary and Kal's families live in New York, and events lead them to fly there together to reunite with kith and kin. But even after they arrive in the States, their shared experience of trauma keeps drawing them together, these two very different people. But their differences prove surprisingly complimentary.

Though the story takes place over the course of only five days, the intensity of the events of those five days makes it plausible that such a deep connection could be forged between Kal and Rosemary. Knox's stories are always ideologically rich, and I loved the social justice aspects of this one, as well as signs of Knox's more characteristic feminist concerns (Rosemary's frustrations as a wallpaper wife; her goal of writing a book about women doing something adventurous and extraordinary; her questioning of her commitment to that goal in the wake of the avalanche; the stories of the first female Sherpa climbers; Rosemary's fraught relationship with her college-aged daughter). And Rosemary—brusque, witty, self-contained, very aware of her privilege but not cowardly about using it, either—is an unusual heroine for a romance novel, one whom I really enjoyed reading about.

Two things didn't work for me: first, the subplot about the relationship between Rosemary and her angry daughter Beatrice did not seem clearly explained or explored, and it seemed to resolve itself without any discussion or reconciliation between the two by book's end. Second, the back-and-forthing between Kal and Rosemary about the state of their relationship towards the end of the book felt way too rushed; Rosemary's "we're not willing to give it our all" fears come out of nowhere, and then both she and Kal swing to the precise opposite, "yes, we're completely committed," with neck-wrenching rapidity. Wish Knox had given these two a bit more time than five days to work through their really complex emotions for one another, and to navigate their own character arcs.

But I'd buy the book if I had to, just to read that scene between Rosemary and the New York editor—spot-on painfully funny!

Read Madly and absolutely loved it. This not so much. I just didn't feel the love and romance in this. The story drug on way too long for me and I found myself just wanting it to be over. The insta-love was unrealistic especially since there was no real chemistry between the main characters. Definitely expected more for the last book in this series.

This is the third and final book in the New York series, connected by the middle story to a previous book from Ruthie Knox. In this book, Rosemary is the ex-wife of Winston, from book 2. After their divorce she decided that she was going to do things for herself after a long time of simply being a wife and mother or as she describes it, “wallpaper”. She joins a group of women for something called the Seven Summits – climbing the highest peaks on the seven continents beginning for some reason, with the highest mountain in the world, Everest.

So the book opens with Rosemary at Camp Three high up Everest but a tragic avalanche further down the mountain below her means that her trek is cut short and she’s air lifted off the mountain and back down to Lukla. With her is Kal Beckett an ‘ice doctor’ known as Doctor Doom by the climbers and Sherpas. Kal is half Sherpa himself and his mother is a well known climber with a shadow in her past. Kal keeps an eye on Rosemary, spying that she’s about to come unhinged and the two of them spend a night together losing themselves in life.

I have to admit I expected the Everest climb to be a larger portion of the book and I was looking forward to that. Instead Rosemary heads to New York very early in the story, deciding she needs to see her daughter after that scare on the mountain. Kal is conveniently from New York and after he is robbed, the two of them fly to New York together after the night they share. Perhaps their shared experience makes everything so much more intense but it still feels very quick – this book takes place over the space of less than a week and because of that, even though they do spend quite a bit of time together, I still never really got the feeling that I got to know a lot about Kal. I felt I knew more about Rosemary from the previous books and because we’re in her head but even still some of her motivations feel a bit rushed and like they weren’t really thought through. I was really hoping that most of the book would take place during Rosemary’s climb however and that perhaps the fallout would be in New York. Instead we are treated to Rosemary running around after her daughter, who I remember as pretty bratty from Winston’s book but she really steps it up here. I get that she’s a teenage girl with some abandonment issues but she’s incredibly privileged and has chosen to distance herself from her mother (and possibly her father) as punishment. It was hard to really like Beatrice at all and I really hope she doesn’t end up getting her own book because I can’t imagine being in her head.

Winston and Allie make a couple of appearances in this book and then Allie seems to randomly adopt Rosemary and as Beatrice is working on a film with Allie’s mother the two worlds seem to collide but it doesn’t really feel very smooth. It feels a bit forced, especially in moments like when Allie’s father and Kal start having a random deep and meaningful conversation. It’s a quirky family and when they’re all together in one scene, it begins to feel a little too much. And it takes the focus off of Kal and Rosemary. They declare love quite easily but then the book kind of limps on for another 50+ pages where there seems to be conflict inserted for no real reason other than maybe the book seemed a bit short and the author should stretch it out a bit. A lot of made of the fact that Kal and Rosemary are so very different and how could they ever work which is interesting because they’ve been a “thing” for about five minutes but the sex is fabulous, they seem to enjoy talking to each other and how will they know if they never actually try it? Kal seemed like he needed a lot more work as a character as well – his mother is a Sherpa and his father white, so that part was really interesting and that combination is not one I’ve ever come across in fiction before and I enjoyed learning about the history and the role of the Sherpas in climbing Everest and how they view tourism, etc. But at the same time it seemed like Kal had gaping holes in his character and he seemed almost bland and deadpan. I never got much from him, not about the avalanche, his past, his fears for the future, just a blank expression and a tightening up.

This one just didn’t live up to my expectations unfortunately.

5/10

Whew, how to describe that?

I love Ruthie Knox, her books defy description. I just wish I could remember that whenever I start a new one as they are inevitably so 'different' that I put them aside where they languish for weeks if not months. So was it with this book. I didn't even start properly reading my ARC until the release day despite downloading it back in June!

So, this book features Rosemary Chamberlain (the ex-wife of Winston from the second book in the trilogy, Madly). Rosemary left her husband and teenage daughter to 'find herself' which involved joining a group of women who intend to climb all seven of the highest mountains in the world. Rosemary is the classic British upper class blonde, the other climbers even call her princess behind her back. Then the camp is hit by an avalanche and Rosemary is rescued by the sherpa the other climbers call Doctor Doom.

Doctor Doom's real name is Kal Beckett, the son of two famous mountain climbers. When he and Rosemary eventually get off the mountain they fall into bed together and strike up an unlikely friendship the following day when Kal discovers his kit and all his money has been stolen. Both faced with the reality of their mortality Kal and Rosemary travel to New York to reconnect with family.

This third book in the New York trilogy cements the move (for me) from romance to women's fiction. Rosemary has to confront what made her so unhappy in her marriage and what she really wants from life. Her plans have gone awry and on some level that makes her happy. But will a relationship with Kal simply lead to another unhappy marriage?

Kal has his own issues. His parents had a very bad relationship, some people even speculate that his mother killed his father, he was once idealistic with plans for the welfare of Nepal but since then he has become disillusioned. He has said that only two kinds of people climb Everest: megalomaniacs and the walking wounded. Why would he want to start a relationship with either?

This was as much about a woman's place in society as it was a romance where opposites attract. Rosemary draws upon the experiences of her former mother-in-law, her daughter, her ex-husband's fiancee, her ex-husband's fiancee's parents, Kal, Kal's mother and Kal's family to see the world and her life through a different lens.

Maybe that all sounds a bit worthy, a bit depressing, a bit dull. But I promise it isn't. It's funny. It's sexy and it tackles real problems without a magic romance sticking plaster which miraculously fixes everything with three little words.

I have loved all three of these books, they are all very different but they are fun reads, this may be my favourite.

Completely is well-written and I loved the premise. The details about the location did a wonderful job of setting the scene, and on their own, both Kal and Rosemary were likable characters, if a bit whiny with their internal musings. Each of them is on their own journey of self-discovery, so their personal struggles made sense and I did enjoy the story, but I never felt the romance between them. Without feeling that connection, I was left a bit ambivalent about whether or not they got their happy ending.
That being said, the author is talented and I will read future books from her.

Good storyline and likeable characters kept my interest from page one until the very last page!

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book.

Rosemary is a 39 year old divorcee that needed to find herself. So she decided that she would climb the seven summits with Everest being the first. But before she can make it to the top there is an avalanche and although she didn't get caught in it, she has to abandon her journey. Kal is a 32 year old Sherpa ice doctor on her guide crew, who has kinda given up on life because all his dreams seem to fail and then people die. Rosemary and Kal get rescued together and they share a passionate night in the hotel before they have to get back to the real world. But when Kal gets robbed, he has to ask Rosemary to help him return to New York, as she is going there to visit her daughter. Their journey is one of discovery, love and following your heart.

At first I thought ... this book is too technical for me, but then the characters drew me into the story and my heart broke for both of them. I thought that their worlds were just too different to make a lasting relationship.

I received an ARC copy courtesy of Random House - Loveswept through NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

no review left - DNF. this book wasn't for me

Although Completely by Ruthie Knox is billed as a romance, it is more of a work of women’s literature. There is a romance between the main characters, Kal and Rosemary, however, it is secondary to the other major events and issues in their lives.

Divorced and estranged from her daughter, Rosemary is focused on her childhood dream of being a mountaineer. The beautiful Brit meets Kal at base camp on Mount Everest. Kal is the ruggedly handsome, Sherpa Ice Doctor—his role is to “diagnose” the condition of the ice for the climbers. Culturally, Kal and Rosemary are miles apart, but an avalanche literally throws them into each other’s arms.

These two characters are very interesting. They are both outwardly strong and calm, but they are emotionally fragile beings. I loved the messages Ms. Knox conveys through her development of these two characters. Kal and Rosemary are both lost and looking for purpose. Rosemary spent years feeling like nothing. She was unappreciated by her husband and daughter, and she was made to feel that she was loved only when she made the proper decisions. Kal spent years being abused by his father, and watching his father beat his mother. He also spent his adulthood wondering if the stories of his mother’s involvement in his father’s death were true. Their issues are quite different, but they both on Mount Everest avoiding their issues and hiding from life instead of living it.

Rosemary and Kal are thrown together multiple times as they recover from shock and reenter life. They end up taking care of one another. While I usually abhor “insta-love” stories, I can accept the all-too-quick use of the term love between Kal and Rosemary given the life-changing catastrophe they experienced together. Living through an avalanche, would definitely make me appreciate the fragility of my life and heighten my awareness of the limited time we have to seize the day.

I appreciated that both Kal and Rosemary question their fit in each other’s life—even more so after their declaration of love. They are both struggling with what they want to do with the rest of their lives, and they are trying to envision how they might accomplish anything while being tethered in a relationship. Kal’s mother, the infamous Yangchen Beckett, is the catalyst for change in both Kal and Rosemary. The two find new inspiration for moving forward individually, and they find that they can love and be loved completely if they live by their own rules.

The moral of this story is don’t compromise on finding fulfillment in your life in order to have love…find a partner who will love you completely while you are following your dream. Think outside the box, and love outside the box.