Ride with Me by Ruthie Knox

Ride with Me by Ruthie Knox
Published: February 13, 2012 by Loveswept
Source: ebook gifted from a friend

In this fun, scorching-hot eBook original romance by Ruthie Knox, a cross-country bike adventure takes a detour into unexplored passion. As readers will discover, Ride with Me is not about the bike!

When Lexie Marshall places an ad for a cycling companion, she hopes to find someone friendly and fun to cross the TransAmerica Trail with. Instead, she gets Tom Geiger—a lean, sexy loner whose bad attitude threatens to spoil the adventure she’s spent years planning.

Roped into the cycling equivalent of a blind date by his sister, Tom doesn’t want to ride with a chatty, go-by-the-map kind of woman, and he certainly doesn’t want to want her. Too bad the sight of Lexie with a bike between her thighs really turns his crank.

Even Tom’s stubborn determination to keep Lexie at a distance can’t stop a kiss from leading to endless nights of hotter-than-hot sex. But when the wild ride ends, where will they go next? [goodreads]

This book took me by total surprise!  Based on this cover and that description above, I was expecting a light, fun adult romance set along a bike trail across the US.  What I got was a captivating story with many layers, and characters that left me thinking about them long after this adventure ended.  With just under 200 pages, I was able to read this story in a day, but that's not due to the short length; it was because I literally could not put it down.  Between the humor and wit, alongside the adventure and romance, I was completely inside this story from cover to cover.

Tom's sister insists that he find a riding companion to make the trek across the TransAmerica trail, traveling west to east by bike.  He's a loner though, and he has reasons for being kept to himself.  Five years ago his world was turned upside down, which caused him to retreat physically and emotionally.  Venturing out on the open road with his bicycle took on a whole new perspective for himself, so the last thing he wanted to do was share that road with someone else.

Lexie has been planning this bike trip for most of her life.  After all, it's how her parents met and fell in love.  She's a school teacher who is spending her summer biking it across the country.  Lexie is looking for a riding companion for safety reasons, someone to share a tent next to hers at the road side campgrounds, and be there in case of a flat.  These two characters end up at the starting line, with very different agendas, and embark on a journey that will change their paths, both figuratively and purposefully.

I don't know much about cycling, but Ruthie Knox describes things as though I was an experienced rider myself.  I never felt lost or confused, always able to imagine exactly what was happening in bike terms.  The ease of her writing carried over into the witty banter between Lexie and Tom.  At first these two characters want nothing to do with the other, but as the miles edge on, so do their feelings for one another.  The portrait that Knox creates is beautifully set against the American highways, stretching across the Rocky Mountains and into the Great Plains.  The scenery was beautiful to witness through her words, but it felt believable through the characters interpretations of it.

My favorite moments lie in the complexity of both Lexie and Tom.  I was not expecting this much depth in an adult romance.  Their personalities that challenged one another really took me by surprise, but it was a pleasant surprise that matched this story so well.  I am still amazed that Knox was able to fit so much depth and complexity into a tight fit story, and made it work so so well.

Trust me when I say you want to read this book.  Look past that cheesy cover, and believe me when I say it's a story that will surprise you.  I am now on a quest to read more by this fabulous author.  This particular story is the epitome of what I love so much in a contemporary novel.  The journey these characters take us on, both physically and mentally, is what captured my interest so much.  It's a solid interpretation of seeking love among the adventures in our hearts.

*I was doing a little experiment by posting a picture of my nook & not the actual book cover. I feel that the cover its been given portrays the book in a totally different way.  I hope my review gives a better (or should I say different? haha) description ;)