How to Misbehave

The first book in the Camelot series, How to Misbehave (2013), a contemporary romance novella by Ruthie Knox, follows a good girl caught up in a whirlwind romance with a gorgeous construction worker after they’re trapped underground together during a storm. In 2014, it was nominated for the RITA Award for Romance Novellas by the Romance Writers of America. Critics praise the Camelot series for its fresh and humorous take on Midwestern life and romantic drama. A USA Today bestselling author, Knox is best known for her blend of wit, romance, and angst.

How to Misbehave is set in Camelot, Ohio, in 1999. Twenty-four-year-old Amber Clark is a college graduate with little sexual experience. To Amber’s dismay, she is known around Camelot as a “good girl.” Her reputation served her well at her strict Christian college, but now, she thinks it is holding her back from having fun and meeting guys.

Amber gets a job as the program director for the Camelot Community Center. She’s looking forward to new challenges, and she hopes that she’ll make a positive impact on the town. She also hopes to meet men through her new employment because there are always construction workers and building contractors milling around. Her parents wouldn’t approve, but that’s part of the thrill.



One such contractor, Tony Mazzara, is a hunky playboy who’s always on the lookout for new women. Although he fancies Amber, he doesn’t ask her out. He thinks she is a good girl looking for a steady man to treat her right. He doesn’t know that, for now, Amber is just looking for someone to show her how to have a good time.

Despite her attraction to Tony, Amber is too shy to approach him. She flirts with him and makes eye contact, but she is too embarrassed to show him how interested she is. She doesn’t know how to proposition a guy, and she’s sure that he would knock her back, anyway. As Tony is very experienced with women, she doesn’t see why he would be interested in her.

One day, while they’re both at the center, a tornado warning sounds. It’s too late to leave the center, so they decide to hide in the basement until the storm passes. Secretly thrilled to be so close to Tony, Amber knows this is her big chance with him. If she doesn’t come on to him now, she’ll never work up the courage.



Although Tony loves the thought of spending hours locked away with Amber, there’s a problem. The power just went out, and Tony hates the dark. He doesn’t want Amber to see him feeling like a frightened child. Amber, however, reminds him that it’s okay to be afraid, that everyone fears something.

With Amber’s help, Tony calms down, adjusting to the darkness underground. Tony admits that he couldn’t cope in the dark alone. It annoys him that everyone assumes he is tough and brave just because he’s powerfully built. He has a soft interior and a vulnerable side he never shows anyone. He loves that he feels safe with Amber and able to show her who he really is.

Amber, on the other hand, finds her courage in the darkness. She tells Tony that she is not as shy, vulnerable, and innocent as everyone thinks. She has desires just like everyone else, but she never has the chance to act on them. Amber has never spoken so brazenly before, and for the first time, she feels completely in control.



Tony admits that he fancies Amber, but he has not acted on it because he’s not good enough for her; she deserves someone with more to offer. Amber disagrees, claiming that Tony is everything she could want—she’s been too afraid to act on her desire.

The longer they talk, the more confident Amber feels. She tells Tony about her past sexual experiences, and how bad they were. She has never found satisfaction through sex, and she has always been taught that it’s sinful. Tony wants to know more about her sexual past and what went wrong. She tells him how she lost her virginity to a fellow college student who cried afterward because he didn’t want to go to Hell. Her other sexual partner wasn’t much better.

Tony admits he isn’t perfect and that he hasn’t always treated women right. However, he knows just what to do to make Amber feel better. He plans to give her the best sex of her life, if she will let him. Finally caving in to her desire, Amber makes a move on Tony. He is a kind and generous lover, and for the first time, she enjoys sex. They plan to continue their relationship to see where it goes.