Last Call by Alice Clayton Narrator: Heather Smith
Published by Simon and Schuster on January 6th 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 176
Format: Audiobook
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From USA TODAY bestselling author Alice Clayton, known for her “deliciously addictive” (The Book Vixen) novels, this Cocktail series novella reunites readers with Caroline and Simon from the wildly successful Wallbanger.Simon and Caroline are back for another round of baking, banging, and big life changes. Settling in, but never settling down, Caroline has finally struck a balance between the professional and the personal. As one of the top interior designers in San Francisco, she travels all over Northern California between nook time with Simon. Perpetual globetrotter Simon has cut his frequent flyer miles in half over the last year, preferring to balance his professional and personal life, as well. The next step in their lives seems preordained—toasts, veils, and the aisle of rose petals. But when an accident on a photo shoot in Southeast Asia brings Caroline the most terrifying phone call she could ever imagine, she has to ask whether “till death do us part” is a more realistic prospect than faces most couples. It’s been a grand adventure, and Caroline and Simon wouldn’t go out without the best surprise ending ever. One part sexy, one part laughter, a dash of exotic locales, and one pink nightie, mixed with passion, and you’ve got Last Call. Served with a side of Clive.
This was a continuation of Alice Clayton’s novel Wallbanger. I read Wallbanger last year, and I remembered the broad strokes, but not the details. There were enough reminders through this book, though, that most of the details came back. I liked Caroline and Simon in Wallbanger, and I still liked them here in Last Call. There wasn’t really any relationship drama, here, just a continuation of their story, and a little outside drama.
I remember so well the stage where everyone around me started pairing off, getting married, and having babies. Alice Clayton’s writing brought this back to me so well. This is the stage where Caroline and Simon are. Neither of them are either overly eager to get married, nor against it, they just haven’t gotten there yet. The first half of the book isn’t really about anything, it’s just slices of Caroline’s and Simon’s life together. There are some weddings, some pregnancies, and some births, and through it all Clayton’s writing makes me laugh. In a good way, not in a I-do-not-think-that-word-means-what-you-think-it-means kind of way.
Caroline and Simon are contentedly sailing their way toward happily ever after when Simon goes off on another photography trip, and that’s when all the drama happens. I don’t want to spoil any of it because it’s really wonderful to read (well, listen to). But Caroline are still wonderful together, still hot, and Caroline has managed to keep track of her O quite well. Go read this novella! In fact, read the entire series.
Narrator notes: I thought Heather Smith did a good job with the narration. She was able to differentiate between the characters without really “doing voices” and I thought her male voices were pretty good. I’ve listened to a lot of narrators of both sexes who don’t do the other sex very well.
Oh! I almost forgot. Thank you, Alice Clayton, for an entire chapter on how wonderful pit bulls are and having some of the characters adopt some of them. They are such great dogs, and the last time they showed up in a romance novel I read, they were stereotypical vicious dogs who were attacking people. Seriously – go read this story!
