Last Call
Cocktail, Book 4.5

I Picked Up This Book Because: Finish the series

Media Type: Audiobook
Source: Hoopla via PP Library
Dates Read: 10/17/21
Stars: 4 Stars
Narrator(s): Heather Smith

The Characters:

Simon Parker:
Caroline Reynolds:


The Story:

Life is taking on lots of changes for Wallbanger and Nighty Girl (Pink Nighty Girl is such a long nickname) They are ready to move to the next level. Oh they fight it and life fights them but they are going to make it (I know because I’ve read the next story) I’ve loved my time with them. Ms Clayton has created a spectacular cast of characters, including Clive who is undoubtedly my favorite. I hope I get to visit them again in the future.

The Random Thoughts: ( )

http://romancebookie.blogspot.com/2015/01/last-call-cocktail-45-by-alice-clayton... ( )

This is the final book in The Cocktail series by Alice Clayton. Though the other books in the series are full length novels this one is a novella clocking in at 177 pages. I was able to finish this in one day so if you are thinking of buying it know that it is going to be a really fast read. I can honestly say I was surprised that Ms. Clayton chose to end the series with a novella. I really did enjoy this book and wish that we had gotten a novel length ending to the story of Caroline and Simon. Maybe we will see them pop up in future books, which will be nice.

So all of my former comments/complaints about the previous books in this series have evaporated in this last book.

We have a mature and happy Caroline and Simon together. Caroline is dealing with the fact that many of her friends are married, engaged, and/or having a baby. She finds that though she is happy to be with Simon and living together, a part of her is hesitant to get married. And I really love the discussion between the character of Caroline with several other characters about that fact. She is happy in her career and her life. She wants to be with Simon always. Marriage still gives her pause (which is a perfectly natural state to be in) and so does having children.

We also have Ms. Clayton incorporating San Francisco into this book more than she has done in prior books. I really did feel as if this book was taking place there, and not Anywhere, USA.

There were also really hilarious and funny moments and dialogue which I chuckled out loud to a few times. Unlike with before when I thought Ms. Clayton relied too heavily on the text messages between characters, she employs that again here, but in this case, it worked, and made the scene even funnier.

The sex scenes unlike in previous novels did not feel like too much. Though I have to say that a man with Simon's staying power cannot be believed. It seems like they have sex pretty much everyday. I love that Simon and Caroline are really hot for each other though I think it's unrealistic to have sex everyday at least two to three times per day. Do these people ever do anything else?

Also the secondary characters like Sophia and Neil and others did not overwhelm the main story. We got looks at previous characters from the other books, Vi and Clark and Chloe and Lucas which was nice.

The writing flowed very naturally and the plot worked together very well. I even had a tear in my eye at a critical point in the story after reading this:

Hey and babe were now officially the most beautiful words in the English language.

I do think that the way this ended could lead to another book in the series or at least a novella which I think would be welcomed by many readers.

In sum, Last Call went out with a bang! ( )

Excellent way to tie up all the storylines. I'mma miss you, Cocktail series. ( )

Only part that I liked was Hanoi. ( )