Review: Last Call

 

Title: Last Call
Author: Jennifer Schmidt
Publication Date: September 29, 2011
Source: NetGalley
Summary (from Goodreads)
While on vacation, a night out turns into a drunken haze, and Novalee Jensen wakes up hung over, confused, and… married? Fleeing Nevada, Novalee returns home to Montana to hide out, dreading the moment when her husband will show up to take her hard-earned business. But two years later just when Novalee thinks her secret is safe, guess who walks through her door? Now, face-to-face with the man she left in a hotel room two years ago, Novalee discovers the difficult part isn't having to explain her actions that night, or the questions that arise about the sexy stranger's arrival, it's keeping her hands off her husband. And what's Novalee to do when the hardest part turns out not to be confronting her past, but facing a possible future without her soon-to-be ex-husband?

Multi-millionaire Dean Philips wakes up in a Las Vegas hotel room to find the pretty blonde he married the night before gone. The piece of paper he possesses proves she served her purpose, and guilt ridden over his actions, Dean begins a battle with his father for a fight for his grandfather’s fortune. When Dean is ordered to have his wife appear in court, he finds himself in a small town in Montana, looking for the woman who ran off two years ago. Caught up in secrets and lies of his own, he has to find a way to persuade her to come back to Vegas with him without having her find out that she's the missing puzzle piece to everything he's been fighting for. But when Dean decides to mix a little pleasure with business, he suddenly finds himself in unfamiliar territory that could cost him everything

You know when you find a new author, read one of their books and love it so much you need to find others by them only to be completely disappointed because it didn’t live up to the expectations you set from the previous book your read?

Let me assure you Last Call is nothing like that. This was Schmidt’s debut novel and it’s just as hot as her recent release Risking It All. The only reason I have this 4 instead of 5 stars was because it took me a little longer to get into it this time around, but once I did the sparks started flying.

And I have to say, you can see how much this author has grown in the year between her first and second novel. Schmidt is one of those authors who is just going to get better and better with every book she puts out. Mark my words; this is a best-selling author in the making.

I loved how Novalee was just a strong female character (I admit I was a little worried she would be like Kennedy from Risking It All and get on my nerves with her indecisiveness, but she didn’t) Novalee has been through so much and came out a better and much wiser person because of it. She has the strength, character, personality, and pretty much everything else you could want in a heroine.

If you have read Schmidt’s recent release than you know she knows how to write men who make you pant. Dean was no exception. I loved reading his POV. I loved how I got to get into both of the main characters’ heads every second chapter. I actually enjoyed his POV more than Novalee’s, maybe because with his we got a look at Abby, who I also adored.

Abby and Cali were the two perfect BFF’s for our burned and bruised hero and heroine. These two completed the story so much. I think I read somewhere that Schmidt said she would like to write a book based on Abby. All I can say to that? YES!

I also loved how the title of the book was incorporated into the book

“It’s last call, Novalee. Come get what you want or walk away.”

One of my favourite lines in the book!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this is an author you need to look out for. I cannot wait for her next release.