Hello everyone!
Whew, I'm finally bringing another series to a close!
Not that I won't be reading them again. Actually, I'm definitely feeling up for some Simon and Caroline cheerfulness, if you know what I mean, because the weather here turned into an absolute downpour and it's been raining since yesterday evening. Which does in fact mean I'm too lazy to do anything else but curl up and read.
Mostly.
Anyway, to get back on track, the book I will be talking about in tonight's blog is the last in the Cocktails series by Alice Clayton, which began with the infamous Wallbanger.
This is actually more a novella than a full-length book, it's mostly a summary and a nice epilogue to the couples that we've grown to love over the course of the entire series, and I have to admit that this has to be one of my favourites, for the simple reason that the characters are believable, real, and face the challenges life throws at them like you and I would.
So, let's get right into Last Call!
To recap, very briefly: Simon and Caroline met by virtue of being neighbours in apartments that shared the same bedroom wall, which resulted in Simon's bedroom exploits throwing Caroline out of whack completely.
And then into his bed, of course, but she also won him with her sperb baking skills.
Then they navigated the waters of their new relationship while renovating a house they'd move into together, adopted three cats alongside Clive which Caroline already had in her possession, and at the end of it all they helped their best friends to get their groove back on.
Oh, right, remember that? Simon had two guy best friends, Ryan and Neil, and Caroline had Sophia and Mimi, and these two couples were originally mis-matched before getting it right.
Sophia and Neil also had a bit of a bump in the middle of the stories but by this book, they're expecting thir firstborn child, and in a hilarious video which ends up on Youtube, Neil is informed of this while doing his usual job as a sportscaster during a game. His daughter, Mary Rose, will be proud of her papa for sure.
As Mimi and Ryan are also getting married, the wedding bug grabs Simon and Caroline, too, and Simon finally gets his act together and proposes.
Seeing as ALL their friends have wanted this from day one, it's time to bring out the big guns and start prepping the wedding, although what the bride and groom realise during the process is that they themselves are getting kind of lost in all the wishes and wants and needs and trying to please everybody else.
Also, it doesn't help that Simon gets a photo shoot offer in Vietnam, which, with Caroline's blessing, he takes, as a last job before he'll take time off after the wedding.
Things go from bad to worse, however, when Caroline is told the devastating news: during the actual shoot, Simon had an accident and is currently hanging in there by a thin thread. Flying out to be with him, she decides then and there to do things their way, not how everyone else wants them to do.
So as soon as her Wallbanger is good enough to walk, Caroline and Simon say 'I do' on the beach there with Benjamin and Jillian as their witnesses, arranging a BBQ wedding party in the backyard of their house after their return and brief courthouse marriage to make it USA-legal.
The epilogue is, of course, once again fantastic, as narrator Clive does some digging and unearths a pregnancy test which he then deposits beside Simon in bed (fun fact: the couple had been talking about trying for a baby, but maybe not quite then). Simon wakes up, and Caroline then confesses she's pregnant.
THE END.
This series was one that I probably wouldn't have ever read if not for the huge appeal of Wallbanger, but to be honest these characters seem so believable I half expected them to waltz right out of the pages and into my room.
I don't know how many more praises I can sing for them, but below you'll find links to all the previous reviews, and if you have yet to read these books, DO SO.
You won't regret it.
Simon finally began to really wake up around three in the morning, preceded by the funniest twenty minutes of my life. Wallbanger on pain meds isn’t like any show I’ve ever seen. Starting with:
“Hey. Caroline. Did I ever tell you how much I love you?”
“All the time, babe, but I never get tired of hearing it.”
“I’ll say it more often.”
“Sure, Simon. You can tell me whenever you like.”
“Hey. Caroline. Did I ever tell you how much I love you?”
“You sure did, about two minutes ago.”
“What’s a minute?”
This also happened . . .
“And at the bottom of the cave, it was like, the world opened up, and there were stars . . . but it was like . . . we were the stars . . . there were stars everywhere, but like . . . we were the stars . . . and you know what else?”
“What’s that, Simon?’
“We were them.”
“What?”
“Them.”
“Them?”
“The stars. . . . we were them . . . the stars . . .”
And if you liked that, you’ll love . . .
“Babies. I want to fill you up with babies. Like, make you pregnant with babies. And have some of the babies. Babies. Babies. Caroline? Babies.”
And finally . . .
“Caroline, I’m so glad you’re here. But why’d you bring so many leprechauns?”
Alice Clayton, Last Call, p.70
xx
*image not mine
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