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Sunday 7 February 2016

Last Call (Bad Habits #3) by Staci Hart - Review

Released: 15th February 2016.

Blurb:

Once Rose Fisher makes a decision, that’s it. End of story.

Like when her ex, Patrick, dumped her out of the blue, then showed up with a super hot, tatted up sex kitten on his arm. Then it was over for good. The end. Poof. Dead to her. Except he was everywhere — down the hall, at the bar with their friends, worming his way into her dreams.

But with their friends paired off, they’re left alone more and more. Rose is determined to keep him friendzoned — doesn’t matter that he stares at her with a smolder that drops all panties in a ten foot radius. She’s over him, and she’ll prove it by getting back into the dating game, Patrick be damned.

Patrick Evans is no stranger to consequences. When your mother walks out, your dad drifts away. When you leave home, you’re on your own. And when you run away from the girl you love, you lose her. He finally has an opportunity to rebuild the bridge he burned, and it’s not one he’ll take for granted. But he’ll have to fight for her, even if it hurts. Even if it means he’ll walk away brokenhearted. Because deep down, he knows that she’s it for him.

The trick will be to get her to admit she feels it too.

Find Last Call on Goodreads 



Purchase Links:

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/20SD9op
Amazon AU: http://bit.ly/1W9ArYz
Amazon UK: amzn.to/1Sd6okp

Currently on sale for 99c *at time of posting*

Purchase: With A Twist (Bad Habits #1)
Purchase: Chaser (Bad Habits #2)



Kristine's Review:
Reviewed: February 2016.

When I picked up With A Twist last year I was smitten with Staci Hart's words, by Chaser I was utterly hooked, the way every emotion bleeds into her stories, the way West and Lilly connected - a connection that comes from years spent together while hiding behind the guise of friendship, to the raw and unyielding chemistry between Maggie and Cooper - the kind you can try to run from but never escape, but what truly intrigued me was tenuous relationship between Rose and Tricky, this relationship that had once been so sweet that had soured and left a poisonous void between them, when friends become lovers and everything falls apart, what you're left with is a connection that won't let you breathe, try as you might to move on, it holds you captive, the friendships you've built around it leaves you held hostage inside your own grief, inside the torment of what was and what it could have been, while you wear a mask, one that shows the outside world you're okay, while you're still crumbling inside.

"So I stared in his direction, wondering how I'd gotten to where I was, lying across from the boy who I couldn't escape but couldn't have."

The second I opened Last Call I was mesmerised, Rose had always seemed like such a strong, infallible woman, and she was, but reading her thoughts, slipping into the story, as her words and thoughts invaded my mind like ink sinking into my skin, I saw all of her, her joy, her sadness, her grief, her strength, her tenacity and her strong will, it was impossible not to love her from the very first page, Rose had loved and lost, and it had hurt her, it tore her heart from her chest, but she refused to wallow in that soul crushing pain, she stood strong even when she felt weak, Rose embodied everything I look for in a heroine, she made me think, made me feel and had me in her corner, cheering her on, not just for Tricky but for Rose, from that very first page, I wanted Rose to find her happy regardless of what that might be, so often I find leading ladies happily ever afters tied up in the hero, but what I found here was that what I wanted most of all was for Rose to be okay, and not a shadow of her former self.

"I didn't know which was worse. The truth, or the lie we'd been telling ourselves."

Tricky the inked up man of few words, everything about Tricky intrigued me from the very first mention of him in With A Twist, to say that I was desperate for more of him would be a gross understatement, from the smouldering glances he levelled at Rose, to the easy camaraderie he had with West and Cooper, everything about his outward appearance may have screamed back off, but those secret smiles...gosh those secret smiles made me want to crawl inside his mind and know everything about him, Tricky seemed like that kind of man that was forever trying to do the right thing, even when it was to the detriment of himself, and I wanted to know why, what made him tick, what made him guard his heart so closely especially when it was clear that the Bad Habits crew loved him, that even Rose despite the pain of their past still cared for him deeply, but most of all I was desperate to know what happened that a man whose eyes tracked Rose's every movement, eyes that told the story of hurt and regret, of pain without a chance of absolution would willingly walk away from her.

"Rose doesn't love you for any reason other than she does. You didn't have to do anything. Don't you get it?"

Last Call was a strange concept for romance novels, so often we start at the beginning hoping that the hero and heroine will find each other, will find their happily every after, instead Hart invites the reader to what could possibly be the end, Rose and Tricky have already had the passionate love affair, they tried and failed, where any romance reader salivates for the elusive HEA, the author begs you to leave your preconceived notions at the door and take a journey that is just as much moving forward as it is looking back, as two broken characters try to navigate what they were and who they are, as well as what they could be, whether together or alone. When Rose and Tricky battled to just keep moving through the pain of their past, the fear of the unknown threatening to drown them, the waves of trepidation crashing angrily against them, the unfettered joy of second chances, of making up for lost time, I felt that, I felt it wash over me, I felt it chip away at my heart, knowing with certainly that like Rose and Tricky, whatever happened I would never be the same.

There are books that make you laugh when you desperately need it, books that leave you reading through blurry teary eyes, books that make you want to slam down your kindle, cursing the characters and the world, and there are books that make you forget time and space, that draw you in, make you feel something bigger than yourself, they hold you captive and demand your attention, they remind you why you love to read, they remind you what it feels like to truly become invested in someone else's words, they take your heart, and hold it, knowing it's precious while being unafraid to take you on the journey they need you to go on. Staci Hart reminded me that sometimes we need to get through the pain and hurt to find what we truly need on the other side, that sometimes time and perspective is what we need despite how much we just want to forget and move on, but most of she reminded me that sometimes endings are really just the beginning of something new.

"Cheers to the end, because every story that ends begins another. Cheers to beginnings that they may be full of hope and love..."




About Staci Hart:


Staci has been a lot of things up to this point in her life: a graphic designer, an entrepreneur, a seamstress, a clothing and handbag designer, a waitress. Can't forget that. She's also been a mom, with three little girls who are sure to grow up to break a number of hearts. She's been a wife, even though she's certainly not the cleanest, or the best cook. She's also super, duper fun at a party, especially if she's been drinking whiskey. Her favorite word starts with f and ends with k.

From roots in Houston, to a seven year stint in Southern California, Staci and her family ended up settling somewhere in between and equally north, in Denver. They are new enough that snow is still magical. When she's not writing, she's sleeping, cleaning, or designing graphics.

Visit Staci's Website: http://stacihartnovels.com/

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