LAST CALL – Alice Clayton
A Cocktail Series Novella
Gallery Books
ISBN-13:  978-1-4767-6676-8
January 2015
Contemporary Romance

San Francisco, California – Present Day

Caroline is an interior designer in San Francisco and has been with Simon Parker for about a year.  They moved in together and bought a house, and his photography career takes him away from home several times a year.  After their friends, Mimi and Ryan, get married, and their other friends, Sophia and Neil, are married and expecting their first baby, everyone is wondering what Caroline and Simon are going to do.  It suddenly seems as if all their friends and acquaintances are expecting babies, and while Caroline loves Simon, she doesn't know what his thoughts are on marriage.  Simon believes Caroline is the perfect woman for him and loves everything about her.

Caroline met Simon the year before when he had the apartment next to hers; however, almost every night his amorous activities involved banging his headboard against her wall, keeping her awake.  Hence, his nickname: Wallbanger.  Simon and Caroline not only have fun with each other, they also have a never-ending desire that keeps their relationship fresh.  When they go to visit Sophia's cousin, Lucas, and his girlfriend, Chloe, in Monterey for Sophia to adopt a pit bull, someone asks Lucas and Chloe when they are getting married.  But Caroline doesn't know they were asking Lucas and Chloe and thinks they are talking to her, and her mind goes blank.  Does she want to marry Simon?  Yes, she does, but like all good women she wants him to want to marry her.

When their friend Sophia goes into labor and has a baby girl, Simon is strangely nervous.  That night he tells Caroline he wants what Sophia and Neil have. Just as things are going great, Simon has to go on another photography assignment to Vietnam, and their lives will forever change.

Secondary characters are their friends who are just maturing from young adults to married couples, and influencing Caroline and Simon as they decide what direction their relationship will go.

LAST CALL is another story by Alice Clayton, who has a very distinct writing style, combining passion and humor.  But this time, she also added an emotional element that will tug at your heartstrings and confirm that true love exists.  A short novella in the Cocktail Series , LAST CALL follows Simon and Caroline's story from WALLBANGER (February 2013), RUSTY NAILED (June 2014) and SCREWDRIVERED (September 2014).  If you enjoy stories with crisp dialogue and interesting characters, LAST CALL is right up your alley.  I have just fallen in love with Alice Clayton's stories, so join me in enjoying a short novella about Simon and Caroline that will be a great start to the New Year.

Carolyn Crisher