Scan barcode
icygrl7's review against another edition
3.0
I give this one a 3.5 overall. It was a good read. It was enjoyable. I will read the next book in the series. This author is new to me. I think others will enjoy this book too. It has romance, action,drama, and a good balance between the main characters.
scoutmomskf's review against another edition
5.0
This was a fun book to read. Right at the beginning it seems like both Jane and Clay are hot messes. Jane has come to Last Chance to make a new start to her life after some bad choices. Clay is the first person she meets and proceeds to perhaps continue those bad choices. Clay came back to his hometown after things didn't go so well in Nashville and now feels like he's stuck in neutral.
Jane was screwed over by her latest boyfriend who ended up stealing all her money instead of helping her make it big in Nashville. Now she's arrived in Last Chance with five dollars to her name and a determination to turn her life around. She has become a believer in positive thinking and hopes that it will be enough to see her through. She goes to the local bar in hopes that some nice guy will buy her a meal and offer her a sofa to sleep on. The first one she sees is Clay who is playing his fiddle with the band. He wears his hair long, in a pony tail, and is very good looking. She thinks he looks like a bad boy and has resolved to stay away from them. But beggars can't be choosers and she ends up doing more than sleeping on his sofa, which they both regret in the morning. Through a strange series of events, Jane is offered a job by Clay's mom, cutting hair and doing nails in her salon, and watching her grandchildren in the afternoons. It comes with a rent free apartment, so things are looking up. She still has an inconvenient attraction to Clay going on, but she tries to resist that. Jane also has some trouble in her past that she has been trying to outrun for seven years. Some of that trouble is about to catch up with her in both a funny and heartbreaking way. I really liked Jane's determination to make her life better. She also wants to do it on her own, not depend on a white knight to rescue her. She's falling for Clay but he can't seem to make up his mind what he wants. When it comes to things going her way, Jane can't seem to catch a break, to the point where she's even been accused of murdering herself. While she is pretty down on herself for most of the book, by the end she has begun to see that things aren't so bad after all. I really loved the way she took charge at the end and saved Haley and herself.
Clay is basically a nice guy. He doesn't look like it, but he is. He is a good son to his momma, a good brother and uncle, a great friend to his handicapped buddy and even plays organ in church on Sundays. He left Last Chance after high school with his girlfriend, where they went to Nashville. He became a pretty good songwriter and fiddle player and had a band. His girlfriend left him for a rich record producer, breaking his heart. When he finally moved on from that and found a new love, she left him for the lead singer in the band. All the women seem to find him a better friend than lover. So he quits the band and goes home to Last Chance. He's just going from day to day there, feeling like there's something missing but not really doing anything about it, until Jane walks into the bar. He falls into instant lust with her which he regrets in the morning. All he really wants at that point is to get her on the road out of town, but the fates intervene there. She doesn't want to go and when his mom offers her a job she stays. Clay has decided it's past time for him to settle down, but Jane is certainly not the type of woman he's looking for. The local matchmaker tells him that his soulmate will arrive in town on the 9:30 bus - the same one Jane arrived on. Over the next couple nights, the two women from his past show up on that same bus and he's more confused than ever. What's really interesting is that Clay can't seem to stay away from Jane, though he really started to bug me at times. First he'd be really supportive of her, then he'd believe every bad thing he was told, then back to support. I was happy to see him get it together at the end. There are also times when I found him to be a little over emotional and wanted to smack him and tell him to man up. A little bit went a long way.
Being a small southern town, Last Chance has its share of truly quirky characters. There's Ruby, mom to all the Rhodes and owner of the salon and gossip headquarters. She is a true steel magnolia, running her family with mostly sweetness with the occasional application of a baseball bat. The local church ladies who have their fingers in everything and have no trouble letting people know when they've slipped off the straight and narrow path. The police chief, who is this book is a humorless pain with a stick up his butt. He's borderline abusive to Jane and refuses to believe her when she tells him the truth about who she is. I was glad to see him have to admit he was wrong. I loved Clay's friend Ray and had fun seeing him try to help Clay pick a wife. The arrivals of Clay's two exes added a bit of extra stress to Clay as he tried to figure out what to do about Jane. Young Haley and her "Sorrowful Angel" is a regular in several of the books. And the zaniest "character" of all is the Golfing for God mini golf course and its huge part in the conclusion of the book.
Jane was screwed over by her latest boyfriend who ended up stealing all her money instead of helping her make it big in Nashville. Now she's arrived in Last Chance with five dollars to her name and a determination to turn her life around. She has become a believer in positive thinking and hopes that it will be enough to see her through. She goes to the local bar in hopes that some nice guy will buy her a meal and offer her a sofa to sleep on. The first one she sees is Clay who is playing his fiddle with the band. He wears his hair long, in a pony tail, and is very good looking. She thinks he looks like a bad boy and has resolved to stay away from them. But beggars can't be choosers and she ends up doing more than sleeping on his sofa, which they both regret in the morning. Through a strange series of events, Jane is offered a job by Clay's mom, cutting hair and doing nails in her salon, and watching her grandchildren in the afternoons. It comes with a rent free apartment, so things are looking up. She still has an inconvenient attraction to Clay going on, but she tries to resist that. Jane also has some trouble in her past that she has been trying to outrun for seven years. Some of that trouble is about to catch up with her in both a funny and heartbreaking way. I really liked Jane's determination to make her life better. She also wants to do it on her own, not depend on a white knight to rescue her. She's falling for Clay but he can't seem to make up his mind what he wants. When it comes to things going her way, Jane can't seem to catch a break, to the point where she's even been accused of murdering herself. While she is pretty down on herself for most of the book, by the end she has begun to see that things aren't so bad after all. I really loved the way she took charge at the end and saved Haley and herself.
Clay is basically a nice guy. He doesn't look like it, but he is. He is a good son to his momma, a good brother and uncle, a great friend to his handicapped buddy and even plays organ in church on Sundays. He left Last Chance after high school with his girlfriend, where they went to Nashville. He became a pretty good songwriter and fiddle player and had a band. His girlfriend left him for a rich record producer, breaking his heart. When he finally moved on from that and found a new love, she left him for the lead singer in the band. All the women seem to find him a better friend than lover. So he quits the band and goes home to Last Chance. He's just going from day to day there, feeling like there's something missing but not really doing anything about it, until Jane walks into the bar. He falls into instant lust with her which he regrets in the morning. All he really wants at that point is to get her on the road out of town, but the fates intervene there. She doesn't want to go and when his mom offers her a job she stays. Clay has decided it's past time for him to settle down, but Jane is certainly not the type of woman he's looking for. The local matchmaker tells him that his soulmate will arrive in town on the 9:30 bus - the same one Jane arrived on. Over the next couple nights, the two women from his past show up on that same bus and he's more confused than ever. What's really interesting is that Clay can't seem to stay away from Jane, though he really started to bug me at times. First he'd be really supportive of her, then he'd believe every bad thing he was told, then back to support. I was happy to see him get it together at the end. There are also times when I found him to be a little over emotional and wanted to smack him and tell him to man up. A little bit went a long way.
Being a small southern town, Last Chance has its share of truly quirky characters. There's Ruby, mom to all the Rhodes and owner of the salon and gossip headquarters. She is a true steel magnolia, running her family with mostly sweetness with the occasional application of a baseball bat. The local church ladies who have their fingers in everything and have no trouble letting people know when they've slipped off the straight and narrow path. The police chief, who is this book is a humorless pain with a stick up his butt. He's borderline abusive to Jane and refuses to believe her when she tells him the truth about who she is. I was glad to see him have to admit he was wrong. I loved Clay's friend Ray and had fun seeing him try to help Clay pick a wife. The arrivals of Clay's two exes added a bit of extra stress to Clay as he tried to figure out what to do about Jane. Young Haley and her "Sorrowful Angel" is a regular in several of the books. And the zaniest "character" of all is the Golfing for God mini golf course and its huge part in the conclusion of the book.
katmorrisey's review
2.0
I've read some of the shorter stories in this series, and had good luck with them. But I think, for the first one, well...it didn't really suit me. It was an adorable, cute, sweet story, but one which just didn't work. Again, for me. I know that other readers will like this one. And it IS a book I would recommend to others who like a story with more sweet and very little angst. (Though the end, I will say, was very good. The heroine's dilemma, her broken heart...I could feel the emotion. But the hero ticked me off for taking as long as it did for him to realize what she had done. For him and his family. I was all, DUH!) So, anyway, I will continue to read other books in the series, perhaps in between my darker, angst filled reads, as a sort of palette cleanser. A sweet one, but one just the same. :)
ccgwalt's review
3.0
Jane and Clay make this book worth reading. The author develops both characters in a convincing way, making them both flawed yet ultimately honorable. The first meeting between Clay and Jane is especially well done. It's not often an author makes me feel the connection between people who have just met, but Ramsay manages to make it believable and sexy, while still creating a feeling of poignancy.
From there the book becomes uneven, perhaps trying to be too many things: a humorous small town romance with quirky characters, a suspense story, and an emotional look at two troubled souls trying to figure out who they are and if they belong together. Some of the secondary plots made little sense, like some members of Clay's family being able to see angels. Other secondary plots were underdeveloped and felt as though they were there to provide a convenient way to resolve a problem in the primary storyline. The problems are typical of those often found in "first in series" books. The author is trying to tell one story while adding extraneous details meant to set up future books. Clay's brother Stone was one of the characters obviously being set up for a future book. The problem for me is Ramsay made him so rigid and unlikeable in this book I have little interest in meeting him again.
Overall, the relationship between Clay and Jane make the book a qualified success for me. Their story is well-written and tugs at the heart. The book ends abruptly, so the reader has no chance to see Jane and Clay after their declarations of love. But I'm guessing we are meant to read future books in the series in order to see their life together. ;-)
From there the book becomes uneven, perhaps trying to be too many things: a humorous small town romance with quirky characters, a suspense story, and an emotional look at two troubled souls trying to figure out who they are and if they belong together. Some of the secondary plots made little sense, like some members of Clay's family being able to see angels. Other secondary plots were underdeveloped and felt as though they were there to provide a convenient way to resolve a problem in the primary storyline. The problems are typical of those often found in "first in series" books. The author is trying to tell one story while adding extraneous details meant to set up future books. Clay's brother Stone was one of the characters obviously being set up for a future book. The problem for me is Ramsay made him so rigid and unlikeable in this book I have little interest in meeting him again.
Overall, the relationship between Clay and Jane make the book a qualified success for me. Their story is well-written and tugs at the heart. The book ends abruptly, so the reader has no chance to see Jane and Clay after their declarations of love. But I'm guessing we are meant to read future books in the series in order to see their life together. ;-)
catladyreba's review
2.0
Not bad for a beach read. I'm not in a rush to read the rest of the series but if I come across them, I'll probably give them a chance.
loverofromance's review
4.0
This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance
After wanting to read this author for quite a while, I was happy to discover that the first book of this series was on the shelf at the local library and I grabbed it up, without even looking at the blurb. Yep, I just knew I needed to read this author and I was NOT dissapointed. This book was simply wonderful. I loved everything about it. And boy did it make me laugh so very hard, and I wasn't expecting it to be so funny, but it really was. So let me tell you what I really loved about this first book of the Last Chance Series.
Our heroine, Jane, is on the run from some dangerous people, and also from the secrets of her past. She arrives in Last Chance, with only five dollars to her name and runs into our hero Clay, a sexy singer who has recently come home trying to build a new life when his efforts of building his dreams didn't work out as he planned. Jane and Clay share a passionate night, but Clay doesn't want to let Jane go, even though another part of him tries to help her leave town because he knows there isn't anything for her here. He knows she is hiding something, and that she is one step away from living on the street. Jane is determined to stay in town even though Clay doesn't understand why she would want to.
This story is a endearing, sweet and fascinating story that really pulled me in pretty quickly. I really loved pretty much everything about this book. The characters are just charming, and not just the main characters. We have some entertaining side characters that just made me want to buy the rest of the books in the series, because they were unique and different. They added magic to this story, and their personalities and humor just fit right with the setting and theme that this author is setting up for the series. The romance that builds between Clay and Jane is magical here. At first it starts as a fling, but then it turns quickly into something deeper between them. I really liked seeing the intimacy build slowly between them. The story overall is a book that pulls you in, makes you laugh and smile, it makes you ponder and think and will make you want to only read more of this mysterious town of Last Chance.
[foogallery id="39196"]
After wanting to read this author for quite a while, I was happy to discover that the first book of this series was on the shelf at the local library and I grabbed it up, without even looking at the blurb. Yep, I just knew I needed to read this author and I was NOT dissapointed. This book was simply wonderful. I loved everything about it. And boy did it make me laugh so very hard, and I wasn't expecting it to be so funny, but it really was. So let me tell you what I really loved about this first book of the Last Chance Series.
Our heroine, Jane, is on the run from some dangerous people, and also from the secrets of her past. She arrives in Last Chance, with only five dollars to her name and runs into our hero Clay, a sexy singer who has recently come home trying to build a new life when his efforts of building his dreams didn't work out as he planned. Jane and Clay share a passionate night, but Clay doesn't want to let Jane go, even though another part of him tries to help her leave town because he knows there isn't anything for her here. He knows she is hiding something, and that she is one step away from living on the street. Jane is determined to stay in town even though Clay doesn't understand why she would want to.
"Look girl, will you wake up? We're sitting on a flat piece of land that's a few feet above sea level. Hurricane Jane may be a hundred miles away, but it's supposed to drop something like fifteen inches of rain on us today. Before the day is out, we'll lose power, half the roads will get washed out, and there will be trees down all over town. No one is going to be conducting interviews today"
"You really are a glass is half empty kind of person aren't you?"
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and let it out. "Well," he said, opening his eyes again and speaking as if she was mentally slow or something "I realize you like to think positively, but.." His voice rose in pitch "A hurricane is a frigging natural disaster."
This story is a endearing, sweet and fascinating story that really pulled me in pretty quickly. I really loved pretty much everything about this book. The characters are just charming, and not just the main characters. We have some entertaining side characters that just made me want to buy the rest of the books in the series, because they were unique and different. They added magic to this story, and their personalities and humor just fit right with the setting and theme that this author is setting up for the series. The romance that builds between Clay and Jane is magical here. At first it starts as a fling, but then it turns quickly into something deeper between them. I really liked seeing the intimacy build slowly between them. The story overall is a book that pulls you in, makes you laugh and smile, it makes you ponder and think and will make you want to only read more of this mysterious town of Last Chance.
Click To Buy On Amazon
[foogallery id="39196"]