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A review by obsidian_blue
One More Round by Gregory Salinas, CJ Bloom, Alice Clayton
2.0
I have read the entire "Cocktail" series before and I have to say that the novella struggles with a really serious subject matter (infertility) but doesn't actually go into it and makes it seem like not a really hard thing for the main character, Caroline to be dealing with. We get a Point of View told via Simon and it was awful. There is a lot of descriptions of Caroline's [pejorative word for women's breasts] that went on forever that I needed to just stop. The book also does time jumps that doesn't help with a pretty lackluster ending I thought.
"One More Round" seems to be taking place at least 5 years or so (maybe?) from the last novella in the series, [b:Last Call|21412215|Last Call (Cocktail, #4.5)|Alice Clayton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1455477908l/21412215._SY75_.jpg|40713219]. Caroline and Simon are off to visit her friend and mentor overseas. We find out that Caroline and Simon have dealt with miscarriages throughout their marriage and have not had a child at this time. They both want a family, but realize that is unlikely to happen and Simon gets a vasectomy. Their professional lives are going great though and they have a gorgeous house to enjoy in California. Their lives change though due to a "twist" and the novella is just Caroline and Simon being themselves.
I have to say that this book seems weird to me. We don't get that many sex scenes between Caroline and Simon. We hear that they are still going strong in the bedroom department, and there are a lot of morning after discussions and I think one time where we read about her doing something to Simon in the woods (my brain is foggy). I have to say that was a disappointment. The one thing that this series had going for it was the hot sex scenes between Caroline and Simon.
Caroline's friendships seem odd in this one too. She's finally asking one of her friends why she and her husband don't have kids? Really? Also one of the girl's husbands (I can't recall) seems like a moron.
The writing just didn't grab me like it did in other books and the flow was weird. I think that Clayton should have just done a full blown novel so there would have been zero need to do the time jumps. I think doing that took away from a lot of the emotional heft long-time readers should have experienced while reading this one.
"One More Round" seems to be taking place at least 5 years or so (maybe?) from the last novella in the series, [b:Last Call|21412215|Last Call (Cocktail, #4.5)|Alice Clayton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1455477908l/21412215._SY75_.jpg|40713219]. Caroline and Simon are off to visit her friend and mentor overseas. We find out that Caroline and Simon have dealt with miscarriages throughout their marriage and have not had a child at this time. They both want a family, but realize that is unlikely to happen and Simon gets a vasectomy. Their professional lives are going great though and they have a gorgeous house to enjoy in California. Their lives change though due to a "twist" and the novella is just Caroline and Simon being themselves.
I have to say that this book seems weird to me. We don't get that many sex scenes between Caroline and Simon. We hear that they are still going strong in the bedroom department, and there are a lot of morning after discussions and I think one time where we read about her doing something to Simon in the woods (my brain is foggy). I have to say that was a disappointment. The one thing that this series had going for it was the hot sex scenes between Caroline and Simon.
Caroline's friendships seem odd in this one too. She's finally asking one of her friends why she and her husband don't have kids? Really? Also one of the girl's husbands (I can't recall) seems like a moron.
The writing just didn't grab me like it did in other books and the flow was weird. I think that Clayton should have just done a full blown novel so there would have been zero need to do the time jumps. I think doing that took away from a lot of the emotional heft long-time readers should have experienced while reading this one.