Reviewed
by: ?wazithinkin
Genre:
New Adult Romance/Comedy/Relationships
Approximate
word count: 90-95,000
words
Availability
Click
on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes &
Noble, or Smashwords store
Author:
“Beth
Matthews is a Southern California girl, born and raised. She's a
total geek, a movie buff, and a mediocre swing dancer. She lives in
sunny SoCal with two of the neediest housecats on the planet. She
also does freelance editing on the side if you're an indie author
looking for someone to read your books."
For
more information, visit her website or like her Facebook page.
Description:
“Lucy
York is an aspiring mechanical engineer working as a shot girl
serving watered-down drinks to drunken frat boys at Jezebel’s Bar &
Lounge. The job isn’t so bad—it pays her bills, and she’s
managed to make a surrogate family for herself at the bar. But now
she’s ready to spread her wings and fly north to attend a
university and, maybe, distance herself a little from the
all-consuming social scene at Jezebel’s.
Then
her boss hires a new bouncer, Norm, a literature dork who seems like
everything a bouncer shouldn’t be: tall, gangly, sweet (and, you
know, named Norman). But as she gets to know him, ol’ Norm turns
out to be everything Lucy never knew she wanted and the best friend
she’s ever had. He’s not a bad bouncer either.
One
obstacle to their happily ever after: the owner has a strict
no-dating rule for employees. If anyone at Jezebel’s finds out
she’s dating a bouncer, Lucy will lose her job, her surrogate
family, and the money she needs to go to college.
But,
if she loses Norm, is she losing her best chance at happiness?”
Appraisal:
Lucy
York is intelligent, beautiful, and commitment phobic. Her mother
left when she was very young, so she was raised by her doting father.
The problem was that he passed away, from cancer, just after she
graduated from high school. She has been putting herself through a
two-year college course in hopes that she can transfer to Berkeley to
finish her college requirements. She has the math down solid,
however, it’s the English course she has put off till the last
because she doesn’t feel she is as strong in that class.
The
owner of Jezebel’s, Hank, has become like a surrogate father to
Lucy. He helps look after her when she needs help and never likes any
of her boyfriends. He is also a large muscle bound bouncer at the
club and has a strict “no dating policy” between any of the
employees.
Norm
has graduated from college and has taken a couple of years off to
decide what exactly he wants to do with his life now. His father
wants him to pursue a career in Literature academia, Norm wants to
become an author of science fiction. In the meantime he needed a job
to get his car out of the repair shop and his roommate, Zack, needs
help with the rent. If he hadn’t gotten this job at Jezebel’s he
would have had to flip burgers. His first night on the job he was
immediately attracted to Lucy.
Ms.
Matthews does a nice job introducing all of her characters, even the
supporting players. The dialogue is realistic and believable. The
relationship between Lucy and Norm develops quickly, they have great
chemistry together and complement each other well. However, Lucy is
fraught with anxiety about getting caught dating Norm, so she
basically ignores him at work. This is a huge problem for Norm
because he keeps getting mixed signals from her. He tries to be
understanding of her mood swings. Norm wants to level with Hank and
tell him the truth about their relationship, but neither one of them
can afford to lose their job. On top of all of this Norm is under a
lot of stress with his writing and his dysfunctional family.
I did
find this an enjoyable read, however, I encountered proofing errors
that got on my nerves a little more than usual. There were several
missing words as well as wrong words used: such as door mouse,
instead of dormouse; …a hunted look, instead of a haunted look;
…thread of desire would all through her, instead of wound all
through her; …would have sent her heart with fear, instead of
wrenched her heart with fear. Needless to say I encountered several
awkward sentences. I think this story would profit from another round
of editing. It is worth it.
FYI:
Love’s
Last Call is book 1 in
the Ladies of Jezebel's
series. There is graphic
sex described as well as adult language.
Format/Typo
Issues:
On top
of what I mentioned above, I believe Lucy was called Nicola once.
Nicola, I learned is a character in another book.
Rating:
*** Three stars
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