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A review by cassidysreads
Final Offer by Lauren Asher
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
2/5 stars.
Truly disappointed by this one. I devoured the first two, but this one just didn't hit quite like the others. At least I won't have to hear about tongues being heavy anymore.
To save myself the trouble of talking to much about this book, I'll just mention my major problems with it and cover them briefly: first problem is Alana herself. For a book that's supposed to be about grown adults, it's embarrassing how childish she is. So much of the miscommunication between these two is because Alana assumes without asking. She fills in the blanks and takes it as hard facts. All I wanted was for her to be a grown woman and address her problems to the pertaining parties like an actual adult. I also found her personality to be lacking. The baking hobby felt like an afterthought to make her seem like a real person, but then that's all that she really had going for her.
Second problem: the sex scenes. Nope. Dom/sub behavior never will be my thing. And no, I do not want to read a description about the cum flooding out of her mouth because swallowing it twice wasn't enough to get rid of it. Disgusting.
Third problem: the "loving yourself first in order to love others" message in this book. It's a big trend that even I bought into several years ago and with time I've learned loving yourself only leads to pride, disappointment, or both. None of which are healthy. I'm not going to delve into it because this is not the place, but know this: if the self is the main cause behind our anxieties, depression, and insecurities, then the self is not the solution to eventual happiness.
Fourth problem: The town. If small towns were in any way like this one, I'd want nothing to do with them. The townspeople are about as childish as Alana. Continuously berating and judging Cal for the way he handled his relationship with Alana that happened SIX YEARS AGO. I'm sorry, did I miss the part where Alana and Cal were polyamorous with the entire town? In what world was it ever their business to bully a man on behalf of the broken-hearted Lana from -- again, I must reiterate -- six years ago?
Fifth, and final problem: it's all-encompassing, but the couple just wasn't it for me and the story was longer than it needed to be. Being a second chance romance, I think it would have been beneficial to see how Cal and Lana fell in love initially so that we could connect that to their present day romance. But alas, we only got small flashbacks that didn't quite show their falling in love in the past. We also didn't really get to understand why Cal left her six years ago in the first place, nor did we get much detail about her sister. It just felt like a lot of shots not taken. Which was a bit underwhelming.
With all the major problems (of which I've realized I've spoken much about despite my best efforts to be short and sweet) and the weird grammar and editing errors throughout, I really hope this isn't a representation of Asher's future works and that it's just a fluke. I truly loved The Fine Print and Terms and Conditions, and I would hate to see things follow the same path as this book. Because this book was perfectly mediocre in every way and we have FAR too much of that on the market already.
Here's to hoping the next series surpasses this book!
<u>My ranking of the series just for fun</u>
Terms and Conditions ~ 5/5 stars
The Fine Print ~ 4/5 stars
Final Offer ~ 2/5 stars
Truly disappointed by this one. I devoured the first two, but this one just didn't hit quite like the others. At least I won't have to hear about tongues being heavy anymore.
To save myself the trouble of talking to much about this book, I'll just mention my major problems with it and cover them briefly: first problem is Alana herself. For a book that's supposed to be about grown adults, it's embarrassing how childish she is. So much of the miscommunication between these two is because Alana assumes without asking. She fills in the blanks and takes it as hard facts. All I wanted was for her to be a grown woman and address her problems to the pertaining parties like an actual adult. I also found her personality to be lacking. The baking hobby felt like an afterthought to make her seem like a real person, but then that's all that she really had going for her.
Second problem: the sex scenes. Nope. Dom/sub behavior never will be my thing. And no, I do not want to read a description about the cum flooding out of her mouth because swallowing it twice wasn't enough to get rid of it. Disgusting.
Third problem: the "loving yourself first in order to love others" message in this book. It's a big trend that even I bought into several years ago and with time I've learned loving yourself only leads to pride, disappointment, or both. None of which are healthy. I'm not going to delve into it because this is not the place, but know this: if the self is the main cause behind our anxieties, depression, and insecurities, then the self is not the solution to eventual happiness.
Fourth problem: The town. If small towns were in any way like this one, I'd want nothing to do with them. The townspeople are about as childish as Alana. Continuously berating and judging Cal for the way he handled his relationship with Alana that happened SIX YEARS AGO. I'm sorry, did I miss the part where Alana and Cal were polyamorous with the entire town? In what world was it ever their business to bully a man on behalf of the broken-hearted Lana from -- again, I must reiterate -- six years ago?
Fifth, and final problem: it's all-encompassing, but the couple just wasn't it for me and the story was longer than it needed to be. Being a second chance romance, I think it would have been beneficial to see how Cal and Lana fell in love initially so that we could connect that to their present day romance. But alas, we only got small flashbacks that didn't quite show their falling in love in the past. We also didn't really get to understand why Cal left her six years ago in the first place, nor did we get much detail about her sister. It just felt like a lot of shots not taken. Which was a bit underwhelming.
With all the major problems (of which I've realized I've spoken much about despite my best efforts to be short and sweet) and the weird grammar and editing errors throughout, I really hope this isn't a representation of Asher's future works and that it's just a fluke. I truly loved The Fine Print and Terms and Conditions, and I would hate to see things follow the same path as this book. Because this book was perfectly mediocre in every way and we have FAR too much of that on the market already.
Here's to hoping the next series surpasses this book!
<u>My ranking of the series just for fun</u>
Terms and Conditions ~ 5/5 stars
The Fine Print ~ 4/5 stars
Final Offer ~ 2/5 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism
Minor: Drug use