Title: Last Kiss
Author: Laurelin Paige
Publisher/Year: Paige Press 2/27/18
Length: 384 Pages
Series: First and Last #2
Overview
SHE KNOWS SHE’S IN TOO DEEP.
WHO CAN SHE TURN TO WHEN THERE’S NOWERE LEFT TO RUN?
Emily Wayborn does not fully trust the dangerously handsome Reeve Sallis. But Emily knows that he is the one person who can give her what she needs—even if it comes with a cost. Reeve is the only thing keeping her grounded as the rest of her life falls apart. But the hotelier is a master at keeping secrets—and as she continues her quest for answers, someone is making sure she doesn’t find them. . .
Now, as an unknown enemy closes in, Emily is second-guessing everything she thought she knew about Reeve—and herself. Is Emily’s irresistible attraction to Reeve worth risking her own life for? Meanwhile, time is running out. . .
My Thoughts
I REALLY love this duet – not only is it steamier than much of what i’ve read by our amazing author lately, it’s also got more twists and unexpected turns than we could have imagined. We left off from the first book learning that Amber was actually alive – and that means that the great moment that we saw between Reeve and Emily is likely to crumble fast. He loved Amber and knowing that she’s alive should change things.
What we learn quickly from there on though is that every thing that Emily thought that she knew was wrong. Reeve actually knew who she was from the moment they first met. Amber had talked about her on and on and praised her and Reeve had known her name and her image long before Emily caused their paths to cross. This of course means that he feels betrayed and we have to spend much of the book watching Emily convince him otherwise.
At the same time, there’s the question on how Amber is alive and what needs to be done to keep everyone safe since we know that Micha is still after her, and then we wonder if Emily needs to be kept safe as well. Thankfully Joe is there to watch out for her but that raises flags as well.
If that weren’t enough, we keep flashing back to memories from Emily and Amber’s years together which helps us better understand the motivation behind who they each became. We also watch the implosion of Chris Blakely, the man who crushes on Emily to this day and makes Reeve jealous but also the man who was really close to Missy, Reeve’s ex who died at his property. That makes us wonder even more who’s behind everything and what’s going to happen.
They’ve forced into hiding at one of Reeve’s islands, and as a result of being there, we also see Amber push Emily further and further away from both herself and Reeve since she’s threatened and wants him for herself. The problem though is that Reeve continues to profess his love for Emily – a love that’s deeper than anything he’s experienced before, but Emily won’t do that to her friend, so she tries to walk away. That ends up with another death / murder and we’re left with everyone going their separate ways because that’s how they have to deal with their pain.
Joe becomes something even more important to Emily’s life now that everything’s transpired and frankly I think that I like him even more now …..maybe even for her. We’re left at a point of massive heartbreak and depression and there’s really no time in this book to resolve it all. So…you can imagine why I loved it so much – since every time our unrequitted lovers came together, it exploded with the sort of naughtiness and kink that we love, but yet we see that they’re never quite happy and content with their place in life. I’m sad that we only had this second book to close their story, but at least we got it all done here. Enjoy!