One Last Kiss ARC Review

One Last Kiss

Author: A S Kelly

Pages: 500 pages

Genre: Romance/Humour

Published: 20th August 2021

Rating: 3 Stars

Synopsis:

Rian

Allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Rian Kerry, and I’m in huge trouble.
This is how it happened: I had a crush. You know those teenage crushes, which I’m sure you’ve all experienced, too. It was that kind of crush that makes your knees tremble, that makes you blush violently and stammer when you’re with that person. One of those crushes that you assume you’ll just grow out of, the way the seasons change.
The problem is that my crush didn’t go anywhere. Actually, it only got worse, transforming into something absurd and unbearable, which no one could seem to understand.
Especially not him.
Because he’s off-limits. He’s barricaded himself within his walls, from a sense of fear and guilt. He’s locked up his heart forever, and seems to have no intention of letting anyone in ever again.
My friends, Jordan, Anya, and Holly, say that he just needs a little push. They say that he needs to learn to believe again.
But I don’t think he’ll ever be ready, because he simply doesn’t want to be.
He doesn’t want to believe.
Not in something like us.

Parker

Allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Parker Hayes, and I’m an idiot.
Yep, you heard me right. I’m a real idiot. And, I swear, that’s putting it lightly.
But I’m a lot of other things, too. I’m a fireman, and a single father to two cheeky, hyperactive six-year-old twins. I’m a brother to Tyler, another fireman – and another idiot – who always seems to stick his nose into my business. I’m a kind-of friend to Niall, yet another idiot with nothing to do but barge into my life, uninvited.
Let’s get back to the point, here: the reason I’m an idiot.
Well, it’s pretty simple. I’ve lost my mind. Literally. It happened again. I fell for it. With my head, with my body, and with the heart I was sure I’d never be able to piece back together after another inevitable disaster.
The problem is that she’s not like the others.
She bakes cakes with my daughters, laughs with them, and shows them her magic bag. They’re crazy about her.
And so am I.
And now she knows it, and I know it, and everyone around us knows it. But I can’t take that step. I can’t let everything go to start over.
I can’t live through this again – because this time, I won’t be left standing.
Not if she’s the one to break my heart. 

My Review:

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I feel very conflicted about this book as, on the one hand, I enjoyed the romance and the idea of the story. But on the other, the age gap was quite a big issue for me.

‘Everything is more beautiful when you’re around.’

When requesting this book, I didn’t realise that the characters have an age gap of twenty one years. Rian is nineteen and Parker is forty. If you are able to look past that gap, then the romance is quite cute and worth reading, but it was a struggle for me. I had to pretend that Rian was twenty five and Parker was thirty five in order to read and enjoy this book as it was just too weird for me and made me feel a bit uncomfortable. I personally don’t think Rian acts like a nineteen year old in this book, and I originally thought she was older than me (21). The other characters also don’t seem to be fazed by the age gap and are actively encouraging the relationship, which didn’t seem very realistic to me. I also think Rian’s friends are older than her by a fair amount.

‘I’ve been thinking about you for so long, and I don’t know how to think about anything else.’

If you look look past the age gap, then the story and romance between the characters is good as there is a decent amount of tension. It’s told from both Rian and Parker’s perspectives and they both appear to be pining for each other, but not acting upon their feelings. There is a lot of back and forth between them, as neither of the characters want to hurt each other and are protecting their own hearts. I did enjoy this book, but I felt very weird whilst reading it, which ruined my experience a fair amount.

Keep reading,

Georgia x