Last First Kiss

Written by Lia Riley

Narrated by Carly Robins

Pinterest perfect. Or so Annie Carson's life appears on her popular blog. Reality is . . . messier. Especially when it lands her back in one-cow town Brightwater, California, and back in the path of the gorgeous six-foot-four reason she left. Sawyer Kane may fill out those Wranglers, but she won't be distracted from her task. Annie just needs the summer to spruce up and sell her family's farm so she and her young son can start a new life in the big city. Simple, easy, perfect.

Sawyer has always regretted letting the first girl he loved slip away. He won't make the same mistake twice, but can he convince beautiful, wary Annie to trust her heart again when she's been given every reason not to? And as a single kiss turns to so much more, can Annie give up her idea of perfect for a forever that's blissfully real?Contains mature themes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Jan 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9781515971801

Lia Riley

Lia Riley is a contemporary romance author. She loves wandering redwood forests, beach fog, procrastinating, and a perfect pour over coffee. She is 25% sarcastic, 54% optimistic, and 122% bad at math (good thing she writes happy endings for a living). She and her family live mostly in Northern California.  You can also find her co-hosting the weekly Afternoona Delight Podcast, exploring the wonderful (and trope-filled) world of Korean Dramas through a writer’s lens. 

Reviews for Last First Kiss

[tina_thebookworm · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I received a copy in exchange for an honest opinion this does not influence my opinion in any shape or form.

After finishing Last First Kiss I’ve come to the conclusion that I have a thing for Sawyers. Every time I read a book with a guy named Sawyer I already know I’m going to add him to my long list of book boyfriends named Sawyer, Sawyer Kane was no exception.

Last First Kiss has just the right amount of fluff, sex appeal, learning to love oneself again and the idea that sometimes we don’t get things right the first time so sometimes a second chance is worth it.

Our Story
Last First Kiss is told in third person point of view. It tells the story of Annie whose back in Bridgewater fixing up the family farm Five Diamonds to sell and move to San Francisco. She’s recently divorced and lost. She’s lost herself in the mommy role (something we can all relate to a time or two, I know I certainly can ) and is insecure her ex husband wasn’t exactly prince charming (hello he is the ex husband). And in comes Sawyer Kane the boy who she may or may not have had a relationship with back in high school. The one she thought betrayed her and made her out to look like a fool.

The story has a bit of instalove and I had a couple times when I thought it was just too much. I think I would’ve loved to have had more background story like their friendship so that I could honestly believe they always loved each other but never had their chance.

One of my favorite things about the story was that it focuses on blogging! Annie is a mommy blogger who is making money trying to support herself and her son. She’s putting up this whole charade of being the perfect mother. She tried to showcase this persona about being the perfect mother, the perfect recipes, the always doing something with her son but never really portraying herself as a real mother. One who gets frustrated, who is borderline tired, who forgets to eat a meal here and there. The real image of a mother she’s always had this charade going on but when she’s with Sawyer the charade is gone. She shares her strengths, weakness and shows who she truly is. I loved that about this book.

Our Characters
Annie like I mentioned is the mommy blogger who is making a pretty decent amount of money with her blog. She’s also insecure her husband pretty much ran off with whatever had two legs. Not to mention, she’s lost herself in the mommy role. She’s focused on her son not caring about letting herself go or even remembering the fact that she’s a woman and mother. I could definitely relate to that I get lost in the mommy role and during reading Last First Kiss I went actually did my hair and threw on some make up just to remember I’m not just a mommy. I felt that much of a connection with Annie. I loved seeing her come out of her mommy mode and into her own skin.

Sawyer was just sweet and so romantic and patient. He didn’t force Annie to do anything she didn’t want nor did he demand answers right away he waited. I definitely found him swoonworthy.

Overall
This is definitely a quick fluffy sweet second chance romance novel. One about discovering who you are and learning to take a chance because who knows you may just end up with your happily ever after.

[gengenbookblog · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Annie Carson is back at the town she fled from a few years ago to sell her family’s farm. She definitely doesn’t plan on staying—nothing is set in stone, especially when she faces Sawyer once again. They have unfinished business to tend to but Annie is not sure she wants to trust again when she was left heart-broken in the first place.I have a thing for second-chance romances. I love when they are done so right and beautiful, with all of the feelings the characters had from the beginning. To be honest, I wasn’t going to read this one. I’m a person that the cover has to catch my eye. I know, this really sucks and I’m being judgmental. One of my blogger friends, Becca from Lost In Literature wrote such an outstanding review that made go immediately to Amazon and 1-click the book!!Annie is a divorced, mommy-blogger who went through quite a lot in life but she’s still strong with her son Atticus by her side. They both arrive at Brightwater, not receiving the best welcome party but Annie is driven and she will do the task she set out to do. She knew she was bound to encounter Sawyer and she was prepared to not bat an eyelash at him but feelings are still so present for one another. It was great to see Annie believe in herself as the story progressed and become confident. That made her even more of an inspiration to me.Sawyer Kane let Annie go once and he doesn’t plan on committing the same mistake again. I really enjoyed Sawyer’s character seeing as he is a hard-working man who definitely knows how to cook and build. What woman will say no to a man like him?! On all seriousness though, he is an amazing character who has everyone’s best interest at heart and he cares a lot about everyone, especially Annie and Atticus. Reading about his growing relationship with Atticus was so darn sweet. It got to a point where Atticus looked up to Sawyer as a man and as his potential father. It warmed my heart reading about their interactions as a family.The romance was slow to build, it took it’s time, going from friends to slowly becoming something more. What I loved was that even though they obviously had feelings for each other back in the day, they were still adults about the situation and took things slow to learn from each other again, to get to know each other and trust each other.“Our souls fit together. You’re the half I’ve been missing.”

[bette_hansen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this completely entertaining small town romance! Lia Riley is a new to me author but she has gained a new fan with her quirky characters, writing style, and heartwarming storytelling. In this book Annie returns to Brightwater. A place that holds very few fond memories so the sooner she's on her way back out of town the better. Only one problem, oh so sexy Sawyer Kane has never forgotten Annie and now that she's back, he plans to do everything he can to get her to stay.

This one will touch quite a few places in your heart, making you smile, laugh, and cry but in the end making you very happy you read it. I highly recommend it.