Her Last Chance

By Danielle Lee Zwissler

Katherine Daniels, advice columnist for High Fashion Magazine, had the life she always wanted in New York: a good job, a city apartment, and a secret crush.

On a trip back home to Connecticut to care for her father, one thing turned her whole world upside down: Dr. Warren Vance.

After being humiliated in NY, and pulled into her father's match-making antics, Kat had to rethink her life. What she didn't know was that this wasn't just a second chance, it was her last...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Firefly & Wisp Publishing
• Release date: Sep 17, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452423043

Danielle Lee Zwissler

Danielle Lee Zwissler was born in Dover, Ohio. A small town in North East Ohio. Her love of romance and cowboys took over in this novella. She is a big fan of William Shatner, Harry Potter, and all things Harlequin.

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Reviews for Her Last Chance

By Angel Wing Buyer on January 30, 2012

I must confess that I don't read a lot of romance or genre fiction, so I was pleasantly surprised by the spiritual depth and emotional maturity of Her Last Chance by Danielle Zwissler. Without spoiling the plot, there's a whole lot more going in the lives of Kat and Warren than meets the eye, and the author very cleverly layers this story so that the full complexity isn't revealed until the end (when readers realize that there has been a higher purpose to the twists and turns of their lives all along!). What makes this story the most remarkable, though, is that Her Last Chance delivers all of the passion and heat you expect in a modern romance--all the while building their spiritual connection as well (without ever delving into saccharine religiosity. Can somebody say Amen?) The effect is a fulfilling book on many levels--and it leaves me wondering why it hasn't been made into a Hallmark or Lifetime movie yet? Seriously, at one point, when the brave but deeply traumatized Warren (who's been reading Kat's advice column without her knowledge) says to her I fell in love with your words, I became a puddle! (Pass the Kleenex, please!) I can't tell you why that scene pierces the heart without giving crucial things away, but let me say this: if you're looking for a well-developed romance that reminds you of all that is good and true in this world, filled with flawed but delightfully real people who aren't about to let a good thing go, this is the book for you. Did I mention it's a series? Enjoy! : )

By Proud_Army_Wife on February 18, 2011

Romance novels are not my typical read but Her Last Chance is different, the story is heartfelt and attainable. The way Kat and Warren come together could be happening to other couples right now!! I could not put this book down, I was drawn into the Daniel's family and their crazy fun loving way of taking care of each other. Bill seems like an overbearing nosy dad but he really just wants what is best for his daughters, and gets a laugh in while doing it. :)

By Phyllis L. Seibert on September 18, 2011

There are many parts of this book that I absolutely love. I am especially taken with Katherine and Warren's first date. I love the fact the author writes about how our lives are preplanned and how even though we are not sure what we want, there is always someone at work nudging us along. I became completely entrenched in the desperation, want, and refusal that Warren's and Katherine's relationship has. I found myself laughing, crying, and cheering for this couple.

The surprise ending will blow you away. This book was not a disappointment. I could not put it down. Even though, it is a smaller book, it is full of emotion and detail.

By poolgirl9 on May 25, 2011

Katherine thinks she has it all and doesn't need anyone until Warren comes along. She is funny and love dumb. Warren is smart and funny and patience with not only Kat but with her dad Bill. Bill is funny and always up to something. Pick it up and enjoy.

It makes you realize that last chance is always worth the risk. You will love these two. Enjoy it.

By Amazon Customer on October 3, 2011

Read it in one sitting. The flow was spectacular, the characters were beautifully flawed, and the sweet romance between Kat and Warren was perfect :) Great job, Danielle! :)

By S. Bish on February 9, 2011

I love the characters in this book. This was my first Kindle purchase and I could not stop reading. The story sucks you into their world because it is so down to earth and believable. I can't wait to read more from Danielle!

Firefly & Wisp Books

Copyright © 2010 by: Danielle L. Zwissler

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or use of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the permission of Firefly and Wisp Books.

www.fireflyandwisp.com

ISBN: 978-0-9827062-0-6

Library of Congress Control Number:  2010927420

2015 Print Edition

First Firefly & Wisp Publishing Printing 2010

All the characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. All work is from the imagination of the author.

Dedicated to:

Earl, the barriers finally crumbled. I will love you forever.

Acknowledgements:

To my beautiful children: Ariana and Logan Zwissler. I love you more than anything in this entire world. To Krista Bowden: a friend from high school that took the time to read about Warren and Kat’s story, and to Wesley and Rise’ Haver, my parents. Thanks for college... I think it may have helped.

Danielle Lee Zwissler

Her Last Chance

Firefly & Wisp Books

A Blush Special Edition

Romance

Thank you, God, for everything.

The Race

Quit, give up, you're beaten

They shout at you and plead

"There's just too much against you

This time you can't succeed".

And as I start to hang my head

In front of failures face

My downward fall is broken by

The memory of a race

And hope refills my weakened will

As I recall that scene

Or just the thought of that short race

Rejuvenates my being

Children’s race, young boys

Young men, how I remember well

Excitement sure, but also fear

It wasn't hard to tell

They all lined up so full of hope

Each thought to win that race

Or tie for first, or if not that

At least take second place

The fathers watched from off the side

Each cheering for his son

And each boy hoped to show his dad

That he could be the one

The whistle blew and off they went

Young hearts and hopes afire

To win and be the hero there

Was each young boy’s desire

And one boy in particular

Whose dad was in the crowd

Was running near the lead and thought

My dad will be so proud

But as they speeded down the field

Across a shallow dip

The little boy who thought to win

Lost his step and slipped

Trying hard to catch himself

With hands flew out to brace

And amid the laughter of the crowd

He fell flat on his face

But as he fell his dad stood up

And showed his anxious face

Which to the boy so clearly said

Get up and win the race

He quickly rose, no damage done

Behind a bit that's all

And ran with all his night and mind

To make up for the fall

So anxious to restore himself

To catch up and to win

His mind went faster than his legs

He slipped and fell again

He wished then that he had quit before

With only one disgrace

"I'm hopeless as a runner now

I shouldn't try to race"

But in the laughing crowd he searched

And found his father’s face

That steady look which said again

Get up and win the race

So up he jumped to try again

Ten yards behind the last

If I'm going to gain those yards he though

I've got to move real fast

Exerting everything he had

He regained eight or ten

But trying hard to catch the lead

He slipped and fell again

Defeat, he lay there silently

A tear dropped from his eye

There's no sense running anymore

Three strikes, I’m out, why try?

The will to rise had disappeared

All hope had fled away

So far behind so error prone

A loser all the way

I’ve lost, so what, he thought

I’ll live with my disgrace

But then he thought about his dad

Whom soon he’d have to face

Get up the echo sounded low Get up and take your place

You were not meant for failure here

Get up, and win the race

With borrowed will Get up it said

You haven’t lost at all

For winning is no more than this

To rise each time you fall

So up he rose to run once more

And with a new commit

He resolved, that win or lose

At least he shouldn't quit

So far behind the others now

The most he'd ever been

Still he’d give it all he had

And run as though to win

Three times he’d fallen, stumbling

Three times he’d rose again

Too far behind to hope to win

He still ran to the end

They cheered the winning runner

As he crossed the line first place

Head high and proud and happy

No falling, no disgrace

But when the fallen youngster

Crossed the line, last place

The crowd gave him the greater cheer

For finishing the race

And even though he came in last

With head bent low, unproud

You would have thought he'd won the race

To listen to the crowd

And to his dad he sadly said

I didn’t do too well

To me you won, his father said

You rose each time you fell

Written by

D. H. Groberg

Preface

Love could be so unexpected. She could still see him; his face was etched in her mind as the ambulance made its way through the small, residential area. Her lip trembled as she cried out his name repeatedly. Her father was sitting next to her, his hand covering her own. She couldn’t breathe; she couldn’t speak as she closed her eyes once more.

A few minutes later, she was lifted out of the ambulance as the EMTS pushed her gurney through the double doors of the slight Connecticut hospital. She could hear everything, but opening up her eyes caused pain that she didn’t want to feel. She heard her father speak once again, It’s okay, baby. We aren’t mad at you, we love you. Your mother and I—we love you! he sobbed.

Strangely, Katherine didn’t care. She’d wanted to be anywhere but with him at that moment. She didn’t care where she went as long as she wouldn’t have to see this place ever again with its people, animals, and little children—all happy. The diseases, God-fearing idiots, drunk drivers, drug-abusers, and terrorists. What was so great about here? She didn’t know. Obviously, the big guy upstairs would know, and if he was real, maybe she would ask him. Nothing she experienced had been that great—absolutely nothing, except for her brief life with Warren.

Warren.

Her lip trembled once more, and she felt her body shake. The monitor on the machine that she heard beeped.

One long beep.

Dead.

She was dead.

Good.

No more life, no more worries.

A blank slate.

***

She floated in a space just above her bed and continued up through the room. The light that had once been blinding was now far away and mellow. She could see black all around her. Space? No, no stars. Is this death? This isn’t half bad, I say to myself. Then she heard it; them. Voices: her family, friends, her life. It was all falling apart, and for once, she didn’t have to deal with it.

Kat! she heard her mother calling her. She was crying.

Katherine felt herself being tugged down. She watched. Her mother was standing next to the bed near collapse as her father put his arms around her. She fell over, and fainted. Her father had caught her mother just before she hit the ground.

She could see them now. Well, pictures of them, and they were floating around her like miniature television screens all tuned in to her life. Not just of what was happening now, but what had happened in the past. Everything that she had ever done was in front of her, screaming at her to notice.

The pictures moved past her as she watched them, she detected that they were all of the bad things, the questionable things that she had done over the years, starting with when she was just a little girl. She looked up, remembering the time vividly.

It was her.

She sat on the floor with a pair of scissors and her brother’s new coat. I remember this, Katherine whispered. Oh, this is the time when I took my brother’s jacket and cut it. Yes, that was funny. Now she sees something that she hadn’t seen before—her brother in the corner crying. The coat was his favorite. His other one had stains, and he was made fun of for it. Now she felt horrible. A tear slid down her cheek. It was a new feeling, as it had been years since she had cried. She was now overwhelmed.

There was more.

Every action had a positive and negative reaction. She knew that now. Not that she didn’t know the concept before, but for the past few years she couldn’t quite grasp much of anything—nothing since Warren died.

Warren was her boyfriend of five years, and they had been inseparable. It had practically been love at first sight, and then he was driving home one evening after work, and she had never seen him again. She didn’t know if he was alive or dead, if he had run away from their life, from her. He just vanished, as if he had never been there in the first place. As if the last five years were a figment of her imagination. They never found his car. They couldn’t even find a trace of a credit card.

She tried to move on and almost succeeded, until two years ago when she got the call that they found his body.

He was dumped off somewhere in the woods, disregarded as if a human life was a waste, as if he were trash.

He was murdered.

Her heart broke.

The whole tragedy came right back and crashed down on her. She was as good as dead two years ago. The fact that she had made it a whole two years was a testament of her will to live. She lost her mind, her feelings, the ability to cry, and more importantly, the will to live. Which, of course, brought her to her current status.

Now, more pictures of her life came alive. A moment with Warren…This was when he asked her to marry him. It was such a beautiful day. The sun was out, no clouds. She couldn’t help but smile at the memory. They were sitting on the beach when he rolled over on the sand to her towel and had this seashell in his hand. He held it in his palm and asked her to take it. Katherine thought he was being silly, so she told him no. His eyes pleaded with her, and she laughed and playfully took it out of his hand. In his palm was an emerald-diamond ring. It was small, so she rolled her eyes and told him when he could get serious about her and get a better ring she would accept. She laughed a little, thinking that he would do the same. Looking back, she wished she wouldn’t have. Now the next part came into view. More pictures of Kat’s life were flashing in front of her; Warren working extra hours, him pushing an alarm clock at three in the morning. Why?

He threw his clothes on and pulled into this warehouse that she had never seen before and started shoveling…Fish? He worked on the docks? When did he? She watched some more. He looked tired as he shoveled and shoveled and continued until the clock struck seven a.m. Some guy named Charlie came up to him and pat him on the shoulder.

Warren looked and spoke, Only five more weeks of this, and I can buy that ring! He smiled.

Wow, Warren…Marriage. That’s great! Do you have a picture of your girl?

Of course, Warren said happily. He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. "Now, don’t touch the picture. It’s all I have. Isn’t she beautiful?