Sugar On The Edge (Last Call #3) by Sawyer Bennett

* * 1/2

Intended for New Adult readers 17 years+

He’s utterly alone…  

Tortured and existing in a dark spiral of despair, bestselling British author, Gavin Cooke, has come to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to escape the seedy lifestyle he had been living in London and in a desperate attempt to regain his writing focus. He’s twisted, bitter and angry at the world. He’s a loner… needing not a single thing other than his Scotch and a laptop upon which he can bang out his next erotic, dark thriller.

She’s running in place and getting nowhere…

Savannah Shepherd’s life is falling apart. Her dream of being a wildlife photographer seems a distant memory and she’s barely able to make ends meet. Driving herself forward with no clear goals apparent, she’s about ready to pack up her bags and head home with her tail between her legs.

Two unlikely lovers…

He’s raw, forceful and a dirty talker. She’s a flowers and romance type of girl. Yet within each other, they find a mutual craving that can only be satisfied by giving in to their desires for one another.

Lust turns into something more… something they were not looking for but tentatively accept. Will it be enough to push them past the obstacles of Gavin’s bitter past?

*SUGAR ON THE EDGE can be read as a stand-alone*

Did you order romance with an extra side of hot, heavy and dirty magic time? Well, your order’s up. Sugar On The Edge finds two people at very different and difficult stages in their lives drawn to each other for some reason.  I say for some reason because a) Gavin is a top-notch dbag - don’t worry, he freely admits to it, b) Savannah is trying to get herself and her career in order and finally, c) while I get the whole opposites attract thing, I’m not sure that I can fully understand these two getting together in this particular scenario.

I thought Gavin was interesting initially but once he got his hooks into Savannah, I wasn’t as keen on him. He’s very controlling and depraved while she’s simply too sweet and generous, so it stands to reason he'd be intrigued by her and want to unravel her.  There are moments when their attraction works.  Other times, it’s too much. There is a genuinely interesting story in there about these two’s past that gives you a better understanding of where they’re coming from.  Still it doesn’t change that Gavin has a lot of emotional baggage, is selfish and did I mention he's a dbag? Those are a lot of layers to dig through. 

Later in the story, when Savannah delivers some particularly shocking news to him, he reacts in an awful way.  Savannah’s response to that is understandable. It’s what she does later when she faces Gavin that doesn’t sit well with me, only because I felt it was resolved a little too easily.  I don't know, I just think that it's hard not to have mixed feelings about some of the stuff that occurs. And to be clear, I'm not referring to the sex in the story but the personal issues that they have to work through.

All in all, Sugar On The Edge has a nice "come hither" cover and the writing is very strong. I was very impressed with how it had me feeling that I was truly inside Gavin's head during his pov - messed up thoughts and self-loathing all included. Savannah's mind couldn't be more different with her hopeful innocence and constantly wearing her heart on her sleeve. These two opposites make for a very interesting dynamic but having a few of my own personal reservations regarding certain details is what holds me back. I haven’t read the other ones in the Last Call series and despite my mixed feelings about this particular storyline, I'd still like to read the others.

~ Bel