REVIEW: "The Last Thing" by Briana Gaitan (Contemporary Romance)

The Last Thing by Briana Gaitan
	Publisher: Briana Gaitan Genre: Contemporary Romance, New Adult Publication Date:August 13th 2014 Series: Hollywood Timelines, #1 Standalone: Yes Other Books in Series: #1.5 Bash #2 The One Thing #2.5 Maria (Affiliate links)
Description from Publisher:
Plagued by past mistakes in both love and life, Quinn Bardot is in a bad place. With nowhere else to turn, she escapes to LA, clinging to the promise of a fresh start. Chase Crowley is known for being selfish and unbelievably persistent. All he's ever wanted is to become a successful actor. But now that he is about to have it all, he finds that something is still missing. Money and fame aren't what he expected. After a fervent encounter, the two of them are thrown into a situation for which neither is prepared. Can Quinn extinguish her fears and let Chase in? Can Chase learn to put someone else's needs before his own? The Last Thing is a novel all about love, Hollywood, and accepting what life throws at you even if it is the last thing you want. (This is a New Adult Romance novel & contains language & adult situations. Not recommended for readers younger than 17) The Last Thing is a standalone book in the Hollywood Timelines series with NO cliffhanger ending.
My Rating:	Heat Rating:
My Musings:
This didn't wow me, but was a fine, though predictble, story. Quinn, our female protagonist, has an interesting backstory that is revealed slowly over the course of the book. She's moved from a small town in Tennessee to Los Angeles in order to get a fresh start and is staying with her best friend who is a soap opera star. Through her best friend, she meets Chase, an up-and-coming actor, sparks fly, and she finds herself unexpectedly pregnant. The backstory of Quinn's was interesting, but I feel like it was overblown and that it had been too recent. This feels like it would have worked better if it hadn't been only a year since everything had happened. I would have also enjoyed it more if her final conclusion about it all had honored the relationship more instead of reducing it as though her relationship with Chase had to be her only 'real' love. Chase's transformation and then their falling in love felt very sudden and I wish that they had bonded more. They spent a fine amount of time, but it fell a little flat, which didn't convince me that they were necessarily meant to be. It was also difficult to suspend disbelief when they have sex for not just the first time, but even after she's pregnant. They had spent all of about 10 minutes together before they have sex, yet she trusts that this playboy is disease-free and he trusts that not only is she also disease-free, but that she is on the pill and there's no chance he would get her pregnant. Then, the second time they have sex, he's had sex with other women since their last time, yet STDs still aren't at all a concern. Hmm. The Hollywood aspect was sort of odd with this as well. Chase went from being a daytime soap star for, presumably, a year or so to an A-lister in 2 movies with paparazzi obsessed with him. And he filmed two movies in a month or two that were both being released around the same time... On top of that, he didn't get along very well with his agent, didn't fill her in on the fact that he had gotten a girl pregnant and was going to start dating her, and then didn't take a very serious threat nearly as seriously as he should have (I'm confused as to why he wasn't in contact with his agent more, I suppose). Don't get me wrong, though, this was a pleasant enough read. You just need to suspend disbelief and give in to the indulgence!
My Source: I received a digital ARC from the publisher to voluntarily review. This in no way influenced my review. My opinion is unbiased and my 100% own.

About Briana Gaitan
Briana Gaitan grew up in the South, but calls herself a geek at heart. She is a blogger,author,and fangirl who loves Star Wars, Star Trek, and Jewelry (bet you never thought you'd hear those three things in a sentence together) For fun, she loves watching any show on the SyFy channel, relaxing with her family, reading, and listening to indie music (sometimes all at the same time). Briana loves to write stories where there are no limits to the imagination. She is the co-author of the fantasy Ethereal Underground series and author of The Last Thing (the first in the Hollywood Timelines Series).