At Last

Lucky Harbor, Book 5

By: Jill Shalvis

Narrated by: Erin Bennett

Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Her love has come along....

Amy Michaels loves her new life in Lucky Harbor. A waitress in the local diner, she's looking forward to her first weekend hike through the mountains. But when a wrong turn takes her off the trail, she finds herself up close and personal with forest ranger Matt Bowers. And even though she's tempted to kiss that sexy smile right off his face, she won't make the mistake of getting involved with the town heartthrob. A former cop whose life went south, Matt doesn't let anyone get too close.

But something about the feisty beauty caught his eye the moment he first saw her in the diner. After a hot night under a starry sky, Matt can't deny their attraction - or the fact that for the first time in a long time, he feels the stirrings of something more. Now it's up to Matt to help Amy see that, no matter what is in their past, together they can build a future in Lucky Harbor.

©2012 Jill Shalvis (P)2012 Hachette Audio

Missed Opportunity to shed light on some social injustices

I’m a Social Worker so take this with a grain of salt, but I am sad at the missed opportunity to shed some light on the gap between youth services and when kids in the system age out. I was surprised that there was no mention of trying to connect the homeless youth to the towns brand new youth center. And who thinks a job busing tables is going to pay enough to live on?

I liked the female lead very much. I love a strong, independent woman. I liked the male lead as well. The narrators were great.

I wish there was more interaction between the first three couples in the series.

Good story - speed up narration

This is a good romantic book and I liked how it builds on the first one of this chocoholics group. I would recommend speeding the narration a teeny bit. Unfortunately narrator does not really differentiate between men’s and women’s voices which is tough. But overall a decent read.

Love this series.

Where does At Last rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I've enjoyed this entire series. I do prefer the other narrator however. Looking forward to the next three in the series.

"Armed, Locked & Loaded"

What made the experience of listening to At Last the most enjoyable?

J.S. has this wonderful Chocolate triology, my fave of the 3, Forever and a Day, Dr. Josh aka Dr McHottie. This is about Ranger Hot Buns. J S has out done herself on these 3. Great fun dialogue that makes you smile REAL big. These are not brain teasers or FSOG type books. Just great fun when you need a reminder not to overlook it in the daily grind. Fun chocolate receipes at the end of each book. This set of 3 are better than the last 3 of Luckey Harbor, 3 sisters running an inn. These will not disappoint and are so much better writting, storyline and dialogue.

What other book might you compare At Last to and why?

Luckey in Love and Forever and a Day. SH made sure she worked hard to give the fans humor, hunky men, and a good moral reminder.

What three words best describe Erin Bennett’s voice?

Ok, she is not the best of readers, BUT she had great material in 2 of these 3 stories and she made our hunky hotties not miss a beat. I did not agree with other reviewers. Suela El Attar has a higher pitched voice and did good on Ty's story, but she is not my fave either. Now Karen White's reads of SH are to die for. Everything good.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yup, I owned Ty's story and Dr. Josh. After I finished Dr. Josh, I downloaded and listed to this one as I wanted to continue the warm smile reader left me with. I know Ty's story will finish the job with S E A reading.

Any additional comments?

make sure you catch the wonderful Chocolate receipes at the end of each book. JS has a new batch of characters. I can only hope the readers do justice to her fun pace and dialogue.

It was Okay-Not My Favorite

Not my favorite. I love the Lucky Harbor series but it stands to reason at some point I wouldn't like one. So far this is it. What I found after reading several of this series is that the author tends to use the same phrases over and over again. Such as: eyes the color of melted chocolate, ground his back teeth to powder, been there, done that bought the t-shirt and the list goes on. The sex scenes tend to be almost interchangeable among all of the books. A little variety would be nice.

My main objection to this book is not the graphic sex, but the haphazard casual way that the protagonists view sex. We have a “tough girl” and a man who by all accounts of Lucky Harbor residents is a great guy, kind, decent and all that. Amy and Matt decide to fall into a sexual encounter just for the release—no strings attached. Matt has watched Amy for some time and developed an interest in her. So this “decent” guy who has an interest in Amy uses her like this? I might be an army of one, but in my world that does not indicate respect or even a gentle fondness. At one point they have sex in the woods after Matt's shoulder is dislocated, then painfully put back into place. Really?

The entire story bothered me, the sport sex, Amy's hard attitude, the insistence by all that Matt was this decent upstanding guy yet he was willing to use this woman for sex---in the woods, in a car, on the top of his desk at the ranger station. Not my idea of a decent man---but that is just my opinion.

Will I read other Lucky Harbor stories? Absolutely. I have throughly enjoyed many of this series and will keep going.

Great continuation of the series.

Great continuation of the series. Excited for the next installment. Already in my listening library.

Least favorite of LH so far

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

No, in fact I found myself doing other things while listening. I had to often rewind bc my brain traveled off.

What was most disappointing about Jill Shalvis’s story?

Hands down, the character development. Matt's character especially was all over the board. He wanted just sex, no emotions, yet he was upset that sex was so emotionless for Amy. He didn't want a relationship, he did, he didn't. I understand making characters well rounded and flawed, but these two were so flip floppy that it was hard to get a sense of who they truely were. Storyline was pretty boring too and scenes seemed to unroll in a forced or unreal mannor. I've liked Shalvis's other books much better. This one felt like it was written on a deadline.

What three words best describe Erin Bennett’s voice?

I need more than three words here. Many reviewers are upset with EB's reading. She isn't horrible, but the previous narrator was AWESOM, so by comparison, EB was really hard to listen to. My biggest complaint is...the odd pauses...you think....she has come to the end.....of a senentence, but then....there is more left to say. It was annoying. I will agree with others who have said that she completely ruined the old raspy lady whos name I cant think of...Louise?

Could you see At Last being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

If this were a movie it would be a made for tv special. It's not interesting enough for film.

Any additional comments?

I am reeeeally sick of reading about fb. Is she getting a kickback or something?? Enough already!

Story OK, narrator not

This is another case where I'm not sure if they story was bad or the narrator just made a good story bad. I've had good books that a bad narrator killed, this may be one of them. The chemistry between Amy and Matt wasn't that great and I got to the point where I didn't care and wanted it just to be over. Save your Audible credit and read this one.

Good Story

Nice, enjoyable story--wasn't too mushy. While it was a romance novel, it still had something to it. But I do wonder why everyone always blames themselves in this type book, but they surely don't in real life--maybe we should be more humble.

No matter, I enjoyed the story--narrator was so wrong for this story. She messed Lucille (the older lady in the book) up so much and she wasn't the main character. And the beginning of each chapter when she gave the chocolate note--so wrong. Like so many others, I question why they changed narrators. I am hesitant to listen to the next installment because EB narrates that one as well. But I guess my sense of wanting to know how Grace and Josh end up will probably win out and I will purchase it.

Hope Ms. Shalvis writes more about the folks in Lucky Harbor.

Loved the story, not the narrator

I loved the story between Matt and Amy but the narration could have used some work. It felt like there was no distinction between the characters. Perhaps it was the change in narrators as I kept going back to previous narrations and comparing them.