Last Stand

by Niki Burnham

LAST a romance from the guy's point of view. * * *When do you fight and when do you walk away?High school junior Toby Maitland is having the time of his life. He's landed a gorgeous, witty--and face it, totally stacked--girlfriend named Amber, he made the cross-country team, and he has a decent shot at becoming first chair sax. But when Amber goes ballistic mid-makeout session over Toby's refusal to have sex, he stands his ground despite the fact his best friend thinks he's insane and Amber's ex stirs up trouble. Could Toby's battle with Amber mean the beginning of the end of his perfect year? * Last Stand is a novella of approximately 75 pages/19,000 words. Previously published by Houghton Mifflin. *"...likely to go over big with teens in search of solace for their own romantic misadventures." - Publishers Weekly"...this box of candy for the lovelorn satisfies." (Fiction. YA) --Kirkus* * *Niki Burnham is the RITA-Award winning author of SHOT THROUGH THE HEART, STICKY FINGERS, and SCARY BEAUTIFUL. Her teen romance ROYALLY JACKED was a Teen People Pick. She also writes contemporary, sexy romance novels under the name Nicole Burnham.

66 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2011

About the author

Niki Burnham is the pseudonym of romance author Nicole Burnham.

You can subscribe to Nicole's newsletter for reader bonuses and the latest news by visiting https://nicoleburnham.com/new-events/
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NOTE FROM NICOLE: My Goodreads library is by no means comprehensive. I have thousands of books on my real (as opposed to my Goodreads) bookshelves. However, my Goodreads library only contains those books I'd give four or five stars and would recommend to friends without hesitation (and I haven't even gotten around to listing all those yet!)

Reviews

[Stacia (the 2010 club)]

This could be one of the strangest summaries I've ever read and I'm not quite sure if this is a good thing or not.

[Arlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Last Stand, we meet Toby who is a junior in high-school that seems to have everything going for him. He’s on this way to affording a new car, made the cross country team, has a gorgeous girlfriend, and a good shot at becoming first chair sax. But what Toby soon realizes is that his list of accomplishments can quickly change overnight when he’s forced to make a decision and stand by his choice.

After I finished this story, I kept debating whether I felt it was realistic or not. I don’t want to come across as shallow and categorize Toby as a typical teenage guy who should want just one thing from his girlfriend, so what’s wrong with him. Not only would that be selling this story short, it would be trying to fit this demographic into a neat and tidy box, which shouldn’t be the case.

I believe what this story was trying to show is that not everyone is the same. Not everyone wants the same things, and most importantly your choices should be respected at face value. You don’t have to have a reason for not wanting to do something that can ultimately impact your life. It doesn’t have to be about religious beliefs, fears about making the same mistake as your family and friends. It could simply be because “you’re not ready” and if someone truly cares about you, that should be enough.

The only gripe I have about the story is Amber’s sudden character annihilation. I would think after a year of dating, Toby would have discovered by then that she was an Attention Junkie. I didn’t buy it and feel it was used as an irritating plot device to shift the events in order to conclude this story. Hence the “minus two for you” rating. Overall though, I read this in one sitting and was engaged the entire time. Interesting read that kept me entertained.

[Huda Al-Anbar · Rating 1 out of 5]

don't bother

[Alice Harker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Simply came here because of the cover. However gave it a 1 star after reading the summary so no one else will read waste their time with this book.

[°☆.。.:*・Nanna°☆.。.:*・ · Rating 2 out of 5]

The beginning of the book was kind of slow and the characters were okay. Although, it does get a little better when Amber and Toby are alone together. Although, it does get a little better when Amber and Toby are alone together. It was a little intriguing seeing roles reversed, although I was kind of questioning in the beginning why it was happening the way it did. I just didn't get why Amber would get mad that Toby said he wasn't ready when she experienced the same problem with her ex-boyfriend. I really didn't get why she would even pressure him like that and thought it was wrong of her to do so. It is wrong of guys to pressure girls into s*x, so I do not see why it would even be acceptable in reverse.

Who else thought that Amber was a cheating b*tch and total attention wh*re? When she was acting awkward around Toby after being spotted in an intimate situation with her ex, I thought that she definitely went back to her ex and cheated on him. Then, Amber had to go and practically announce in front of the whole school of their relationship problem, and later spreads lies to the whole school about how their break up happened. I can't believe that she would do that when to Toby when he was breaking up with her gently and actually wanted to make up with her. She was the one that made it all turn to sh*t. However, I'm glad that Toby broke up with the b*tch.

It gets slow and kind of boring towards the end. Overall, the story was okay. It's just that there was nothing really epic happened. There were some problems, but there was nothing that increased my interest by much. If there was something like a fight or something more, then I think that would have increased the appeal.