Monday, September 8, 2025

ARC Review: Last Chance Seduction (Montgomery Ink Legacy Book #9)

Last Chance Seduction (Montgomery Ink Legacy Book #9)

Carrie Ann Ryan

Blurb:

The last time I saw Lexington Montgomery; he held my sister in his arms as my fiancé left me at the altar.

Neither one of us knew it would be two years until we saw each other again. Or that it would be the last time my sister was part of our core group.

Grieving, I’m back in Colorado trying to start over. I have no family and have no intention of dating ever again.

Only fate has other plans because Lexington Montgomery is my new neighbor.

I want to stay away from him, but there’s no chance of that now. Especially when his ex shows up to rub her new husband—and the chance at his dream job—in his face.

I didn’t mean to do it, but now I’m Lex’s fake girlfriend over the holidays and there’s nothing fake about the attraction between us.

Except once we finally give in, it turns out the past I ran from wasn’t so far away after all. And the dangers we never saw coming might end what we have—fake or not—before we even have a chance.

Themes:  Contemporary

Rating: 4 stars

Heat Rating: 

Review:

I have never met an author more skilled at tearing out our hearts just to remind us how important love and taking the time with our loved one is—Carrie Ann Ryan is truly the Queen. For those of us that have been around since the OG Montgomery’s were leaving us in tears you’ll be just as thrilled as I was to get to see Eliza Wilder-Montgomery and Beckett Montgomery’s son Lexington finally find the love of his life, and in some that has been in front of him all along.  This is one of those stories that opens our hearts and yes to the possibilities that we have ignored or overlooked for far to long, so that we remember that love is sometimes meant to be and easy path and for others we have to live through trauma and pain in order to appreciate the beauty and magic that love brings to our lives. As always Carrie gives us a sneak peak for the upcoming story and I have to say that just seeing that little bit that is coming for poor Brooklyn I almost dread her story because I know the pain will be close to unbearable to experience right along with her before she heals enough o find love again.  The capacity of the human heart for healing and expanding to allow room for second chance at love never ceases to amaze me, and Carrie is truly one of the few that understands that and can express it through her writing.

Mercy Caddel has lived through the worst two years of her life and she has finally returned to Colorado, hoping to finish healing and reestablish herself in her home state, but her haven is being disturbed by the construction happening on the house next door. She is thrown for another loop when she discovers her new neighbor is none other than Lexington ‘Lex’ Montgomery, someone she once trusted beyond most others, but who was there on one of the worst days of her life. Lex is even more surprised than Mercy but he has missed her immensely and is glad she is back even though she is giving him the cold shoulder—at least until they suddenly find themselves in a fake relationship. Now they are spending time together and the friendship they once shared is flaring into a passion neither of them anticipated, but can their new chemistry and connection withstand the lie their relationship began with, or will their rocky foundation crumble when danger comes knocking?

I am always a major fan of the ever popular friends-to-lovers trope and when you add in the fake-relationship bit things are bound to heat up quickly. Lex has always had a thing for Mercy and now with nothing standing in his way he quickly finds that she is everything he wants him a lover. Lex is the perfect example of a Montgomery, even if he was adopted; he’s strong, sweet, caring, stubborn, and often says the first stupid thing that comes out of his mouth and gets himself into trouble. He has dedicated himself to his family and their business his entire adult life, never having much real luck in love, but when he has the chance with Mercy he goes all in, even if he does make a dumb mistake, in the end he truly almost gives his all for her. I just loved watching him lose his head and heart to his old friend and finding out that sometimes the lover we were meant to be with truly is the girl next door. Mercy is leery of men for obvious reasons, having been left at the altar by the last man she dated, but when she finds herself accidentally putting them into a fake relationship she soon realizes that Lex is the kind of man she wants in her life and begins to trust again. She is smart, sassy, hardworking, passionate, and determined to move forward in life even knowing that she has lost so much. I loved seeing her accept the love that Eliza offered her so easily, knowing she needed family more than anything, because she needed to be folded into the Montgomery “cult” badly after all she’d been through.

Dating in this world can sometimes leave a person jaded, and with all these two went through it truly could have been their last chances, but they found in one another the missing pieces of their hearts and healed from all their breaks. Mercy went through the most heartbreaking day of her life, being left at the altar then almost losing her sister, but since that day she has lived through two years that could break any persons heart. She is trying to live again and having Lex and the Montgomerys in her life might just be the very thing she needs to remind her that having love is all we need in this life to keep moving forward. Lex has had his share of disastrous romances and when Mercy forces them into a fake relationship he never imagines just how real it would become, but there is no denying the woman owns him heart and soul. He knows that the woman that he almost lost is the only one he’ll ever want again, but if he isn’t careful he just might lose her again and he refuses to give her up this time—to anyone or anything. I loved watching these two fumble their way through their fake feelings and ultimately finding the passion too much to hide anymore until the fire burned the walls down between them. Their love and connection are obvious to everyone but them from the beginning and it was fun to see their friends and family teasing them as they found their way through to one another. I am looking forward to seeing more of them in future stories. Brooklyn’s story is coming next and I am truly not sure I’m ready for the pain (Kiss Me Forever), but I know that Ms. Ryan will give her an HEA in the end, even if we have to cry buckets to get there.  For now, I will bask in the heat and beauty that was Last Chance Seduction and the love of two people that were truly meant to be.

*eARC provided by author for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review. No compensation was provided.

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