The Last Text

By: Alice Winters

Narrated by: Michael Ferraiuolo

Happy Birthday, Daniel. I was told not to send you another text, but I never was any good at listening. I love and miss you. I always will.

When I lost my partner of eight years, I felt like my world was crashing down around me. In order to feel some relief from the overwhelming emptiness, I’ve found myself sending him texts every year on his birthday, even though I know he will never answer. It makes me feel like there’s a piece of him still alive, at least in my heart.

I’m sorry, you must have the wrong number. I apologize for not responding sooner, but I was at work.

That is, until someone responds to my text. Jace is charming, sweet, and everything I could ever want. But how can I accept someone new in my life when Daniel’s only been gone two years? Even so, Jace starts to consume my world. It feels like I can finally breathe as he helps me understand that my life doesn’t have to revolve around my grief.

Soon, I find myself laughing again as he pulls me away from the hopeless cycle I’ve been caught in, and I love spending time with him, whether it’s playing video games together or discussing our comic book alter egos. But I still need to let go of this guilt and allow Jace to show me that I can love another without replacing what I’ve lost. Jace rewrites my entire world with every word and smile he gives me, and it’s becoming harder to not give in and hand him my heart. Maybe Daniel did respond after all.

The Last Text is a 37k-word novella about overcoming loss, finding hope, and friendship that leads to new love.

©2019 Alice Winters (P)2022 Alice Winters

A heartwarming story following a loss....

First of all, I'm a fairly huge fan of anything written by Alice Winters. I saw this on Audible and added it to my library one day and just found it when I was looking for something to play.

This is a shorter novella type story that takes us on a journey with one of the male MC's - Merrick - having a hard time dealing with the loss of his love (Daniel). He kept Daniel's name and number in his phone and would just leave texts for his former love when he was feeling lonely. The number is then passed on to a new person - as numbers generally are- and the new person (Jace) who now had this number began to respond to the texts. Jace was very honest and of course Merrick knows it isn't Daniel, but slowly but surely the two of them begin to develop a friendship.

What I liked about this story was that it was pushy. It was a very slow burn that showed how one person can slowly but surely decide to move forward. Nothing was rushed and it felt very organic. Also, it had to help that Jace was a pretty awesome guy with a TON of patience and an overall wonderful personality.

By the time these two find their way forward, the reader is cheering them on and feeling just as happy that they have found each other...well, at least I was.

I listened to most of this on audio and found that I REALLY liked the narrator - Michael Ferraiuolo. I would not hesitate to listen to anything else that he happens to narrate.

Short but, so worth it

A whole lot of sweet packed into a short story. grief and memories and an old phone number, turn into a meeting and friendship and eventually the HEA we all love to hear. Alice Winters wrote a fantastic short romance and
No one could have brought it to life better than Michael Ferraiuolo. He gave a great performance and each character there own personality. this is one I will definitely revisit many times.

simply charming - goes on the relisten list

📖 Story comment: nice easy pace, likeable characters - tugs at the heart-strings.
This is a much 'softer' story than I've come to expect from this author and I was completely charmed by Merrick and Jace's story. My heart broke for Merrick in chapter one and I had all the warm fuzzies by the last chapter. The relationship built slowly and felt real and unforced, and the characters still had elements of the humur and snark this author does so well.

🎧 Narrator comment: Michael Ferraiuolo does a masterful performance bringing The Last Text to life. He has good rhythm, inflections and intonations and it's easy to distinguish the characters from each other. He's poured all the emotions of the story into the narration and I was completely absorbed in the performance - this is definitely one for the "relisten" list.

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📌 Where does it fall on my personal scale? 7.5
• 1 not my thing • 2 didn't like the narration • 3 didn't keep my attention • 4 was good, but once was enough • 5 enjoyed it • 6 will listen again if i'm in the mood for the narrator • 7 goes on the "re-listen" list [4⭐] • 8 kept me up past bed-time [4.5⭐] • 9 recommended to family/friends [4.75⭐] • 10 own it in all formats [5⭐] • 11 keep a copy with me at all times [5⭐]

I love this book

My heart broke for Merrick. He is barely surviving/living after the death of his partner Daniel. On Daniels birthday, he sends a text to Daniels old number wishing him a happy birthday. And one day, he receives a response. We are then taken on a journey of watching Merrick start to heal and come to realize that it’s okay to find love again and to start living his life. Jace was perfect, he was funny, kind and patient. He was everything that Merrick needed. A truly lovely love story. I can see them growing old together. I loved grandpa, he was a hoot. I would love to hang out with him. Both families were funny and sweet. I want to spend dinner and game night with Merricks family.

Yea, I'm sniffling, I'm not ashamed

Reading this in ebook form was both wonderful and devastating, hearing Michael Ferraiuolo read it to me made me get all emotional.

Full disclosure, I'm a major Alice Winters fan. I own every book in every form that is available. So when I say this story is nothing like their others, believe me.

This is a one pov sad but wonderful story that has no over the top humor at all. There are funny parts, but like normal funny.

That said, let's get to the story.

In this one we have Merrick, whose partner died a couple of years ago but he still sends texts to his phone number. Then one day he gets a response as the phone number has been given to someone else.

That was Jace responding and these two ended up forming a friendship through texts and hanging out. Jace is still hardcore grieving and Jace is so understanding about that.

I think Jace's gramps deserves his own story. He was awesome.

There was a part of the story about a graphic novel which reminded me of the superhero series that Alice wrote later. Wouldn't it be awesome if that's where the idea came from?

I didn't mind the epilogue, I thought it fit.

Michael Ferraiuolo did his best narration in this one.

My Favorite Alice Winter Story

I love this author’s stories and writing style, but this story is hands down my new favorite. I like how relatable and real world this story is. The characters are lovable and the narration is perfect. I know it is short, but it is the perfect length. I felt satisfied when it ended. Grief and loss is a difficult topic, especially when it is a focal point in a romance story. I felt Ms. Winters got it right with this story. Highly recommend!

Adorable

This was just that kind of heartwarming I read romance novels for. The relationship was believable and realistic. There was no possessive nonsense which was important in this story. And it's funny. I'm pro-snark. Perfect to fold your laundry on a rainy day and listen to this.

Finding Closure

One text that changes the projectory of both their lives.
Merrick and Jace learn to move forward together as Merrick processes his grief to support from an unlikely source.

This low angst story was a delight to listen to.

Whelp that Kicked Me in the Feels

Well Alice, you totes kicked me in the feels. Well done. lol I love your writing. Normally you make me laugh the whole way through but this one actually made me cry. I’ve been married for 10 years and some of the similarities got me I guess. I still loved it and it still made me laugh. & I do recommend it. Being able to make someone cry without bringing down the tone of the story is impressive writing. It would have been really easy to make this story sad or depressing even with a happy ending. But instead you managed to convey the depth of loss and pain without doing that. So, well done! & thanks for another great book! 😊

Sweet

Like always, Alice made me laugh out loud. Her characters are funny and sweet. And narrator was perfect.