Make It Last

The appealing, quick-paced final title of Erickson’s Bowler University new adult contemporary trilogy (after Make It Right) ventures off campus to look at life after graduation. The ink is still drying on Cam Ruiz’s diploma when he’s called back to his uninspiring hometown, Paradise, to help care for his mother. Working as a bouncer is no fun, and Cam is torn between staying for his mother’s sake and leaving in the fall for his dream job. Tate Ellison, Cam’s high school flame, has been stuck in Paradise due to her father’s illness. She’s working as a waitress and trying to hold her fracturing family together as she makes her own hard decisions. When the two reunite, everything gets both better and more complicated. With an easy style and likable characters, the story flows quickly, and readers familiar with new adult romances will appreciate Erickson’s willingness to abandon the genre’s clichés. Agent: Marisa Corvisiero, Corvisiero Literary Agency. (Jan.)