"Final Offer" Review

Okay, I started the reviews for this series a while ago, and I think it’s finally time to finish. For the third and final time, let’s get into the Dreamland Billionaire Trilogy: “Final Offer” by Lauren Asher. If this series is new to you, I recommend looking at the previous reviews for books one & two of the series, “The Fine Print” and “Terms and Conditions”, before reading this one! I will say that I have been shown a lot of TikToks claiming that this story was a lot different than the others, and that this story was far better than the others. Let’s see if I agree with that statement.

---

Since it’s been a while, let’s recap. Brady Kane, creator of Dreamland (aka Disney World), has died, and to inherit their portion of the inheritance, brothers Declan, Callahan, and Rowan must individually complete the task their grandfather has left for them. This novel is about our final brother, Cal. Cal’s task has only been hinted at in the other novels, so all we know going into the book is that it has something to do with his ex-girlfriend. The only other thing we know about Cal is that he’s an alcoholic (and believe me, Mrs. Lauren Asher doesn’t let you forget it). That brings us to the start of Cal’s story, traveling back to his grandfather’s property in Lake Wisteria, a town he hasn’t visited since he broke up with Alana to get clean. On this trip, his only goal is to complete his task for the inheritance: spend a summer on Brady Kane’s property, and sell it by the end of his stay. But, there’s a catch. What Cal doesn’t know is that Brady has left the house to both him and Alana, and he must convince her to sell it. 

---

I’ll give it to Cal; he is not as insufferable as his brothers are at first, but by no means does that mean I liked him as a protagonist or a love interest. Let’s start with the fact that Cal doesn’t have a job, not that he couldn’t have one. In fact, his brothers would love for him to get a job in the company and practically beg him to! (Side Note: Throughout the novel, Declan and Cal butt heads a lot because of Declan’s “fatherly instincts” to help and protect his brothers, which is very interesting because the interactions between the two of them in the previous novels were anything but nice. Too bad we weren’t able to see that side of Declan in his novel.) Even though he doesn’t make money, he has enough (from his trust fund, I’m assuming) to splurge on luxury items like a $20,000 espresso machine and a state-of-the-art grill just for the time he’s spending in the guest house on the property. And what does Cal do with all this time he has? He reads. That’s it! Oh, and drink; don’t forget the drinking. 

Now this is the thing about Cal: I feel like, from my personal experiences with alcoholics, Asher was so close to making Cal a very realistic character, but somewhere it just went wrong. I do think it’s very realistic how Cal can put up a front of this very charming and likable character when he wants, then turns into someone else driven by his addiction in private. However, even in the more public scenes in this book, we don’t get to see any of that charming, lovable guy we’ve gotten to know in the previous novels. I think the same thing happens to all of the brothers throughout the series, like I mentioned with Declan. We see all of them characterized one way in the first book, then a pretty dramatic shift happens in the next book, and again in the last. Now, character growth is expected and does happen, but I just feel as though the changes we see from book to book do not align with the natural progression of the story. 

---

Now, let me introduce you to the love interest, Mrs. Alana. Alana is probably my least favorite love interest from this series. Her mother worked for Brady Kane for Alana’s whole life, so she’s very close with the Kane family. Cal was the only one to go back to Lake Wisteria after so many years, causing him and Alana to become close friends and, eventually, young lovers. After Cal left Alana and Lake Wisteria, she was heartbroken, and apparently, six years does nothing to soothe that heartache because she is just unable to be cordial with him when he arrives in Lake Wisteria. Now, I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt here: If someone were to unknowingly break into my house in the middle of the night and that someone turned out to be the ex-boyfriend who broke my heart, I probably wouldn’t be too happy to see him either. But I wouldn’t encourage the entirety of the unrealistic town to bully him either. I would have expected Alana to have a lot of growth during the years they’ve spent apart, especially considering she now cares for her niece as the only caretaker. She is still allowed to be upset with Cal and hurt by his actions, but we can be cordial at the very least. All that aside, I think the most unlikeable thing about Alana is her bland personality. She bakes, and that's pretty much it. 

---

The romance between the two of them is so forced down your throat, it's honestly gagworthy. The two of them just have no chemistry, and every interaction further proves they shouldn’t be together. Alana withholds the information about her niece, Cami, to hold over Cal’s head. She also claims to want to support Cal in his journey to get sober, yet does nothing to support him. On one hand, she has Cami to think about and protect, which I do understand; however, do not offer your support to someone with no intention of giving it. This point is super disappointing since Alana’s sister also struggles with addiction, and she has experience in dealing with addicts. To see how badly she fumbles with Cal it’s just dismaying, mainly because she didn’t need to offer him her support. Other than the lack of chemistry, the pacing of their relationship is awkward and too fast, considering the fact that Cal constantly loses Alana’s trust through his drinking. It’s like she pretends to be upset with him so they can make up and use each other “for pleasure.” Which is just always a bad idea. 

All in all, this was probably the worst of the three books, which really is saying something since the first male love interest sexually assaulted his employee, then catfished her into an extremely unbalanced power dynamic relationship. At a whopping 600 pages, this was just way too long, way too boring, and way too unrealistic for enjoyment of any kind, and I’m truthfully not sure how I managed to get through it! If you haven’t guessed yet, I’m giving not only this book, but the entire trilogy a big, fat SKIP. Save yourself the time and energy and read something better.