Rusty Nailed (The Cocktail Series Book 2)

I loved Caroline and Simon in Wallbanger and I loved them in Rusty Nail as well.There are some heartbreaking moments in their journey to another HEA but this is made up with a boatload of laughter, shenanigans and a heap load of steam. These two are literally at it like rabbits. Not only are you following Caroline and Simon's romance but you are also following the friends, it's basically a matchmaking book and this does follow the majority of the storyline.Caroline and Simon have some hurdles that they have to endure and conquer along the way with new challenges hitting them full on. Simon has to learn how to actually be in a relationship and Caroline has to learn how to share her own space. These two live great together but are even better together when they live separate. As they start to get used to being in each other's pockets they both start to realise that some changes need to be made.I didn't mark this 4 stars because boy was it lengthy and sometimes drawn out. Caroline's character was also very hard to follow at the start in regards to where her thought process was. I know she's crazy sometimes but she lost me a couple of times along the way.

I’m a sucker for a sequel. I love know what comes next and although I know some people love to imagine the future of couples in romance novels themselves, or just assume that everything is perfect after they get together, I’m the sort that loves a little sneaky epilogue or even better, a sequel. So I was always going to be keen to read this. Wallbanger was a great book, I found it really enjoyable and I loved the way that Simon and Caroline developed a friendship before they developed a relationship.Some of the things in this book, I really loved. Simon and Caroline are both great characters and they’re great together as well. Simon has never really been in a relationship before falling in love with Caroline and he’s still feeling his way through some things (such as not understanding that kissing an ex is bad, kissing the ex is much worse!) but basically Simon becomes like, a dream boyfriend from Make Believe Land and so for the most part, they’re both very happy. But for Caroline, the stresses of living together and having Simon around all of the time, combined with the extra pressures being put on her at her job, lead to her basically bottling everything up until she virtually explodes, spewing every issue she has all over Simon. Instead of just, you know, talking to him about each one as it arose.But the biggest problem for me, in this book, doesn’t revolve around Simon and Caroline. It revolves around Neil (Simon’s friend) and Sophia (Caroline’s friend) who hooked up eventually after both dating the wrong people in Wallbanger. There’s an issue that I don’t want to spoil but it basically drags out throughout this book and becomes a major plot point and involves a bunch of grown adults behaving like immature children in ridiculous scenarios that culminate in perhaps the mos ridiculous of all and the reader never actually gets to see how it was resolved. Because it was quite a serious issue, despite the fact that the male friends of Neil didn’t really believe it to be. And so much of the book was devoted to it – pages and pages and pages of this and then bam, it’s over and what? It really just didn’t work. If Alice Clayton wanted to give Neil and Sophia a story, she should’ve made their separation a basis for their own book instead of introducing some random, who is going to be the basis for the next book, Screwdrivered. Then we could’ve had their thoughts and opinions, instead of having it all play out basically through Caroline and on occasion, her conversations about it with Simon. Instead we get all of the ridiculousness and actually none of what it would take as mature, responsible adults that actually care about one another to resolve such an issue/separation.I guess with sequels, you usually judge them based on whether or not they were really necessary and did they contribute much to the story. I liked this book but I didn’t love it and overall…I don’t think it really added much, which is a bit unfortunate. But parts of it were still quite a fun read and if the conflict between Simon and Caroline had just been a little bigger and Simon wasn’t so darn perfect all the time, I might’ve enjoyed it a lot more.

Really enjoyed this sequel to Wall Banger! Can't get enough of Simon Caroline and their friends! I laughed so much reading this and at times teared up too as we finally learned a little more about Simon's childhood and seen his home town.Caroline did worry me at times as she got really stressed out over things but I love where her and Simon are at and the direction they're moving in now. We also had background drama with Neil and Sophia and major problems in their relationship that caused tension in Mimi and Ryan & Caroline and Simon's relationships as of course the girls were sticking by their friend and the guys by theirs.Clive also worried us at one point too! I love how attached Simon has got to Clive and how much they've bonded since we seen them last! I'd still love another story with these two but I'd settle for at least a few updates on them which I hope we'll get in the next book as the star of the next book is one of Simon's best friends from high school Viv, who we met briefly in this book and who I loved!very much looking forward to Screwdrivered!

I did enjoy this book, maybe not as much as Wallbanger but it is still a good read and an opportunity to follow on characters that are very well written an you hold close to your heart. Reading Wallbanger first is a must though. It gets off to a slow start but eventually picks up pace and has the familiar laugh out loud one liners that I loved about Alice's writing in Wallbanger.Contrary to one of the above reviews I actually loved chapter fourteen, it was original and unique and not at all lazy. I don't think writers have to use endless descriptions of places and emotions to tell a story with long adjectives to give us a clear picture. Chapter fourteen for me, is sheer brilliance.The secondary characters are excellent and help develop the story further. Any author that can make one of the most successful and loveable characters in a book come from a cat in my opinion is a talented writer. Got to love Clive!

I read both books in this series about Simon and caroline and while at first it was funny, gripping and romantic it became boring. It lacked adventure and something else I can't quite put my finger on.As for the ending in the book I had to go back I few times to double check I hadn't missed something. It was a poor ending that's left me feeling angry for wasting my money on reading it!

Alice Clayton does it again. Awesome story.Wallbanger and Nightie Girl story continues. It just gets better and better. The story contains all the original characters from Wallbanger. You fall more in love with Simon, Caroline, Clive, Mimi, Sophia, Jillian, Benjamin, Ryan and Neil.Best Epilogue Ever.I would recommend Rusty Nailed and Wallbanger.