So let me start by saying that I knew Liz was a scummy bitch all along!
I mostly enjoyed the 8th installment of the Body Movers series, which saw Carlotta and the gang venturing to Las Vegas for a fun and uneventful vacation. Just kidding.
To summarize: Carlotta and Peter head off to Vegas for a "romantic getaway". Peter has to work some while they are there and Carlotta secretly hopes to sneak off to investigate a clue she found about her family. Wesley heads up to meet them, with Hannah and Chance in tow, determined to gamble away part of the 250k he found stashed in the walls of their townhouse.
At dinner that first night, Peter proposes again. With the pressure from everyone watching and after convincing herself this is what she wants, Carlotta says yes. Afterwards, she thinks maybe she and Peter will finally have sex but their plans are spoiled when she finds a dead body in their hotel room safe. But it's not just any dead body. It's that creepy hot guy from next door. (The one who Carlotta previously thought was spying on her.) She calls Jack Terry for help even though she is determined to get over him. She's been giving herself a good bracelet snap every time she thinks of him. Jack heads up with Coop to examine the body.
They find out this guy was in the FBI and had been hired to watch Carlotta and Wesley in case their mother showed up. He had asthma and accidentally suffocated in the safe. Jack also informs Carlotta that her father was stabbed in prison and is in critical condition.
Wesley, who manages to get a fake ID and play a few games in the casino, get arrested for using counterfeit money. As it happens, all of the money he found in the townhouse is fake. Which is unfortunate for him because he also paid off his loan shark with that money. He finds out from Chance that the Carver has now put out a hit on him and that his parole officer's boyfriend, who also works for the Carver, is in town. He calls Liz, who comes out to Vegas to help him, but he refuses to tell her or anyone else where he really got the money.
Carlotta and Hannah stake out a post office where her dad has a box and then follow the man who picks up the mail from it. When they arrive at his house, Carlotta meets a little girl name Priscilla. She goes inside and is surprised to see her mother. The man informs her that he is their caretaker while her father is gone. He doesn't know Randolph was arrested. Carlotta discovers that her mother has early onset dementia and that the little girl is really her sister. She decides to bring them back to Atlanta and has Coop come take a look at her mother to see if she is able to travel.
While spending the day with her sister, Carlotta runs into Jack and Liz. Jack seems good with Priscilla, which surprises Carlotta. He then secretly follows them back to her mom's because he is uber suspicious. Since he's not supposed to be involved in her dad's case, Jack is not happy about finding out about her mother's whereabouts. But he agrees not to tell anyone.
Wes finally confesses to Carlotta where he found the money and they conclude that their father had stolen the money on purpose from the company he worked for to prove they were counterfeiting, but had been accused and arrested before he could show it to the police (or something?). Wesley also finds out from Mouse (his partner in the collection business) that a woman hired someone to try and kill his father in prison.
For some reason, Carlotta automatically thinks it was Hannah (who has, admittedly, been acting squirrelly but that's your best friend gosh) and is worried because Hannah knows where her mother is. She calls Jack and asks him to meet her at her moms. But it's not Hannah who is holding a gun to her mother and sister. No. It's Liz. The bitch! Apparently, she had all of her money invested with the company Randolph worked for and they would be bankrupted if the truth about the counterfeiting came out. She was not having that. So she demanded to know where the rest of the stolen money was so it could be destroyed. Also, she planned to start a fire in the house to kill all witnesses.
Luckily, they are able to stop her and get everyone out of the house before it burns. Jack arrives and arrests Liz. Later, back at the hotel, Carlotta tells Peter she can't marry him and never should have said yes. (Well, duh.) We find out he knew about the counterfeiting and plot to frame Carlotta's dad. Jack arrives and arrests Peter as well. Then Carlotta, who has been reunited with her dad (who did not die and who has been released and exonerated), heads back to Atlanta with her family. It is also revealed that Coop is still waiting for Carlotta and she thinks she should end up with him. Which, no. And Hannah and Chance secretly got married.
I'm very happy that Liz and Peter have both been arrested because they are the worst. I do find it a bit odd that Carlotta wasn't more upset with Peter for knowing the truth about her dad and not saying anything. Which, maybe he hadn't known for long but then who was he talking to on the phone? It doesn't really make sense but I don't care too much because he's seemingly out of the picture.
I'm not certain what will happen to Liz but I kind of hope she gets at least 20 years. The only downside to her being arrested is Jack is going to have to take care of their baby on his own.
Side rant- I know I addressed this in my last blog about this series but I find it completely unnecessary for Jack to be the father of Liz's baby. It seems like the author was just trying to find a way to drive a wedge between Carlotta and Jack. In my opinion, Jack has been the front runner from the beginning and now, 8 1/2 books later, Carlotta is totally over him and going to run off with Coop? I'm pretty peeved about the whole situation. I was especially irritated in the way Carlotta said she was in love with Jack but it only took her a week to get over it? The whole thing is stupid.
I will be even more pissed if she and Jack both act like they don't have feelings for each other anymore after this book. In Coma Girl, as mentioned, Jack said he was in love with Carlotta. And he doesn't strike me as the type to easily fall in and out of love. I feel like we've had this character development with Jack, he's started to open up to Carlotta and even came close to admitting his feelings to her. Taking all of that away now is like a painful reminder of the How I Met Your Mother finale in which Barney regressed back to
his old self. It made all of his previous development pointless. Lest I get started talking about that mess.
I feel like it's been built up so much...his house boat...his family...his feelings... If Carlotta doesn't ever get the chance to find out about any of this, if they don't ever have an emotional conversation... Then what was the point of any of it? Why bring it up if it won't be resolved? Are we supposed to believe that Jack is always just going to be a man-whore commitment-phobe who will forever be alone? That's bullshit to the extreme. End of rant.
This book in general seemed a little rushed and a lot of the characters weren't acting like themselves. Like, I know Jack is in a different position now but not one single inappropriate comment? Carlotta really wants to have sex with Peter even though she suspects him of treachery? Hannah marries Chance when half of the time it seems like she doesn't even like him?
I read this book in a couple of hours but it was quite a bit shorter than the others in the series. We sped through the plot and I feel like a lot was wrapped up in a very short amount of time.
I am also confused as to why Carlotta's parents left and more importantly why they were gone so long. I know people were trying to kill Randolph but why not take your kids with you? And everyone seems to have forgiven him but I'm not over it. He left his 19 year old to raise his 9 year old for 10 years. Like, damn dude.
I did like Carlotta's sister and I think it's cute that she's crushing on Jack. I think the way he interacts with her further proves he will be a good father. I'm excited to see more of her in the future. She seems like she could be a handful. At least Randolph is out of prison now and can take care of her and Valerie.
I am not digging the idea of Hannah and Chance getting married. First off, Chance is an immature loser. Second, I want Hannah and Coop to be together. Although, it looks like that ship has sailed. Ugh.
Wesley was actually less annoying in this book than all previous books so that was an improvement. Maybe now that his daddy is back he will stop acting like a petulant child.
Here's for hoping the next book doesn't crush my heart and soul.
