Last Call at the Local

By: Sarah Grunder Ruiz

Narrated by: Gary Furlong, Karissa Vacker

Opposites attract when a free-spirited American singer-songwriter with ADHD teams up with a charming Irishman to revitalize his family's pub in the next heartfelt romance from the author of Luck and Last Resorts.

Raine Hart is used to the challenges of living with ADHD. It’s why she ditched her life in Boston to busk around Europe as a traveling musician. No boss. No schedule. No one to disappoint but herself. But when a careless mistake in Ireland leaves her unable to perform, she sees no other option but to give up her nomadic life.

Since inheriting the Local, Jack Dunne has wanted to make the pub his own. But the baggage of running a family business and the intrusive thoughts that stem from his OCD make changing things a challenge.

Over a pint with handsome, tattooed Jack, Raine accidentally insults him and the pub. Instead of taking offense, Jack, impressed by her vision of what the pub could be, offers her a job bringing it to life.

But when Raine and Jack develop feelings for one another their opposite lifestyles won’t accommodate, it becomes clear the pub isn’t the only thing that needs reinventing. As the end of their business collaboration draws near, they’ll have to find a way past the limits they’ve placed on themselves or let go of a love that could last a lifetime.

Cute story, narration was good

It was a cute story. Reminded me of a hallmark movie. The narration was good. Was an easy story to follow and a good audiobook.

Neurodivergent Affirming 10 out of 5!

This book is an inspiration to anyone who is looking for ways to figure out what truly affirming relationships actually look like for non-Allistics, romantic, or otherwise. I LOVE it. The sex scenes are in there, few and moderately descriptive, but this book is mostly about relational issues, character growth & development, creating connections with others in affirming but also honest ways, and finding one's place in the world. In the side-character relationships with siblings, friends, and other extended family there are examples of love and acceptance mixed up with frustration, lack of knowledge & understanding, and unfailing loyalty to family who are trying to understand & be supportive, even when they're not quite there yet. It touches on trauma & abuse and has an example of at least one character who was able to set firm boundaries to escape real abuse, but that is presented very gently and briefly, without being overly activating or triggering. Ditto regarding some of the effects of multigenerational abuse, though that is implied more than explicit. This writer is very nuanced and as an Autistic I found it very helpful in understanding relational issues that have been confusing to me before having read this book. I have already and will continue to read it again and again.

I have a family member with OCD and I would not recommend that they read it, but as a family member who doesn't have it, I found this book very helpful as an entry point into better understanding some specifics about OCD that made more sense to me in a fictional format than from non-fiction sources, because it gave examples of HOW to interact with a person who is struggling with compulsive thinking even when they are able to hide the more visible physical compulsions, like handwashing, tapping, etc. As a person who stems to cope with over-stimulation and social-emotional distress, I was surprised to learn that from outside the person who is stemming or doing compulsive behaviors, OCD and stemming for Autism or ADHD can look like the same thing even when it isn't. Having read this book will definitely help me better support my family member who has OCD.

I hope this author's publisher will put out more neurodivergent-affirming books like this one, by this author, especially, but also by others who write romance and/or other relatively light fiction with neurodivergent characters in an affirming way, such as Anne Buist, Graeme Simsion, and Helen Hoang. This author's nuance around writing relational complexities is absolutely stellar. She is a MUCH more talented writer than the average author of romantic fiction, and I can't wait to see what she gets published in the future. I haven't read the first book in this series yet, because the second one was a bit more activating for me around my own background, but as soon as I have the spoons to risk reading something new I will read this author's other books, eventually reading everything I can find by her. I intend to read everything I can find by this author, even though the second in this series was less about neurodivergence than this one, and I am primarily looking for light fiction with neurodivergent characters and relationships.

Anyone who loves this book as much as I do would probably also very much enjoy The Glass House by Anne Buist.

Ehh

it seemed like the story really dragged on and then the ending came so quickly, suddenly months were flying by. also I liked the readers individually but felt like their pacings were really imbalanced. I wanted to love this book because I loved the other two in the series and I love abroad romances but this one fell flat for me.

Wow

This is the first book I’ve enjoyed that talks about OCD and ADD meet and accept each other as they are. They develop ideas and how to help each other to enjoy their life.

Generally liked the story but incredibly annoyed about the ADHD presentation.

Lovely rom com with nice attempt at writing about neurodivergent brains. However, I found myself very annoyed about the cutesy presentation of her ADHD and the unbelievability of a former med student not using medication to help manage the symptoms. Otherwise, it was a good description of the side effects of not being diagnosed earlier, but judged instead, especially by loved ones.