Last Call at the Local

When I picked this book up, I didn’t realize it was the third installment in my favorite series. I knew it was written by an author that I loved, and I was sold. I will say, although it is tangentially related to the Love, Lists & Fancy Ships book in terms of characters, the feel of this book felt very different to me. It really felt like it could have been a stand alone if not for the fact that a certain couple (who will remain unnamed as I don’t do spoilers) pops up. The style and the story felt different, but still great.

One thing that I really appreciated about this story was the talk about mental health. It touches specifically on OCD and ADHD. While I am pretty familiar with the latter, it was the representation of OCD in the main male lead that had me really interested. It was such a different take on mental health. I feel like there is a trend to embrace your mental health issues such as ADHD or Anxiety (this is, in no way, a judgment of this type of thinking! It isn’t something that people should hide or be afraid of. You do you (with the help of a licensed therapist, of course)), but this type of behavior is not something that you can apply to all mental health issues. OCD is one that is often misrepresented as just being a clean person, but here you can see the real impacts on someone’s life and even romance. It was something that only serious therapy, time, and an earnest want to do the work could help. I appreciated that it was ACTUALLY talked about instead of glossed over and made to out to be something you just needed to accept to be “better”.

The romance in this one felt… real. It had it’s swoon-worthy and adorably cute moments like any great romance does set in Ireland has, but it was also firmly grounded in reality. It felt like one where the characters would last past the last page of the book. They inherently knew, understood, and cared for the other person. It was touching. There are a lot of reasons that the romance gave this impression off, but one of them is the passing of time in the book. There are multiple time skips, and it allows for actual growth to be had.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It wasn’t the book I was expecting, but I am so glad that this is the book that I got. I would recommend it to those who have read this series and haven’t. I don’t think there are too many spoilers in this where it is needed to read the other books, but it doesn’t hurt. I would recommend!