Book Smart Kate

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By Sarah Grunder Ruiz

Thanks to Berkley Romance and PRH audio for the free print and audiobook copies! Below is my honest review

Last Call at the Local (Jan 2, 2023) is a book that has lingered with me since I read it last week. The characters are raw and soft, which takes this story from a transitional romance to something deeper and more thoughtful.

After quitting medical school, Raine has been busking her way through Ireland only to have her guitar and equipment stolen in Cobh, which is how she finds herself sitting at the bar of a local pub, petting the resident bar cat and sticking up a conversation with the handsome tattooed man next to her. Jack, as it turns out, recently inherited the bar and is looking to revitalize it. Raine’s startling honesty about the bar’s shortcomings causes Jack to offer her a job updating the bar. It is a win-win: he gets her vision for the bar, and she spends 12 weeks saving money to replace her stolen equipment. But, as their instant attraction grows into a deeper connection, how can these two very opposite people find a way to stay in each other’s lives?

The portrayal of Raine’s ADHD and Jack’s OCD are critical components of this novel and incredibly powerful. I’ve read many books with neurodivergent main characters, and Ruiz’s depiction is among the most powerful. The candid portrayal of counseling, understanding how your brain works, and being gentle with yourself is so important and helped me to better understand life with ADHD and OCD. Raine and Jack’s romance is unconventional but so pure and accepting. I love that neither pushes the other to sacrifice a core part of themselves for the relationship.