Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge

3.5 *'s Excellent Story...now somebody get me a drink!

I really enjoyed the premise of the book, Bailey and the other characters were really cool and believable even if in my personal opinion some of the moments between Bailey and Zane felt very "High school" in my personal opinion. I really enjoyed learning about all of the different types of drinks even though I don't drink. I really hope that there is a book 2.

Overall I personally rate this book an 8/10.

I was drawn in by the cover and hooked by the fun world and engaging characters. This was a super enjoyable romp with a fresh take on demon hunting and a sweetness in the relationship between Lane and Bailey. My only bump was all the passages from the Devil's Dictionary - the fictional book of barkeep lore. While the entries were interesting, there were so many of them and for me, they got in the way of the story. By the end I found myself skipping them to get back to the main plot faster.

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge is an odd mixture of "new adult" and "urban fiction". The main character, Bailey Chan, is a recent Ivy League graduate working as a barback at the aforementioned Nightshade Lounge. Her adventures include dealing with tremens, a best friend she left behind to go to school, parents, and finding a "real" job.
The supporting characters are pretty much what anyone who has worked in the service industry would expect - megalomaniac bar owners, punk transgender bartenders, a blind bar owner who slings booze faster than many with eyes, and a violent female bartender with a nebulous past.
A fun read that will be highly recommended.

Interesting world and unique group of bartender "super heroes". Don't think I've read anything quite like it before which is probably why I rated it as highly as I did. Lots of drink trivia and recipes. This could turn some readers off, but I quite liked it.

Based on the silly concept that true bartenders are magicians who defend the rest of us from evil creatures by mixing cocktails an exact way to get powers of a magical nature is quite interesting and fun as is this book

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book after I was able to access it via NetGalley. It seemed it would be interesting, and I am so glad to report that it was! Different mixed drinks (mixed the right way) give people temporary powers for the life of the drink before it is metabolized in the body. What a very different and interesting concept! Bartenders keep the public safe from Tremens, a demon-like creature. Include a tribune and secret society and you have a very fascinating book. It was well-written, the plot moved well, and the characters were engaging. There were even inserts about the drinks, including recipes and history, from the characters mythology! The only things that bothered me was the lack of background information about the creatures, events came to culmination a little too quickly, and Zane acted a little too out of character at one point in the book. However, my enjoyment was such that I forgot this one isn't even out yet and I was going to find out when the second came out! If you like this type of book, pick it up; it really is well-worth it! Highly recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley and Quirk Books for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review. This exact review will also be posted on Amazon and Goodreads.

This was a fun, fast-paced book. Who doesn't want to read about magical cocktails? I also enjoyed the recipes inserted to this fun read.

Such a fun kooky, quirky book! Love the recipes and trivia!

I would like to thank Quirk Books & NetGalley for a copy of this e-ARC to review. Though I received this ebook for free, that has no impact upon the honesty of my review.

Goodreads Teaser: "A sharp and funny urban fantasy for "new adults" about a secret society of bartenders who fight monsters with alcohol fueled magic.

College grad Bailey Chen has a few demons: no job, no parental support, and a rocky relationship with Zane, the only friend who's around when she moves back home. But when Zane introduces Bailey to his cadre of monster-fighting bartenders, her demons get a lot more literal. Like, soul-sucking hell-beast literal. Soon, it's up to Bailey and the ragtag band of magical mixologists to take on whatever—or whoever—is behind the mysterious rash of gruesome deaths in Chicago, and complete the lost recipes of an ancient tome of cocktail lore."

Bailey Chen is someone that any twenty-something can identify with on some level, regardless of how recent or distant that commonality may be. Many of us have suffered through that post-graduation confusion, the one that leads to the big questions. Questions like what do I want to do with my life? What can I actually do with a degree in fine arts or philosophy that will keep me fed and sheltered? So right there the book starts off on the right foot. Or is it the left foot in this case? Either way it starts off well.

Having majored in Business at UPenn, Bailey chose fairly well, for she's very analytical and detail oriented. These personality traits serves her well in the stop-gap job Zane helped her get as a barback at the Nightshade Lounge. Of course she may have forgotten to mention to Zane that she was only planning on working there until she could land a 'real' job. But until she could land that job, Bailey made an excellent barback, since she always anticipated bartenders needs before they happened. Though the Nightshade is shabby, it's comfortable and unpretentious. And in this case, like all other bars, it serves dual purposes; as a place for bartenders to serve their customers, and to secretly protect them at the same time.

I found the concept of alcohol fueled magic entertaining, and well thought-out. Once indoctrinated into this secret society Bailey is given a manual of all the drink recipes and powers each bestows, a manual she studies rigorously. The idea of such a manual may sound odd, and admittedly is rather odd, but it works in this case. Although she accepts the lifestyle rather quickly, it doesn't damage the flow of the story; if anything, her easy acceptance of the unexplainable helps lubricate the flow of the story. As do the other characters we meet. Bailey's childhood friend Zane plays multiple roles much to Bailey's stunned surprise, Bucket is pretty much a "what you see is what you get" kinda guy, and Mona is, well, Mona. Though there are certainly other players, I have to say one of my favorites is Vincent Long. Owner of the 'Long & Strong' bar, Vincent is a no nonsense, tell it like it is kinda guy. Ex-military and abrupt, he is a tough taskmaster. Yet gruff as he is, Vincent is an ideal transitional teacher for Bailey, helping her shed her ingrained collegiate teacher/student mentality and step into the real world.

Krueger does a good job of taking an outlandish concept and keeping it grounded in the minutiae of an unemployed recent college grad's life. The details of Bailey's presumed regular life help balance the insanity of this otherworldly situation she's stumbled into, and make the story that much more believable for us readers. Take Bailey's reaction to accidentally walking in on a situation between her parents. Her response is classic, following her first impulse and fleeing the scene while simultaneously struggling to repress any and all images or memories of the entire event. It was brilliant and just one example of how Krueger keeps the story grounded in the details of daily life, while still including monsters and magic as if it's all business as usual.

While I began this book with a healthy dose of skepticism, I soon found myself wanting to leap right into the fray with the rest of the team. I developed feelings for these characters, and my distant twenty-something-year-old self yearned to become a member of this valiant group of bartenders. And secretly, some small part of me wants to perfect the Long Island Iced Tea. To me, that's the mark of a darned good read!

I loved this story. It’s totally unique. Bartenders are magic potion mixing superheroes, protecting people from demons. Where do these demons come from? The 2 main characters behave like kids because they are kids. After a while Bailey’s inane thinking did annoy me, but she’s a kid with self-esteem issues and focus problems. The mixology history and lore was interesting. The ending with Mona suprised me. I hope this is going to be a series. I would like to read more about this alcohol gives you superpowers storyline.

Cover aside, I was a bit tentative over starting this book because it was marketed as new adult. So far, my encounters with new adult covers and premises kind of just make me cringe and walk the other way. That said, it was probably a good idea that I mostly avoided new adult stuff, because while I did adore my college years and while I have gone through a similar rocky “I don’t know what I want to do with my life” patch post-college, I’m not very interested in reliving them vicariously through story protagonists (a few exceptions notwithstanding–like Fangirl).

Enter Bailey. A relatively smart cookie, she’s a fictional (though the real life truth isn’t far off) testament that an Ivy League education doesn’t necessarily bring you a barrel of success on the get-go. Sure, the resources are easier to tap into, and Bailey Chen is nothing if not a hard-working girl from a hardworking Chinese family. She pretty much is set to succeed. Except she doesn’t. Not at first.

That said, she’s got pluck. For a tiny Asian girl, that says everything, and I warmed to Bailey like the magical cocktails in her system (haha, yeah, I went there). Sure she had her fair share of problems and drama, and often I sighed at the stupid things she said out of anger, but on some level, she does find herself to be justified in a few of them.

But let’s get away from the characters for a moment to look at the magic system: mixology.

This book’s major appeal to me was definitely in the magic system of cocktail-mixing. As a cocktail enthusiast (which should not be equalized to “perpetual drunk” because…well, just because!), I could appreciate the intricate skill it takes to make a perfectly mixed drink. When done right and in the proper ratio, it does have a magical “feel” to it. So when Krueger tried to tie mixology to the pseudo-science that is alchemy, I was completely sold on the matter, albeit my initial misgivings of several years back.

On top of the story, almost each chapter was followed by a particular cocktail recipe, as illustrated in the fictional The Devil’s Water Dictionary. While I did find the excerpts distracting by the end of the book, I actually loved reading them. Obviously, the historical writeups are fictional at length, but it was still interesting to read through each ingredient–and it just made making a corresponding cocktail much easier to do!

Although...Can I just get a copy of The Devil’s Water Dictionary, please? That would be fabulous.

But anyway, let’s get back to the characters and their dialogue. Sometimes the dialogue made me cringe, to be honest. Bailey’s interactions with Jess and the startup company Jess represented drove me up the wall, mostly because I felt my IQ go down a bit with their exchange in conversation. You’d think this wouldn’t be the case, but it was, and I got to respecting the presence of the “Alechemists” (har har, I thought this was funny) much more in that regard. I mean, come on, Bucket was a hoot-and-a-half, but so was Zane in some degree.

So did I enjoy the book? You bet I did. It was fun, it was an easy read, and while there was a degree of danger and suspense and drama in the book, it was still a lighthearted romp into the bartending life of Chicago’s best demon-slayers.

I’d totally read a sequel if there is ever going to be one. Just saying.

well, this was a super fun read that has a different take on the magic and somewhat paranormal fantasy novel. I was so happy to read this and look forward to suggesting this ti Buffy fans, the Magicians series fans, and all of my nerdy folks or people looking for a break in the usual book in this genre.

My only negative comment is for the book cover change. This is the first time I have seen a book cover change that I did not agree with. I hope this title does well in our library and outside of it as well!

I enjoyed this book and found the interspersed cocktail recipes and history very entertaining and a good addition to the story.

Fun urban fantasy with bonus cocktail recipes...did I mention that the cocktails are magical and gives you superpowers? Contrary to popular belief, alcohol can indeed solve all your problems!

I wasn't sure what to expect from this. I read the first chapter in a fiction sampler, and immediately wanted more. And now, having finished the full book in two days, I absolutely am hoping there's going to be at least a sequel - if not a series. There's no cliffhangers here, and it concludes solidly, but we learn that Bailey has a real talent for the world, and it would stand to reason that she could invent new drinks to fill a need for a power needed on patrol.

Another fun thing about the book is the author included the drink recipes and did a nice job of world building by assigning and explaining the different effects each liquor and liqueur has(such as the differences between dark and light rum, or the dangers of gin). Accompanying the recipes were also bits of Bartender history - who created the drink, when it was discovered or caught on, or some of the politics of the Bartenders and their overseeing body, the Cupbearers' Court. While the information about the drinks helped add to the world and lend depth, sometimes it was too much and broke up the flow between chapters.

The relationships between Bailey and Zane could have been written a little better. It seemed to me that at times it was more rough and rocky than it needed to be... the angst was there with being in Bailey's head without Zane opening his dumb mouth. By the time I reached the end, I wasn't really on board with their relationship moving on. Just too fast, even with their history and apologies and forgiveness. I just think Bailey was too quick to overlook just because it was Zane. but that's just me.

The supporting characters really helped round things out nicely. Bucket and Vincent probably got some of the best lines of the whole book. Mona herself is very much an enigma, and I'd love to see a book with her, focusing on her history.

Last Call is one of the best New Adult books I've read in a while. I definitely recommend it.

4.5*