3 stars!

Thank you NetGalley for the e-arc!

I’m going to be honest, I went into this book with some high expectations for a cutesy little irish romance book, which this definitely still is but there were definitely things that had me a bit… underwhelmed.

There was just so much miscommunication in the book that it became annoying. The book would have been a lot shorter if all the characters actually spoke and said what they had to.

The first half of the book and the second felt like two separate books to me in ways that i can’t really explain.

The main characters relationship didn’t feel genuine and i just found it really hard to root for them as a couple. I was more interested in the pubs, the characters friends and the plot about her dad. Like if they ended up being just friends I would not have been upset in the slightest.

[SPOILERS]
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Her ex showing up to apologise & explain why he did what he did in regard to the debt and offering to pay her back was just so unrealistic that it was laughable, it was just so oddly convenient for the plot in the sense of just wrapping up that story like last minute.

Rivals to lovers without any chemistry

Maeve never knew her biological father, but he left her a pub in Ireland with a cool centuries old family feud with a rival pub. Briggs is a playboy with a heart condition who happens to own the rival pub.

Adorable characters with a lackluster rivalry, a silly premise, and some pretty uninspired love scenes.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Note to marketing...YA? Without a single teenager in the book.

What a sweet read that had me turning pages and rooting for our main characters to give a chance. Maeve receives an unexpected inheritance that leads her across the pond to Ireland. She walks into feuding that sweeps her up and lands her squarely on the path of Briggs. The banter, the chemistry, the slow burn, will have readers turning pages until the very end. Love it! Great little summer read to escape life, smile, and fall in love.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I want to thank Skyscape and Netgalley for letting me read this ARC.

From their first interaction, I was obsessed with Maeve and Briggs. Their chemistry was immaculate, and the tension between them was everything. This book has a lot of common themes with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, so a reader can look forward to tropes like forbidden love, rivals to lovers, a little insta love but not too much.

Maeve Kaminski comes to the island of Inishglass looking to sell the inheritance she's receiving from her estranged father. Little does she know that this pub she's inherited comes with an age-old feud between warring Irish families and a few stipulations in the will that delay her ability to sell it. The journey that she takes while trying to complete the tasks set before her by her father had me laughing and also crying a lot. Like I cried several times in this book, but I would 100% read it again.

Briggs Murphy has closed himself off to love after the death of his father, and he's recently been diagnosed with the same heart condition that killed his father. There are lots of ups and downs throughout this story for Briggs' character, but I loved the overall message that the author conveyed. Sure, life is short, and you could die tomorrow, but having love in your life is still worth it. It's better to give love and to be loved and lose it than to close yourself off to everything and be alone.

This book was incredibly emotional but also hilarious. The side characters are so funny, and the antics that ensue between the warring pubs had me laughing out loud. I loved this book, and I will read it again when it comes out!

Last Call for Love" is a heartwarming and emotionally resonant novel that explores the complexities of love, loss, and second chances. Written by the talented Rebekah Crane, this captivating story takes readers on a journey of self-discovery and redemption as the protagonist navigates the ups and downs of life and love.

At the heart of the narrative is a cast of deeply flawed yet utterly relatable characters who grapple with their own insecurities and desires. The protagonist, whose name is [insert if known], finds herself at a crossroads in her life, reeling from a devastating breakup and uncertain about her future. As she embarks on a journey of self-discovery, she is forced to confront painful truths about herself and the choices she has made.

One of the novel's greatest strengths lies in its authenticity. Crane has a gift for capturing the messy, complicated nature of human relationships with honesty and compassion. Through moments of heartache, laughter, and poignant introspection, the characters come alive on the page, their struggles and triumphs mirroring those of the reader.

Moreover, "Last Call for Love" is distinguished by its richly textured prose and evocative sense of place. Set against the backdrop of [insert setting], the novel immerses readers in the sights, sounds, and smells of the protagonist's world, inviting them to experience her journey alongside her with vivid clarity.

As the story unfolds, Crane skillfully weaves together themes of love, forgiveness, and the power of self-acceptance. Through the protagonist's journey, readers are reminded that true happiness comes from within, and that sometimes, the greatest love of all is the one we have for ourselves.

In conclusion, "Last Call for Love" is a captivating and deeply moving novel that will stay with readers long after they've turned the final page. With its compelling characters, poignant storytelling, and universal themes, this book is a must-read for anyone who has ever experienced the highs and lows of love. Rebekah Crane has crafted a beautiful and unforgettable story that will touch the hearts of readers everywhere.

This was such an adorable read! The good: The story was cute and the main problems Maeve is struggling with that get her to Ireland feel very realistic to modern day. The characters in the book are so, so, so well-written, they felt like friends of my own! Truly, I felt like I was there on teh island with them. perfect mix of funny and heartfelt. The not-so-good: I think the author could have spent more time in important moments that the characters had, drawing out the build-up and the conclusion to each issue in more detail, keep us in those spots for a little longer. Also, the passage of time felt a little off. Anytime the story needed to skip ahead, there was very little explanation for what the characters did and felt during those times. I just like to have a little more background, even when for story purposes I know we need to skip ahead by weeks sometimes. Overall, I would absolutely read this again and recommend it to friends, the story made my heart swell!

Thank you to Skyscape and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this arc.

tropes:
-she is getting over heartbreak
-forbidden romance
-instalove
-enemies to lovers (kinda)

This book focuses on Maeve, a polish American living in Chicago who receives word of her absent father’s passing. She is informed that in order to receive her inheritance she must travel to a small town in Ireland. Whilst there she meets Briggs Murphy the owner of rival pub and enemy #1 to her family.

This book sounded like something I was going to enjoy from the very beginning, and the dedication is so sweet. “Always enter laughing” which became a prominent feature throughout the book.

We are introduced to Maeves character in a perfect way - an email conversation which in itself was hilarious and had me laughing out loud. I will say that as this was read as a digital book, I did struggle with the format of the book in a few places. The main issue was with the text message conversations, I believe that this really needed some form of animation to make it a clear text message instead of it just being a new paragraph. Similarly to this, the reviews. It would be so much more enjoyable and engaging with a multimedia aspect, which I’m hoping will be in the physical copy

I thought the side characters in this were sweet, they added a dimension to the book that really helped with pacing. I think because this book was around 250 pages long, we struggled to get invested in the romantic connection between Briggs and Maeve and in places it just seemed underdeveloped. I believe this would be greatly improved by bulking up the relationship by around 70/80 pages.

But overall a very sweet Romeo and Juliet inspired romantic comedy.

Maeve Kaminski is a very OCD 24-year-old young lady who just got her heart broken by a boyfriend who used her name to open up a credit card and rack her up in debt. Tragic. While this is happening, Maeve learns that her biological dad (whom she never met) has passed and has given her his pub in a small town in Ireland. Maeve travels to Ireland without letting her family know the situation (I could never). How her mom never asked where she was the whole first 3/4 of the book surprises me (well, she was on a cruise, but still). She discovers in this town, there are only two pubs, and they are rivals. Now, based on this, you can tell what the trope will be—enemies to lovers. You can’t go wrong with that. In my opinion, they aren’t necessarily “enemies,” but they are in a family/pub rivalry that turns into a love story. Briggs (who we find out has the same heart condition as his deceased father) is the owner (after his father passes) of the other pub in town. Long story short, they meet and instantly have crushes on each other. But God forbid you both ruin the rivalry and fall in love.

As the book goes on, Maeve stays longer than anticipated and is debating on selling the pub as she can’t run it because her whole life in Chicago is waiting for her. My job would have fired me if I had been gone that long. In order to sell the pub, her father has made it difficult by creating a checklist (before death) she must complete to get the blessing to sell. She is working with a very annoying man, Eoin O’Connor (a giant piece of work), who is in charge of the will/overseeing the pub falling to Maeve.

About 60% into the book, Maeve and Briggs finally communicate and tell each other how they feel…except Maeve hasn’t told him she plans on selling the pub and moving back home. At this point, you can guess what will most likely happen: he finds out, they stop talking, she goes home, one of them runs to the other and says they can’t live without them, yada yada yada. And if you guessed that, you’re right. There isn’t much of a plot twist in this ending as it would if you were reading another romance novel.

Maeve does learn that one of the items on the list was, in a way, a trick and discovers her dad left her his apartment as well. To me, the list was a distraction and a way for her to know the town more and the people to make her, in the end, want to stay. When she finally learns about the apartment from sweet Barb, she finds a letter he wrote. I will say I did tear up a bit reading the letter. In the beginning, you see the biological dad as a bad guy, but in the end, he’s not so bad and had reasons for never communicating.

Fast forward, we get to them being all lovey-dovey. First of all, this is labeled as a YA book; I wouldn’t categorize it as that at all. There are too many things that make it not YA. Second of all, if a man starts tickling me and blowing raspberries on my stomach, I’m getting up and walking out the door, never to return. Good lord, LOL. I usually cringe a lot during romance novels, but that made me physically ill, haha. He asks her to be his girlfriend, and they hide the relationship for apparent reasons. They go to Cork on a date where the whole town can’t see them and stir up drama. During this time, she meets her grandfather, who she recently learned was still alive. I teared up again. Briggs also tells her he loves her, and she hits him with a “thank you for telling me that” line like it’s The Bachelor. They get back, and everything is fine. At this point, the next chapter throws me off as she determines she’s staying in Ireland, but she is still trying to check off the last item on the list to sell the pub. In my mind, she’d want to keep the pub if she’s staying. After she gets back from this excursion, Briggs is waiting for her, freaking out cause he couldn’t get a hold of her in the storm. Because of this, he goes off on a rant about how he can’t do this anymore blah blah blah, and then proceeds to propose to her which she tells him to wait. By 80% of the book, she still hasn’t told her family about anything (ex-boyfriend/debt included) or told Briggs the whole truth (ex-boyfriend and selling the pub). She gives herself 48 hours to get all the secrets and situations cleared.

And then it all falls apart. Within a couple of pages, that little prick Eoin shows up and ruins a housewarming party and dumps all her secrets about the list and selling the pub to everyone in the room. Briggs is upset and storms out, feeling betrayed. Somehow, Maeve’s text messages haven’t been coming in, and she’s just now getting messages. Turns out her mom knows she’s in Ireland and is livid. Part of it is her best friend’s fault (who she argued with earlier in the book. Not too critical). She’s shocked and doesn’t know what to do. If I could punch Eoin through the book, I would.

The next day, Briggs gets to his senses and runs back to the bar/apartment, but she’s gone back to Chicago. Because of all the running and the stress, the chapter ends with him collapsing from too much push on his heart condition. Maeve has been in Chicago for a couple of weeks now, all depressed and mopey. She finally goes back to her apartment, and guess who shows up? No, not Briggs. The scammy ex-boyfriend to pay her back for the debt. Later, she gets an email from nasty little Eoin with her dad's letter for when she completed the list. It turns out I was wrong, and he did want her to sell it and not feel like she had any regrets. He wants her not to feel trapped like he did and to have her live her life.

Now it's Maeve's turn to come to her senses. She finally realizes she doesn’t want to sell the pub and needs to return to Ireland ASAP. At the airport, she gets a text about something wrong with Briggs. He had the surgery he was putting off and is doing better. He planned on going to Chicago to chase after her, but she beat him to it. They catch up, and she tells him she’s staying and running the pub. The book ends happily, with them together and obviously in love.

In the epilogue, Maeve writes her deceased dad a sweet letter catching him up on the last year. She talks about her and Briggs finally getting engaged, her not selling the pub, and many other things—a perfect way to end the book without it being 600 pages.

Overall, this was a cute book. I didn’t love it, but I liked it.

Their journey to mend a broken heart, but at the same time, heal ours in the process ✨

Maeve Kaminski came from a far away Chicago, never in the plan she meticulously wrote that she thought to go to a remote Irish Island and become the new owner of The Moorings. But she had to stay, no scratch that, she had to get away from debt & off-loading a famous pub for a pretty penny could be the gift she’d been waiting for.

Or so she thought before Briggs Murphy came into her pub wearing a smile and freedom she’s been missing. Her heart was betrayed by the fact that he was the owner of The Thatch aka her pub’s rival + he had a history of breaking every woman’s heart as he never wanted a commitment. But he’s hiding his suffering of a broken heart & a long grief of his passing dad.

A love story like Romeo and Juliet ❀ chemistry like no other + the familial legend of rivalry, an unexpected love that might save them both & rewrite the history of their homey island 🏝️

Surprisingly sweet & sentimental - when I pick this book I expect a small-town romance plus rivalry banter between our main couple, but no! It’s so much more than that. I learned about handling grief, embracing our scars & weaknesses. then committing to love, plus how to handle a feud turn to love.

How the writer portrays Innishglass, a remote island in Ireland, is the next thing I love about this book–each of her sentences brought me to imagine the vast green landscape to the steep rock by the ocean where Briggs jumps off occasionally. I also love Cairn island, which I believe came from ‘Cairns’ or a rock that was built in honor of the death & generally became their final resting place. I imagined life there and thought: ‘Man, what a remarkable place to heal your soul & enjoy each second of your life’

I’d say that despite the rough beginning + some weird transition between the Yelp reviews & the POVs that made the book hard to read, I still want to recommend this book for a short healing read for those who is still in the process of grieving & to you who love a sentimental love story.

I'd like to thank Netgalley & the publisher for the opportunity to read this in advance in exchange for my honest opinion.

-rival families
-Secret relationship/sneaking around
-pranks and banter
-found family
-small town romance

Romeo and juliet retake set in Ireland? Sign me up. Maeve finds herself in the middle of the Murphy versus Doherty family feud when she receives a letter about her father's will. In order to resolve the contents of the will, she must spend time on Inishglass island and complete a list of tasks. There's pranking, kickball games, cliff jumping, and love ❤️

I thought this book was so wholesome. The supporting characters were just as amazing as Briggs and Maeve and made the story that much more special. The pacing was a little slow at the beginning, but once the book got going, it was hard to put down.

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Releases 8/6/24

I was immediately drawn to this title based on the cover. I know, "never judge a book by it's cover" but in this case I'm glad that I did! We meet Maeve who inherited a pub from her estranged father. Maeve meets Briggs, the owner of a rival pub and it's clear that something is going to happen there except that they are from enemy families. Will the two overcome their decades long family feud? Will love win? You'll have to read to find out. :)

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my own honest opinion.

Wow, what a ride! This book is a total game-changer. It's got everything you could ask for: gripping plot twists, characters you'll root for, and writing so vivid you'll feel like you're right there in the story. Trust me, once you start, you won't be able to put it down. 5 stars all the way!

I just reviewed Last Call for Love by Rebekah Crane. #LastCallforLove #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]
It was based on enemies to lovers type of relationship between pub owners.
Maeve deals with finding out she had a dad that she didn't know about and gain a pub. I believe this needs be more Adult than YA. It has some serious topics like grieving , sex scenes and some cussing in it. But overall it was cute book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Last Call for Love opens up with our FMC, Maeve, finding out her estranged father has passed away and has left her an inheritance. In order to collect it, she must travel to a remote Irish island. When she gets there, she finds that her inheritance is a pub, The Moorings. One of Maeve’s defining characteristics is that she is very organized. This is brought up so many times that it feels like the only part of her personality. At one point, Maeve is shopping in a store on the island, starts to rearrange and color code the whole store and is the confused why the owner is upset with her. It was a bit much.

We then meet our MMC, Briggs, who runs a rival pub on the island. Briggs and Maeve’s families have been feuding for generations, just like in Romeo and Juliet. Or at least that is what those on the island want the tourists to think. At the open, Briggs receives some news related to his health that has him in a bit of a personal spiral. He has been diagnosed with the same heart condition that killed his father 10 years ago. (Side note: let’s make a drinking game for the amount of times Briggs and his friend/roommate Hugh refer to the size of women’s breasts by comparing them to cantaloupe, cabbages, and grapefruit. You will be sloshed by chapter 5.)

Irish romances are really popular at the moment and I was excited to read this and hopefully get swept away. However, this was a little too “insta-love” for me. The MCs meet once and almost immediately make out. From that point the MMC is obsessed with the FMC. I wish we had seen or been given some more development on their relationship. Give me a little build up and tension. WHY do they connect? Is it just physical? Or is there something there? When the idea of the two pubs pranking each other came up, I was excited and expected pages and pages of hijinks. In the end, we had two pranks. I wanted MORE. Give me the shenanigans!

The premise for keeping Maeve on the island is this fake feud between the two families. Apparently, the whole island will fall apart if she sells the pub? On top of that, if she wants to sell the pub, her estranged father had set up some strange list of impossible tasks for Maeve to complete first. But this premise also seems to go to the wayside before it even gets a chance to begin. I found it all to be a bit outside of reality, even the warped and stretched reality that is a romcom.

The overall writing style left the characters feeling rather juvenile, even though they are almost all in their mid to late 20’s. I also found Briggs to be a rather unlikable guy. At the start of the book Briggs is happy to be sleeping with every tourist who walks into his pub, leering at the women, and making crass jokes. But we don’t really get to see him be “redeemed” from that behavior. And why are there so many dang Americans on this small Irish island? Maeve is from Chicago, Hugh is from Detroit, and Barb and Linda from the knitting store are both from New York.

When the writing switches to texts between characters, or online Yelp! reviews of the two pubs, I found it difficult to follow who what saying what and to who. Then in the middle of the texts it would switch to the character’s internal monologue. Very confusing. The book could benefit from formatting the type differently to flow like text message boxes (left or right justified) or some other style.

Around 3/4 of the way in, the story seemed to better find its footing. But I am not sure it was enough to balance out the rest. I didn’t love it, but I also didn’t hate it. I wavered between 2 and 3 stars and ended up on 3.

4/5⭐️

A jolly good time!

This book follows Maeve and Briggs who are rival pub owners on a remote Irish island. Briggs, with his own struggles, is not looking for love. But he cannot help himself. The question is, can they afford to mix business and pleasure?

Firstly, I really loved the writing. It was funny, romantic and emotional as well. Also, the ending was so heartwarming and wholesome! I teared up reading it.

Although there were no explicit scenes in the book, there were quite a few highly suggestive scenarios. Personally, I wasn't bothered by it.
I also loved the setting and feel of the book. It made me feel like I was living in that world. It was a very picturesque and well written book overall!

I received an ARC of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Thank you to Netgalley, the Author and the Publisher for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Even though I read this book in three hours, I didn’t enjoy it like other books of this nature.

First, I want to talk about the interests of the characters. This book felt a little too fast for me, leading to characters without a fleshed-out or cohesive background. It deals with grief, yes, but not much of the writing or reactions of the characters really clicked with me as a person. The characters made irrational decisions, which may just be a part of them, but they felt far too stereotypical for me to enjoy reading about them.

Another part is that there was way too much talk of sex. It was like every other word was an innuendo or directly referencing it! I couldn’t fall into this book because this kept bringing me back to reality. I feel like there was a much more tasteful way this could have been achieved, keeping it steamy while still being a piece that readers would want to consume.

Also, this should not be rated YA. Seeing the amount of sex talk, and the fact that YA is such a large range (12-18! A topic for another day), there’s a big chance that a 12-13 year old could have picked up this book and started reading it. While I’m against censorship, there are definitely more tasteful ways these concepts could have been portrayed. I think this book deserves an Adult rating, at the very least.

A lot of this boils down to readers going in with very different expectations, and I don’t completely fault the author, I just think that there were better ways to advertise, categorize, and describe this book.

Thank you, NetGalley, Skyscape, and Rebekah Crane for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I have one huge concern for this book is the explicit scenes. This was marketed as a YA novel. I would feel extremely uncomfortable know my teenage daughter was reading this. Also, 3rd person POV was a hindrance to the book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Skyscape for the ARC opportunity.

I would give this a solid 3 stars, while I found some parts humorous and one of the predicaments the FMC found herself in was actually interesting—it was a bit too insta-love and seemed the only things the MMC loved was that she was organized and hot physically?

I loved the FMC and dad situation but it droned on about elephants for 4 solid paragraphs and I honestly skipped it bc it was too much unnecessary info and too predictable.

FMC was a crappy friend and I didn’t love how that was just suddenly OK, I would’ve loved for her to have some character growth in that regard.

The 3rd person POV was weird in this? I’m not sure if it was how it was written or what but it felt odd & I normally like 3rd pov.

Lastly, I know it’s an ARC but the texting and dialogue was formatted very poorly.

I flew through this book and appreciate this ARC from NetGalley, the pros here are that this is an easy, lightweight read. The cons are that I couldn’t connect to the romance - there wasn’t any chemistry or build up. Maeve and Briggs were not a couple that made it easy to root for them. I felt like I didn’t care if they ended up together or not.

Overall I was really excited to read this book after seeing the premise. I thought the plot was strong and I really enjoyed that aspect of it. However, I felt the romance was lacking. I didn’t really feel the chemistry between the two main characters