Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge has an irresistible premise involving magic and alcohol. The heroine, Bailey Chen, who has spent her entire life as an overachiever, graduates from college and promptly finds herself completely adrift in her hometown of Chicago. She lives with her parents and works at a bar run by her ex-best friend and current crush, Zane.
Bailey discovers that she has the ability to see monsters, called tremens (a group of tremens is a delirium, a fact which never failed to make me laugh). She also has the ability to fight them by mixing perfect cocktails. Each cocktail, when made exactly right, imbues the drinker with a special power. For instance, a perfectly mixed screwdriver gives the drinker super-strength. The effects last for about an hour. An association of Bartenders keeps the streets safe from tremens by using these abilities. They work closely with Baristas, because coffee has healing power.
The idea that a bunch of slightly drunk alcohol magicians are fighting evil by making and drinking cocktails is a great one. The problem is that the concept doesn’t go anywhere interesting. The tremens don’t appear to be sentient. No one is interested in their biology so it’s not discussed, and they don’t show interesting hunting behaviors. Without interesting monsters, all the drama about hunting them is uninteresting as well. The idea of people fighting monsters while at least slightly buzzed sounded both interesting and hilarious but although Bailey points out that she’s a tiny person with barely any body fat and therefore has a very low tolerance for alcohol, the “buzzed” part of “fighting while buzzed” seldom comes into play. The fights aren’t clever or exciting or funny or scary.
Supporting characters Mona, Vincent, and Bucket are interesting characters, but we don’t get enough of them. In fact, the only character I cared about significantly was a guide dog.
We barely get to know the Bartenders and we never get to know anyone at an actual bar.
As far as romance goes, I have no idea why Bailey is attracted to Zane other than habit and the fact that he’s unobtainable. There’s no chemistry between them and they don’t seem to crave spending time together. At least, Zane doesn’t seem to seek out Bailey’s company. In fact, Zane is pretty consistently a jerk to Bailey although it turns out that once upon a time Bailey was absolutely terrible to him so he’s nicer than I would be under the same circumstances. They don’t seem to like each other and although they claim to have been besties in the past they don’t seem to have liked each other much then, either. So I wasn’t at all invested in whether they would get together. I didn’t care. This book is not marketed as a romance so I don’t expect the romance to be the central element, but I also don’t expect to feel so apathetic about it.
I liked Bailey’s parents, who are both frustrating and supportive as parents often are; I also liked the descriptions of the cocktails, which glow when mixed properly. The characters are inclusive in terms of gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, and the scene in which Bucket explains that he is transgender while simultaneously calling out warning about tremens (to Bailey’s confusion) is very funny.
On the whole, though, this book left me flat. I am always annoyed when a book is boring, especially when it features glowing drinks.
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“Yer a wizard, Bailey! Now, let’s pick out a swizzle stick for you.”
This sounds like a great premise with so much potential for fun. Too bad the actual story doesn’t seem to have lived up to it.
Delirium tremens is the name given to the serious withdrawal symptoms from alcohol. It can be life threatening and dangerous to deal with, and as I’ve watched someone close to me wrestle with alocoholism and withdrawal the whole premise of this is very squicky for me. Real life delirium tremens are certainly demons, but to keep drinking more and more to fight it is not a responsible plot device.
Culturally we tend to glorify drinking and getting drunk way too much, which makes it so easy to gloss over the real life consequences. I wouldn’t be picking this one up anyway, but not sad to see it wasn’t a well thought out premise. (Getting off my soapbox now, thank you for your time)
@Emily C, that was my first thought when I saw tremens, and since I too have lived with folks going through withdrawal, this makes me super uncomfortable. In addition, I can’t imagine drunk people fighting monsters will end well for bystanders. I could see that as a metaphor for the damage alcoholism does to loved ones if I thought the author was thoughtful enough to treat drinking problems with respect. This review makes me think otherwise.
I’ve noticed an increased trend in excessive alcohol consumption in the books I’m checking out, and honestly, I’m over it. Although there is also an increase in the sober half of the couple not initiating sexy times because of consent issues, which I do appreciate. Drink responsibly, people.
And if you or someone you know are having issues with alcoholism or substance abuse, I linked to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Treatment Services Locator; it’ll also tell you if the facility offers financial assistance or sliding scales because nothing should stop people from getting the treatment they need.
I was still leaning toward the book (maybe from a library?) when I read the spoiler. No, just no. I don’t need more horribleness in my life.
I read this a while ago and enjoyed it a great deal. I can’t remember why because I usually have a low tolerance for drunken behavior (see: family), but my experience of it was a very good one. Weird, huh? Maybe it was the premise that carried the day.
@NCK I’ve noticed the same, to the point where I was sure the book was going to head towards recovery for a character…but they never do. I recently stopped reading a series that I’ve really enjoyed because later books showed troubling behaviors by characters that weren’t addressed/were fixed by Twue Wove.