Spotlight & Giveaway: Last Call at the Local by Sarah Grunder Ruiz

Posted January 10th, 2024 by in Blog, Spotlight / 34 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Sarah Grunder Ruiz to HJ!
Spotlight&Giveaway

Hi Sarah and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Last Call at the Local!

 
Hello! Thank you for having me!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Last Call at the Local is about a free-spirited American singer-songwriter with ADHD who, after finding herself stranded in Ireland, teams up with a charming tattooed Irishman to revitalize his family’s pub—a task his OCD makes particularly challenging.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

“You deserve every good thing, even when you’re having dark thoughts. You deserve to be happy, even when you aren’t well. And love, you deserve that too.”

 

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

  • Sebastian, the hero’s cat, is named after my nephew! I’d never owned a cat, so I had to look up “how to pet a cat” on YouTube. I ended up getting two cats while writing the book, and I adore them!
  • I actually went to Cobh, Ireland to do research for this book and met some amazing folks! I name-drop my favorite pub–Kelly’s–in the book. One of barmen I met there, Steve, was so charming that I gave Jack (our hero) the middle name Stephen.
  • I did so much research on pubs that I started getting targeted ads for apps to help people stop binge drinking. The Internet thinks I have a drinking problem!

 

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Jack is utterly charmed by Raine’s openness and authenticity. To put it in his words: “And that’s the thing isn’t it? She doesn’t feel like a stranger at all. It’s as if all of her is right there on the surface. Like if you wanted to know something about her, all you’d have to do is ask.”

Raine is very into Jack’s sophisticated bad-boy look. As she would say, “He’s sex on a stool, and I bet he knows it.”

 

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

Ummm…yeah. This is my spiciest book to date. Let’s just say that there’s a scene where Jack asks her to show him how she touches herself when she thinks about him.

 

Readers should read this book….

if they’ve ever felt like they are too much.

 

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

Nothing at the moment! I’m letting a few ideas brew in my brain and am hoping one will grab me by the gut soon.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

 

Giveaway: A print copy of LAST CALL AT THE LOCAL by Sarah Grunder Ruiz

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: If you could find yourself stranded anywhere in the world, where would it be?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from Last Call at the Local:

“Does Jack happen to be short for Jackass?” Raine asks when I set a plate of truffle chips before her on the bar.

She’s the one. It’s the only thought that’s run through my head for the last five minutes. She’s the one. She’s the one. She’s the one. And I would know, seeing as I spent most of today bored out of my mind interviewing all the wrong people. People who were definitely not the one.
She’ll make the perfect entertainment coordinator.

I swipe a chip from her plate. “You’re not the first person to ask me that, you know.” She’s the one, I think again, then mentally shush myself. If I’m going to get her to agree to work at this pub, I can’t be distracted. If I’m going to convince her that she should take a chance on me, I need a clear mind.

Easier said than done.

Raine gives me a withering look, but there’s amusement in her eyes. The girl is good craic. She’s also . . . beautiful. I wasn’t lying when I told her that. Pale green eyes. Wavy red hair. And that mouth . . . I have no idea what she’ll say next, and I like that. I like that a lot.

Ollie snaps my shoulder with a bar towel. “Quit being such a fecking langer, Jackie. We’ll be lucky to have any customers at all, if you keep fucking with them.”

Before I can respond, someone calls to Ollie for another pint, and my brother leaves with a shake of his head. He’s annoyed at me, but he’ll get over it. Half of the things I do annoy him. Half of the things I do annoy me. I think he likes having something to be annoyed about, to tell you the truth, and I am more than happy to oblige. But I don’t necessarily want to annoy the pretty redhead seated across from me.

Have I annoyed her? She has her bottom lip tucked between her teeth, so perhaps she is upset, though . . . shite, I shouldn’t be looking at her mouth. I lift my eyes to hers. “Are you angry?” Better just to ask these sorts of things.

Raine looks away from me. Her hair tumbles from behind one ear, hiding her face from view. “I never would’ve said those things about the pub if I’d known you were the owner. I’d never insult someone. Not on purpose, anyway.”

“You didn’t insult me.”

She tucks her hair back behind her ear and gives me a skeptical look.

“I didn’t tell you I own the pub because I wanted an honest answer. I don’t think there’s a thing you could say about me or this pub that would insult me, so long as you really mean it.”

She hums to herself as she looks me over, then says, “I think you actually mean that.”

“I very rarely say things I don’t mean.” I think them all the time, though.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Opposites attract when a free-spirited American singer-songwriter with ADHD teams up with a charming Irishman to revitalize his family’s pub in the next heartfelt romance from the author of Luck and Last Resorts.

Raine Hart is used to the challenges of living with ADHD. It’s why she ditched her life in Boston to busk around Europe as a traveling musician. No boss. No schedule. No one to disappoint but herself. But when a careless mistake in Ireland leaves her unable to perform, she sees no other option but to give up her nomadic life.

Since inheriting the Local, Jack Dunne has wanted to make the pub his own. But the baggage of running a family business and the intrusive thoughts that stem from his OCD make changing things a challenge.

Over a pint with handsome, tattooed Jack, Raine accidentally insults him and the pub. Instead of taking offense, Jack, impressed by her vision of what the pub could be, offers her a job bringing it to life.

But when Raine and Jack develop feelings for one another their opposite lifestyles won’t accommodate, it becomes clear the pub isn’t the only thing that needs reinventing. As the end of their business collaboration draws near, they’ll have to find a way past the limits they’ve placed on themselves.
Book Links:  Amazon | B&N | iTunes | kobo | Google |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Sarah Grunder Ruiz is a writer, educator, and karaoke enthusiast. Originally from South Florida, she now lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with her husband and two children. She holds an MFA in creative writing from North Carolina State University, where she now teaches First-Year Writing.
Website | Facebook |  Instagram | GoodReads |
 
 
 

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34 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: Last Call at the Local by Sarah Grunder Ruiz”

  7. Amanda

    I would probably want to be stranded in Hawaii where it is warm and because I love the ocean!

  10. Nora-Adrienne Deret

    I would choose Lake George NY. It’s a four season resort town and there’s another town 3 miles down the road that has a Kosher Supermarket.

  15. Kim

    It would have to be somewhere where English was the main language. I’m just not sure where it would be.

  17. Glenda M

    As much as I would love to be stranded in Italy somewhere, I’d rather be somewhere that English is the main language like Australia, New Zealand, England, Scotland, or Ireland.

  19. Sharlene Wegner

    I’m comfortable where I live, but if I were somewhere else, definitely an English speaking country!

  20. Amy R

    If you could find yourself stranded anywhere in the world, where would it be? Italy

  33. Patricia Barraclough

    Ireland. There is some family history that needs to be traced there. Being stranded there would allow me the time to work on it, plus it is a lovely country.