Recommendations based on "Last Chance Saloon"

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • A USA TODAY BESTSELLER • A brilliantly funny novel about friends, lovers, Ireland in chaos, and a young woman desperately trying to manage all three • “O'Donoghue deepens the familiar coming-of-age premise with riveting moral complications." —People"If you’ve ever been unsure what to do with your degree in English; if you’ve ever wondered when the rug-buying part of your life will start...if you’ve ever loved the wrong person, or the right person at the wrong time…In short, if you’ve ever been young, you will love The Rachel Incident like I did.” —Gabrielle Zevin, New York Times best-selling author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and TomorrowRachel is a student working at a bookstore when she meets James, and it’s love at first sight. Effervescent and insistently heterosexual, James soon invites Rachel to be his roommate and the two begin a friendship that changes the course of both their lives forever. Together, they run riot through the streets of Cork city, trying to maintain a bohemian existence while the threat of the financial crash looms before them.When Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, James helps her devise a reading at their local bookstore, with the goal that she might seduce him afterwards. But Fred has other desires. So begins a series of secrets and compromises that intertwine the fates of James, Rachel, Fred, and Fred’s glamorous, well-connected, bourgeois wife. Aching with unrequited love, shot through with delicious, sparkling humor, The Rachel Incident is a triumph.

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • A USA TODAY BESTSELLER • A brilliantly funny novel about friends, lovers, Ireland in chaos, and a young woman desperately trying to manage all three • “O'Donoghue deepens the familiar coming-of-age premise with riveting moral complications." —People"If you’ve ever been unsure what to do with your degree in English; if you’ve ever wondered when the rug-buying part of your life will start...if you’ve ever loved the wrong person, or the right person at the wrong time…In short, if you’ve ever been young, you will love The Rachel Incident like I did.” —Gabrielle Zevin, New York Times best-selling author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and TomorrowRachel is a student working at a bookstore when she meets James, and it’s love at first sight. Effervescent and insistently heterosexual, James soon invites Rachel to be his roommate and the two begin a friendship that changes the course of both their lives forever. Together, they run riot through the streets of Cork city, trying to maintain a bohemian existence while the threat of the financial crash looms before them.When Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, James helps her devise a reading at their local bookstore, with the goal that she might seduce him afterwards. But Fred has other desires. So begins a series of secrets and compromises that intertwine the fates of James, Rachel, Fred, and Fred’s glamorous, well-connected, bourgeois wife. Aching with unrequited love, shot through with delicious, sparkling humor, The Rachel Incident is a triumph.

From the author of the phenomenal bestseller The Keeper of Stories, comes the next uplifting story of how the most unexpected friendships are forged in the most unlikely of places . . .Jo Sorsby knows she is hiding from her past when she steps in to look after her uncle’s stationery shop. Glimpsing the lives of her customers between the warm wooden shelves, as they scribble notes with fountain pens and browse colourful notebooks, distracts her from the life she has left behind.Yet far from home, Jo feels adrift . . .When she meets Ruth, a vicar running from a secret, and Malcolm, a septuagenarian struggling to write his first book, she realises that she isn’t alone.It’s the beginning of a friendship that can transform Jo’s life . . . if only she can let them in.

Finding your way is never a simple journey…Alice sees the worst in people.She also sees the best.She sees a thousand different emotions and knows exactly what everyone around her is feeling.Every. Single. Day.But it’s the dark thoughts.The sadness. The rage.These are the things she can’t get out of her head. The things that overwhelm her.Where will the journey to find herself begin?

MILLION LOVE SONGS sees Carole Matthews at her feel-good best, with a wonderful and emotional story of starting over and finding happiness. An absolute must-read!After splitting up with her cheating husband, Ruby Brown is ready for a change. She's single for the first time in years and she's going to dive into this brave new world with a smile on her face and a spring in her step. The last thing she's looking for is another serious relationship.Mason represents everything Ruby wants right now: he's charming, smooth, and perfect for some no-strings-attached fun, yet Ruby can't help feel that something is missing. Joe on the other hand is kind, attentive and good-looking, but comes with the sort of baggage Ruby wants to avoid: an annoyingly attractive ex-wife and two teenage children.Ruby soon has some very tough decisions to make. Is she even ready for a relationship? Ruby may think she knows what she wants, is that what she needs to be truly happy?Ruby's story will make you laugh, cry and leave you wanting more. It's about to get emotional in Million Love Songs.

With a voice as vivid and riveting as her characters, Donna Hill introduces readers to a gutsy, unforgettable heroine they will applaud from the first page to the last—a womanwho boldly, blindly, dares to trade a lifestyle for a life...For someone who’s always played by the rules, Regina Everette has broken some doozies lately. First, she divorces a perfectly good provider—and the father of her two children—simply because their marriage wasn’t working. Now she’s quit her job simply because she wasn’t fulfilled. Her kids are shell-shocked. Her girlfriends are scandalized. Her mother is appalled. Nobody knows what on earth she’s doing…including Regina herself.Unemployed and unattached, exhilarated and scared to death, Regina fumbles her way into an existence that has no boundaries. As her choices create a ripple effect through the lives of her family and friends, she falls headlong into a new career and a new relationship, certain of just one thing: from here on in, she’ll live—and love—on her terms.“A spellbinding story that will give any reader or book club plenty to talk about!”—RT Book Reviews

Don't miss this very special standalone novel in the Love Heart Lane series. Previously published as Evie's Year of Taking Chances but now rewritten and improved by the author! Love, life, and libraries Growing up in foster care, Elle Cooper always felt a piece of herself was missing. Now, as her thirtieth birthday approaches, she's ready to find it. But when instigating the search for her birth mother leads to a whole host of unexpected events, this librarian's quiet life suddenly gets very loud! With new friends, old flames and surprising influences keeping Elle busy, she soon starts to see that there's more to life than where you came from - and that where you are right now, and who you have in your corner, is what might just matter most of all... Love Heart Lane - where friends are there for you no matter what

A tender, witty, and sharp debut novel about the passions and peculiarities of modern love, by “an extraordinarily gifted writer” (Sally Rooney). Chuck and Joey meet in a bar. He’s in his mid-thirties; she’s twelve years younger. He long ago abandoned his ambition of being a novelist and works as a copywriter at a big ad agency. "Lead copywriter," he corrects himself. Joey is living paycheck to paycheck on her barista wages and privately dreams of making it as a poet. They go back to Chuck’s luxury flat—a world away from Joey’s cramped house-share, the crumbs in her bed. Soon, Joey is imagining a future between them and Chuck is moving on from a mistake in his recent past. Amazing, how meeting a new person can make you feel so new. Funny, excruciating, and true, Jem Calder's I Want You to Be Happy is a sharp-eyed tale of two people searching for meaning and connection in modern times, missing the mark maybe, but still trying.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERDebbie Macomber returns to Seattle's beloved Blossom Street in this heartfelt tale of friendship, renewal, and discovering what's truly important in life.For years Libby Morgan dreamed only of making partner in her competitive, high-pressure law firm. She sacrificed everything for her career—her friends, her marriage, her chance at creating a family. When her boss calls Libby into his office, she assumes it will finally be good news, but nothing can prepare her for the shocking reality: She's been let go and must rebuild her entire life . . . starting now. With no job prospects in sight, Libby reaches out to old friends and spends her afternoons at A Good Yarn, the local knitting store. There she forms a close bond with Lydia, the sweet-natured shop owner; Lydia's spirited teenage daughter, Casey; and Casey's best friend, Ava, a shy yet troubled girl who will shape Libby's future in surprising and profound ways. As A Good Yarn becomes a second home—and the women a new kind of family—Libby relishes the different person she's become. She even finds time for romance with a charming and handsome doctor who seems to be her perfect match. But just as everything is coming together, Libby must make a choice that could forever change the life she holds so dear.Warmly told and richly textured, Starting Now is filled with the promise of new beginnings and the unending delights of companionship and love.

Here's Rachel Walsh. Twenty-seven and the miserable owner of size 8 feet. She has regular congress with Luke Costello, a man who wears his leather trousers tight. And she's fond - some might say too fond - of recreational drugs. Until everything goes pear-shaped and she finds herself being frog-marched to the Cloisters - Dublin's answer to the Betty Ford Clinic. She's outraged. Surely she's not thin enough to be an addict? But on the bright side, she's heard that rehab places are wall-to-wall jacuzzis, gymnasiums and rock stars going tepid turkey. Rachel isn't expecting plump, middle-aged men in brown jumpers, and more group therapy than you can shake a stick at. Worse still she seems to be expected to join in. Heartsick and Luke-sick, she seeks redemption in the shape of Chris, a Man with a Past. A man who might be more trouble than he's worth. Rachel is airlifted from addiction to the unfamiliar terrain of adulthood, via a love story or two, in a novel by turns poignant, powerful and seriously funny.