Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge

October 1, 1985
Anderson collects recipes from the stories of her favorite author and arranges them according to degrees of difficulty. The directions for oldtime favorites are clear, neatly illustrated by Milone, who also evokes the cheery households in Alcott's Little Women and Little Men with animated drawings. The author's forewords contain notes on Alcott's turbulent life, but they're too sketchy to add particular interest. Young readers will, however, certainly enjoy preparing and eating the specialties of the March and Baer kitchens: apple pie, Boston brown bread, muffins, pattycakes, strawberry pie and other tempters.

July 4, 2016
Krueger's enjoyable light contemporary fantasy novel will satisfy fans of bars and bartenders. Bailey Chen is fresh out of business school, but she has no plan, so she's living with her parents in Chicago and working at a bar where her lifelong friend Zaneâwith whom she shares emotional baggage that isn't quite in the pastâis a bartender. When Bailey kills an attacking demonic creature called a tremens, she learns that bartenders have a far deeper history than most people know, and that drinks mixed with a specific brand of booze can temporarily give her magic powers to fight the monsters. Nobody believes her when she notices supposedly impossible things the creatures are doing that could signal an oncoming tremen apocalypse, and some of those she trusts may be more dangerous to her than demons. The rare action scenes are brief but intense, but even a flood of tremens takes a backseat to Bailey fighting her way through the shadowy bartenders' world. The climax seems a little too easy, but the winning main characters and the occasional histories of the drinks provide plenty of fun. Agent: Jennie Goloboy.

February 15, 2016

College graduate Bailey Chen is scraping by as a bar-back in her friend Zane's uncle's establishment. Bailey quickly realizes her personal demons are nothing compared to the ones she discovers on the streets of Chicago. When she learns about the demon hunters, which include Zane and a group of monster-battling bartenders, she figures out that the key to fighting these apparitions is literal spirits: vodka grants superstrength, rum provides pyrokinesis, and whiskey gives the power to move objects. Even with this mixology magic, these creatures are not playing by the rules, and it appears there are even more threats from less savory individuals. Attempts to concoct the world's most powerful cocktail--the Long Island Iced Tea--has not been successful in centuries. Can Bailey, Zane, and their group come through before that power is lost again, or worse, ends up in hands of the wrong people? VERDICT This action-packed first novel serves smooth sips of new adult angst with a twist of humor.--KC

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2016
Picture a world in which alcohol gives people superpowers and bartenders are the guardians and protectors of the human race. Bailey Chen, our protagonist, discovers just such a world while working in her friend's bar after completing college. After being attacked by a horrible, squirming, four-legged thing, Chen is pulled into the secret group of demon-fighting bartenders based on her excellent bartending skills. She is given The Devil's Water Dictionary in order to learn how to make the drinks that provide the special powers, and the reader sees extracts from this dictionary throughout the book. Chen is a strong female character who is able to lead the way in a scandal that rocks the secret society. Although there is a romantic story line, it does not detract from Chen's superpower of confidence, intelligence, and natural drink-mixing ability. The main character makes this book great, as the voice and insight are believable and fun. This book will appeal to a wide range of sf fans as the rest of the cast is believable and the hidden world of tremens (demonlike creatures) is great.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)