Overview

He came for the burger but stayed for the bartender.

Finn O'Brien had two making a killer cocktail and spectacularly bad decisions. So naturally, he quit his soul-crushing job to co-own a gay sports bar in Tampa with his best friend. What could go wrong?

Well, forgetting to actually promote their grand opening, for one.

On the bright side, while Finn stood behind a bar with no customers and a growing pile of bills, a rumpled blonde in a crooked tie shuffled in and parked himself in a corner booth.

Chase didn't talk much.

Finn talked too much.

Chase was buttoned-up, guarded, and allergic to fun.

Finn was a mess of freckles and bad jokes who didn't know when to quit.

They had absolutely nothing in common—except the way Chase kept showing up, night after night, claiming he was just there for the burger.

Between a meddling best friend, a kitchen staff placing bets on when Finn would finally make a move, and the world's slowest-burning attraction, Finn had a bar to save, a found family to build, and a grumpy lawyer to crack—one colorfully named drink at a time.

Popped! is the first book in the Barbacks series—a slow-burn rom-com for anyone who's ever stress-organized a spreadsheet, crushed on someone completely unavailable, or wondered if it's weird to learn a regular's order by heart.

(It was weird. Finn knew it was weird.)

If you like the swoony slow burns of Riley Hart, the sharp banter of Eden Finley, or the found-family warmth of a TJ Klune novel—but with a lot more whiskey, you'll love this series.

595 pages