Ehhh not too much to say. I loved Hope and loathed Ryder. I am glad for the most part that Roberts latest contemporary romances do not have the whole alpha male who is an asshole, but secretly has a heart of gold thing. Most of the crap Ryder did to Hope was "negging" in the first two books (he refuses to use her name and calls her innkeeper) and I thought too many people kept giving him passes. The only reason why I gave this three stars was that Hope was great, that the trilogy seems to take place over a two year period, and it was nice to read a romance that didn't take place in New York. I think Roberts skipped past some really good sub-plots in order to get back to the "investigation" into Lizzy which I still didn't care about.

"The Perfect Hope" finds the Inn Boonsboro ready for the summer. Clare is married and expecting, Avery is engaged to get married the following year, and now Hope feels a bit lost. She was left hurt by the end of her last relationship and realizing that the man she was with, didn't love her, and his family really didn't care about her at all. When her friends propose Ryder (why you guys? Are there no other men) Hope considers it and then proposes a "situation with no strings" with Ryder. 

I just have to say this, Hope was too good for Ryder. I really wish that Roberts had some tension develop with her realizing that Ryder was set in his ways and wasn't opening himself up to her. The way he talked to her in this book and the last two books really set my teeth on edge. And I hated that Hope's supposed friends made it seem like well maybe he has a thing for you. Nope. Nope. Nope. 

Ryder doesn't change at all (IMHO) he just stays the same and then goes around and does the He-Man crap when a situation comes up involving Hope. I just wasn't feeling him at all since it didn't seem to me he was in love with Hope at all. The story put them together, but I wasn't seeing true love through the ages. 

The resolution to the whole ghost thing was eyeroll inducing. I went really a few times and just didn't care. I think for me that the series was just a platform to showcase Roberts new business and I wish that there had been more development of the last two romances in the series. I loved Clare and Beckett, loved Avery and felt meh about Owen, and then loved Hope and loathed Ryder. 

Well not too much to say except this was kind of boring. Roberts seems mostly fixated on the decorations in this one and not actually developing the characters. We have one moment of tension/plot that is quickly dealt with which didn't feel realistic to me. I liked Avery and Owen separately, but didn't really find their love story engaging at all. Also I just realized the whole ghost thing is reminding me way too much of "In the Garden" and it just started to bug me after a while. 

"The Last Boyfriend" follows the events of the last book several months later. We now have Clare and Beckett planning for their wedding and that of course has Avery thinking about romance. Avery starts to wonder about Owen after the two of them have a moment together. Owen likes his life and business perfectly ordered. When he decides to get involved with Avery, he realizes that he's going to have to let some things go if they are going to be able to have a future together.

I don't know. This book felt off to me somewhat. Too many things were happening. Owen and Avery are thinking about and then do start dating. We had Owen and Hope still trying to figure out "Lizzy's" identity. The Montgomery boys mother has more and more plans and Avery has a secret dream that may involve all of them. Clare is trying to get her wedding plans together. Someone from Avery's past returns and then we have a misunderstanding that left me wanting to smack Owen. Everything was just thrown at you in this book with people still screeching about the picture perfect inn. 

I do agree with some reviewers that Avery really was a great heroine and I have to say she was. I liked her spontaneity and why she got into cooking and I loved her dream and how that all came about. I do think that Roberts rushed through one of her sub-plots though. It could have given the book some needed tension.

Owen was just boring and reminded me of a dozen of Roberts male character tropes in her trilogies. 

The writing was fine, the flow was eh and I was ultimately bored when we got to the ending. I am going to say that I am glad that we get to see seasons/months change in this series. Often Roberts trilogies take place over a couple of weeks/months and it doesn't feel realistic to have people just falling in love back to back. 

Well this is my second attempt at reading this book. I tried back in 2017 and just gave up at that point. I think it was all of the information provided about the renovations and decorating. Sorry, I just didn't care. And this was before my whole house needed to be renovated in 2018 and even then I have to say I doubt I would have cared this much still about decorative details. For readers who don't know. the Inn BoonsBoro is a real live place that Roberts owns and operates. And yes the inn does have rooms based on romantic literature pairings. There is an Eve and Roarke room which...I am sorry, still makes me laugh. The book itself was solid though when you ignored the decorating and renovation stuff. I liked the characters of Beckett and Clare. I thought that Roberts did a great job with a widow moving on so this had shades of 'second chance' romance since Beckett and Clare knew each other as kids, but not quite since they only became involved in this book. That said, this book borrows a lot from previous Roberts trilogies. I wonder at all of her single mom characters having three kids (see "In the Garden" and even "The Chesapeake Bay series" that had three boys initially which expanded to four boys.)

"The Next Always" follows Beckett Montgomery (shout-out to Jude Deveraux's Montgomery series) and Clare Brewster. Clare returned to BoonsBoro after the death of her husband. She owns a bookstore and is raising her three young sons with help from her parents and her in-laws. She thinks about romance, but no one has touched her the way her dead husband Clint did. That is until Beckett Montgomery. Clare has known Beckett for years. She now wonders about him and feels heat when he is near. As for Beckett, he had feelings for Clare way back in high school but never stood a chance with her when she fell in love with her husband. Now he has a chance with her and wants to make it work. Throw in Clare's three sons, a ghost, and a stalker, and you have "The Next Always."

I really did like Clare, I loved how open she was with still loving her husband Clint, but realizing she was developing feelings for Beckett. I hate romances which either make the dead spouse a louse and or just make it that the woman or man in question was not as big a love as the new one (looking at you Cedar Cove and Virgin River series). I think that is why most romance readers stay away from widow/widower romances, because you have to wonder at the person finding love again when the first time sucked so bad. Clare's three sons were adorable and cracked me up.

Beckett was great and we get some insight into him and his brothers, Ryder and Owen. Have to say that I loathed Ryder in this one. Him refusing to call a woman by her first damn name and just her job description ticked me off. I also liked Beckett realizing he was dating a single mother and she came in a package. He also didn't get his back up about Clare's first marriage.

The secondary characters such as Owen, Hope, and Avery were great. As said above, I hated Ryder. Can Roberts not always include some random asshole that no one calls out for his assholiness? I noticed in her later book she has pretty much done away with the alpha male trope (thank God). I am remembering how much I loved "Currents" for this very reason. We get a male who can actually discuss his feelings and not be a jerk to the woman he supposedly loves.

The mom in this one was pretty absent besides popping in and demanding her sons change things. She needed way more development.

The writing was pretty good, think the whole stalking angle was a wash though since it didn't really fit in the book, I imagine Roberts did this to add in some tension.

The setting of BoonsBoro sounds pretty cool. I have driven past this area before (I live in VA and my family is back in PA) so I have to admit I am tempted to go by it to just see if it matches what is in my head. Onto the next book in the series when it is available via the library!

My Friday reads are the following two books: