The Perfect Hope by Nora Roberts – a Review

The Perfect Hope by Nora Roberts is the third & final book in her The Inn BoonsBoro Trilogy.  This trilogy takes place in BoonsBoro, Maryland, where the Montgomery brothers have been renovating the old Inn in the town, and as the series continues, they renovate other additions, near the Inn.  The Montgomery family, consists of Ryder, the oldest brother, Owen, Beckett, and their mother, Justine.  When we started this series with The Next Always, Beckett and Clare were the couple in love.  Then in The Last Boyfriend, it belonged to Owen and Avery.  Now it all ends with the final brother, Ryder and the girl whom he calls the innkeeper..Hope.

From the start, when they first met, though we knew they would end up together, neither one of them liked each other.  Hope found Ryder to be surly and unfriendly, not even able to call her by her name.  Ryder thought of the beautiful Hope as snotty, not his type.

He watched his two brothers’ fall in love, and was not in the least interested in tying himself down with any woman, let alone Hope Beaumont.

The wonderful thing about this series, and Nora does this so well, you become invested into the characters, who become your family also.  I loved all the Montgomery’s, and their woman and friends.  I loved the concept of renovating the Inn, Avery’s restaurant, the new fitness place, as well as Clare’s book store, and Avery’s pizza place.  It was like you lived there also.

Throughout the first two books, I was not a big fan of Ryder, though I did like Hope. But as this story unfolds, my opinion of Ryder changes drastically.  Neither one of them can forget the intense reaction to a New Year’s Eve kiss, and then they do again with sparks.  Hope confronts Ryder, and asks him point blank..”are you considering having sex with me”.  Lol Not used to woman being that forthcoming, Ryder hesitates for a short period and they set a date to have sex.  Afterall, sex does not mean that anything more will happen.  This is really a fun beginning of a romance between two unlikely people, and I loved their honesty between each other.

Needless to say, their sexual chemistry is off the wall, and Ryder finds he cannot keep his hands off of Hope.  He begins to look forward to seeing her, as she does with him.  He doesn’t truly understand his feelings, but acts on them. When people from Hope’s past, try to get her to return or threaten her, Ryder finds himself coming to her defense, which at first Hope was not too happy that he acted on his own.  But they both come to terms, and their relationship becomes stronger from that. Ryder does not know how to handle this new found emotional feelings he begins to experience everytime he sees Hope.  She also begins to realize that she is falling in love with Ryder.

In between this wonderful romance is the continuation of the mystery involving the Inn’s resident Ghost, Lizzy.  Both Hope, who is an ancestor of Lizzy, and Owen work hard to find clues, to discover who Lizzy’s Billy is.  I thought this part of the story was more heartwarming in this book, as Lizzy began to show herself more often.  The resolution to this story, especially with it being a part of the town’s past, and  with the entire family getting involved was very well done and emotional.

The romance between Hope and Ryder, was far better then I had expected.  Their romance turned out to be fun, enjoyable and hot.  They made a great couple.

I loved this series; loved the friendships of Clare, Hope and Avery; loved of  the camaraderie of Beckett, Owen and Ryder; loved the entire town of Boonsboro, and adored the children and the dogs.  This is a family oriented series, with an element of mystery, danger, but most of all, family and love.  This was a wonderful series by Nora Roberts, but then again, I love every series by Nora….every single one of them.  Bravo Nora for doing it again.

Reviewed by Barb