Romance Book Review: Nora Roberts' The Perfect Hope

Author: Nora Roberts
Series Connection: Inn BoonsBoro Trilogy, Book #3

Genre: Contemporary Romance/ Paranormal/ Ghosts

Publisher: Putnam Trade Paperback

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The Perfect Hopes brings the Inn BoonsBoro Trilogy to an end with the featured story about the third Montgomery brother Ryder and the Inn BoonsBoro's innkeeper Hope. When Hope first came to town and took the job as innkeeper, Ryder didn't take to her right away. She was too beautiful and everyone made the decision to hire her too quickly. Time has gone by and his feelings toward Hope didn't seem to change much. 

Yes she was beautiful and who wouldn't look at her, but he liked his life. His brothers were both attached to their women, but that wasn't going to be Ryder. 

Hope left D.C. with a broken heart and wanting a change and a new job. When she's offered the innkeeper job at Inn BoonBoro she takes it. It has been a long dry spell of a year since she started her new life. She loves her town and just maybe Ryder would be someone who she can share a sexual relationship with. She's not asking for anything more right now, because frankly she doesn't think Ryder is all the interested in something more. But just sexual relationships have a way of catching up with you and turning into a little bit more. 

In the meantime, Ryder's brother Owen and Hope are continuing to research the details of the life of the woman whose ghost haunts the Inn. Lizzy first made herself known to Beckett in the first book to the trilogy, Next Always. The group is hoping they can find out why Lizzy's spirit is still haunting the Inn. They know that she once had a love named Billy and if they can find the answer to the mystery of what happened to him, who knows, maybe Lizzy can be happy and cross over. 

This book is so Nora Roberts. I was delighted to see that she kept Ryder in character from Book 1 until the series end. Hope is not at all the woman he thought she was at the start and that is good. I really like the character she evolved into. All and all a nice end to a fairly good series. I'm still thinking that My Last Boyfriend is my favorite of the bunch, but this one is neck and neck with it. 

Description:

Ryder is the hardest Montgomery brother to figure out—with a tough-as-nails outside and possibly nothing too soft underneath. He’s surly and unsociable, but when he straps on a tool belt, no woman can resist his sexy swagger. Except apparently Hope Beaumont, the innkeeper of his own Inn BoonsBoro…

As the former manager of a D.C. hotel, Hope is used to excitement and glamour, but that doesn’t mean she can’t appreciate the joys of small-town living. She’s where she wants to be—except for in her love life. Her only interaction with the opposite sex has been sparring with the infuriating Ryder, who always seems to get under her skin. Still, no one can deny the electricity that crackles between them…a spark that ignited with a New Year’s Eve kiss.

While the Inn is running smoothly, thanks to Hope’s experience and unerring instincts, her big-city past is about to make an unwelcome—and embarrassing—appearance. Seeing Hope vulnerable stirs up Ryder’s emotions and makes him realize that while Hope may not be perfect, she just might be perfect for him…
Read an excerpt