The Next Always
Ratings29
Average rating3.9
I think this might be my new fav Nora book! I loved Clare and her kids so much. And I'm not normally the biggest fan of Nora's home renovations fetish but I thought the inn sounded so interesting. And ofc it helped that I was treating it like a travel guide for our trip to BoonsBoro! _
https://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-211-the-next-always/
Look, it's Nora Roberts, you're getting small-town coziness, banter, and three best friends who we all know are gonna conveniently end up married to three brothers. This leaned a little harder into supernatural than I expected it would, especially in the last couple chapters or so, what with the ghost living in the hotel writing a message in steam on a mirror to save the FMC from being kidnapped/assaulted, but weirdly I didn't mind it? Pretty low-conflict, low-heat for sure, but an easy comforting type of read. CW behind cut: CW for stalker and some brief sections from his POV, assault and threats. FMC's husband died in the Iraq War, some discussion of that but nothing detailed that I recall.
(2022 Summer Romance Bingo: architect. Would also work for Halloween, ghost, second chance, and widowed protagonist.)
I can always depend on Nora Roberts for a good read, especially with her trilogies. I think I've said it before, but I'll say it again. My favorite books of hers are always the trilogies because I can stay with the characters for a bit longer and it's more fun to watch their stories play out when they maybe would have ended earlier in their own books.
The Next Always has a bit of everything Roberts is good at. A bit of suspense, a bit of thrill, a bit supernatural and a whole lot of romance. You can help but smile while reading. Clare is more realistic than characters in the past have been. A military widow with three young boys, she's dealt with a lot. Beckett is her usual hero with two brothers of his own. This book mostly set the stage for the entire series. We do get to follow Clare & Beckett down the rabbit hole of love, but we get background on the other four characters too.
And the best part about the book is that these places actually do exist! The Inn BoonsBoro is a B&B that she and her husband renovated and run in Maryland and Vesta is a pizza restaurant run by her son, Turn the Page is her husband's bookstore. Even Gifts Inn BoonsBoro is right where she describes in the book. And the rooms are named after literary couples including Eve & Roarke. I have to admit I got a little thrill when I read that part.
I've decided to spend this month reading one book at a time so I tore through this one in a couple of hours. I'm off to the next. Might as well finish out the trilogy tomorrow instead of dragging it out!
