Review

The Next Always is the first book in the Inn Boonsboro trilogy and is a delightful story full of romance and mystery.

The Inn Boonsboro trilogy features the three Montgomery brothers – Beckett, Ryder, and Owen. They are working together to renovate a bed-and breakfast in Boonsboro, Maryland. The B&B is full of history and even a ghost.

The Next Always features Beckett Montgomery. Beckett is the architect behind the design of the Inn Boonsboro. He is content with his life, but longs for the girl he has had a crush on since high school: Clare Brewster.

Clare is a widow with three small boys. She hasn’t dated much since her husband’s passing and hasn’t felt as if she was missing anything, until she gets close to Beckett and is hit with a want. She wants Beckett. 

These two are a sweet couple. I really enjoyed the portrayal of their everyday life. Their first date is cut very short by Clare’s youngest getting sick on Beckett’s shoes. There are a lot of dates that involve her children and scheduling conflicts because of sitters. I loved that it felt realistic. As a mother of three kids the same ages as Clare’s, I could relate to a lot of the things that she was dealing with.

Their relationship moves at a fast pace, but it feels organic. They have known each other since childhood and have friendship working for them as they fall in love. Their relationship isn’t perfect and there are some bumps along the way.

A lot of The Next Always is made up of details. The details of the different rooms in the B&B. At times the descriptions were a little too much and I found myself skipping sections. I didn’t care what color the ceiling in a room was going to be. I wanted to know more about the characters and their relationships. One thing I did like about the rooms at the B&B however were their names. Each room is named after a romantic couple with a happy ending. (There is even an Eve &Roarke room!)

My least favorite thing about The Next Always was the ghost that haunts the B&B. I felt that it wasn’t necessary to the story and was used too heavily as a plot device. Several of the big moments in the story happen because of the ghost, but they could have happened a different way. The ghost just didn’t fit the rest of the story for me.

I loved the secondary characters and can’t wait to learn more about Beckett’s brothers and Clare’s two best friends, Avery and Hope.  I will definitely be reading the next two books in this series.

Reviewed by Carrie