The Next Always

September 19, 2011
Perennial bestseller Roberts draws extensively on her experiences of renovating and operating Inn BoonsBoro for this trilogy launch not so much set in as advertising the bed-and-breakfast and its adorable neighboring town. Architect Beckett Montgomery has had a crush on Clare Brewster since high school, and sparks finally fly between them when Clare gets involved in the work of restoring the historic Maryland hotel. The widowed Clare has a bookstore to run and three small boys to take care of, but Beckett reminds her how to lean on others for help and fall in love again. Roberts paints a charming picture of smalltown life with likable characters, but supernatural thriller elements feel out of place in the bucolic contemporary setting, and too much detail about the nuts and bolts of the inn’s restoration slows down the story.

October 15, 2011
In Roberts' new series launch, the conversion of a tumbledown Maryland hotel into a boutique country inn fails to expel an extremely shy resident ghost. The first half of the novel, essentially an extended prologue, is painstakingly slow. As Roberts demonstrates a newfound passion for construction minutia (perhaps because she renovated and owns Inn Boonsboro in real life), the activities of architect Beckett Montgomery and his two builder brothers as they retrofit a historic building in Boonsboro (near the Antietam battlefield) unfold almost in real time. Working under the supervision of their benevolent tyrant of a mother, the brothers exchange good-natured macho gibes as they appoint the Inn-to-be with the most opulent tile, woodwork and fixtures. Amid all the bromance, Beckett watches longingly as his crush since grade school, Clare, goes about running her amazingly profitable independent bookstore while raising three unruly boys alone. (Her soldier husband died in Iraq.) Does she or doesn't she notice him, Beckett muses ad infinitum. Meanwhile, Clare tells herself that Beckett is not really interested, just being kind to a war widow. Once this minor miscommunication is cleared up, the two begin a tentative relationship, however, the necessity of introducing obstacles to true love has Roberts stretching for things for them to squabble about, including the sighting by Clare's youngest son of a ghostly lady dressed in an old-timey long gown, staring from an upper story window of the Inn. (The ghost, nicknamed "Lizzy," has betrayed her presence to Beckett and a few others only with a scent of honeysuckle and a penchant for opening doors.) Cartoonish villain Sam, the spoiled, indolent son of the area's wealthiest family, stalks Clare and tries to take indecent liberties, but his belated appearance, and his failure to pose a believable threat, do little to propel the plot. The fictional doppelganger of Boonsboro is an anachronistic bubble, seemingly untouched by the blight besetting so many American small towns. An effective infomercial--and guest-room sleep-aid--for Inn BoonsBoro.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

October 15, 2011

Up to his eyeballs in the details of working with his family's contracting company to restore Boonsboro's dilapidated historic hotel and turn it into an elegant, boutique bed-and-breakfast, architect/carpenter Beckett Montgomery has had little time for a social life. But when a brief, slightly enchanted moment in the shadowy hotel results in a near kiss between him and Clare Brewster, the woman he has been attracted to since high school, the stage is set for romance and a relationship neither had expected. A young war widow with three scrappy young sons; a hunky, caring, kid-friendly hero; two rambunctious trios of brothers; and the inn's resident ghost trailing honeysuckle and silvery laughter make this another winner for Roberts. VERDICT Incorporating zingy humor, spot-on dialog, and a bone-deep understanding of brotherly relationships, Roberts has taken a page from her own life as the owner and restorer of the Inn BoonsBoro to launch what promises to be another winning trilogy--touching, funny, sweetly sexy, slightly paranormal, and just plain satisfying. Roberts (Chasing Fire) lives in Keedysville, MD (just a stone's throw from Boonsboro).

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 15, 2011
Beckett has no trouble whatsoever talking to women. It's just Claire who has him at a loss for words. It all began when Beckett fell hard and fast for Claire in high school, but Claire wound up marrying Beckett's best friend, Clint. Now, more than a decade later, Claire, a war widow, is back in Boonsboro, building a new life for herself and her sons as the owner of the town's bookstore. Even though renovating the local inn keeps Beckett busy, he still manages to bump into Claire at least once a day, and he still finds himself surprisingly tongue-tied. Finally, when Beckett offers Claire an early tour of the inn, it leads to an unexpected kiss. With the first impeccably written and richly emotional installment in her new contemporary romantic trilogy, Roberts delivers all the elements her readers enjoy, including a perfectly matched pair of protagonists and a plot spiced with danger, a touch of the paranormal, and deliciously tart humor. Readers will also relish the autobiographical dimension. The novel is set in Roberts' hometown, Boonsboro, Maryland, in which she owns a restored inn and is the proprietor of Turn the Page bookstore.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)