Review: The Next Always by Nora Roberts

When it comes to feel-good books with family bonds and extended friends, I know I can always depend upon Ms. Roberts to deliver. This book has been quietly waiting on my TBRPile. I am so glad I finally picked it up. I enjoyed it from beginning to end. Now I need to finish the trilogy.

This first book is setting the stage for us as we see an Inn being restored to its former glory. This trilogy will be focused on the Montgomery brothers and their future brides. The first to fall is Beckett who has been in love with Clare since high school. He never got the girl because Clare fell in love with her high school sweetheart, had three boys with him, and then lost him to war.

This setup is interesting because it is a second chance romance but with a twist. Clare's already been married to the love of her life. She has three beautiful reminders of this great love. How can Beckett ever compete? Is it possible to have a second love and how does it compare to the first? Is there even a comparison? Ms. Roberts does a lovely job of showing possibilities and removing irrelevant comparisons. I loved this romance between Beckett and Clare.

Unsurprisingly, there is a conflict in this story, just not from where I thought it would come from. I guess it would be too easy to have the conflict be just between Beckett and Clare with his new romance. Instead, there is another person involved that just blows my mind. Essentially Clare has a stalker who seems to be living in their own reality. It's a bit unnerving how twisted things become in the stalker's mind.

Conflict and romance aside, one of the reasons why I enjoy Ms. Roberts' contemporary romance books so much is learning about other people's day job. We are able to see a day in the life of what remodeling companies do. We even get to see what issues they run into and how they handle them. This is very appealing to me. There is also a little bit of supernatural to the story which helps tie this trilogy together a bit more. I like it. This contemporary romance is recommended to readers who want their second chance romances with a happily ever after.