THE LAST BOYFRIEND - Nora Roberts
The Inn Boonsboro Trilogy , Book 2
Berkley
ISBN: 978-0-425-24603-0
May 2012
Contemporary Romance

Boonsboro , Maryland - Present Day

Owen Montgomery likes to keep busy, and Montgomery Family Construction is keeping him very busy these days. Between the Inn BoonsBoro, which he and his family are restoring and are almost ready to reopen, the bakery they are adding to Main Street , as well as a few other projects, the brothers are trying to finish off Beckett's house before he marries Clare in a few months.  Luckily, they have plenty of help with the inn, as Hope, their manager, as well as Avery McTavish, a family friend, have been indispensable.  As the detail man, Owen likes to keep things orderly and well-planned, but when Lizzy, the resident ghost, pushes Avery into Owen's arms one day, his life takes a turn for the spontaneous.

At five years of age, Avery announced that she was going to marry Owen Montgomery, and though they've never dated (since then of course) they are the best of friends.  So the surprising lip-lock throws her for a loop, but not as much of one as it apparently does Owen.  Avery's wondering now, what would it be like to date Owen, a man who has proven through the years that he is a good friend, and a man you can depend on.  Is it possible that her first boyfriend could also be her last?

Welcome back to the Inn BoonsBoro, which is just about ready for business.  First introduced to the Montgomery family in THE NEXT ALWAYS, THE LAST BOYFRIEND features Owen Montgomery and his good friend Avery.  They've known each other all of their lives, but in this book they find that there are stronger feelings between them than they had supposed.  With the inn opening across Main Street from Avery's pizza place, the whole group has gotten to see a lot more of each other in the past two years, and since Becket fell in love with Avery's best friend Clare, they've all been spending more time together outside of work as well.  Avery and Owen are both a little surprised by the desire that springs up between them, and because of their long lasting friendship, they decide to explore those feelings slowly.  And as the construction on the inn winds down, more than just their relationship is heating up.

Well-known for her family-centric stories, Nora Roberts once again has a winning cast of characters in the Inn BoonsBoro trilogy.  While they may seem like opposites—Owen is a born planner and Avery enjoys spontaneity, for example—the two are also very much alike.  Because the trilogy focuses on the family, Becket and Clare, Ryder, Hope, Justine, and Carolee, as well as Clare's three sons also play a large part in the novel, adding both insight and comic relief.  Making herself a little more known in this story is Lizzy, the ghost who lives at the Inn and—now that people are communicating with her—is looking for answers.  Fun, engaging characters blend with a sweet romance in the spectacular THE LAST BOYFRIEND.

Jennifer Bishop