Book Review — The Bitterroot Inn by Devney Perry

“I’m the man falling in love with you, Maisy. I’m the man falling in love with your son… I’m asking you to take a leap of faith with me. Trust me with your heart.”

• Buy THE BITTERROOT INN (Kindle)
• Buy THE BITTERROOT INN (Paperback)
• Buy THE BITTERROOT INN (iBooks)

HOLY WOW!!! This was an absolutely perfect book!! I finished the last page of the epilogue with happy tears pouring down my face, my heart racing wildly, and experiencing an overflow of contentment because this book was truly incredible! The perfect ending to a perfect series! It was the ultimate romance novel and I lost myself for many blissful hours in this story swooning over absolutely everything about it! It features a strong single mom, her utterly adorable little son, and one of the most heart-meltingly sexy and protective heroes you’ll ever read!!

I’ve loved every single book in the Jamison Valley series and I can’t recommend them highly enough to absolutely every reader who loves pure, swoon-filled, heart-stopping romance!

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again and again and again — Devney Perry has truly perfected the art of writing romance. Her books all have the exact right balance of everything — the stories are beautiful and compelling, the characters come to life as you read and you truly feel like they’re real people you personally know, her romance is hot and sexy while still being emotionally charged, believable, and deeply heart-felt, and each one of her books has always left me with a huge smile on my face and my heart bursting with happiness. And most importantly, she has shown me over and over again, that I can trust her as an author to take her stories right to the very edge but she never crosses certain lines which to me as a reader are so very important. She’s now one of the very few authors I feel truly safe to dive into anything she writes blindly and with full trust that I will enjoy whatever direction she chooses to take the story in. For me as a reader, finding that is a truly rare and precious thing.

Hehehe – actually in each one of my reviews of her books, I always end up just gushing over her writing so much that I have to remind myself to actually review the book in question. So, I’m focusing, I’m focusing. Here goes…

This story begins with an intense start that takes place a couple years before the beginning of the book with Maisy about give birth and Hunter revealing secrets that connect him to her in mysterious ways…

“Owie!” She bent over her pregnant belly and hissed out a long breath through clamped teeth.
My legs started to push off the floor but I stopped before I could rise from my seat. It wasn’t my job to comfort her through her contraction. She had her brother and her family for that. I was just a stranger.
Still, I wanted the job. I wanted to be the man rubbing her back and kissing her hair. I wanted to hold her hand and let her squeeze it with all her might. I wanted to tell her how beautiful she was as her baby made its way into the world.
How fucked up was that?
I’d seen her for the first time just a minute ago, but one look and all I could think about was making her mine. Two minutes ago, I would have told you that shit didn’t happen in real life. Men like me didn’t believe in love at first sight.
Two minutes ago, I was a chump.

To give a bit of a refresher that is hopefully as non-spoilery as possible — a few years back, Maisy basically trusted the wrong guy, became pregnant, and was then forced to kill her baby’s crazed father in self defense. Naturally, this experience had left her incredibly wary of trusting men. And even though she still longed for an epic romance of her own, her son was her number one priority and she was very careful about anyone she brought into their lives.

I wanted a strong and honest man to come crashing into my life. I wanted to be swept off my feet in a whirlwind romance. But more than anything, I wanted to find a man who I could trust completely. A man who wouldn’t hide things from me.
Unfortunately, pickings were slim in small-town Montana and I wasn’t about to settle for anything less than perfect. It wasn’t just my heart on the line. I had a little boy to consider first.

Then Hunter walked into her inn… still mysteriously keeping secrets he was ashamed to reveal to her, but unable to stay away from the woman who had captivated him from the first time he’d laid eyes on her in the maternity ward so many years ago.

“I don’t want you to see my mess.”
“Maisy, do you think a mess is going to scare me away?” He took one step closer, breaking the barrier on my intimate space. The heat from his broad chest warmed my face and I held my breath, waiting for his next move. “If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m staying until you make me leave.”

Oh my freaking gosh, I ADORED THEM TOGETHER!!! I was damn curious about Hunter’s secret but honestly, I wasn’t worried. I trusted his character. He just was such a genuinely good guy that I couldn’t help but feel that if he was keeping something quiet, there was a good reason for it.

So for whatever reason, Hunter was determined to become a part of her life and protect her. He was certain that once she discovered his secret, she’d never want to see him again so he considered every moment with her as treasured but borrowed time — believing that inevitably it would have to come to an end when the truth came out.

All those years ago, when I’d first seen Maisy in the maternity ward of the hospital, I had made an assumption about her. Spending time with her these last two weeks, I knew I’d been right.
Maisy Holt was pure joy. She was goodness personified. She was a beam of sunshine breaking through the clouds in my life.
I’d walked away from her back then.
I’d avoided her the last time I’d lived in Prescott.
I wouldn’t do either ever again. I wasn’t giving her up without a fight.
I’d come to Prescott with a plan: to look out for this beautiful soul. My plan had just changed. Now I was here to win her heart.

You guys… be prepared for some serious SWOOOOOOOON in this book because there are few things as heart melting as watching a guy bond with the child of the woman he’s falling in love with.

Actually, one of the most beautiful parts of this book was seeing Hunter transition from a naturally protective hero to a full-on dad. He embraced his growing role as a father figure in Coby’s life with all his heart and the way he adopted and welcomed him into his heart and life was one of the sweetest things I’ve ever read.

“I’m the man falling in love with you, Maisy. I’m the man falling in love with your son… I’m asking you to take a leap of faith with me. Trust me with your heart.”

Secrets or no, I adored Hunter and Maisy together and in every other respect, they were a genuinely functional couple who I was so happy to see deal with everything life through at them maturely and with no excess drama.

And yet, despite their maturity, the suspenseful elements in this book are intense!!! And I think it’s the sign of just genuinely GOOD writing when this level of drama is generated with NO STUPIDITY whatsoever. Gah, I can’t stop gushing about this book.

I huffed out a loud breath and sank into his chest. “I’m still hurt.” He needed to know that, despite the hot sex, I was still hesitant…
He kissed my hair. “I know.”
“How do we move past it all?”
“One day at a time,” he whispered. “And when you’re ready to start again, I’ll be right here.”

There’s something intrinsically special about reading a new book by a favorite author. It’s like sitting down to a feast of all your favorite foods. You know you’re going to love it and so it just becomes about savoring every bite.

And it’s not just the romance that’s beautiful about this book. The family dynamics are PURE GOLD! Omg, there was this one absolutely gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous scene about halfway through the book with Maisy and her dad that just made tears start rolling right down my cheeks.

Also, I loved seeing all the other couples from the previous books in the background of this story. You don’t *have* to read their books first in order to appreciate this story, but OH MY GOSH, if you’ve read all the other books then this book has some truly special gems for you… Especially the last lines of the epilogue. Seriously. PURE GOLD!

Many of you know how big a fan of Kristen Ashley books I am and while as a general rule, I do not compare authors, I have to make an exception here because I would confidently say, without any question, that if you are a Kristen Ashley fan, you will fall in love with Devney Perry’s books. They are true Alpha male romance perfection. I mean, she just GETS IT. People. Relationships. Tiny gestures. Unspoken moments. Emotions. Angst. Love. Life. Family. Everything. SHE GETS IT. And she has the talent to express that understanding through these beautiful stories.

The Jamison Valley series is one of the best series I have ever read in my entire life. It’s very rare for me to rate every single book in a series 5 stars, but every one of these books deserved it.

This is a must-read series for every romance reader!

Rating: 5++ STARS!! Contemporary Adult Romance!

• Buy THE BITTERROOT INN (Kindle)
• Buy THE BITTERROOT INN (Paperback)
• Buy THE BITTERROOT INN (iBooks)

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Series of standalones.