BLOG TOUR: Hope Restored (Gallagher Brothers #3)

Read on for my review of Carrie Ann Ryan's final Gallaher Brothers book - HOPE RESTORED.

Hope Restored (Gallagher Brothers #3), by Carrie Ann Ryan
Publish Date: July 25, 2017
Publisher: self-published
Format: e-ARC, provided by the author and Inkslinger PR
Genre: adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Rating: 4.5 STARS

(Synopsis) The Gallagher Brothers series from NYT Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan concludes with the final brother who thought he had everything to look forward to, and the one woman who can handle him.

Life isn’t worth living if you don’t fight to live. That’s what Murphy Gallagher learned at a young age when cancer ravaged his body not once, but twice. Over the course of his survival, he lost his parents and his childhood, but he’s been healthy for years and has become a man he hopes his family is proud of. But when his world tilts on its axis yet again, he’ll have to learn what it means to fight not only the unknown but also his attraction to his best friend.

Tessa Stone works hard and plays harder. She’s spent her life trying to figure out who she is in the present rather than looking back. Yet when she’s forced into close proximity with Murphy, she’ll have to not only be his rock but learn how to relax enough to maybe let him be hers, as well. But seduction doesn’t stop when the world seems to, and close encounters of the naked kind might just be the first step in something much more complicated than either of them bargained for. Life, though, is for living, after all.

It seems fitting that Murphy Gallagher's story was saved for last. We've known about him and his two previous successful battles with cancer since before the Gallagher Brothers series started (Murphy's brother Jake mentioned it in his book in the Montgomery Ink series). He's stood by while his three brothers found their soul mates and started families. He's had the hardest road of all of them, and yet he's always been the most positive. I've been wanting him to find a good woman since the very beginning.

Hope Restored is one of those special books where I absolutely adored both main characters the whole way through the book. Murphy is hit with some news that rocks his world pretty early in the book. It's impossible not to root for this awesome guy. His attitude is admirable. He leans on his family and friends for love and strength and encouragement and advice. And when the chance for love comes his way, he opens his heart to it instead of fighting it. Well... mostly. Because it's always fun when they resist just a little bit. The fall is totally worth it. 

Tessa and Murphy are adorable as BFFs. They always have this underlying sexual tension and flirty banter going back and forth that tell you that all the sexual things they say to each other in jest have a ring of truth to them. But neither of them are willing to risk the friendship for a roll in the hay. That is, until circumstances cause them to start living together. Being in such close quarters together with Murphy's new struggles causes that sexual tension to snap, and oh my. It's just the best thing ever when that happens. Because these two are just SO good together.

I love how close the Gallaghers are to one another. They don't always agree with the things they do, but they love each other fiercely and support each other unerringly. The girls that they love become best friends and the whole group of them rally when both Murphy and Tessa need them. No matter what awful thing might be happening to one of them, this family dynamic always adds hope to the mix, and Carrie Ann Ryan is awesome for doing that.

I'm hoping we might still catch glimpses of the Gallagher brothers and their wives in the Montgomery Ink series, thanks to Jake, Maya and Border. Because I need to keep tabs on this incredible family.

Carrie Ann Ryan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary and paranormal romance. Her works include the Montgomery Ink, Redwood Pack, Talon Pack, and Gallagher Brothers series, which have sold over 2.0 million books worldwide. She started writing while in graduate school for her advanced degree in chemistry and hasn’t stopped since. Carrie Ann has written over fifty novels and novellas with more in the works. When she’s not writing about bearded tattooed men or alpha wolves that need to find their mates, she’s reading as much as she can and exploring the world of baking and gourmet cooking.

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