Love It: Hope Rises by Alice Bello

Series: Hope Trilogy 3
Format: Mobi
Release Date: January 6, 2014
Publisher: Self-Published
Source: Author
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Hope Jones’ life is falling apart.

She has two men competing for her attention—who knew that would be a bad thing! She has yet another ultimatum from her boss: recruit her famous ex-boyfriend and competing photographer, or lose her job. And she can’t stop running into the people she wants to avoid.

What’s a girl to do?

And so it ends. Alice Bello's super fun, entertaining and crazy novella starring cover art photographer/artist, Hope Jones, has come to a conclusion. It was fun while it started but it ended well, Hope found the resolution and redemption she wanted, got her HEA AND HOPE RISES opened a window for a spin-off. More on that later. 

It all started in Hope Breaks, Hope met and started a heated romance with hunky mechanic, Jake, but bungled it up because Hope wasn't very straightforward with Jake which broke the latter's trust on her. In Hope Entangles, Jake and Hope tried their darnest to get over each other and move on but to no avail. On the Hope front, she got a gorgeous distraction c/o of her neighbor, Raphael which made Jake's hackles rise. There was a mild love triangle going on for a bit because Hope was on the rebound and attracted to Raphael but Jake still holds her heart. Now it all came to a head in HOPE RISES where everything fell into place and everything ended happily. 

HOPE RISES was such a treat. Things just got more and more ridiculous and hilarious that it felt like this comedic party! I sure missed Jake and Hope's warring moms but the secondary characters more than made up for their absence. Bette and Raphael's brewing romance was a little surprise but made sense plus there are a few others that provided a lot of comedic relief. My only critique lie on the conflict where Jake's ex-wife/Hope's ex-BFF saw Hope and planted a seed of doubt in her and sent Hope running. A little shallow but in a way it's in line with the theme of the series and it's not as outrageous as I initially thought.

I wanted a happily ever after, and I wanted everyone around me to have one too. - Hope

And though I'm sad that Hope Trilogy is done, I'm happy that Hope's crazy bestie, Bette, is getting a spin-off! This lady is off the hook and I can't wait to read this firecracker's story. Just a brief description, Bette's a buxom, shotgun toting redhead who got rich making money out of doing sexy videos. Not porn but more like soft porn/mundane fetish. Anyway, Bette caught Raphael's eye (Hope's Raphael) and I know that their story is going to be very interesting. Raphael is a comic character too, gorgeous, geeky, quiet millionaire who makes these homemade breads that sounds amazing and totally scrumptious. So there's a kind of opposites-attract thing going on here and I will be first in line to read their book. I have a feeling that it'll be just as, if not even more, entertaining as Hope Trilogy.

Check out the first two novellas in the series

or you can get the omnibus so you can binge