Review: Over and Above by Annabeth Albert (Mount Hope #4)

February 28, 2025

Note: An advance reader copy (ARC) was provided by the author.

Over and Above is the fourth full-length novel in the Annabeth Albert-penned Mount Hope series, and this is the book that has our widower, single father of four (Maren, Rowan, John, and Wren), and paramedic Eric finding love again. If you've read the previous books in the series, it would have been difficult for you to have missed Magnus, also a single father (to Diesel), fur dad (to Ben and Jerry), and owner of The Heist, a bar and grill in Mount Hope. (Side note: I'm a wee bit frustrated that I can't recall if their last names were mentioned at any point in the series or in this book of theirs. I have a thing about main characters needing surnames, but that's just a quirk of mine.) Magnus doesn't make it a secret that he's interested in Eric, even though he respects the latter's need for time and space as he continues to grieve his late husband's passing and dealing with life in the aftermath. And it's not as if the attraction isn't mutual, but Eric refuses to give in to temptation and decides steering clear of the flirtatious bar owner is best. But now, they're about to be grandparents to Maren and Diesel's child, and to make things even more complicated, Eric goes over and above by offering Magnus and his dogs a place to stay after a terrible house fire. Will being in close proximity to each other lead to friendship with benefits and more?

Save for the prequel novella, Eric was that constant supporting character that you couldn't help but feel deserved a happily-ever-after. He was the the man who lost his husband and whose four children always came first. He always had such a strong support system courtesy of his best friends--and then later, their respective partners, as each one found love and happiness. I think having Magnus as a constant presence in his life and not pushing him constantly to do this or that, choosing instead to give him options to consider, was what Eric needed. I liked that they became closer friends as well as becoming lovers, and that Magnus helped Eric embrace grandparenthood, even if the circumstances may not have been deemed as ideal initially. Eric's and Magnus's kids were as interesting as their parents, what with Maren and Diesel dealing with not just being a couple, but also becoming parents, Rowan leaving the nest for life as an actor in California, and John and Wren handling all the changes in their young lives (and yes, I'm going to need to know what's brewing between John and Scotty). Add in the usual suspects and Over and Above was a 4.5-starred end (for now maybe) to this wonderfully character-driven Mount Hope series.

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Read my reviews for the Mount Hope series: