Over and Above is the fourth and final book in Annabeth Albert’s series of romances featuring a group of First Responders set in the small fictional town of Mount Hope. All the stories have revolved around a group of friends, at the centre of whom is widowed paramedic Eric, who has opened his home to those friends when they needed somewhere to live and then watched them all couple-up. Like the other books in the series, this one is a solidly readable, low-angst tale with a focus on enduring friendships and found family featuring well-drawn characters and relationships – but it didn’t quite hit the spot for me.

It’s been over a year since Eric’s husband died. He’s been slowly putting himself and his life back together, and might finally be at the stage where he’s ready to at least consider the idea of dating again – not that he has any particular plans in that direction. But his life is suddenly thrown into upheaval again when his daughter, Maren, announces that she’s pregnant, and that she’s going to continue with the pregnancy. Eric is completely blindsided; Maren is only twenty and had been at college, and Eric is not best pleased when he learns that the baby’s father is Diesel, the son of Magnus, who owns The Heist, the local bar and restaurant. He doesn’t think much of Diesel, who, in Eric’s opinion, has yet to grow out of his role as class clown and whose inability to take anything seriously has irritated Eric the few times they’ve met. He is of a mind to give Diesel a bollocking over what’s happened and marches into the bar determined to do just that, but thankfully, Magnus’ cooler head prevails. He became a father himself at a young age and knows how hard a road Maren and Diesel have chosen for themselves, and he calmly reminds Eric that the pair are adults and can make their own decisions. And as that decision is to have the baby, they need support and not censure. Eric knows all this, of course, but that doesn’t mean he’s happy about it. Still, he determines to do better, to be there for Maren (and Diesel) and to do the best he can for them and the baby.

The fact that the new member of the family will bring closer ties to Magnus is also something that Eric isn’t wild about. He and Magnus have known each other for some time, of course, as acquaintances rather than friends, and of late, Eric has been noticing Magnus far more frequently than he’s comfortable with. Magnus makes his interest in Eric clear, but isn’t going to push and has left the ball very much in Eric’s court as to whether anything happens between them.

Then Magnus loses everything in a house fire, and Eric immediately offers him the use of the carriage house on his property while Magnus gets everything sorted out and decides what to do about rebuilding or finding somewhere else to live. Magnus is very quickly adopted by Eric’s friends and family and frequently stops by to cook, or help Wren (Eric’s youngest) to cook without demolishing the kitchen, and those evenings turn into the two of them just hanging out together. A genuine friendship is growing between them, a friendship Eric realises he badly needs, but soon, it’s impossible for him to deny that there’s nothing more than that between him and Magnus. The temptation on his doorstep proves impossible to resist, and the two of them finally give in to the strong mutual attraction zinging between them and embark on a no-strings – but secret – affair.

I liked Eric and I liked Magnus, and I liked them as a couple; Magnus is very grounded and provides the kind of emotional stablity and support Eric needs, and they’re good together and for each other. I liked their easy friendship, the little moments of caring that show they’ve been thinking of each other, and the way Magnus so easily finds a place in Eric’s extensive found family. But too much of the storytelling is focused on Maren’s pregnancy – which isn’t actually that interesting – and means there’s less time to devote to character development and the evolution of the central romance.

Also, I didn’t understand why Eric was so insistent that he and Magnus needed to keep their relationship a secret. Magnus is pretty cool about it, knowing Eric’s situation and not wanting to pressure him, but there is some strange reasoning on Eric’s part about it being weird for them to be getting it on because they’re grandfathers-to-be or something, but whatever it is, it makes no sense. They’re grown adults in their forties who can have sex with whomever they want, not blushing teens who have to worry about getting caught out by their parents!

I was also a little thrown by some of the thoughts Eric has about his late husband. The author doesn’t go as far as to demonise Montgomery – I really dislike stories in which the former partner is shown to have been a truly awful person – but Eric often thinks things about him that feel overly critical and reveal him to have been somewhat priggish and even a bit controlling. I understand that this is probably done as a way of showing how different Eric’s relationship with Magnus is and how Magnus is probably better suited to Eric, but it happens so frequently that it stands out and feels somewhat out of place.

In the end, Over and Above was an enjoyable but not especially memorable read. Annabeth Albert is one of those authors whose books I will always check out because I enjoy the variety of character and situation and the depth of emotion she brings to her stories, and if I’m ever in the mood for a sexy, low-angst contemporary romance, I know she will deliver. I’ve enjoyed the Mount Hope series for the most part, and even though they don’t sit among my favourites by this author, I’ll nonetheless be on the lookout for whatever she comes up with next.