This is really rated 3 1/3 stars.
This is not top of the line Nora--but not to worry. The characters are great, the detail that immerses the reader in the setting is great. And therein lies the problem. Too much detail and not enough plot. And I say this as an HGTV fangirl--I love all the detail about the Inn and so on,but it takes over the book even more than it did in the first book. (It may be because we already know the main characters and in the first book we were just learning about them).
Owen and Avery have known each other since early childhood. Now they are lifelong friends who move their friendship into 'friends with benefits territory'. And at this point anyone who has read at least 10 Nora books can figure out how this relationship will go. The only mystery is what will cause the bump in the road before the HEA. I like both of them: they are nicely done, but nothing new.
I am a fan of her stories that involve ghosts, so the continuing presence of the Inn's ghost is one of the highlights of the book for me.
So--this is not bad. It is a typical second book in a three book series--the story progresses but nothing happens that makes you sit up and say "wow".