Up All Night (Mount Hope Book 1) by Annabeth Albert

Up All Night is the first in a new series, Mount Hope. Sean is starting over after a divorce, and meets Denver and their connection is instant and electric. Can Sean persuade Denver to stay and make it work?

From the blurb:

What happened to my predictable life?

I had a stable life as a fire captain in Seattle, married to one of my best friends and raising two awesome kids. Now, my kids are grown, and my marriage is toast. I'm solidly past forty and back in my tiny hometown of Mount Hope, Oregon, filling in as a firefighter. My future is one big question mark keeping me up at night.  

Also keeping me up? The short-order cook at Honey's Hotcake Hut.

Denver might be close to my age, but we're total opposites. The former rock roadie runs from stability, never puts down roots, and lives for the moment. Point in case, we barely speak before he invites me into his shower.

I've never been with a man, but my fresh start has me trying all sorts of new things—including Denver’s shower.

Our future? Hopeless.

Denver doesn't do repeats, but I convince him to have a fling since we're both in Mount Hope short-term. The more time we spend together, the deeper our friendship and bond grows. Our time together outside of the bedroom, reveals a caring side to the grumpy cook. Even better, my sunshine-y optimism softens him like butter.

Should a fling give me these deep feelings? Nope.

Worse, the feelings are mutual. Big decisions loom for both our futures, and our time together grows short. I might have Denver's heart, but his trust is far harder to win. He's the answer to all my question marks, and I need him to believe in us. Can I convince him to give our love a chance?


Up All Night features a grumpy/sunshine pairing for a forty-something firefighter on a path of self-discovery with an UP ALL NIGHT short-order cook. It contains loads of first-time feels with sexual awakening and exploration with a heaping helping of personal growth and deep connection for this opposites-attract couple.


Angel's Review:

Denver and Sean couldn't be more different; one has a sunshiney outlook on life, whereas the other one is definitely more of a rain cloud. I am a sucker for a good opposites attract story and this one was a great one!

I liked the growth both of these characters went through during the course of this story, I found it to be written well and really added more to the story to see those characters growing and developing. The pacing of the story itself was well done, events that happened occured naturally and nothing ever felt forced or too fast.

I loved the relationship that Sean had with Eric's kids, and the relationship that eventually developed between Denver and the kids also. It was so sweet to see everyone pitching in and offering help to be there for Eric. I found the amount of detail that went into describing Denver's job was terrific! I really enjoyed reading about him in his element, and him sharing that passion and his information with Wren. The two MC's were fantastic, but I think i loved the side characters a bit more. Specifically Wren, Rowan, and John, I adored their characters!

Overall I found this book to be really great! Its full of different types of tropes; such as, opposites attract, age gap, grumpy/sunshine, single dad, and first times.


SNiK's Review:

First in series (Mount Hope). Grumpy/sunshine. Found family. Mature characters. Dual POV. 

Divorced firefighter Sean returns to his hometown and finds an unexpected and immediate attraction to Denver, the local diner’s cook. But Denver only does casual, never staying in one place for long, and he certainly doesn’t want to be Sean’s first gay experiment. Denver and Sean have a very quick ramp up to casual hookup, to friends with benefits, to boyfriends where one person (Denver) doesn’t want to commit. 

I admired Sean’s unwavering desire to pursue and keep Denver, even while embracing his sexuality and coming to terms with sharing his new truth. Denver is always honest in his expectations, but luckily the growing feelings for the ever positive Sean changes his mind. There is a fair amount of found family vibes with Sean’s friends and coworkers, as well as the feeling of the small town supporting each other. A solid entertaining start to this new series.


LCDolphin's Review:

Wonderful story of Denver, a transient short order cook and Sean, a firefighter who meet when Sean comes home after his divorce and Denver is travelling through the town. Loved these characters and how they were with each other. Felt all they were going through and rooting for them from the start. Definitely reading more in this author's book list.


Rogue's Review:

This is the first of a new series. Hometown, bi-sexual awakening, low angst, older MCs. Sean is back in his hometown after the end of his long marriage, an amicable divorce and with 2 grown children. He takes a job at the fire station and meets Denver, a short order cook who only wants a no strings hook-up, and is horrified when he discovers Sean is a virgin with men.

I liked the instant connection between Sean and Denver, and that Sean didn't freak out at all about his attraction to Denver after so long being married to a woman, in fact it was all explained very well and didn't feel like a sharp 180 in his sexuality, it felt very organic and worked for him. I enjoyed seeing them get closer without really meaning to - especially in Denver's case as he gradually got more involved with Sean and his life and family. These two are hot together too, as in can't keep their hands off each other hot 🥵.

For the first in a series, the world building is good with lots of scope for other characters and stories to come, I already know who is next and I'm looking forward to it.


Lesetiger's review:

Up All Night is the first volume in Annabeth Albert's new Mount Hope series. It was the author's first book for me and I really enjoyed her wonderful writing style.

Firefighter Sean is divorced and returns to his hometown where he meets Denver, the cook at the local diner. Sean is attracted to Denver and you can feel it as a reader. It was nice to see how a hook up between the two slowly leads to a friendship and finally ends with a happy ending. If you like slow-building romances, you should pick this up!

What I also really liked was the age of the men, because I love stories with more mature men.
I was also impressed by the secondary characters and their relationships with each other, I liked the mutual support.

The story is sexy, romantic, entertaining and exciting with lovable characters that make me want to read more books in this series. I'm already looking forward to the next volume with Caleb.


Heather's Review:

Up All Night kicks off Annabeth Albert's new small town series and I'm totally in love with Mount Hope already!   I liked the instant connection between the MCs. but I also liked the supporting characters and I can't wait to see where the series goes!  

I found the book steamy, with a slow building romance that takes you from Hook- up to HEA and with Derek as a short-order cook, it took me to research a few new breakfast options too!  I also appreciated that the characters were mature men with lived experiences and some history to bring to the mix - even if that history was a little difficult.

I truly can't wait to see Caleb's story unfold in the next book!


Up All Night is currently available as an e-book and paperback and can be read as part of your Kindle Unlimited Subscription

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