4.5 stars 
 River "Captain" Kipling is completing the last of his cover assignments before he goes into retirement after 10 years of working as a contract killer. His last restaurant launch is in the final stages, but what comes after is still a bit of a mystery. One of his new servers catches his attention, despite the presence of his current fling, and the memories he has worked so hard to bury resurface until "his Addy" is all he can think about. 
 Rose Henderson is hiding something -- something that has the power to rock Captain's world. But the boy she knew as River is gone when she looks at Captain now and she wonders if she can finish what she tracked him down to do. 
 These two have a history that circumstances have torn apart, and neither has been unchanged by their separation. 
 At first I wondered how he didn't recognize her, even after 10 years apart. But the explanation given worked, especially given what he thought happened all those years ago. But even without recognizing her physically, I loved that he recognized there was something about her that connected them. 
 For a change, it wasn't my love for the characters that pulled me into a Rosemary Beach book. This time it was the journey on which the characters found themselves traveling. So much about this series is based on the ensemble cast that reappears in each successive story, with future characters introduced and well developed long before "their book" is written. But The Best Goodbye follows one character who is a completely new addition, and another who has only existed in the background of a few other books. Even with Captain's introduction prior, he is not central to the group of friends in the rest of Rosemary Beach, and as a result there are very few cameos from the other characters. 
 But these two stand alone so fantastically. I couldn't help but be sucked into their story, constantly wondering what secrets were hidden and how they would shake out. There are hints dropped for the next book, and it promises to be one that Rosemary Beach fans have been clamoring for. 
 ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.