Temptation Ridge (Virgin River, Book Five)

ROBYN CARR

Goodreads synopsis: At twenty-five, after five years as her mother's caregiver, it's time for Shelby to experience freedom and adventure. Time for travel, college and romance. But when she visits Virgin River, she runs into Luke Riordan, decidedly not whom she has in mind. 

A handsome Blackhawk pilot, Luke exited the army after twenty years, four wars and having been shot out of the sky three times. At thirty-eight he's tough and jaded. His major was in one-night stands, with a minor in commitment avoidance. 

Technically, these two are all wrong for one another. But sometimes what you want and what you need are two different things...two very good things.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Mira Books, 2009.

How acquired: Bought.

First line: Shelby was within ten miles of her Uncle Walt's ranch when she had to pull over to the side of highway 36, the busiest stretch between Virgin River and Fortuna, behind an old pickup truck that looked vaguely familiar.

My thoughts: After being a tad disappointed with the previous book in the Virgin River series I'm happy to report that this entry was another winner. (To be fair, I did give the previous book four stars on Goodreads, but only because of Joe and Nikki. Well, actually because of Joe. Secondary characters in that book, but whose story I absolutely loved,more than the main characters' story.) When Temptation Ridge opens, Shelby, Vanessa's cousin, has a meet cute with Luke Riordan, a newcomer, on the side of a stalled highway.

As with all the Virgin River heroes, Luke is former military, though not a Marine. He was deeply burned by a woman several years ago, and now he doesn't do relationships. He's appalled to find himself attracted to Shelby, who he initially thinks has to still be under the age of twenty. And learning that she's actually twenty-five doesn't make him feel much better about it. And as with most of the Virgin River heroes, I fell head over heels for him.

I love how Ms. Carr always incorporates characters from the previous books into each new book, sometimes meandering away from the main storyline to give another character some significant page time. And she slips from one plot point or story line to another seamlessly, so it's never confusing or hard to keep up with the narrative. She's also great at natural feeling conversations between characters, or at several paragraphs of narrative with no dialogue. I especially loved the scenes with Luke's younger brother coming along and charming everyone while Luke just gets angrier and angrier at him.

My only complaint about this entry in the series is that one of my favorite characters, the mysterious marijuana grower, never showed up. I miss him.

There is also the beginning of a possible romance between Cameron, who we met in the previous book when he dated Vanessa for a short time, and Abby, one of Vanessa's closest friends, as well as a continuation of the blossoming romance between Vanessa's father, Walt, and Muriel, the movie star who moved to Virgin River in the last book. And I loved this quote, from Muriel to Shelby:

"I'm not alone, Shelby,” she said patiently. I'm on my own – there's a difference...”

I so relate to that.

I say this after each book, and will probably continue to say it: I want to move to Virgin River!!

Second Chance Pass (Virgin River, Book 5)

ROBYN CARR

Synopsis from Goodreads: In the space of a few months Vanessa buried her husband, Matt, and gave birth to their son--breaking her heart while filling it with a whole new kind of love. But the one man she longs to share this love with now acts as if she doesn't exist. Paul Haggerty lives by the marine motto: Semper Fi. Ever faithful to his best friend, he's done right by Matt's widow as best he can...considering he's been secretly in love with her for years. Now, just as he's about to make his move, another woman has staked her claim on him--a claim that will be tough to escape.

With courage, humility and not a little meddling from the good folks of Virgin River, Vanni and Paul might just get a second chance to have the love they both desire and deserve.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Mira Books, 2009.

How acquired: Via Book Mooch.

First line: Paul Haggerty was finally back in Grants Pass after almost six months in Virgin River and there was an ache in his chest he just couldn't ease.

My thoughts: I loved the first four books in this series, giving three of them five stars on Goodreads, and one of them four stars. But this one was almost a three star. I just didn't love Vanessa and Paul the way I loved Jack and Mel, Preacher and Paige, Marcie and Ian. I'm not sure why, other than I didn't connect with Vanessa the way I did with the previous heroines. But as with the other books, while the main couple are the focus, the narrative still winds out among other residents of Virgin River, so there was plenty of Jack and Mel. In fact, I enjoyed their storyline more than Vanessa and Paul's. I was also happy that one of my favorite characters, the mystery illegal grower, made another brief appearance, and like me, Mike Valenzuela has come to the conclusion that there is more to the grower than what appears on the surface. I'm so hoping to learn more about him and that he gets a book somewhere down the line.

And then Joe came to town, and met Vanessa's friend Nikki, and oh my god I wish this had actually been their book! I loved loved Joe! I love a good grovel, and Joe groveled with the best of them. Joe singlehandedly bumped my rating up to four stars and the book is worth reading for his story alone. 

A Virgin River Christmas (Virgin River, Book 4)

ROBYN CARR

Synopsis from Goodreads: Last Christmas Marcie Sullivan said a final goodbye to her husband, Bobby. This Christmas she's come to Virgin River to find the man who saved his life and gave her three more years to love him.

Fellow marine Ian Buchanan dragged Bobby's shattered body onto a medical transport in Fallujah four years ago, then disappeared as soon as their unit arrived stateside. Since then, Marcie's letters to Ian have gone unanswered.

Marcie tracks Ian to the tiny mountain town of Virgin River and finds a man as wounded emotionally as Bobby was physically. But she is not easily scared off. As Marcie pushes her way into his rugged and reclusive life, she discovers a sweet but damaged soul beneath a rough exterior.

Ian doesn't know what to make of the determined young widow who forces him to look into the painful past and, what's worse, the uncertain future. But it is, after all, a season of miracles and maybe, just maybe, it's time to banish the ghosts and open his heart.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Mira Books, 2009.

How acquired: Via Book Mooch.

First line: Marcie stood beside her lime-green Volkswagen, shivering in the November chill, the morning sun barely over the horizon.

My thoughts: So many feels. I loved Marcie. I loved Ian. I loved Marcie's devotion to her late husband, and to the man who brought him home and then fell off the map. I loved her determination to find Ian. To tell Ian his father was dying so he could try to see him one more time, and then to promptly switch her allegiance and stand behind Ian's reasons for not wanting to see his father. For not trying to change Ian, for accepting him exactly as he was. 

I cried a lot during this short book. Not because it was sad, but because it was just so emotional. So good. So very very good. 

Whispering Rock (Virgin River, Book 3)

ROBYN CARR

Synopsis from back cover:

Virgin River became a safe haven for Sacramento prosecutor Brie Sheridan after she nearly lost her life at the hands of a crazed criminal. Though she still has fears she can't escape, she also has someone who wants to show her just what it means to trust again.

A decorated marine reservist, LAPD officer Mike Valenzuela was badly wounded in the line of duty. Twice divorced, he secretly longs for the kind of commitment and happiness his marine buddies have found – a woman who can tie up his heart forever.

Mike will do anything to help Brie free herself from painful memories. Passionate, strong and gentle, he vows to give back to her what she's so selflessly given him – her heart, and with it, a new beginning.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Harlequin MIRA, 2007.

How acquired: Bought.

My thoughts:  I loved the first two Virgin River books, and the first book is still my favorite so far. Some of the best scenes in this one were between Jack and Mel, the hero/heroine of the first book.

We met both Brie and Mike in the previous book. Brie is Jack's younger sister, a tenacious state prosecutor who has made a career out of sending rapists and other criminals up the river. But she lost her last case, and a serial rapist walked. And then he attacked Brie and raped her. And now her entire life has fallen apart.

Mike is part of Jack's band of brothers and one of his best friends. An LAPD cop working the gangs division, he was shot down in the previous book and badly wounded. He came to Virgin River to recuperate. He's known Jack's little sister for ages, but he never made a move on her – she was happily married back then, plus there's the whole best friend's sister thing.

While Mike and Brie didn't resonate with me quite the way Jack and Mel did, or Preacher and Paige from the second book, I was still quite mesmerized with the story. As with the other books, lots of other Virgin River residents are woven in and out of the story, including characters we've already met and new characters. I got very excited halfway through the book when one of my favorites, the illegal marijuana grower, made an appearance, but to my disappointment he was only observed for a few minutes at a distance by Mike, and did not turn up again.

There's a wonderful birthing scene where we see Mel, a midwife, in action. And when Mel realizes she is pregnant again, her reaction to that, and Jack's reaction to her reaction, were a lot of fun to read. And in the last quarter or so, I cried several times.

I think this may be my favorite series now, after Outlander of course.

Shelter Mountain

ROBYN CARR

Back cover copy: John “Preacher” Middleton is about to close the bar when a young woman and her three-year-old son come in out of the wet October night. A marine who has seen his share of pain, Preacher knows a crisis when he sees one – the woman is covered in bruises. He wants to protect them, and to punish whoever did this, but he knows immediately that this is more than just instinct. Paige Lassiter has stirred up emotions in this gentle giant of a man – emotions that he has never allowed himself to feel.

Then Paige's ex-husband turns up in Virgin River. And if there's one thing the marines' motto of Semper Fi – always faithful – has taught Preacher, it's that some things are worth fighting for.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Harlequin MIRA, 2007.

How acquired: Bought.

First line: A fierce and unseasonably cold September wind blew chilly rain against the windows.

My thoughts: On a stormy night Paige Lassiter and her young son are running from an abusive husband, their destination still miles down the road, where they will take on new names and pray he doesn't find them. But Chris is running a fever, and Paige has left the highway in search of a motel where they can both get some rest. After miles of driving, she finally stumbles across a small establishment in the tiny town of Virgin River, and seeks shelter from the rain.

The bar is owned by Jack, the hero of the first book in the series, VIRGIN RIVER. Preacher, who served with Rick in the marines, does the cooking, among other things. He used to live in a room upstairs, but after Jack and Mel married, Preacher moved into Jack's apartment out back. He spends his days puttering around the bar, and fishing, and lives a quiet, rather solitary life, which he's quite content with. And then Paige comes barreling through the door with her small sleeping child and her bruised face, and Preacher's life will never be the same.

The romance between Paige and John – his real name, and the one Page calls him by, so the one I'm going to use from this point on - builds up very slowly. Paige is anxious to get back on the road towards the new life she has planned for herself and Chris, even though it will be a life of living in hiding. She's sure that the longer she stays in Virgin River, the more likely her husband, Wes, will track her down and show up one day. John feels fiercely protective of both Paige and Chris, and offers her the use of his old room upstairs for as long as she wants it, continually coaxing her to stay a bit longer but never putting pressure on her.

Chris is asleep when they arrive and doesn't actually meet John until the next morning, and John worries that Chris will be afraid of him because he's such a big, scary, mean looking man. He treats both Paige and Chris with patience and respect, and his interactions with Chris, who attaches to him quickly, are sweet and some of the best scenes in the book.

Of course John and Paige will end up together, but their romance was very well paced. John has never been in a serious relationship and never even really considered the possibility of falling of love. It's a nice change to read about a hero who doesn't have a lot of experience with women.

John pinched his eyes closed and prayed for control. He hoped he would be able to tell when she was satisfied -- he wasn't completely sure how that worked. He'd never paid attention before. A lot of panting and squirming, he assumed. Maybe he'd get lucky and she'd just tell him.

While this is Paige and John's story, characters from the first book are still prevalent. Jack and Mel get plenty of page time, even traveling to visit Jack's family, where Jack and his dad and brothers-in-law have a hilarious conversation about pregnant women that had me laughing out loud. Rick, the teenager who works at the bar, is also featured in a heartbreaking story line that affects all of the characters. And if you read my review of the first book, you know about my fixation on the mysterious marijuana grower who required Mel's help with a young girl in labor. I kept hoping he would make an appearance and he did, a couple of times, and we even learn his name, though not much else about him. I'm really hoping that he continues to show up as the series progresses.

And one of Jack and John's military brothers, Mike, comes to Virgin River to recuperate after being shot. Jack's sister Brie is also around in the latter part of the book, and I'm looking forward to the next book, whispering rock, which is about her and Mike.

Robyn Carr is wonderful at creating characters who are so realistic, so...human. Whether they are main characters, secondary characters, or bit players, they are never one-dimensional or cookie cutter.

Why can't I live in Virgin River?

Rereadable Lines

John pinched his eyes closed and prayed for control. He hoped he would be able to tell when she was satisfied -- he wasn't completely sure how that worked. He'd never paid attention before. A lot of panting and squirming, he assumed. Maybe he'd get lucky and she'd just tell him.

Oh John, he's such a sweet hero!

Shelter Mountain, by Robyn Carr

Virgin River (A Virgin River Novel, Book 1)

ROBYN CARR

Synopsis: WANTED: MIDWIFE/NURSE PRACTITIONER IN VIRGIN RIVER, POPULATION SIX HUNDRED. MAKE A DIFFERENCE AGAINST A BACKDROP OF TOWERING CALIFORNIA REDWOODS AND CRYSTAL-CLEAR RIVERS. RENT-FREE CABIN INCLUDED.

When the recently widowed Melinda Monroe sees this ad she quickly decides that the remote mountain town of Virgin River might be the perfect place to escape her heartache, and to reenergize the nursing career she loves. But her high hopes are dashed within an hour of arriving: the cabin is a dump, the roads are treacherous and the local doctor wants nothing to do with her. Realizing she's made a huge mistake, Mel decides to leave town the following morning.

But a tiny baby, abandoned on a front porch, changes her plans...and a former marine cements them into place.

Melinda Monroe may have come to Virgin River looking for escape, but instead she finds her home.

First line: Mel squinted into the rain and darkness, creeping along the narrow, twisting, muddy, tree-enshrouded road and for the hundredth time thought, am I out of my mind?

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, published by MIRA Books, 2007; 386 pages; purchased at a library sale.

My thoughts: This is a series and author who I see a lot of buzz about. On different blogs, on Twitter, and I see the books everywhere. So when I came across this book at a library sale I snatched it up. One thing I love about library sales is the chance to discover a multitude of new authors without spending a fortune. The spending comes later, when you then need to accumulate every other book that author has written.

Mel was married to a doctor and was happy with her life, working together in the ER, living in the big city, shopping at fancy stores and living the fast life. The only thing missing was a baby, which she and husband had been unable to conceive. And then an armed robbery at a convenience store took her husband away from her. Nearly a year later she is still deep in grief, and burned out on the trauma and adrenaline that accompanies medical care in a high turnover city emergency room. The midwife job in a small quiet town sounds like a perfect opportunity to get away, to go where nobody will know about her loss and look at her with pitying eyes. Her friends and family all think she's crazy, and her sister desperately wants her to come to her home in Colorado instead. But Mel sells her home, packs up and heads out.

She regrets it immediately. The woman who placed the ad was not quite truthful in her representations of the job or the accommodations, and before Mel has been in town a few hours she's made the decision to leave. Then she finds that baby mentioned in the blurb. Now, at this point, I assumed that Mel would end up taking in the baby, set down roots in town, marry a local and they would live happily ever after as a little family unit. I mean, how many romances have you read with an abandoned baby that did not play out that way? So I was pleased as the story progressed to have Mel, despite getting attached to the baby, not end up being the one to keep it, and the story not revolving around it but moving on to other facets of Mel's new life. Score one for the author for avoiding that plot cliche.

Jack owns the local bar/restaurant, lives on the premises, spends his free time fishing, and occasionally goes to another town where he has a lady friend. He's never been interested in a serious or long term relationship, but he's not a playboy. He's a good guy who was in the military for a long time, mentors a young teen who lives with his grandmother, and willingly pitches in to help out anybody and everybody in Virgin River.

None of the characters in this book are one dimensional. They are all very real and it was easy to connect with both Mel and Jack. The author gives us very good insight into their psyches and what makes them think and act the way they do. This is Mel and Jack's story of course, but the secondary characters are anything but just secondary. In fact, there was one character who we probably are not supposed to like, and this could be considered a spoiler, so I'll say more about that at the end of this post and don't go down there if you avoid spoilers.

The romance between Mel and Jack builds up slowly and naturally, with the characters cementing a firm friendship first. Jack is patient, knowing that Mel has to come to terms with the loss of her husband and the idea of moving on, and when Jack and Mel first make love I wasn't entirely convinced that the timing was right. And it's still not a smooth road to happiness after that. Issues don't just vanish with the joining of two bodies, and the author handled that fact well.

By the end of the book, I had laughed and I had literally cried. Lots of books make me laugh, but not many bring real tears. Before I'd even turned the last page, I was anxious to revisit the town of Virgin River, and I picked up books 3, 9, 10, 17 and 18 on a shopping trip yesterday, and I already had 15 and 19 in my TBR pile, but being anal about reading series in order I still have to find a copy of the second book before I can continue.

SPOILER – SPOILER – SPOILER – SPOILER (I'm still trying to work out how to do the show/hide thing but after twenty minutes of either IE or blogger not cooperating I've given up for today)

There are lots of marijuana growers hidden in the countryside in the outlying areas, and one of these men comes to Mel's cabin late at night and insists she accompany him to deliver a baby. She's afraid to go with him and rightfully so, but he won't let her call anyone else, won't let her follow him in her own car, just insists she must come because the baby and mother need her. He doesn't pull a weapon on her, doesn't force her but doesn't really give her a choice, just keeps talking, cajoling, insisting...politely yet still firmly...until she finally gives in and goes. Now, maybe it's just me, but I think this scene was my favorite in the book, and I would have loved to learn more about this man, get to know him...I was drawn to him, attracted to him. I don't know if the author intended that, or if it's just because I'm not right in the head.