Title: Sunrise Point
Author: Robyn Carr
Series: Virgin River #17
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Dates read: 19th – 20th September 2021
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Mira
Year: 2012
5th sentence, 74th page: He was smiling.

Return to Virgin River with the books that started it all…

Nora Crane will do what it takes to keep her family afloat. Things are better than they’ve been for a while; still, she’s barely scraping by. But she’s got two little girls to look after so she’s willing to work hard and help out with harvesttime at the Cavanaugh orchard.

Her new boos is tom Cavanaugh. After his time in the Marines, he’s come home to take over the family farm. Tom thinks he knows what he wants – he’s ready to settle down with a sweet, traditional woman. Nora doesn’t seem to be the marrying kind, but he can’t keep his eyes off her, despite his best efforts. And Nora has no intention of getting involved with anyone. She’s got enough relationship baggage to last her a lifetime.

But in Virgin River, love finds its own way, and it starts to become clear that Nora and Tom won’t be able to stay just friends.

Nora has appeared on the sidelines of a few Virgin River books now. And she’s always just… sweet and so damn innocent. Reading her story in Sunrise Point just highlighted that she is made of some seriously strong stuff and independence. Actually, she’s one of my most admired leading females of late.

Tom is kind of cute with his appearance in Redwood Bend. But he was also a little bit short sighted in his own damn love story. I can’t even fathom making the decision to settle down and then just making assumptions about what will work. Luckily, he wasn’t too pig headed throughout and did eventually decide that Nora was a good bet. Before it was too late.

I enjoyed the vast majority of the book. But, as mentioned Tom’s judgement was a bit of a dickish move. Particularly when he decides to tell his grandmother that he’s proposing. I really don’t believe that she ever did anything wrong, yes she made mistakes, but they were out of innocence and love. Yet, even in his decision making to propose, Tom acts as though they’re a character flaw. All in all I liked him as a character and thought he was actually perfect for Nora. But I seriously didn’t enjoy this attitude.

The setting of this story was kind of romantic. An apple orchard in the Fall, picking and a gorgeous small town. The ending was a great happily ever after. One that most definitely left me smiling at the end of it all.

Image source: Booktopia

Title: Redwood Bend
Author: Robyn Carr
Series: Virgin River #16
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Dates read: 17th – 19th September 2021
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Mira
Year: 2012
5th sentence, 74th page: How can I help you?

Return to Virgin River with the books that started it all…

Former actor Dylan Childress left the LA scene for a quiet life running an aviation company in Montana. But with business slowing, Dylan wonders if he should take one of the offers Hollywood keeps sending his way. He figures a motorcycle trip to Virgin River with his buddies might help him decide what path to take. But his own troubles are left at the side of the road when he spots a woman stranded on the way into town.

Katie Malone and her twin boys’ trip to Virgin River is stopped short by a tire as flat as her failed romance. To make matters worse, it’s raining, the boys are hungry and Katie is having trouble putting on the spare. So when some bikers pull up, offering to help, all Katie feels is relief. Then she sees sexy, leather-clad Dylan, and in one brief moment the world turns on its axis.

Katie’s a sensible single mother and Dylan’s a die-hard commitment-phobe. Neither one is looking for long-term romance. But sometimes it takes only a moment to know you’ve found something that could change your life forever.

Katie’s appearance in Hidden Summit made me fall immediately in love with her. She is sweet and kind, with the rambunctious boys running free and wild. I hadn’t quite realised that this was her story until I opened the first page. And I love that she didn’t stay with the dentist, but found a much more suitable happily ever after.

Katie and Dylan were adorable and wonderful. But, honestly, the boys are the ones who tend to stand out in the spotlight. They are so much fun and full of this wonderful energy that I seriously envy. The fact that one of the biggest dramas comes from them being, well, five year old boys… it just made everything better.

I’m always frustrated by people (both real and fictional) who have decided that they have an issue, or a type, or a path laid out for them. We can’t determine how our lives will turn out and quite frankly I find it frustrating as hell when people think otherwise. Dylan was the key person to do this in this story. And it made me want to smack him one. Yet, he was so much less frustrating about it than many characters I fall in love with in my many, many books.

Redwood Bend was beautiful and fun. I love that it created a blended family and had a few surprises along the way. But, at the end of it all, there weren’t any crazy exes or serious issues to get over. Rather, it was just a light, fun and engaging read. One I look forward to picking up again in the future.

Image source: Romance.com.au

Title: Hidden Summit
Author: Robyn Carr
Series: Virgin River #15
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Dates read: 14th September 2021
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Mira
Year: 2011
5th sentence, 74th page: Brie wanted him to come to brunch.

Return to VIRGIN RIVER with the books that started it all…

When Connor Danson becomes an unwitting witness to a violent crime, he is forced to leave Sacramento and keep a low profile until the trial is over. He arrives in the tiny mountain town of Virgin River with a chip on his shoulder and an ache in his heart.

Leslie Petruso didn’t want to leave her hometown, either. But she can’t stand another minute of listening to her ex-husband tell everyone that his new wife and impending fatherhood are the best things that ever happened to him. Virgin River may not be home, but it’s a place where she can be anonymous.

Neither Connor nor Leslie is remotely interested in starting a new relationship.. until they meet one another. Even they can’t deny they have a lot in common – broken hearts notwithstanding. And in Virgin River, no one can stay hidden away from life and love for very long…

I was kind of expecting to not really like Connor at the beginning of this. After all, he is kind of rude and dismissive towards Bree from that very first moment. But within paragraphs he was hard to dislike. Or forget. I really enjoyed his characterisation and growth throughout.

It was fun to read a romance that featured two people who have been divorced and burnt by love. They’ve both got baggage, and, honestly, I seriously enjoy reading a book that features people who are just a little bit scarred. The way that Connor and Les are able to connect and understand each other through their past… kind of beautiful.

Connor’s arrival in Virgin River brings Paul and Brady back into the story a little more strongly. I particularly like the background romance and highlighting of Cherry and Dan. They may not have had their own book and story, but their romance still gave me the warm, happy feelings. It was fun to have some different characters reappear I this book. Plus there’s the introduction of Katie and her boys… I can’t wait to read their romance!!!

Hidden Summit was another fun, cute and easy story from Virgin River. There’s just the right amount of drama to keep you engaged, but not overly stressed about the happily ever after. And the whole crime angle just makes it much more difficult to put down and walk away from.

Image source: Amazon

Title: Harvest Moon
Author: Robyn Carr
Series: Virgin River #13
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Dates read: 21st – 26th July 2021
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Mira
Year: 2011
5th sentence, 74th page: She’s right outside.

Return to VIRGIN RIVER with the books that started it all…

The recipe for happiness:
making it up as you go along

Rising sous-chef Kelly Matlock’s sudden collapse at work is a wake-up call. Disillusioned and burned out, she’s retreated to her sister Jillian’s house in Virgin River to rest and reevaluate.

Puttering in Jill’s garden and cooking with her heirloom vegetables is wonderful, but Virgin River is a far cry from San Francisco. Kelly’s starting to feel a little too unmotivated… until she meets Lief Holbrook. The handsome widower looks more like a lumberjack than a sophisticated screenwriter – a combination Kelly finds irresistible. But less appealing is Lief’s rebellious stepdaughter, Courtney. She’s the reason they moved from LA, but Courtney’s finding plenty of trouble even in Virgin River.

Kelly’s never fallen for a guy with such serious baggage, but some things are worth fighting for. Besides, a bratty teenager can’t be any worse than a histrionic chef… right?

One of the things that I love about the Virgin River series is that there is always a bit of a brief hint or introduction to the romance in the next story. It just makes you want to pick up the next book so much more – because you’ve already begun to feel partly invested within the relationship in the first place. You knew that Kelly and Lief were going to be a match at some point – they had their little stunning moment of realisation in Wild Man Creek. It was subtle, but it was enough to draw me in and leave me feeling somewhat intrigued.

Pulling in a struggling teenage daughter and the death of a mother really helped to raise the stakes in this story. In fact, I found it a little hard at moments to read this. I seriously felt for Courtenay and Lief – they’d not only lost someone, but were struggling to find their new way in the world. I loved that Carr was able to write from both perspectives – you understand why Lief is so confused and hurt by Courtenay’s decisions and actions. But you also get why she’s acting the way that she is. And, ultimately, she’s a teenager – they’re not exactly the most well balanced of people.

Reading this story honestly made me hungry. Food was such a centre point of Kelly’s life that every moment made you want to… well, eat. It was filled with so much delicious morish-ness that I honestly needed a snack for most of the reading of this. And, I kind of need one now that I’m writing my review the morning after finishing this…

I probably didn’t quite connect to Lief and Kelly as much as some of the other Virgin River couples (hence the fact that it lost 0.5 stars for me). But I did still love and enjoy them. I liked how their challenges were totally unique to the others within this series. normally by the thirteenth book in a series, it starts to feel a little same, same, but that isn’t the case with the Virgin River series. Every relationship, every romance, every challenge feels new and fresh.

Image source: Robyn Carr

Title: Wild Man Creek
Author: Robyn Carr
Series: Virgin River #12
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Dates read: 10th – 13th July 2021
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Mira
Year: 2011
5th sentence, 74th page: Of course she had no idea how authentic the seeds were or how the finished fruit or vegetables would taste, but this was the first step – seeds were available.

Welcome back to VIRGIN RIVER with the books that started it all…

Sometimes love takes root in unexpected places – if you’ll only let it grow

Colin Riordan came to Virgin River to recuperate from a horrific helicopter crash, the scars of which he bears inside and out. His family is wonderfully supportive, but it’s his art that truly soothes his troubled soul.

Stung personally and professionally by an ill-advised affair, PR guru Jillian Matlock has rented an old Victorian with a promising garden in Virgin River. She’s looking forward to cultivating something other than a corporate brand.

Both are looking to simplify, not complicate, their lives, but when Jillian finds Colin at his easel in her yard, there’s an instant connection. And in Virgin River, sometimes love is the simplest choice of all…

There is something about the Riordan brothers that you honestly can’t help but love. They’re such a wild bunch of Irish lads, but they all have this amazing, honest core that makes you fall head over heels from them from the very beginning. Colin is one of the brothers that is barely mentioned (until you get to Promise Canyon), and I loved finding out a whole lot more about him. Now, there’s only one left… and I can’t wait to get to his story later either!

Jill’s brief appearance in Promise Canyon, along with her sister and two friends definitely drew me in and intrigued me. The more that I found out about Jill, and her impulsive tendencies, the more I fell in love with her. There was just something so lively and filled with gumption about her that made me unable to look away and stop diving further and further into her story. plus, who doesn’t like the idea of leaving behind your life and starting a whole new one? And one farming? I tell you, I have frequent daydreams about it.

I love that Colin and Jill’s story is kind of unique in that there are no outer influences who are trying to make them reunite. Rather, it is Colin’s own realisation and maturity that helps him to realise what is right and good. There were no huge dramas, and I kind of needed that. After all, I read this while on holidays and pregnant – I didn’t want anything that could make me cry. I just wanted easy and happy. This is exactly that kind of story.

As with all of the other Virgin River stories, there are a number of cast members and side stories that help to draw you in. You get to visit with the other Riordan’s again and again. The rest of the town and just fall in love with everyone again and again. There is always something so peaceful about revisiting this well-loved place. And it doesn’t make me want to quit my job and live off the land in the country at all…

Image source: Robyn Carr