Review: Virgin River

Virgin River (Virgin River series - Book 1) by Robyn Carr

Publication Date: April 2007
Publisher: Mira
Format: Paperback, 409 pp
Genre: Romance
ISBN-13: 9780778329787
ISBN: 077832978X

(Received for review from the author, via Nancy Berland PR)

Synopsis (From the authors website):

Wanted: midwife/nurse practitioner in Virgin River, population six hundred. Make a difference against a backdrop of towering California redwoods and the 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 re-energize 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.

Thoughts:

Virgin River is one of the fictitious town that seems to resonate with readers. Robyn Carr has created a place that people not only want to read about, but a place where they visit or go to live if it were possible. The descriptions of the town and the interactions between the characters are so vivid that they practically jump off the page. It reminds people of their small town roots and how the communities were so involved in each others lives. I grew up in a town like that and I think that was one of the things that really drew me to this series.

Melinda Monroe is woman who needs a change in her life. She is a widow and Los Angeles holds more memories and pain than she can stand. On a whim she decides to answer an ad advertising a job and a place to live rent free for a year. What she finds in Virgin River is a run-down cabin, a doctor that can't stand her and a man who may be able to make her forget the past and move on. When Melinda decides to leave the day after she arrives, she finds an abandoned baby on the doorstep, with the help of the local bar owner, Jack Sheridan she finds a life and a home in Virgin River that she never could have expected.

I love a good romance and this one is right up my alley. This is a book as much about the growth of the town and all the people who live in it as it is about the main characters falling in love. These are people you want to get to know, to read more about. I had heard a lot about the series and decided I wanted to start at the beginning. I was certainly not disappointed, Robyn Carr is a wonderful story teller. She has a knack for making the reader get emotionally attached to the characters and the story.

I can't say enough good things about this one! I really liked it a lot. I would recommend it to anyone who loves contemporary romances about real people who may be facing some of the same situations the reader does on an everyday basis. I look forward to reviewing the rest of the series.

Virgin River as well as the other books in the Virgin River series are available NOW from your favorite bookseller.

This is definitely a 5 out of 5 apple book!




Click here to read an excerpt from Virgin River.

Click here to read Robyn Carr's Bio... She has accomplished so much I don't have the room... LOL!