Tuesday Review: The Chance

The Chance

By Robyn Carr

Publisher: Harlequin Mira

Release Date:

February 25, 2014

Laine Carrington, the FBI agent who was injured in the raid on the cult from which Devon McAllister escaped (The Hero), is spending a year in Thunder Point, Oregon. Once she realized that her superiors were going to restrict her to desk duty until she had recovered 100 percent from the bullet wound and subsequent surgery, she requested a year’s leave of absence for rehab. Her reasons for choosing to spend that year in Thunder Point, three thousand miles from her home in Virginia and even farther from her family in Boston, are complicated, but she plans to take the time to rethink her career plans, get to know the people who saved her life, and enjoy the ocean view from her new home.

Eric Gentry, high school dropout and ex-con, is a reformed man. He returned to Thunder Point after more than a decade in Eugene and bought out the local service station, renovating it and expanding services into mechanics and body work. Eric enjoys his job, especially the classic car restoration, but his seventeen-year-old daughter is his real reason for moving. He has only known her for a year, but he is eager to be as much a part of her life as possible. Her senior year in high school is his last chance to be the father she has never had before she moves on to college and starting her life as an adult. Eric is not looking for a romantic relationship, but from his first look at Laine, he is hooked—and most of Thunder Point is aware of his interest.

When Eric is slow to act on his attraction, Laine takes the initiative and asks him out. Their first date is a success, and so is their first kiss. But Eric is determined to be honest with Laine about his past, and she responds with the same degree of openness. Just when it seems that an ex-con from a poor, working-class background and an FBI agent from a privileged background may be on the path to a happy ending, Laine’s complicated family problems surface. So do Eric’s insecurities. Is their relationship strong enough to survive these challenges?

The Chance is the fourth book in Carr’s Thunder Point series, and it’s a winner. Laine and Eric, although introduced in earlier books in the series, are both newcomers to Thunder Point. They are refreshingly adult characters who bring to their new lives baggage from their pasts which shapes but does not define them. I loved that Laine gets tired of waiting for Eric and asks him out, and I loved his response. That’s not the only bit of role reversal either. When Laine is clearly ready for physical intimacy, it is Eric who chooses to wait until they know each other better. The honesty of both characters is engaging, and it allows them to avoid the misunderstandings that keeping secrets could have created.

Fans of the series will be pleased to see favorite characters from other books make appearances in a manner that feels organic and does not distract from Laine and Eric’s story. The secondary romance between Eric’s rolling-stone friend, Al, and Thunder Point’s colorful realtor, Rae Ann, adds to the book’s appeal. Nobody does a better job than Carr of showing her readers that romance is possible at any age.

With two more books in this series scheduled for release in 2014, the Thunder Point books seem poised to rival the Virgin River series in longevity and popularity. I think The Chance is the strongest book in the new series, and I have enjoyed them all. I am particularly pleased that The Promise (June 24, 2014) will give readers the story of the widowed Dr. Scott Grant. Clearly the second chance theme that links the first four books will continue through the fifth one.

If you are a fan of small-town romances or of romances that develop in credible ways rather than rush to combustible consummation scenes, I highly recommend The Chance.

I read so many small-town romances that I have a difficult time choosing favorites. But Carr’s Virgin River and Thunder Point series are definitely on my top ten list. What series are on your list?

Tuesday Review: The Hero

The Hero

By Robyn Carr

Publisher: Harlequin Mira

Release Date: August 27, 2013

Devon McAllister never imagined herself captivated by a charismatic cult leader, but that’s exactly what happened. But she’s fully aware now that this place is not where she belongs, and when an opportunity opens to escape the compound with her three-year-old daughter Mercy, she gratefully takes it. With only a backpack filled by those who helped her escape and a few dollars in cash from the same source, Devon and Mercy have been walking down a highway for eight hours with no destination in mind other than a highway number when Rawley Goode spots them and offers them a ride as far as Thunder Point.

Rawley recognizes Devon as being from the Fellowship by her dress and hairstyle. He has seen members at their roadside produce stand: “Beautiful, young, smiling softspoken women apparently watched over by big, silent men who were clearly in charge.”  He has been on the receiving end of charity often enough to want to pass it on, and clearly Devon needs help. Along with the assurance that he’s never seen anyone from the Fellowship in Thunder Point or its immediate environs, he offers Devon and her daughter plenty of food, a safe place to stay, and a new identity as the daughter and granddaughter of his second cousin. Rawley’s looks don’t predispose someone to view him as trustworthy, but Devon remembers her error in judgment when she trusted a man who did look as if he could be trusted. When Rawley buys a car seat for Mercy during a Wal-Mart run, Devon decides that she can trust him to offer exactly what he proposes and no more.

Spencer Lawson is also a newcomer to Thunder Point. Recently named Athletic Director and coach at the local high school, he hasn’t even found a place to rent as a home for him and his ten-year-old son, Austin. For the time being, they are living in Hank Cooper’s fifth wheel and enjoying life on the bay with Cooper’s place handy for meals. It also gives Austin more time with Cooper, his newly discovered biological father.Spencer senses Devon’s vulnerability at first sight and feels drawn to protect her, to offer her a refuge.

The warmth and friendliness of Thunder Point gives Devon the feeling that she’s found a home. Soon she even has a job she loves, and Rawley in fact is becoming the family he claims to be. When the attraction between her and Spencer blossoms from just friendship to include romantic love, she dares to dream of forever, but Spencer has baggage of his own. A widower with painful memories of his wife’s long, heartbreaking illness, he is leery of opening himself to more hurt. And Devon has grown strong enough to refuse to settle for less than all she deserves.

I freely admit that I am an unabashed Carr fan, one who has read and reread all her Grace Valley and Virgin River books and expects to do so again. I think The Hero is an excellent addition to Carr’s oeuvre. I thought Devon was a wonderful heroine, one who moves from near helplessness and dependence to strength and independence in a believable manner. I found Spencer an essentially likeable character, despite moments when I wanted to throw rotten tomatoes at him. The title suggests a single hero, but both Devon and Spencer act heroically, and the aged, cards-close-to-his-chest Rawley is a hero from beginning to end. His character is my favorite part of the book.

I loved that Carr allows us to see the HEAs in progress of other characters. Mac and Gina are enjoying married life. Sarah and Cooper are headed toward a wedding. For fans of the younger contingent, Landon and Eve are as in love as ever, and things are progressing nicely with Ashley and her adorable nerd Frank. Ashley’s biological father, Eric Gentry, is paired with undercover FBI agent, Laine Carrington, in the next Thunder Point book, The Chance (February 2014). I can’t wait to see their story play out and to revisit old friends.

The Hero is the third book in Carr’s Thunder Point series, following The Wanderer and The Newcomer. It has the strong, supportive community, the stable of characters who are family and friends, and the credible conflicts that are resolved on the way to happily-ever after that have become the trademarks of Carr’s books. If you are a fan of Carr’s or if you have never read Carr’s books but like novels that offer slices of life in an idyllic, picturesque small town where most people soon know not only your name but much of your business, I highly recommend this book.

The Hero made me freshly aware that my favorite heroines are women who are strong enough to do things on their own when they can but are smart enough to accept help when they need it. What characteristics do your favorite heroines share?

A Baker's Dozen of Reviews: Day Ten--The Newcomer

The Newcomer

By Robyn Carr

Publisher: Harlequin Mira

Release Date: June 25, 2013

The second book in Robyn Carr’s Thunder Point series could be subtitled “The Book of Complications.” All the lives that seemed moving toward happily ever after in The Wanderer are shaken up and the love affairs are tested.

Longtime friends Mac McCain and Gina James are still basking in the glow of their new romantic relationship when Cecilia Jayne, Mac’s ex-wife, shows up after ten years of no contact at all with Mac or with her three children. Even after Mac reassures Gina that the beautiful Cee Jay poses no threat to their relationship, concerns about the effects of her reappearance on the children remain, especially given the explosive anger of sixteen-year-old Eve.

Ashley, Gina’s sixteen-year-old daughter, is having problems too. The effects of a bad break-up with her boyfriend Downey are compounded when Downey’s new girlfriend sends a fake semi-nude photo of Ashley to all Downey’s phone contacts and posts a copy on Facebook. The combination sends the usually stable, upbeat Ashley spiraling into a frightening depression and sets Gina looking for information from Ashley’s father who disappeared before Ashley’s birth.

Mac and Gina are not the only ones dealing with surprises from their pasts. Hank Cooper receives a phone call summoning him across the country to hear some news from his former fiancée that will change his life forever. The contact from Coop’s past sets Sarah Dupre questioning whether or not she can really trust his commitment to her. Meanwhile, a promotion and a move for her are in the pipeline, and she’s faced with the choice of leaving the Coast Guard, or leaving Coop and Thunder Point and uprooting her brother Landon from a place where he is happy and anticipating a successful, potentially scholarship-producing senior year as quarterback for the high school team. And Sarah can’t bring herself to share her news with either of the males who will be affected by her decision.

Carr’s Thunder Point series is proving every bit as addictive as her beloved Virgin River books. It has the same strengths as the earlier series: a cast of characters of varying ages who capture the reader’s interest and affection; multiple storylines that sometimes run parallel to one another, sometimes intersect with one another but complement one another either way; and a sense of place strong enough to leave the reader feeling as if she’s spent time in a real town that she looks forward to visiting again.

While I wanted Coop and Sarah to resolve their problems, it was Mac and Gina’s story in which I was most invested. The friends-to-lovers trope is one of my favorites, and Carr’s treatment of their relationship rings true on so many levels. The slow pace at which it develops because of their concern about how their becoming a couple will affect their kids, the way family steps up to do the job when a support system is needed (Gina’s mother and Mac’s Aunt Lou), and the way that their friendship remains central to who they are even after they become lovers. I love that they keep the same small rituals in place and maintain their easy communication. Even their joy in a weekend escape for the two of them gives them an extra dimension of reality because when money is tight and kids are needy, it’s not easy for single parents to find time to be together without intrusions.

Carr gives the reader just enough information about new characters to make her eager to return for the next story. In this case, the next story is The Hero, the story of Spencer Lawson, single father and Thunder Point’s new football coach. I’ve already pre-ordered it for my Kindle.

I know many of you are Robyn Carr fans. Have you started the Thunder Point series? How do you think it compares to the Virgin River books?

Tuesday Review: The Wanderer

The Wanderer

By Robyn Carr

Publisher: Harlequin Mira

Release Date: March 26, 2013

The bad news is Robyn Carr is not giving her readers the three to five new Virgin River stories that they have eagerly anticipated each year but one since she introduced the series in 2007. The good news is that this month, almost exactly six years after the publication of Virgin River (the first book in the series that has earned Carr thousands of new fans and taken her to the top of bestseller lists), she is introducing a new series, Thunder Point, that promises to be just as addictive as the Virgin River books.

Life as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot conditioned Henry Davidson Cooper, Jr., known as Hank but more often as Cooper (sometimes Coop to his friends), to the nomadic life that he has continued since leaving the Army. In Virgin River, California, on a hunting trip with his old buddy Luke Riordan (Temptation Ridge, VR book 6), Coop learns that Ben Bailey, another friend from his Army days, has been killed and that Cooper is named in his will. Cooper wants more details about his friend’s death, and it is that wish rather than a compelling interest in his inheritance that sends him to Thunder Point, a small town on the Oregon coast.

Upon his arrival in Thunder Point, Cooper discovers that while the circumstances surrounding Ben’s death raise questions, the lack of evidence pointing to foul play has led the local coroner to rule the death as accidental. Cooper plans to stick around for only a couple of days enjoying the scenery, but then he learns that Ben has left him a run-down bait shop and bar and a valuable piece of beachfront property highly coveted by developers. Cooper feels that he needs to stay long enough to determine what Ben hand in mind when he left instructions for Cooper to “take care of things.”

Sarah Dupre is another recent arrival in Thunder Point. A search and rescue helicopter pilot for the Coast Guard, she found Thunder Point when she was looking for a place to move to avoid running into her former husband, a chronic philanderer, at every turn. The small town seemed like the perfect spot for her, her sixteen-year-old brother Landon, and their Great Dane, Hamlet. Even though they have been in Thunder Point for only a few months, it’s beginning to feel like home. Sarah is making good friends, and Landon, who has been Sarah’s ward since their parents were killed more than a decade ago, has earned a spot as quarterback of the high school football team.

Neither Cooper nor Sarah is looking for a long-term commitment. Cooper’s history has convinced him that he’s not meant to be a husband, and his residence in Thunder Point is strictly temporary. Sarah, disillusioned about romantic love after the betrayal of her ex who she believed to be ideal husband and father material, is fiercely guarding her heart from entanglements. But the chemistry between them is strong, and the two engage in a friends-with-benefits relationship that soon has them reconsidering the possibilities.

Fans of the Virgin River series will find in The Wanderer the same strong community identity and large cast of secondary characters, each with his/her own intriguing story, that has made the earlier series so beloved. But Thunder Point is more than just a reimagining of Virgin River. Larger and less quirky and isolated than Virgin River, and without Virgin River’s pervasive military connections, it is a distinctly different place—geographically and in other ways.

Thunder Point felt more familiar to me than did Virgin River. The library, the schools, the local businesses ranging from a grocery store to a real estate office, the presence of Golden Arches and neon bell, the citizens who work in surrounding towns, Friday night football games, and homecoming dances—all these serve to make Thunder Point similar to countless other small towns across the United States and to make it different from Virgin River. But the cast of characters promises the same range of stories that exists in Virgin River. A secondary plot involving Deputy Roger “Mac” McCain, divorced father of three who is in charge of the satellite office of the county sheriff, and waitress and single mother of one, Gina James, sews the seeds of the major plot for the next book in the series. A romance between Mac’s Aunt Lou and a younger man and the budding romance between Mac’s oldest daughter, Eve, and Sarah’s brother suggest that Carr will showcase romance at different stages of life, as she did in the Virgin River books.

I’ve been reading Robyn Carr’s books since the days when she was writing historical romance. For years, she was on my list of she’s-so-great-I-don’t-understand-why-she’s-not-more-appreciated authors. I can remember the excitement I felt when I first read Virgin River and believed that it would be the novel that brought her work the attention it deserved. The very success of the Virgin River books means that The Wanderer couldn’t evoke that same excitement. But it has the heart and the soul of the earlier series. The Riordan connection means that there is a link between Thunder Point and Virgin River, as there is between Virgin River and Carr’s even earlier Grace Valley series. 

In short, The Wanderer has everything it needs to make it Thunder Point a worthy successor to Virgin River. I highly recommend the book to Carr fans and to any reader who has a fondness for small-town stories with characters who capture your interest and win a spot in your heart. The first book will be followed by The Newcomer on June 25 and The Hero on August 27. I can’t wait!

If you are a Robyn Carr fan, how do you feel about the winding down of the Virgin River series? If you have not read the Virgin River books, why not?

Christmas in October: Week Two--My Kind of Christmas

My Kind of Christmas

By Robyn Carr

Publisher: Harlequin Mira

Release Date: 

October 23, 2012

Angela LaCroix has been the perfect student, single-minded in her pursuit of academic excellence as a medical student. All that changes when she survives a life-threatening automobile accident. She loves her family, but as the cherished, oldest Sheridan grandchild, she feels stifled by their concern since the accident, especially her mother’s conviction that what Angie needs is to return to med school now that recovery and rehab are behind her. Newly aware of the tenuousness of life and, to her parents’ dismay, uncertain if her future lies in medicine after all, she plans to spend some time in Virgin River, in the cabin where her Aunt Mel lived before she married Angie’s Uncle Jack Sheridan. Angie’s looking forward to spending time with Mel and Jack and her Aunt Brie, to whom she’s always been especially close, but what she most wants is space and time alone to decide what she wants to do with the rest of her life. The day after Thanksgiving she arrives in Virgin River.

Patrick Riordan, the youngest of the five Riordan boys, has always been the gentlest, the most stable of the brothers. A Navy pilot, he’s been on track with his life, confident of his future in the Navy. All that changes when he survives a fire fight in Afghanistan that takes the life of his best friend, who left behind a wife and young son for whom Patrick now feels responsible. The Navy has given him six weeks leave to get his head together, but he’s questioning whether he wants to remain in the Navy. He chose to spend his leave at his brother Aiden’s cabin in Virgin River because his brothers are nearby, but he’s skipping the family’s Christmas gathering in San Diego for some solitude in which to reassess his life.

When Angie and Patrick meet in Jack’s Bar, the chemistry is strong and immediate. But Patrick is conscious of the decade’s difference in their ages, and Angie’s Uncle Jack and, to a lesser degree, her Uncle Mike think an older Navy pilot with troubles of his own is not the man their young niece needs in her life. Also, Patrick is convinced that marriage to his friend’s widow is the only way he can keep his promise to his buddy to care for Marie and their toddler son should anything happen to him. Angie’s thinking of ways she can make her life count through service to others. Neither of them is ready for commitment. But they like spending time together, and as the intimacy between them, physical and emotional, grows, they fall for each other heart over head. Angie is wise enough to know what they share is a rare gift, but will stubborn Patrick realize just what he stands to lose if he ignores what his heart is telling him?

My Kind of Christmas is the twentieth book in Carr’s Virgin River series, and her fourth Christmas story set there, and yet each visit to the town offers something new along with the chance to revisit old friends. Angie and Patrick are endearing, engaging characters who deserve a happy ending, and their pairing unites Virgin River’s most beloved families, the Sheridans and the Riordans. Of all the small-town series that fill bookshelves these days, Virgin River remains my favorite. This is a heartwarming addition, one filled with funny moments and teary moments. The lighting of the community Christmas tree again is a stirring occasion.

If you are a Virgin River fan, you’ll welcome this addition to a cherished, long-running series. If you are an off-and-on follower of the series, this is a sweet and sexy addition that you won’t want to miss. If you’ve never been to Virgin River, Christmas 2012 is a great time for your first visit. I loved Angie and Patrick, and I’m already wondering what 2013 holds for Virgin River and its people.

The Virgin River Christmas tree has become a tradition I enjoy vicariously each year along with my own rituals of the season. What are your favorite holiday traditions?

 

Tuesday Review: Sunrise Point

Sunrise Point

By Robyn Carr

Publisher: Mira

Release Date: April 24, 2012

Independence seems within the grasp of Nora Crane when she sees a note on the bulletin board at the Virgin River Presbyterian Church inviting applications for apple pickers at Cavanaugh Orchard. Nora isn’t afraid of hard work. She’s willing to do almost anything honest to support herself and her two daughters, two-year-old Berry and nine-month-old Fay. Things are much better for Nora and her girls than they were just a short time ago, thanks to the kindness of Pastor Noah Kinkaid and other citizens of Virgin River. But as much as she appreciates the help, Nora wants to earn her own way, and if walking 3.4 miles each way and picking apples to earn a decent salary will allow her to give her children what they need, she will do the work gladly.

 Tom Cavanaugh is an ex-marine who has returned home to help his grandmother run the family orchard. Once he couldn’t get away from the farm fast enough, but deployment in a war zone gave him an appreciation for the life that he could have following in his grandparents’ footsteps. Now he has big plans for the orchard and for his personal life once he finds a woman with whom to share it. Nora Crane is definitely not that woman. Tom is attracted to her, but he is looking for a woman like his grandmother—“settled, smart, a strong moral code.” Nora, mother of two and already divorced at twenty-three, could not possibly be that woman. Tome gives her a job only when his grandmother intervenes for Nora.

As Nora and Tom work together, they discover they have more in common than either suspected. Tom and his home seem like a dream to Nora, and she realizes quickly that she needs to protect her heart. Nora impresses Tom with her determination and work ethic, and his protective instincts kick in. Soon they are spending time together after work, and Nora and her daughters are winning his heart. His grandmother Maxie is doing all she can to promote the match, but a visit from the widow of one of Tom’s Marine buddies, who at first appearance is the kind of woman for whom Tom has been looking. Nora also has baggage from the past as she must come to terms with the father she believed had abandoned her.

Readers familiar with the series will recognize Nora as the needy young mother who receives one of the community Christmas boxes in Bring Me home for Christmas, Carr’s #1 bestseller. She is a character who is both likeable and sympathetic from the beginning. She was only nineteen when she became involved with a pro baseball player turned drug addict, her mother kicked her out when Nora came home pregnant, and her father ceased to be part of her life when she was six. Despite all these negatives, she demonstrates a quiet, stubborn strength, and she is devoted to her children. She also possesses intelligence, a sense of humor, and a kind heart. Tom is not as immediately likeable. He makes snap judgments, and is too certain of his own “rightness.” But his grandmother shakes him up a bit, his alpha caretaking is endearing, his heart beats his head to the right place, and he proves himself sigh-worthy material in the end.

As is usual with Carr’s books, the secondary characters add richness to the story. I adored Maxie! She may be seventy-four, but she is a vital woman who takes joy in her past, lives fully in the present, and looks toward the future with hope. She loves her grandson, whom she and her husband reared, but she sees his faults as well as his strengths. And she doesn’t hesitate to call him on his wrongheadedness when necessary. There’s an interesting clash between Jack Sheridan and Hank Cooper, another former military man and friend of the Riordans. I expect to see Luke return in one of next year’s books.

Sunrise Point is the nineteenth novel in Robyn Carr’s Virgin River series.  While I like some of the books better than others, overall they show amazing strength for such a long-running series. Sunrise Point is a strong addition. It’s more a hybrid of women’s fiction and romance than straight romance since Nora’s journey is as important as her and Tom’s relationship. The appearances by other Virgin River characters are more limited than usual in this book, and this means that it can be read as a standalone. If you like community-based stories, stories with a strong military connection, or contemporary romance that showcases the extraordinary qualities of ordinary people, you can’t do better than Robyn Carr’s Virgin River books.

I've read all nineteen Virgin River books plus the novellas. I think this makes it the longest-running romance series I've read, although Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple mystery series is up to twenty now. What's the longest running series you've read?

Tuesday Review: Bring Me Home for Christmas

Bring Me Home for Christmas

By Robyn Carr

Publisher: Mira

Release Date: October 25, 2011

Becca Timm knows that a proposal from Doug Carey, the law student she’s been dating for the past year, is imminent. He’s an ambitious guy from the right kind of family, just the kind of son-in-law her mother ordered, but Becca has unresolved feelings for Denny Cutler, a former boyfriend, feelings that haven’t disappeared in the three years since he broke her heart. She needs to see Denny and get over him before she can plan a future with Doug. Since her twin brother Rich is planning to join her ex and two other Marine buddies in her ex’s new hometown for a Thanksgiving week hunting and fishing, Becca decides to tag along.

Denny has found a job he loves and friends as close as family in Virgin River. He’s looking forward to guys-only time with his closest friends from his old life. The last thing he expects to see is Becca, and he’s not shy about revealing his feelings.

When jealousy leads to an argument that leads to careless action that leaves Becca with a broken ankle and Denny with a load of guilt, Becca’s week in Virgin River becomes weeks. Denny insists she stay in his apartment, and proximity plus chemistry produces lust and love in heaping measures. But Denny’s found the place he belongs in Virgin River, and as much as Becca likes its citizens, it’s not her home. Can Christmas in a place where taking care of one another is more than a holiday tradition change her mind?

This is the fourteenth novel (plus two novellas) in Carr’s Virgin River series. I always enjoy another visit to Virgin River, and reading BMHFC was a delightful head start on the upcoming holiday season. I love the holiday traditions, and seeing Becca fall in love with the town was as much fun as seeing her and Denny admit they still loved each other. Carr promised “sweet and sentimental” for the second Virgin River Christmas book, and she delivered. It’s a sweet story, low on conflict, and a lovely gift for devoted Virgin River fans. It’s probably not the best choice for a reader new to the series. If you have never read a Virgin River book, I suggest you begin with Virgin River, Shelter Mountain, Whispering Rock, and A Virgin River Christmas. As for me, I never miss a Robyn Carr book. I’m already looking forward to Hidden Summit, which will be released December 27.

Have you been to Virgin River? What’s your favorite Virgin River book? Are you a fan of “sweet and sentimental” Christmas romances?

After Christmas Treats: Coming to a Bookstore Near You

December 28 has long been marked on my book calendar as one of those terrific, tantalizing Tuesdays that promise a bounty of books that I’m longing to read. I’ve already read three (all A reads for me), and I am eagerly awaiting the others.

Toni Blake--Whisper Falls (Destiny, Book 3--Avon)

Nobody is better than Toni Blake at giving a reader engaging characters in a story that is both sizzling and sweet. She does it again in Whisper Falls, the third book in her series set in small-town Ohio. If you’re as weary as I am of heroines (and heroes) whose loves are blighted beyond recovery because some past love betrayed them, you will probably find heroine Tessa Sheridan as refreshing as I did. She is battling Crohn’s disease, and it’s a tough fight. Tessa felt real to me. Chronic illness has had both physical and emotional costs, but she’s determined to enjoy life. She’s also an interesting combination of caution and risk-taking.

Lucky is a dark, dangerous biker bad boy, the kind your mother always warned you about but you kept sneaking looks and having fantasies ‘cause he was so-o-o sexy. And he is all these things, and  much more. He’s a guy who made some bad choices, but he’s trying to right old wrongs and make choices now that are best for all concerned. He’s a Romo (brother to Mike, whom you’ll know if you read Book 2), and he has family issues that have to be resolved. He also has a past, and we romance readers know that the past is rarely fully past.

I like my romances with rich contexts, and Blake provides plenty of that. I especially liked the way characters from the earlier books were woven into this one. Their presence had purpose in the story. I never got the feeling they were making cameo appearances to satisfy the series addicts (like me). This book stands on its own quite well. Readers new to the series or to Blake should have no problems with it.

Whisper Falls was another TB winner for me. I'm already wondering what’s happening in Destiny next.

Robyn Carr--Promise Canyon (Virgin River, Book 11--Mira)

I’m always happy to visit Virgin River. It’s filled with interesting people. Clay Tahoma and Lilly Yazhi are terrific additions to the community. Clay has just arrived in Virgin River, and he’s looking to settle down and build a life here. He’s also trying to cut some troublesome ties with his immediate past. Lilly has a past too, one that has taught her to be wary of strong, sexy Native American males. She’s the only one in Virgin River not delighted to have Clay join the community.

I really liked these characters. Their different responses to their cultural heritage seemed genuine to me. One of the things I liked best was that Lilly reconnects to parts of who she is because of her relationship with Clay. The scene where she meets his mother left me teary-eyed. In fact, I loved the family connections in this book—the fierce but imperfect love between Lilly and her grandfather and Clay’s extraordinary history with his son and his close ties with his sister and her family.

Clay and Lilly are good together too. Lilly may be guilty of stereotyping (a certain irony there) when she first meets Clay, but she has good reason for her reservations. The mistake Clay makes with Lilly seemed in character to me, and his propensity to delay the difficult reminded me of some men I’ve known. And Robyn Carr could give lessons in how to make a hero admit he’s wrong and how to atone for his errors.

I’ve read all the Virgin River books, and I have enjoyed them, some more than others. I’d rank this one very close to the first three, which continue to be my favorites.

Note: The count for the series says Promise Canyon is Book 11, but if you include the two novellas, it’s really story #13. I admit I made a chart, so I can keep track of all the character connections in the series. For any of you who are as obsessive as I am with keeping track of such details, the story of Clay’s friend and employer, veterinarian Nate Jensen, and his fiancée, Annie McCarty, can be found in “Under the Christmas Tree,” a novella in That Holiday Feeling (2009).

Laura Lee Guhrke--Wedding of the Season (Abandoned at the Altar, Book 1--Avon)

This is the first book in a new trilogy from Laura Lee Guhrke, and if they are all three as good as the first one, this series should rival Guhrke’s Bachelor Girl series in popularity. I should start by saying that I had three reasons for a predisposition to like Wedding of the Season before I read the first line: (1) It’s written by an author whose books routinely earn keeper status from me; (2) it’s set in the Edwardian period, a time I think we see too little of in romance fiction; (3) it’s a reunion story, my favorite theme. Sometimes having high expectations of a book can lead to a proportional disappointment. That was definitely not the case with WOTS.

Beatrix and Will are a couple with a history. Six years ago, each of them makes a choice that puts a period to their long relationship. She’s engaged again and looking forward to a wedding that will take place--and then Will reappears. The opening scene is marvelous. It sets up the tension between the H/H beautifully, plus it gave me the same feeling I get from the opening scene of my favorite romantic comedies of the 30s and 40s.

The plot is fairly predictable. There’s the heroine with a grievance, the hero with a purpose, the proper new love, and a set of circumstances that force the H/H into one another’s company with the expected result of reunion and HEA. What sets Guhrke book apart from hundreds of other books with the same plot is the skill with which she creates characters with whom the reader falls in love. Beatrix’s determination to have the life she believes she must have and her reluctance to take risks may be maddening to some readers, but she had my sympathy from the beginning. I thought the roadster worked masterfully to show that there is more to Beatrix than even she understands at this point. Will is a great hero, but he's not faultless. His interest in the Egyptian excavation is consuming. Their flaws make these characters interesting, credible, and endearing.

I can’t praise the setting highly enough. Not only is it refreshingly different from the usual Georgian/Regency fare, but it is tied directly to action and character in this novel. The opulent lifestyles of the privileged, the technological advances, the shifting social roles—all these things are part of WOTS. They are part of who these characters are. Wedding of the Season is not only a fun read with a wholly satisfying romance; it’s also an intelligent book. I love that!

December 28 releases I haven’t read but that are on my To-Be-Bought list are:

I've been waiting for Lady Most Likely for ages. Three favorites in one book--how often does that happen? In Too Deep introduces a new series, but it's still an Arcane Society book--and I'm hooked. Mistress by Midnight is the second book in the Courtesans Court series. I think that court was a brilliant idea, and I can't wait to read another book by my friend Maggie.
(Rose Lerner’s second book, A Lily Among Thorns, was on my list for December 28, but according to her website, the release date has been changed to March 2011 for the ebook, June 2011 for the pb. I had wondered how the changes at Dorchester would affect this book. I’m glad it’s just a delay in release.)

Note: I received free ecopies of Whisper Falls, Promise Canyon, and Wedding of the Season from the publishers through NetGalley, but my reviews were unaffected by their generosity. As evidence, I offer the information that I'll use my own $$ to buy copies of all three along with the other books on my list on December 28.



I Love Romance Novels! Thank You, Robyn Carr!

Today I was reminded anew of a large reason why I have read romance fiction for most of my life. The realities of death and divorce in the lives of people I love cast a heavy pall over my day. I did what I could for those most affected, precious little though it was. Then, rather than sit and grow sadder with every moment of thought, I retreated to a book.

In this case, the book was an advance copy of Robyn Carr’s A Summer in Sonoma, which I read courtesy of her publisher, Mira/Harlequin, and NetGalley. I first read Carr when she was writing historicals back in the 80s, and she’s been on my auto-buy list since 1999 with The House on Olive Street (which has just been reissued and is in bookstores now, by the way). I bought Virgin River on its release day, well before it became a buzzed-about book. I include all these details because reading an auto-buy author is different from reading a new or new-to-me writer or a sometimes-read author, particularly when the reader has a long history with the writer.

I know when I pick up a book with Robyn Carr’s name on the cover that I’m going to get an emotionally intense story in which characters, who will be presented within the context of a community of family and friends, will experience problems that mirror real life problems. With the help of their community, the characters will overcome these problems in credible ways. The psychically and physically wounded will be healed, the lonely will find love, and the embattled lovers will reconcile.

I have a particular fondness for the kind of book Carr writes, books I call “hybrid romances” because they are a blend of women’s fiction and romance. I felt safe reading A Summer in Sonoma. I knew I was entering a world where characters would struggle with some of the same problems that had left me weighed down with sadness, but they would emerge triumphant. I wasn’t disappointed.

ASIS is the story of four women, friends since their school days, discovering that the lives they are leading as they head into their thirties are not the lives they expected.

Cassie, an ER nurse, is single. A series of bad relationships with jerks and losers have left her lonely and frightened. “There were times she thought life just wasn’t worth living without some kind of deep love and intimacy. The thought of growing into an old woman without ever having that kind of intimacy was unimaginable.” Then in the worst moment of her life, she meets a most unlikely knight.

Julie is married to her high school sweetheart Billy. The parents of three children, living on Billy’s salary as a paramedic for the fire department and his second job in construction, they have too many bills for their income and too little time together. “When she was crowned homecoming queen, this was not how she had envisioned her life. She’d had her fifteen minutes of fame when she was seventeen.”

Beth is a busy doctor, “a nerdy brain inside a model’s body.” Immersed in her new practice at a local women’s clinic, she insists she has no time for a man in her life. An only child of older parents, Beth is used to keeping things to herself: “She’s always been a private sort, not because she was secretive, but because she had a tendency to be intense, to think about things deeply for a long time before putting her emotions out there to be examined.” But the recurrence of a medical problem that had left her scarred in heart and body the first time teaches her how much she needs her old friends--and a new one.

Hairdresser Marty, married to Joe, a fireman, and the mother of one child, hates her life. Every day of dissatisfaction with her husband’s old world ideas about gender roles and his slobbish ways erodes her love for him more and sets her thinking of a life separate from his. “The sexy man she’d fallen in love with was gone, replaced by this Neanderthal who couldn’t care less about her feelings.”

The friendship that connects these four women is the center of this book. Their interactions felt real to me. The intimacy, the informality, the history they shared all rang true. More than once I was reminded of my own best friend, who has been a part of my life since we were four years old. I also liked the way the group extended to integrate the men in their lives. Cassie and Billy are friends too. He’s more than just her best friend’s husband. Billy introduces Joe and Marty. Cassie worries about what her friends will think of the new man in her life. All these things added to the credibility of the story. One of my favorite passages described a gathering of the tribe: “It worked. Four odd couples strung together by four women who’d been friends since they were girls, laughed and joked through lots of food and good wine, told tales about one another and seemed to connect on many levels.”

Fans of Carr’s Virgin River series know what great male characters this author creates. Walt knocked some of those VR heroes down a notch or two on my list of favorites. I adore the big, burly biker with his ponytail, naked woman tattoo, love of books, and tender ways with a woman’s body and heart. Billy who is still passionately in love with his wife after thirteen years of marriage, who thinks his three kids are miracles, won my heart too. Jerod, a nurturer who is not intimidated by Beth’s independence or forced dependence is a dream hero. Even stubborn Joe, who takes his marriage vows seriously and —once he knows the problem—knocks himself out showing his love for his wife, is a winner.

A Summer in Sonoma did exactly what I hoped it would. It allowed me to come back to the heartbreaks in my real world less weighed down by sadness, with a greater sense of optimism. Escapism? Perhaps. I prefer to think of it as a reminder that human creatures can, to borrow terms from William Faulkner’s Nobel acceptance speech, not merely endure but prevail.

I love romance novels! I owe a big thank you to Robyn Carr and to dozens of other romance writers who keep enriching my world and safeguarding my sanity with their tales of those who prevail.