Virgin River, Book 4

I Picked Up This Book Because: #Barbsbookopoly roll 1.

The Characters:

Marcie Sullivan:
Ian Buchanan:
Mel, Jack, Preacher, Paige, Doc, Hope

The Story:

Marcie’s husband has passed away after a long recovery from a bombing in Iraq. She sets out looking for the man who rescued him to find some closure with a friend who has recused himself from society. Ian is by all accounts a great friend and a great C.O. but comes home from his tour with more than a few mental scars.

Ian and Marcie save each other in different ways. I quite enjoyed their story and I enjoyed another visit to Virgin River, even if this mostly takes place on the outskirts.

The Random Thoughts:


4 Stars

Virgin River, Book 1

I Picked Up This Book Because: My cousin raved about the show on Netflix but I had to read the book before watching.

The Characters:

Jake Sheridan:
Malinda “Mel” Monroe:
Joey (Mel’s sister), Doc, Preacher, Ricky, pretty much all the residents of Virgin River

The Story:

Seeking solace after losing her husband to a violent crime Mel sells everything and leaves the fast pace life in L.A. for small town Virgin River where she will put her nurse/midwife skills to use helping out the local doctor. Mel has a super rough start but her wounds are slowly tended to and healed by Jack’s easy going, confident presence. With the help of Jack and the rest of Virgin River Mel learns that can and does appreciate small town life. .

This story was cute and the characters were lovable. I enjoyed it a lot. I can’t wait to go back.

The Random Thoughts:

Now I can run right over and watch the series on Netflix. Thank goodness it’s a holiday weekend.

#LibraryLoveChallenge #2020PopSugarReadingChallenge

The Score Card:



4 Stars

Woo boy. This one really didn't work. The main couple (Vanni and Paul sucked) but Carr decides to force in romances for a friend of Paul and Vanni's and then we have too focus on Jack and Mel, and then we have Walter and a retired Hollywood actress, and I know I am blanking on someone else. We have appearances by Mike, Preacher, and Paige. I have no idea why Carr didn't focus on the main couple. And I have to say that some of the asides in this book about how Jack doesn't feed firefighters who are the "felon" squads ticked me off. Sure, these men are out there trying to keep your home from burning, but don't deserve free food. Carr ticked me off again when she has Mel pro home birth and doesn't talk about the dangers at having home births. We do have something happen, but it's like a blip and forgotten. This book went on way too long. Was so glad to be done with it.

"Second Chance Pass" has Paul Haggerty reeling from the fact he has fallen for his best friend's now widow, Vanessa Rutledge. He has been there and helped Vanessa as she's now trying to raise her baby son and is scared if he tells her how she feels, she will reject them. However, something from Paul's past may cause the couple more problems than anticipated. We also have Mel and Paige both pregnant and readying themselves for their births. The book jumps around to too many characters for you to get a sense for anyone. Vanessa started to annoy me and definitely bugged me after she got on Paul's friend Joe's back about him starting up a romance with a friend of hers who acted like a loon. 

This was the first book when I started to get a bit turned off by Virgin River and it's characters. I felt that too many of them were so aggravating I couldn't imagine being around them for more than 5 minutes. Jack is in everyone's business and he and Mel are similar to a soap opera super couple. 

There was no real tension in this one I thought. Just a lot of people being dumb about getting together with each other. 

A great installment in the series before it started going a bit downhill for me. This book follows Marcie Sullivan as she tries to find the man (Ian Buchanan) who saved her now dead husband who is holed up in Virgin River. I honestly loved the character of Marcie and I enjoyed how she and Ian get together. Seeing how the small town comes together to celebrate Christmas together was really good too. We have appearances by my nemesis Jack and his wife Mel, and of course Paige and Preacher and others.

"A Virgin River Christmas" has widow Marcie Sullivan tracking down Ian Buchanan. When she gets to the wilds of Virgin River and realizes it won't be smooth going, she refuses to go home, she vows to stay and make sure that Ian comes back to the land of the living. Ian's life since being injured hasn't been great. He is angry and no longer in the Marines. He just wants to be left alone. Marcie though has other ideas.

I just had a great time watching Marcie and Ian bounce off of each other before they finally let go and just got together. Carr doesn't write steamy love scenes (in my opinion) but it was great to read how Marcie and Ian finally get together.