Review of Virgin River (Virgin River #1) by Robyn Carr
Virgin River is the first book in the series Virgin River.
Recently widowed Melinda Monroe answers an ad for a midwife wanted in a small town of six hundred people, housing provided. She believes it's just what she needs—a drastic change from her life in L.A.
On the way to Virgin River, she gets stuck in the mud and has to be towed, then she discovers her free housing is a falling-down, filthy, uninhabitable cabin. The local doctor she's supposed to be helping doesn't want her help. And to top it all off, nothing about the town is what she was sold.
Melinda is ready to high-tail it to Colorado Springs where her sister lives when a baby is abandoned on the doorstep of the medical clinic. As a midwife, Melinda can't abandon the newborn.
Maybe she can stay a little while.
I loved this book. It took me a while to get to it, but I read the whole thing in two days once I finally picked it up. It's been adapted into a series on Netflix, but I haven't watched it yet. I might read a few books before I dive in just in case it covers more than one book.
Melinda was a full and vibrant character, as was Jack, the love interest. Both had pain in their past. Both were layered and thick with conflict and deep emotion. Both went through a deep journey in the novel to come out the other side as better people and better for each other. I could feel for Melinda and long for Jack with her, and I understood Jack and his love for Melinda. I couldn't help rooting for them from the beginning and cheering every time Jack inched closer to entanglement with Melinda.
The descriptions were fantastic—people, locations, and action. I always knew where I was, what I was looking at, and what was happening. Descriptions are hard, and to find an author who excels at all three forms is a treasure.
Dialog was great. There was some cheese, a natural part of the genre, but it didn't stick out for me as grating or annoying. Each character spoke differently, though much of it was only slight differences. That's also a difficult thing to accomplish and worthy of praise.
The plot itself was engaging and absorbing. I rooted for Melinda and Jack, worried about her choices, found the tales of childbirth gripping, and was glued to my e-reader during the climax, one I was sort of expecting, just not in the way it happened.
All in all, it was a wonderful book, and I can't wait to read more of the series!
Comments
Post a Comment