Title: Virgin River
Author: Robyn Carr
Series: Virgin River #1
Genre: Romance
Rating: 3.75
Pub Date: March 27, 2007

T H R E E • W O R D S

Predictable • Quaint • Compelling

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Reeling and grieving from the murder of her husband, big-city nurse practitioner/midwife Melinda Monroe is looking to escape the pain and heartache of Los Angeles. When she answers an ad for a job in the remote mountain town of Virgin River, it isn't anything like she expected. Ready to hightail it out of town as soon as she can, all of that changes when a baby is left on the front porch of the clinic.

💭 T H O U G H T S

As someone who doesn't read a lot of 'steamy romance' novels, I was hesitant to pick up Virgin River. It's just not the type of book I typically gravitate to, and yet I was left pleasantly surprised.

What I like:
• the small town setting. This small town girl has a soft spot for rural romances. Virgin River felt like exactly the type of place I'd want to enjoy the simple life (even though life was less than simple).
• the cast of characters. I grew to love this quirky mix of town folk that bands together like family. I took a liking to Doc especially and I look forward to getting to know them more throughout the series.
• the depth. I prefer my romances with substance, and here the plot had just the right amount of depth mixed with the romance.
• the medical aspect. I think the book contrasted big city medicine to that of a small town really well. And Mel's job fit the plotline perfectly.

What I didn't like:
• the dialogue. It felt choppy at times.
• the writing. At times oversimplified and overly dramatic. At other times long-winded and glossy. All of which threw of the pacing.
• at times it felt dated. Yes it was written some times ago, but let's just say some of the ways of thinking didn't age well.
• how the romance happened so fast. I get that this is a romance novel, but it's a series, and I wasn't expecting them to get together in book one. With the grief aspect it just didn't feel realistic to me.

Every once in awhile a book takes you by complete surprise. I went into this one with very low expectations, but I ended up really enjoying it. Though I haven't watched the TV show, I can definitely see where the appeal lies. Overall, a enjoyable contemporary romance, and I look forward to continuing this series in the coming year.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• fans of rural romances
• readers who like Hallmark Holiday Movies

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"'Mel, it's all right to get on with your life. Maybe you'll never love anyone as much as you loved Mark - but then maybe there will be someone else. Someone next. You don't have to compare them, honey, because Mark is gone and we can't get him back.'"

"People belong wherever they feel good. It can be a lot of different places. For a lot of different reasons." 

TW:child p*rnography
No clue how they let this shit be published...

I was looking for a wholesome comfort-read and was not disappointed. I love the Netflix series so I was very happy that I also enjoyed the first book of the series. The book had some similarities to the series but a lot was different, so it's worth reading the books too.
The book started out to be not as wholesome as I was expecting it to be but it changed quickly, with Mel settling in her new surroundings. I love the small town setting and seeing Mel lighten up through her work. I'm sure I would have enjoyed the book less if I haven't had watched the series. Some lines were very cheesy and I really don't need to read sex scenes between two teenagers. I still overall liked the book and flew through it. 

It wasn’t a bad read- it was enjoyable at times. The description of women-sexually was a little awkward and made me cringe a bit. But I liked the story line. A woman moving to a small town to get away from something life altering and finding love in the most unsuspecting way. I did like the way it touched on loss and grief in the sense of moving on following a loved ones death- feeling guilty and like you couldn’t give your all to someone. 
There were a couple scenes between  14/16 year olds that was weird and I didn’t like the context in a more adult book. 

Mel is a nurse practitioner and midwife the flees to sleepy Virgin River after the death of her husband. Used to fast-paced city living in LA, she struggles to adjust until Jack, the handsome ex-Marine and owner of the local bar, shows her the benefits of small town life. After watching the Netflix series, I thought I’d read the book in the spirit of “the book is always better than the movie...”, but not so in this case. I liked the overarching story if city mouse transplanted to the country, but found difficulty with the simplistic writing and lack of editing. Bottom line: Watch the series, skip the book.