I was of two minds when I started this series by Robyn Carr.

First, that I would end up being disappointed since the Virgin River series that Ms. Carr started ended up going from must read books for me to eventually just going through the motions books. I didn't engage with any characters and I started to get annoyed by all of the pointless and recycled plot lines.

My second thought was that these books could be a return to what drew me to the Virgin River series and I would fall in love all over again with a fictional town.

Thank goodness my second thought bore out and I purchased the first book in this series, "The Wanderer"

For those that started reading the Virgin River series, Robyn Carr always managed to work in romance with very serious topical issues. Somehow she weaved in real issues such as rape, STDs, rape, battery, and managed to make you believe that the main hero and heroine were falling in love with each other.There were no dumb misunderstandings going on where problems could be resolved if two characters would only just talk to each other.

Then around book #14 of her series things started to go downhill (Wild Man Creek). By the time I finished the last book in the series, #25 My Kind of Christmas I was sorely disappointed with all of the characters and wished that they had gotten a better ending than what they did. There was no more tension or real world issues. Just characters sleeping together but running around all angsty with each other (for no reason) it was maddening. These were grown men and women. If I ever act this dumb while in a relationship with a grown up man someone beat me over the head with a shovel. That said, the sex scenes were boring and I never felt any chemistry between any of the hero or heroines. There was no follow-up with certain characters and by the end I started to really hate some of the characters.

"The Wanderer" is a spin-off of The Virgin River series featuring former Army helicopter pilot, Hank Cooper who fans of the previous series will remember him appearing in #19, Sunrise Point. [Sunrise Point (Virgin River) - Robyn Carr]

Cooper goes to Thunder Point in Oregon to investigate how his former Army mechanic Ben died. Once at Thunder Point Cooper trying to organize Ben's affairs finds himself getting embroiled and attached to those who live in the small town.

What I liked was that there were three plots going on that Ms. Carr managed to juggle with ease. We have Cooper who ends up meeting a bullied kid, Landon, and grows to care for him and his sister, Sarah.

Coop meets Mac, a deputy sheriff, who comes with a lot of baggage and three kids. Mac finally starts to wonder if she move forward with his long time best friend Gina. Gina is mom to Mac's eldest daughter's best friend.

We also have the character of Landon trying to deal with being bullied and new in Thunder Point.

Due to certain events in the book we also still keep coming back to Ben's death.

I think this novel did a very good job of setting up the foundation of the series. I didn't feel lost or confused with so many characters running around. This was probably because each character had a very distinct voice.I think that all of the characters had very real issues to deal with and for once we didn't have grown men and women running around acting like idiots with one another. The love scenes in the novel were nicely done and I actually felt the chemistry between all of the romantic pairings. We had realistic dialogue and scenes with teenagers being attracted to each other and yes acknowledgement that 16 year old kids do run around and have sex with each other.

It was nice to see Robyn Carr get back to world building an entire series. I actually find myself quite excited to read the next book in this series to see how everyone is doing. I hope she keeps it up.