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    Virgin River: Book 1 of Virgin River series
    Unavailable
    Virgin River: Book 1 of Virgin River series
    Unavailable
    Virgin River: Book 1 of Virgin River series
    Ebook432 pages7 hours

    Virgin River: Book 1 of Virgin River series

    By Robyn Carr

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Soon to be a Netflix Original Series!

    Welcome back to Virgin River with the book that started it all…

    Wanted: Midwife/nurse practitioner in Virgin River, population six hundred. Make a difference against a backdrop of towering California redwoods and crystal clear rivers. Rent-free cabin included.

    When the recently widowed Melinda Monroe sees this ad, she quickly decides that the remote mountain town of Virgin River might be the perfect place to escape her heartache, and to reenergize the nursing career she loves. But her high hopes are dashed within an hour of arriving—the cabin is a dump, the roads are treacherous and the local doctor wants nothing to do with her. Realizing she’s made a huge mistake, Mel decides to leave town the following morning.

    But a tiny baby abandoned on a front porch changes her plans…and former marine Jack Sheridan cements them into place.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarlequin MIRA
    Release dateDec 18, 2012
    ISBN9781460300275
    Unavailable
    Virgin River: Book 1 of Virgin River series
    Author

    Robyn Carr

    Robyn Carr is an award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than sixty novels, including highly praised women's fiction such as Four Friends and The View From Alameda Island and the critically acclaimed Virgin River, Thunder Point and Sullivan's Crossing series. Virgin River is now a Netflix Original series. Robyn lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. Visit her website at www.RobynCarr.com.

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    Reviews for Virgin River

    4/5

    36 ratings28 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      First in the series about Virgin River, California. Mel takes an NP job, trying to escape from the pressures of LA & her husband's murder, never believing she'd like country medicine and would fall in love again with an ex-marine who owns the local bar & grill; getting pregnant & getting married
    • 4/5
      Great read
    • 4/5
      Virgin River is a sweet story about (very) small town living and a second chance at love. It was nice again to see a widow who didn't have a horrible marriage the first time around (perhaps that's more of a historical romance plot device than contemporary?) though her realization at the end that she'd never felt the things before that she'd felt with Jack...I don't know. Can't a person just have two wonderful loves in their lifetime without having to compare? This one is better than that one because...? But perhaps that's just my personal bias. It is fiction, after all. But I digress....

      Overall, it was a satisfying story with a wealth of interesting characters that Carr will clearly be drawing on for future books in the series. There were a few little odd quirks--the way internal conversation/thoughts of characters are written seems awkward--but on the whole I liked the author's writing style. One part that did bother me quite a bit, though, is that two characters who definitely knew better--a nurse practitioner/midwife and a guy who just a few chapters before gave his teenaged employee the if-you're-gonna-do-it-use-a-condom-every-time speech--had unprotected sex over and over again. Since when is "Don't worry, I'll take care of the birth control, honey" acceptable and responsible behavior? All well that ends well, and all that, but honestly. It really didn't make much sense. I even scanned through their first time again, thinking maybe I missed that crucial bit or that it just hadn't been written in. No such luck. Ah, well. Still, I hope to return to Virgin River again soon, to find out what else is in store for the rest of the characters.
    • 5/5
      I finally took the plunge into the world of audiobooks! This was my first, and it was very enjoyable - both the story and narration. I've heard so many wonderful things about the Virgin River series. Aren't there 20 books now? I decided to start from the beginning.VIRGIN RIVER is a bittersweet story about dealing with the pain of loss and learning to love again. The whole cast of characters was well-drawn and easy to get to know, and their home was amazing! Virgin River is a remote town of a few small buildings surrounded by giant redwoods, winding mountain roads, and the pristine river filled with fish.It was all those wonderful things that drew griving widow Melinda (Mel) Monroe to Virgin River. It seemed like the perfect escape, but once she got there, Mel realized that small town life wasn't as simple and trouble-free as she thought. Mel was a likable character, hurting but strong, and devoted to her career as a nurse practitioner and midwife. For me the highlight of VIRGIN RIVER was Jack Sheridan. (He wins best book boyfriend of the year hands down!) He's an ex-marine with alpha-male tendencies, very protective of the people he loves. He's also about the kindest, most generous man you could meet. He was so patient and understanding with Melinda as she came to terms with her husband's death. I really enjoyed Therese Plummer's narration of this book. Because this was my first audiobook, it took me a while to get used to the different character voices, especially the male characters. Once I got into the grove of things, I appreciated the emotions Ms. Plummer added to the characters' voices.I would highly recommend VIRGIN RIVER to lovers of contemporary romance.
    • 3/5
      I am late to the Virgin River series. I have been aware of its existence for years but never took the plunge.

      It is a sweet story, well written but nothing new.

      Maybe if I had read it when it first came out it would have been fresh, but reading it in 2013 it has a feel of same old same old.

      The heroine is cute and spunky with a tragic past who makes a bold move to change her life. The hero is devastatingly good looking, brawny and a wonderful guy, adored even by his younger sisters. Never has he felt the need to settle down, until, of course, he lays eyes on our spunky --and apparently gorgeous -- heroine.

      Had I been reading this, I probably would have put it down, never to pick it up again. I did listen to it, though, and the narrator kept me in the story (that and the fact I was doing heavy-duty cleaning and was using it to stave off boredom).
      Therese Plummer is a new-to-me narrator who did a beautiful job. I do see myself getting other books in this series if she narrates.
    • 5/5
      Robyn's Carr Virgin River series is one of the things that I like to read when I'm felling blue. Sitting comfortably while drinking a hot cup of coffee, reading about small towns and its appeal, about people having second chances, fall in and out of love. Imagining the scenery, the river and the fisherman, the smell of forest and hope, of freedom...of gathering and family. Feeling at home in Virgin River.For me it's a 5 stars.
    • 3/5
      I am late to the Virgin River series. I have been aware of its existence for years but never took the plunge.

      It is a sweet story, well written but nothing new.

      Maybe if I had read it when it first came out it would have been fresh, but reading it in 2013 it has a feel of same old same old.

      The heroine is cute and spunky with a tragic past who makes a bold move to change her life. The hero is devastatingly good looking, brawny and a wonderful guy, adored even by his younger sisters. Never has he felt the need to settle down, until, of course, he lays eyes on our spunky --and apparently gorgeous -- heroine.

      Had I been reading this, I probably would have put it down, never to pick it up again. I did listen to it, though, and the narrator kept me in the story (that and the fact I was doing heavy-duty cleaning and was using it to stave off boredom).
      Therese Plummer is a new-to-me narrator who did a beautiful job. I do see myself getting other books in this series if she narrates.
    • 2/5
      Pretty boring, not much conflict that didn't seem contrived. I liked the interaction between the townspeople and Mel... but not enough to read more in the series.
    • 3/5
      I am late to the Virgin River series. I have been aware of its existence for years but never took the plunge.

      It is a sweet story, well written but nothing new.

      Maybe if I had read it when it first came out it would have been fresh, but reading it in 2013 it has a feel of same old same old.

      The heroine is cute and spunky with a tragic past who makes a bold move to change her life. The hero is devastatingly good looking, brawny and a wonderful guy, adored even by his younger sisters. Never has he felt the need to settle down, until, of course, he lays eyes on our spunky --and apparently gorgeous -- heroine.

      Had I been reading this, I probably would have put it down, never to pick it up again. I did listen to it, though, and the narrator kept me in the story (that and the fact I was doing heavy-duty cleaning and was using it to stave off boredom).
      Therese Plummer is a new-to-me narrator who did a beautiful job. I do see myself getting other books in this series if she narrates.
    • 4/5
      I'm glad I started this series. I like reading about small-town life, especially one set in beautiful mountain country; it's nice to visit places through books. It was interesting reading about all the challenges about living in this kind of place too—Carr doesn't show all good or all bad and I appreciated that. I'll be continuing with this series.
    • 4/5
      What a great book! Loved Jack and how sweet he was with Mel.
    • 5/5
      What a wonderful start to a trilogy. Mel is fleeing her past and wants a new start where no one knows her so she answers a want-ad on the nurses registry for a nurse practitioner/midwife to help out in a small northern California town. Mel is a city girl all the way so when she shows up and the town isn't anything like she thought, she decides she is going to leave. That is until a baby left on the front porch is added to the picture. Slowly Mel comes to love the town and her close and first friend in Virgin River, Jack. Jack has scars of his own, as he is a former marine. But he has come to love Virgin River and wouldn't live anywhere else, especially now that a beautiful woman has come to town.Add in a cranky doctor, lots of fun small-town folk and a group of former marines and it is a wonderful book and I can't wait to get to know the residents of Virgin River in the next two books.The romance is wonderful, Mel has baggage and Jack isn't the commiting kind, but somehow they work things out and watching them do it keeps you turning the pages.
    • 3/5
      This was the first book from Robyn Carr that I have read. It was not bad. I found some of the writing to jump all over the place, sometimes not knowing who was speaking or from whose point of view, but I got used it to it by the middle of the book, either that or it stopped jumping around. The plot was pretty good, though a bit convoluted. One time I think it is just about the doctor and her move to the small town then I think perhaps there is a bigger plot trying to work its way into the story. Nearing the end of the book I was losing interest, which I always find a shame, but I will give the second book a chance.
    • 4/5
      The setting is idyllic, the characters appealing -- a lot to like. But over-the-top emoting, excessive emphasis on sex & romance, and a male lead whose selfless considerateness is rather unbelievable make the story almost laughable at times.
    • 3/5
      Robyn Carr writes like a poor man's LaVyrle Spencer. Mel Monroe has had tragedy in her life, and decides to quite LA and the chaos there and move somewhere entirely different. She finds Virgin River, not even a town, a collection of 600 or so souls around some beautiful landscape. She's a nurse midwife and loves to deliver babies. We meet some simple country folk and the far too perfect Jack Sheridan. He really is wonderful and I stayed till the end for him, but the book is overwritten and doesn't have the charm that Spencer manages. It's a warm hearted book, not bad to spend time with, but no keeper.
    • 4/5
      Recently read this book based on a message board recommendation & loved it! It was a great comtemporary AND realistic romance story. Can't wait to dive into book 2 of the series.
    • 2/5
      You’d better love babies if you read this book, and you’d better love them a lot.Me? I don’t care for them much, but figured – based on all the five star reviews – that even though the leading lady was a midwife, the story wouldn’t be swamped in childbirth.How very wrong I was.I thought I would be reading a contemporary romance. I thought this romance would be a simple, easy read. Definitely not anything groundbreaking, but I’d hoped for something a little memorable, a little moving. This is not my favourite genre by a long shot (I like my romance with a bit of action in it), but I’m trying out a whole lot of genres, and this series was getting rave fan reviews.It certainly read as a ‘women’s book’. I cannot imagine any man in their right mind enjoying this book, but it would be the kind of thing I might find in my eighty-six year old grandmother’s house.Instead of a romance, what I got was something pretty close to a childbirth manual. Just about every woman we meet - of every age – is having a baby. Some have already had five, six or more babies. And then we have a ‘heroine’ who goes around town delivering all of these babies. There are far too many details about breastfeeding and what happens during doctor’s appointments and things like that. We meet a multitude of characters, and a lot of nice men, but all anybody – including the men – can talk about or be happy about are…you guessed it, babies!There’s not a whole lot of room for the romance, and this is a terrible pity because with the leading characters’ backgrounds, this could have been a very emotional romance. I would have loved to read a book that kept more of a focus on Melinda and Jack and the way they overcame the grief in their pasts. Instead the story kind of meandered across a great length of time, showing us snippets that left me feeling short-changed.Another problem I have is with some of the old-fashioned attitudes expressed. For example, when the men get together and have a couple of drinks at Christmas or a time like that (while the women sit around breastfeeding and gushing about pregnancy). Instead of – oh, I don’t know – joining their husbands for a celebratory drink, they are furious with them and kick them out of bed! Honestly, what’s with all these miserable, nagging wives? There’s nothing wrong with what happened, and there’s nothing wrong with people having fun.I think Robyn Carr has a knack for creating believable characters and I did get through this book in a day. I have – on a crazy whim – purchased all of the books in this series, and in the connecting series, and I intend to read them. I have read excerpts from the later books, and am interested enough to continue, though I am well aware the author has a thing for reproduction that I simply cannot understand.I sincerely hope the later books, which focus on different characters, take the series in a different direction.
    • 5/5
      I recently found this series through a message board and boy was I glad. I absolutely the realistic and detailed story line. I fell for Jack and waited for Mel to fall too. It was a heartwarming story.
    • 4/5
      This series was recommended to me by someone a few years ago, and I’m just now getting around to giving it a shot. I really enjoyed this! It’s more contemporary romance than romantic suspense, but it’s a much more developed story than you get from something Harlequin-esque. Melinda is a fish out of water in Virgin River, and I liked seeing the town and its people through her unfamiliar eyes. The cantankerous old doctor is a bit of a cliché, but he’s endearing enough that it doesn’t matter. And who doesn’t love a Marine? The series as a whole focuses more on the town than on a specific main character, but I’m hoping to see familiar faces in the next books. If you like a little more meat to your romance, this is a series for you.
    • 3/5
      "When recently widowed Melinda Monroe sees an ad for a midwife-nurse practitioner, she quickly decides that the remote mountain town of Virgin River might be the perfect place to escape her heartache. Instead, she finds a home in this first novel of a new trilogy." Low key, sweet and interesting. Will read others in trilogy.
    • 5/5
      I'm not sure what I was expecting here, but this wasn't it. I think there's something about getting rid of everything and moving somewhere for something drastically different. The ultimate do-over. And it was so great having her start it out with not being all it was cracked up to be. She slows down. Finds a different side of herself. Finds satisfaction in a simpler lifestyle, but certainly not a simpler life. It resonated. I won't be moving to any back woods place any time soon, but it was a great reminder that we none of us are stuck where we are. We can reinvent at anytime by adding or subtracting things from our lives.
    • 3/5
      Me, a widow, accepts a job as midwife in Virgin River as a midwife, and it's nothing like she expected. But she learns to love the place and Jack as well. Romance, sex and babies!
    • 3/5
      Nice but not great. I liked Jack more than Mel, even thought he was too good to be real. The story was lacking in relationship - buildnig.
    • 3/5
      Pretty good read, but there were some things that irritated me a little bit. Such as the lack of a real conflict in the story or that nothing really seems to happen in this little town. There are some author who are masters in creating a universe so freaking cool in little towns that you just get really immersed in the plot. Liked the characters and their chemistry together was good, but sometimes it felt a little off for me. Some events in the end seemed a little bit rushed and there were not a lot of connections between the 'situations' that appeared from time to time in the plot.
    • 5/5
      Loved it...couldn't out it down till I finished.
    • 5/5
      I read this book a couple of years ago, and I loved it. So I decided to read it again to see if I still felt the same way. It's the 1st book in the Virgin River series and it was awesome, I think I loved it just as much or more the 2nd time. It has everything you could possibly crave in a romance novel. I love the small town feel and all the wonderful characters. The H/H are a perfect couple and you could really feel the growing connection between them.
    • 5/5
      I love everything I have read so far from Robyn Carr (so im basis)
    • 4/5
      Just started this series. Loved this book. Absolutely loved Jack. The story kept my interest until the end. I never wanted to put the book down even though the pace slowed in parts. It's a sweet story with witty dialogue and wonderful characters. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series. I love the fact that I have so many books ahead of me. I hate waiting for the next book to be written once a start a series. Yay.