Review: Forbidden Falls by Robyn Carr

Posted December 29, 2009 by Casee in Reviews | 2 Comments

Review: Forbidden Falls by Robyn CarrReviewer: Casee
Forbidden Falls by Robyn Carr
Series: Virgin River #8
Also in this series: Virgin River, Whispering Rock, Virgin River, A Virgin River Christmas, Second Chance Pass, Second Chance Pass, Second Chance Pass, Temptation Ridge, Paradise Valley, Forbidden Falls, Angel's Peak, Forbidden Falls, Promise Canyon, Wild Man Creek, Promise Canyon, Harvest Moon, Bring Me Home for Christmas, Redwood Bend, Sunrise Point, Shelter Mountain, Moonlight Road, Moonlight Road
Publisher: MIRA
Publication Date: December 29, 2009
Point-of-View: Third Person
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 371
Add It: Goodreads
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three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

VIRGIN RIVER IS ABUZZ WITH THE NEWS THAT A STRANGER BOUGHT THE TOWN'S ABANDONED CHURCH ON EBAY. THE BUYER, A YOUNG WIDOWED REVEREND, IS A LITTLE LIKE THE BUILDING ITSELF: IN NEED OF SOME TENDER LOVING CARE.

Noah Kincaid arrives ready to roll up his sleeves and revitalize his new purchase, but he's going to need some help. An ad in the local paper brings and improbably candidate his way.

"Pastor's assistant" is not a phrase that springs to mind when Noah meets brassy, beautiful Ellie Baldwin. With her colorful clothes and even more colorful past, Ellie needs a respectable job so she can regain custody of her children. Noah can't help but admire her spunk and determination, and she may just be the breath of fresh air he needs.

The unlikely duo may come from two different worlds, but they have more in common than anyone would have expected. And in Virgin River lasting happiness is never out of the question.

I loved the first three books in this series. Robyn Carr created a truly amazing place. Virgin River is one of the few fictional places I read about that I wish I could actually visit. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with A Virgin River Christmas, but was happy for another installment all the same. When the next three books came out, I had high expectations. They were all disappointing. I went back and re-read some of my reviews. I can’t believe I gave Temptation Ridge such a high review. Looking back, I think that after reading Second Chance Pass, anything would have been better.

When I read the blurb for Forbidden Falls, I cringed a little. It’s the typical preacher/stripper cliche. She needs to be respectable for [insert reason]. He doesn’t want to hire her, but can tell she’s really down on her luck. That was the case in Forbidden Falls, but it wasn’t blatantly obvious. The only thing Ellie has ever wanted was to take care of her kids. To her, being a stripper was a necessary evil. When she meets a man that can take her out of that line of work and provide her kids with the life she so desperately wants for them, she jumps at it. Only to find herself divorced a year later. Not only that, but her ex-husband has convinced the judge (a man she knows from her dancing days) that she is a bad mother and gets temporary custody. So she needs a respectable job and fast.

One of my biggest gripes in the last three books of this series was the multiple pov’s. I’m not just talking about two or three. I’m talking about four or five. Even six. It was enough so you could never get into the story of the couple the book was supposed to be about. I just felt like I was being bounced around from story to story, never getting invested in any of the outcomes. This book did have multiple pov’s (outside of Noah and Ellie’s) but it didn’t overpower their story.

Noah grew up in a religious household. His father was a minister, something that Noah swore he would never be. When he left home, he cut off all contact with his father. When his wife and then his mother died, Noah thought it would destroy him. He found comfort in seminary school, something that still surprises to this day.

Robyn Carr does a great job of writing emotion. Noah was at a crossroads in his life when he decided to buy the church in Virgin River. Buying and restoring it was something that he had no intention of doing. Ellie is a mother that is desperate to get her children back. The “bad guy” part of the book was necessary I suppose. I did feel like Carr waffled back and forth about whether he was actually bad or just one of those bad guys that desperately wants to be good.

This was the best book since Whispering Rock. It really takes the reader back to the roots of Virgin River and the characters that make it.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5.

Virgin River

three-half-stars


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2 responses to “Review: Forbidden Falls by Robyn Carr

  1. Thanks for the review. I devoured the first books in this series but I’m not crazy about those last ones with the diffderent plots (which I usualy don’t really care about). I’m interested by the sexy minister though 😉

  2. I DISAGREE! I LOVED ALL THE VIRGIN RIVER BOOKS AND ESPECIALLY LOVED VIRGIN RIVER CHRISTMAS. I HOPE ROBYN CONTINUES THE SERIES. I LOOK FORWARD TO ALL THE BOOKS.

    HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL.

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