Reviewer: Tracy Second Chance Pass by Robyn Carr
Series: Virgin River #5
Also in this series: Virgin River, Whispering Rock, Virgin River, A Virgin River Christmas, Second Chance Pass, Second Chance Pass, Temptation Ridge, Paradise Valley, Forbidden Falls, 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 Books
Publication Date: January 20, 2009
Point-of-View: Third Person
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 389
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Series Rating:
In the space of a few months Vanessa buried her husband, Matt, and gave birth to their son--breaking her heart while filling it with a whole new kind of love. But the one man she longs to share this love with now acts as if she doesn't exist.
Paul Haggerty lives by the marine motto: Semper Fi. Ever faithful to his best friend, he's done right by Matt's widow as best he can...considering he's been secretly in love with her for years. Now, just as he's about to make his move, another woman has staked her claim on him--a claim that will be tough to escape.
With courage, humility and not a little meddling from the good folks of Virgin River, Vanni and Paul might just get a second chance to have the love they both desire and deserve.
Before I start this review I just want to talk about my rating system for a moment. This past week I took a good look at my rating system. I like it and plan to stick with it. But what I noticed is that I’m really not being true to it. That sounds strange but I think I’ve been a little more free with my 4’s than I have been in the past. I will stick with all of the ratings that I’ve given but I’m thinking I really need to think a little harder before handing out that number. A lot of books I read are 3’s. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a 3 according to my system. A 3 is a perfectly good book…just not one I consider very good or excellent. Anyway…just needed to get that out of my system. I’m good now, carry on.
In the space of a few months Vanessa buried her husband, Matt, and gave birth to their son — breaking her heart while filling it with a whole new kind of love. But the one man she longs to share this love with now acts as if she doesn’t exist.
Paul Haggerty lives by the marine motto: Semper Fi. Ever faithful to his best friend, he’s done right by Matt’s widow as best he can…considering he’s been secretly in love with her for years. Now, just as he’s about to make his move, another woman has staked her claim on him — a claim that will be tough to escape.
With courage, humility and not a little meddling from the good folks of Virgin River, Vanni and Paul might just get a second chance to have the love they both desire and deserve.
I have to say that I had great expectations for Vanni and Paul’s relationship. The build up from the previous book had me really pulling for the two. When Paul ends up going home to Grant’s Pass after the last book (I won’t give away too many details if you haven’t read the book) he falls into the arms of another woman. This just pissed me off. I guess it’s a guy thing…he thought he didn’t have a chance with Vanni so he’s going to take comfort where he can get it. But I just looked at it as being wimpy. Ok so he thought he didn’t have a chance but he still loved her with all of his heart and he really hadn’t given it the old college try IMO. And unfortunately I felt that Paul was kind of wimpy through the entire book. Yes, he is very sensitive but it got to a point where I just didn’t want to read about it any longer.
For Vanni I thought she was kind of two people rolled into one; soft on the outside and crispy on the inside. Yes, she had been through hell and yes she had a horrendous temper but I just thought for someone who was in love with Paul she should have tried to act a little nicer to him. Yes she comes around…but still.
I really loved the first part of this book. I was completely engrossed in what was going on in the Virgin River Community and wanted more. But the longer I read the more eh I got about reading the book. The writing was fabulous as usual, don’t get me wrong, but I just couldn’t get emotionally attached to the main characters. There is one part of the book involving Mel and Jack that had me on the edge of my seat but that was it. Even the second and third romances they had going on in the story were only mildly entertaining. I do have to say thought that I still love the way VR comes together as a community in a time of need. That I will never tire of.
It was a good book but I just didn’t feel that the story itself was on the same grand level as the first books in this series.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Virgin River
This is a series I’ve been looking at over at eHarlequin for a while, now. I like the idea of the series being centered around a community.
While this individual book sounds like its the strongest in the series, what you say about the series in general sounds really cool. Great review! 🙂
of course I meant that it DOESN’T sound like it’s the strongest in the series…
Renee – as I said it’s the sense of community and sticking together, working together that I truly love about this series. I’ve really gotten to love most of the characters. I love the way Robyn Carr writes.
I thought the relationship between Vanni and Paul was interesting. I would have preferred their issues not to have been resolved so easily though.
I think the problem with the second half of the book is that Ms Carr didn’t focus enough on one couple… instead, she gave us a glimpse of everyone and so it was a bit too rushed.
I’m a big fan of the Virgin River series and love that we get to stay in touch with everyone throughout each story but I was a bit disappointed as well…..this seemed to be 2 different books to me and I felt like Vanni and Paul’s story got lost in the 2nd half of the book!
Nath – I think you're right in that the issues between V & P got solved quite quickly. And rushed is a very good word for the second half of the book. Although it was nice to hear about everyone it wasn't enough. I would have loved to have more interaction with Rick before he left.
Blanche – I almost felt after setting the book down that it should have been 2 separate books…although the second half was discombobulated.