Review: Second Chance Pass by Robyn Carr.

Posted March 17, 2009 by Rowena in Reviews | 8 Comments

Review: Second Chance Pass by Robyn Carr.Reviewer: Rowena
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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three-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

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.

Book #5 in the Virgin River series by Robyn Carr. I love this series, it’s one of the few series that I read because I love the books and not because I’m addicted to them. I love the richness and the closeness of the small town folks of Virgin River and I love how Robyn Carr incorporates the entire town into all of these books.

As much as I love this series, this is the first book that I can’t seem to get over by Robyn Carr. I wanted to enjoy this book because I enjoyed Paul in the previous books. I enjoyed seeing that he was in love with his best friend’s wife and I even rooted a bit for them because it seemed like Paul should finally get the woman in the end but months after Matt died? That didn’t sit well with me. Other things that didn’t sit well with me was how Matt’s own mother was trying to set Vanni up MONTHS after her son died. You know, HER son that Vanni was married to.

It all just rang of the ick factor to me and I was not a fan of that one bit. I could have done with a longer wait on both Paul and Vanni’s part (I mean Paul’s waited this long, a few more months of mourning his best friend would have made more sense to me) but in the end, I was happy that these two got together. I was happy that Paul finally got his happy ending because he deserved it. He was such a strong character to me in the other books that I was ready to see him get his reward for being so patient.

As much as I enjoyed these two getting together, Vanni was a real trial to read about. She frustrated the heck out of me. The way she jumped to conclusions with every little thing made me want to choke her out. Her red headed temper got on my nerves and for a while, I just flat out didn’t like her.

I think I spent more time in this book being mad at both Paul and Vanni. The whole situation with their best friends pissed me off. I hated the way they both treated Joe after the wedding. I hated how they didn’t have any kind of faith in Joe and even though Paul came around, I was pissed off that Paul had to even second guess Joe in the first place. He knows Joe, he knows the kind of guy Joe is and I hated how he didn’t stand by Joe when Vanni was pissed to high heaven at him and because of all the shit that Joe went through after the wedding made me hate Vanni’s best friend. If she ends up being Joe’s heroine, I’m mighty curious to see how RC will write her character to redeem her in my eyes.

Even though this book was Paul and Vanni’s story, we got to see a lot of the other folks in Virgin River. We’ve got little side stories of Jack and Mel and then the General gets a little friend, Tom and Brenda….and then we get to see Rick again. I think that was my favorite part of this book was getting to see Rick all grown up (well all 19 years old grown up) and trying to make something of his life. I loved seeing how he was doing and I love the build up that we’re getting of his story which will come in a few months. Woot, I can’t wait for that one!

It would have been nice to see more of Mike and Brie’s pregnancy because of all the couples in Virgin River, I feel like I know them the least. It would be nice to see those two settled in their own house and finding out what kind of fights they’re getting into now. I know that we’re seeing a bit of Mike because of the whole weed grower but it would be really nice to see some more Mike and Brie page time. I’d even like to see some more Preach and Paige page time too. I guess, I’d like to see more of everyone instead of so much of Jack and Mel, as much as I love those two…I’m on a Jack and Mel overkill right now.

As a whole, this book wasn’t bad but there were a lot of things that bothered me in this book. Vanni, the not waiting a little bit longer thing, Vanni, not enough other folks of Virgin River but even with all of those things that bothered me with the book, I didn’t hate this book. Robyn Carr still does a fantastic job of sinking you into the small town of Virgin River. She still does a tremendous job of making you feel apart of the community and not merely observing it from afar and it was that part of the book that allowed me to overlook my many annoyances with Vanni. After finishing this book, I immediately wanted to pick up Temptation Ridge and I can’t wait until I get a chance to actually do that.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Virgin River

three-stars


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8 responses to “Review: Second Chance Pass by Robyn Carr.

  1. Thank you Rowena!

    ..but months after Matt died?

    That is what bugs me about this book! I honestly would have thought that both Paul and Vanni would have taken things slowly. Was there any internal discussions on whether they felt like they were betraying Matt’s memory?

    Things just happen too quickly and too smoothly (e.g. Brie settling into a relationship with Mike) and sometimes the males come out with things that seem….too ‘perfect’…IMO of course 🙂

    All of this…ummm..ranting aside, I do love the series, especially because Robyn Carr covers some very interesting issues.

    *climbes off soapbox*

  2. I heard about the very short time after her husband died thing too and I actually got quite upset at the thought. You DO NOT get over the death of your husband/wife that quickly. To me the whole thing is an insult – a total insult to the husband. And now your saying his mother encouraged her too???? That is just wrong. And I better stop or I’ll get mad again.

  3. MJFredrick

    What bothered me was that the whole Paul/Vanni thing was solved with about 150 pages to go, and then we barely saw them the rest of the book. If their courtship had been longer, like you said, or the “will they/won’t they” made a little more complex, I would have liked it better.

  4. Kaetrin

    I have this book but I haven’t read it yet. I am waiting for all 3 so I can read them one after the other.

    I have read a few reviews which gave this book a 3/5 or a C (which I guess is about the same). I adored the first 3 Virgin River books. I really related to them and I so want to love the others, especially having waited so long for them.

    Sadly though I am not as hopeful that the 2009 releases will be as good as the first three books and this is because of “A Virgin River Christmas”. I thought that book was rushed, the story just a bit silly and overall I was disappointed (I probably would have given it 2.5/5 maybe or a C- – only on the basis that I read it and didn’t HATE it).

    I am still definitely buying this year’s offerings and I am sooooo hoping to be disappointed in my expectations again – only this time in a good way!

  5. Thank you so much Seneca for that insight. Love hits people at times they (and others) least expect it. It will be interesting to see how the book reads, because yes I’ll be reading it at some point 🙂

  6. Seneca

    She never ‘got over’ the death of her husband. You never get over the death of someone you love.

    I found the story VERY accurate. I have a friend in real life who lost her husband when she was pregnant, and then months after that she married the best friend.
    She got a lot of shit from people who told her in was too soon, etc.
    That was an insult towards her, imo.

    There is no magic number or time line on when you can or should fall in love after your husband dies.
    Love is love, there is no telling when it hit you or what the situation will be.

    Obviously I have no problem with the h/h love story. Other parts of the book did bother me though. The end I pretty much skimmed through, and the parts with her father and the actress I totally skipped.

  7. Seneca

    I’m excited to read the next one. It’s at the top of my TBR, yay.

    I forgot to say that I agree with it being rather weird that her mother in law was trying to set her up. I’m not sure why that was happening. There was no ick factor going on for me(Robyn Carr just doesn’t write ‘ick’ books, lol, but it was for sure odd.

    How bad is it that I liked the Dr. and for one spit second I wanted him to be with Vannie?

  8. Anonymous

    Wow, Paul is tough but sensitive, Vannie is a headstrong but tender woman, everyone loves lots of babies, and no one has to worry about money. Even the doctor is a great guy. It’s all ridiculous. Anyone who likes this drivel needs a life. Check out Stieg Larsson and quit believing everything just falls into place.

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