Reviewer: Tracy 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
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Series Rating:
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.
The couple has so many differences, but in Virgin River anything is possible, and happiness is never out of the question.I certainly didn’t love the last book in this series, Paradise Valley, all that much but as I said then, I like Carr’s writing so it got a fair grade. Unfortunately it put me on some pins and needles even thinking about reading Forbidden Falls. It also has a Presbyterian minister in it and since my mom is a Presbyterian minister I thought it might have been a little close to home. lol I’m so happy that it all worked out.Noah Kincaid is the type of man that I’d love to have a best friend. He’s down to earth, loyal, caring and just all together a really nice person. He didn’t have any thought of hiring Ellie to be his pastor’s assistant after she left the interview but after talking to her and seeing why she needed the job so badly he decided to give her a chance. This endeared me to Noah as probably nothing else could. I thoroughly believe in giving people a chance – even though they might not look the part. Noah was definitely not disappointed in Ellie’s work as she was just a whirlwind.For Ellie’s part in the book I thought that she’d seen some tough breaks in her life but had also made some really crappy decisions. I appreciated that she didn’t let life get her down and crawl into a hole, as she so easily could have. Saying that, I think she might have been a little chipper for my tastes. I’m not sure how to explain it since I didn’t feel that way while reading the book, just after I finished. Yes, she was wonderful and could really help people but she was damned near a saint in some aspects and I think it went a tad too far at some points.
Ellie’s kid issues were horrifying and I can’t imagine what she had to go through emotionally. This being said I thought she acted completely out of character at the end of the book when she got her kids back and had them stay with friends. I just don’t think she ever would do that in a million years! But hey, that’s me. 🙂 I really liked her but that kind of threw me for a loop.
Another part of the book involved Vanni and Paul who we met in a previous book, Second Chance Pass, and they have been married and raising Vanni’s son together. When Paul’s ex decides to leave him her daughter in her will, Paul falls hard for the 10 month old. (Hearing the description of the baby I can see why – she sounds adorable). Paul takes Hannah home to Vanni and Vanni is pissed. I can’t say I’d be all that happy as well, but Vanni went a little nutty. Yes, she was jealous of Hannah because she didn’t want her – she wanted her own child that they were starting to try for. I can’t imagine how hard this would be and yes, it’s a huge decision to make, whether to keep the baby or not, but Vanni went a little too crazy, imho. Just when I think Vanni is a character I can finally learn to like she does something like this…it’s like 2 steps forward and 10 steps back. I like Paul so much it’s just a shame that he’s with Vanni! lol (I’m horrible, I know.) I guess for me no matter what the hardship was I’d open my heart to the situation and do what needed to be done so it was hard for me to relate to Vanni’s reaction.Overall I very much liked the book. It was an incredibly emotional read for me and I found myself getting watery eyes a few times which just normally doesn’t happen! I think this is probably my favorite book since Whispering Rock…but that’s me.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Virgin River
I recently bought the first book in this series – can't wait to get started!
This series has been rec'd to me for some time now..it sounds very emotionally intense 🙂
I love the "abandoned church he bought on ebay" idea!
Patti – the first three are my favorite but I think they're all good. Enjoy.
Mandi – Sometimes I think that the books are really emotionally charged and others not as much. You'd have to read the first one and see what you think.
Chris – I know. I thought that was pretty funny that it was on ebay to start with but that McCrea lady is pretty odd. 🙂
I'm glad that you loved it so much Tracy 😀 I had some issues with this one, but I still enjoyed it 😀
Nath – ok you can't creep in, tell me you had issues and then ninja out like that without explaining yourself! lol Come on, tell all!
Tracy – it's funny you should mention Paul & Vanni, as I've just finished reading Second Chance Pass. I'm going to post about it tomorrow.
I have to be honest, I haven't enjoyed he later books as much as the earlier ones. I wrote a post last month entitled Prude (that would be me 🙂 that was all about Virgin River Christmas…
Oh, and I am looking forward to reading this book 🙂
I'm so behind n this series but I loved the first three books (even if they were emotionally exhausting) but I have heard so much 'meh' and 'rubbish' reviews about the next three I haven't picked them up yet…….but this one sounds as though it has promise.
Orannia – I'm heading over now to check out what you have to say about Second Chance Pass.
I'll have to see what you said about VR Christmas since I liked that book. lol
Sayuri – Hi! How are you? Doing well I hope. I didn't think that books 4, 5 & 6 were rubbish but they definitely weren't as good as the first 3.
I reviewed it! So you can find my issues 😀