Reviewer: Casee Angel's Peak by Robyn Carr
Series: Virgin River #9
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, Forbidden Falls, 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 26, 2010
Point-of-View: Third Person
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 373
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
Series Rating:
FOUR YEARS AGO, AIR FORCE SWEETHEARTS FRANCI DUNCAN AND SEAN RIORDAN REACHED AN IMPASSE. SHE WANTED MARRIAGE AND A FAMILY. HE DIDN'T. BUT A CHANCE MEETING PROVES THAT THE BITTER BREAKUP HASN'T COOLED THEIR SIZZLING CHEMISTRY.
Sean has settled down in spite of himself --- he's not the cocky young fighter pilot he was when Franci left, and he wants them to try again. After all, they have a history ... but that's not all they share.
Franci's secret reason for walking away when Sean refused to commit is now three and a half: a redheaded cherub named Rosie who shares her daddy's emerald-green eyes. Sean is stunned --- and furious with Franci for the deception.
News travels fast in Virgin River, and soon the whole town is taking sides. Rebuilding their trust could take a small miracle --- and the kind of love that can move mountains.
Oh, why, Robyn Carr? Why?
This book was going along pretty well. I didn’t really like Sean b/c he’s a total douche, but other than that I was into the story. Then comes a scene where Franci and Sean’s moms are talking. About sex, baby. So I’m imagining these two 60 year old women sitting in a living room talking about Viagra and menopause and how it’s hell on the ‘ol body. That in itself wouldn’t have been too bad. It was when I read this that the ick factor came in.
For we ladies, the symptoms of menopause hound our sex lives–we get so dry.
You’re going to go there? Seriously? I know that Virgin River is supposed to be about real people with real problems, but the scene just reeked of medical text re: menopause. I want to know about characters going through menopause about as much as how Sean and Franci have sex during her time of the month. Never.
While reading the last few books in the series, it’s been in the back of my mind that every single character that comes through Virgin River has to have their HEA. Life just doesn’t work that way. I’m happy that Cheryl (the town drunk) got sober. I’m happy that Shelby got pregnant. Yay for meddling moms. But life isn’t a fairytale and it’s not realistic to think that everyone will be happy.
Sean and Franci were together for two years before Franci told Sean she wanted marriage and children. In return, Sean gave Franci an ultimatum, never thinking that she would actually leave. She took it to heart and took off. Now, four years later, Sean is shocked when he sees Franci in a restaurant he happens to be in. Sean now thinks of Franci as the one who got away. He thinks it must be a sign that they should get back together.
Franci isn’t as happy to see Sean as he is to see her. When she left him, Franci was pregnant. After hearing his view not only on marriage, but on children she knows that she can’t tell him. Franci always intended to tell Sean, but she kept putting it off. Now she is backed into a corner. She knows it’s time to tell him.
To say that Sean is shocked to learn of Rosie’s existence is an understatement. His reaction is what I imagine any man’s reaction would be. Denial followed by anger followed by acceptance. I didn’t like Sean up to this point. When he meets Rosie, I warmed up a little. Until this (and this was the FIRST day he met Rosie):
Just thinking about that other Franci got him a little riled, and he thought it was completely reasonable that since he’d played good daddy all day, he might score tonight.
Played good daddy? Might score tonight?
It was with some surprise that at the end of the book, I actually ended up liking Sean. Not only that, but he turned out to be a great hero. In the end, he put the needs of Rosie and Franci first. Not for anything in return, but b/c that’s what a parent/partner does.
I’ve accepted the fact that to me, the first three books in this series will always be my favorite.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Virgin River
Casee – I always look forward to your reviews of Robyn Carr books. I gave up after Paradise Valley (I just needed Ricky to get his HEA, then I was done). But the thing that always struck me about Carr books is that everything is kind of amplified.
I haven’t read the newest trilogy because I just got to the point where the sweetness overwhelmed by love of her writing style.
Now if I need a Carr fix I go right back to Jack and Mel’s story. I just pull it on like a warm, fuzzy blanket.
I loved the first part of Angel’s Peak, then it sort of just fizzled out, unfortunately.
@Kati In Moonlight Road, there is a lot of Mel and Jack. That’s not a good thing. I didn’t even like Mel in that book.
@Luci Really? I thought it started out fizzled.
Angel’s Peak is the WORST Virgin River book by far. Mind you, the next one has the MEN sitting around discussing women’s ‘dryness’. Creepy, unrealistic, wrong, disturbing…
Robyn Carr loves writing about women’s health more than she loves writing about anything else. She puts more effort into her childbirth scenes than she does anything others, and so many books have three times as many pelvic exams as sex scenes.
She’s a good writer with a terrible focus.
There’s no better way to be grossed out by a book than to read something by Robyn Carr.
I mean ‘any others’, of course…
Oh, and in the next book, Jack tells Mel he misses her periods. He says he would have loved to have shown her how much he loves her body by having sex with her during her period.
This series was always about this stuff, but now in book ten Robyn Carr is running low on the ‘what women’s health issue shall we write about now?’ pile. She’s getting quite crude and disgusting. I’m not reading anything else that comes out from this series.
It would be nice to have a few more honest Robyn Carr reviews on Amazon. You write anything remotely negative about any of the books over there and you get ripped to shreds. I even had my spelling attacked – even though it was correct spelling!
It annoys me, because I bought the books based on all the glowing, gushing happiness on Amazon. I think there should be some more balanced reviews over there to warn people like me, who hate reading about women’s health, and who prefer some reality with their goo.
I disagree with those of you who dont care for this series. I love it, love the characters, the stories and the small town, some of course I like better than others – the first three, Virgin River Christmas and Forbidden Falls are my favorites. Robyn never fails to disappoint me. And I hope she continues this series for awhile.
I find the health issues discussed gave humor to the story. I rather read that than some of the very crude graphic sex in some books – sex just for the sake of sex with no story. To each his own – different books for different folks – that is what makes the world go around – you know the saying, it would be boring if we all liked the same thing. It is wonderful we have such a choice of different books to read.
I haven’t been able to enjoy the newer books in this series. Not because of anything specific other than the fact that they got boring.
I haven read Moonlight Road yet but I’ve read all the others. Jack and Mel are my favourite characters and I still think the first 3 are the best books in the series.
I’ve been having trouble describing what it is that is bothering me about the latest 6 or so books in the series. I’m still not sure if I can do it, but I think it has something to do with that there is so much going on in any one book, so many people to “drop in and see”, so many stories being told, that we only ever scrape the surface and conflict gets resolved seemingly very easily. What I loved about Virgin River was that the story was about Jack and Mel and them sorting out their relationship – that was the main focus of the story and I think subsequent books have tried to do too much and in the end have not done anything quite as well.
I’ll still keep reading (for the time being at least) but I am hoping for a new book in this series which is mainly about only 2 people and where the conflict is realistically resolved (both in terms of time and events that take place).
@Casee – I’m a bit worried about Moonlight Road now!
@Anon I’m nodding along with everything you said. The period thing totally icked me out.
@Zosia Maybe I’ll copy and paste my reviews over at Amazon.
@Pat L. I wish I could find the humor in the health issues, but I can’t. It just went too far in this book.
@Chantal Which book did you stop reading at?
@Kaetrin re: Moonlight Road. Be afraid. Very afraid.
I would really like for you to post the reviews at Amazon!
I don’t want to sound like I hate Robyn Carr – because I think she’s an amazingly talented writer – but I would never have ordered this series (I pretty much ordered it all at once) if it weren’t for the rave reviews. The books are promoted as romances. I didn’t want to read about childbirth or women’s health, and I actually put off buying to books for a long time because Mel was a midwife. Then the reviews convinced me to buy them anyway, and I always read books I buy.
I think there should be more balance in the Amazon reviews.
‘The books’ – I can’t type on St. Patrick’s Day!!
But, Pat L., you see, the difference is women don’t have pelvic exams for fun. Nor do they enjoy menstruation or ‘dryness’ (unless they’re insane!!). Sex is something that expresses love, that is special, that is a good thing. Pelvic exams and all the other women’s health aspects of the story are not things people do for fun!!