Hidden Summit
By Robyn Carr
Publisher: Mira
Release Date: December 27, 2011
Danson Conner has spent his whole life in Sacramento, California, except for a couple of years in military service. He runs the hardware store that he and his sister inherited from their father. He still carries scars from a one-year marriage that ended in divorce when he discovered his wife was chronically, promiscuously unfaithful, but he’s close to his widowed sister and her two young sons. They fill his need for family, and he enjoys his work. He’s reasonably content with the life he’s created. But one night he’s in the wrong place at the wrong time. He sees a murder and calls the police, letting them know that he can identify the killer. His reward for being a good citizen is having his store burned to the ground and his life and the lives of his sister and nephews endangered. Now he has a new identity; Danson Conner has become Conner Danson. His sister and her boys are sent to safety in one location, and Conner ends up in Virgin River, thanks to a request ADA Ray Maxwell of the Sacramento Office of the District Attorney makes of an old friend and former colleague, Brie Valenzuela. It’s a place to hide until he testifies in the homicide case.
Virgin River has another new arrival as well. Leslie Petruso
has spent ten years working for Haggerty Construction in Grant’s Pass. But she
needs to get away from her cheating ex who is determined he and Leslie remain
good friends. He’s an influential developer, and Leslie finds it impossible to
escape contact with him and his newly pregnant wife. When she tells her boss
she’s leaving town, he suggests she take the job of office manager with Paul
Haggerty’s branch of the family firm in Virgin River.
Neither Conner nor Leslie is interested in a relationship.
Both have good reasons for avoiding commitment. But the chemistry between them
is strong, and Virgin River is weaving its usual spell of warmth and
hospitality. Keeping things light proves to be a difficult task, and soon
Conner and Leslie are falling for each other and wondering if their future may
lie in Virgin River and with each other. But problems from their pasts must be
resolved first.
Hidden Summit is the seventeenth book in
Robyn Carr’s Virgin River series. Perhaps unevenness is inevitable in such a
long-running series. The town has lost none of its charm, and for fans of the
series revisiting familiar places and old friends is a large part of the
pleasure offered by new books. In addition to Brie’s role in Conner’s finding
sanctuary in Virgin River and the Haggerty connection, Conner rents a cabin from Luke Riordan and becomes Art’s fishing
buddy, and both he and Leslie make their
way to Jack’s Bar where they meet the group Brie terms “the regulars and good
friends.”
But however much a reader may enjoy these details, the hero
and heroine and their relationship determines the reader’s response to a
romance novel. Carr has created some of the most memorable, lovable couples in
contemporary romance in this series, but I was never engaged fully engaged by
this pair. What happened to Conner was dreadful. I felt sympathy for him, but
too often I wanted to reiterate what Brie says to him in their first
conversation. She asks him to try to “be pleasant” and then adds, “I don’t need
my brother and my close friends wondering why the hell I’d find you a place to
live and a job because you’re such an ass.” To be fair, he
does indeed become more pleasant and becomes a part of the community, but there
were too many moments when he verged on self-pity. I found his sister, whose
life has been disrupted in much the same way, a much more appealing character.
Granted that Leslie’s life is not endangered and she is in
Virgin River by her choice, I nevertheless found her more likeable because she
is prepared to move on with her life. After Conner kisses her the first time,
she makes a choice: “And that fast she decided—she was going to enjoy her life
rather than subject herself to some kind of torture of denial to avoid ever
being hurt again.” I also applaud the
fact that Leslie learns to like herself and her life before she begins to want
something permanent with Conner.
“Since I’ve been here, I’ve been liking myself a lot more. I like
my little rented house, all the new flowers, my yoga classes, my job in the
construction trailer. The crews respect me and do things my way, my boss
already needs me. I have a kind of boyfriend . . . who lets me call the shots.
I’m getting to know myself, Conner. It’s okay that you don’t feel like marrying
me because I don’t feel like marrying anyone. I feel so good
being on my own.”Hidden Summit is not a bad book, but it suffers in comparison to stronger books in the series, books with heroes and heroines that engaged my attention and my affection with no reservations. I’m still a Virgin River fan, still a Robyn Carr fan. I’ll be reading an e-galley of Redwood Bend (February 28, 2012) this week, and Sunrise Point (April 24, 2012) is a starred book on my TBB calendar. If you too are a Virgin River fan, you will want to read this book. You may find yourself more attuned to the hero than I did. If you haven’t read any of the Virgin River books and like small-town settings, I highly recommend the series, even though my recommendation for this particular book is a qualified one.
~Janga
Thanks Janga, I just bought my first ever Robin Carr book: her newest Holiday book in the Virgin River series.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your honest reviews and will try not to be unduely biased when I read my book.
The 17th book in the series: I have some serious catching up to do.
ReplyDeleteFsbuchler, I sometimes think we readers can be unfair to our favorite authors because we expect them to produce at the top of their form with every book. I don't think anyone does that. I love the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Christina Rossetti, but both were prolific poets who produced some ordinary stones along with their gems. I've been reading Robyn Carr a long time. I love her voice, and I love Virgin River. I think it's to be expected that a few books in a series of 17 not measure up to the best in the series. I hope you enjoy Take Me Home for Christmas.
ReplyDeleteLOL, Marybelle. That you do. But you have some wonderful reading in store as you catch up with the series.
ReplyDeleteOh great! Another Robyn Carr novel coming out and it sounds terrific! Thanks so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteLike Janga, I'm a huge Robyn Carr fan and a fan of the Virgin River series. I'll be reading this one too!
ReplyDeleteI have never read any of Robins books yet but have always planned on doing so. Just haven't got around to it yet.
ReplyDeleteThis series is perfect for me. I have enjoyed the books and the setting. I love this type of small town and the sense of community it fosters. Having grown up in a similar area, I really miss it. Reading one of the Virgin River books is like going home on a good day.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review. I'll be adding this one to my list of books to look for.
i love virgin river but still not continue the next book but will read the next book soon.
ReplyDelete