Shelter Mountain
The Virgin River Series has been on my TBR list for quite awhile. When I recently got book one, Virgin River in audio format, I was thrilled at how good it was. Thérèse Plummer continues as the narrator and again does a wonderful job of voices the characters of every one from 3 year old Christopher to crotchety old Doc. She totally makes the book come alive. This story is mostly about Preacher and Paige... mostly. About half the book is Preacher & Paige, a quarter of the book is Jack & Mel and the baby, and the other quarter is split between Rick & Liz and Bree & Mike. Oh yes, I can see that we will be revisiting these 2 couples later down the line. I really liked that we got to return to Jack & Mel and the consequences from Rick & Liz are addressed from book one. But I wish we had more with Preacher & Paige. Though looking back, neither one of them is overly complicated. They are simple people wanting a simple life. There is a sweetness there that is attractive and lovely, but let's face it, also a bit boring. So I am glad that we got to check in with the other characters, making this more an ensemble story.
I am about to get a bit spoilery, but I need to vent. A solid theme in this book was maternity. At one point, Mel, Paige and Liz were all pregnant. However, Mel's is the only child that survives. I understand that in reality things happen, but it just left a bad taste in my mouth the way it was set up. It wasn't enough to keep me from getting the next book, but other smaller things now annoy me more, like how everyone use "buddy" all the time. The more that pulls me out of the story, the more I find that irritates me in the story. Anyone else have that problem?
This was a very emotional book: physical abuse, miscarriage, death and near death, multiple divorces. But I didn't have the emotional connection that could have made this book a real tear-jerker. And I don't think it was just the maternity thing. I have book 3, Whispering Rock, but I think I am going to take a small break first to make sure it's not just a my mood issue. Overall I liked the book, was really pleased about the narrator and enjoyed the town, so I went with 3 stars.
