If you come down to the river...

Are the Virgin River books loaded with clichés, among them gorgeous "troubled" women and commitment-phobic, strong men ready to be swept off their feet by the aforementioned beauties? They sure are.

Are the plots predictable? Yep.

Is there way more sex than in the ongoing TV adaptation? Absolutely!

If you haven't read the first book in this series - do that now. You can thank me later. And if you've seen the TV series, do it anyway. These characters are so much more lovable on the page.

This is book three in the series. Jack and Mel from book one and Preacher and Paige from book two are all here, though the focus is on another couple. You don't need to read the series in order, but the townsfolk who flesh out the story will be more significant if you do. If you've read and enjoyed the first two books in the series, you'll probably love this helping of more of the same. Recommended. ( )

Whispering Rock
4 Stars

Series note: This is book #3 and there are ongoing story arcs, so it is recommended that the series be read in order.

This installment focuses on Jack Sheridan's youngest sister, Brie, and his Marine buddy, Mike Valenzuela. Following the trauma of being shot in the line of duty, Mike helps Brie cope after she is viciously assaulted. Mike and Brie's romance is quiet and gentle in nature as their feelings grow from friendship to love.

There are also a number of secondary plots as the cast of characters in Virgin River grows. The story involving a serial rapist targeting teenage girls is heartwrenching and infuriating.

Looking forward to reading Vanessa and Paul's book soon. ( )

Great read

A good book, many subplots in it while the main story of mike and Brew worked out in the book ( )

The series is a saga of nice people in a nice place being nice, it's almost too hard to take. ( )

This installment sees Brie, a former California prosecutor arrive in Virgin River where she is fleeing the city after being abducted by a crazed criminal. Also coming to town is Mike Valenzuela, an ex-marine who was wounded in the line of duty. I believe he suffers with PTSD. This installment was not near as good as the first two. The lengthy graphic sex scenes comprise a good part of this book. This will probably be the last one in the series for me, too formulaic: two broken people find each other and fix everything with sex. 369 pages ( )