Forbidden Falls

As always, it was a pleasure to be back in Virgin River, visiting with all my favorite characters in my favorite little town. Since Robyn Carr wrapped up most of the loose ends in the last book, Forbidden Falls was almost like starting over. All the main characters from past books were here in the background, but she brought some new characters to town and beefed up the roles of a couple of existing characters, while leaving more focus on the main hero and heroine than she usually does. The story was a tad less compelling than some of the previous books of the series, but no less enjoyable.

Noah is a Presbyterian minister who decided to buy the old Virgin River church when Hope McCrea put it up for sale on eBay. He definitely has his show more work cut out for him and immediately gets busy refurbishing it. Noah is the first main hero of this series who hasn't been a current or former member of the military, but he's still a lot like the other guys in Virgin River and fits right in. In my opinion, he leans toward being a beta hero, sweet, kind-hearted and gentle with just a dash of alpha protectiveness when it comes to Ellie and her kids. He totally had me the instant he picked up Lucy, an injured, half-dead dog from the side of the road and paid the outrageous vet bills to help her recover. Noah is a man who truly knows what it means to be a minister and not just a preacher. He may carry his Bible around, but he never beats anyone over the head with it. He's not afraid to go into the trenches and get dirty, so to speak. I love the way he truly wants to help people and show them God's love through his actions, not just giving them a sermon and saying good luck. The work he did with the transients in the area, visiting a lonely man in the nursing home and other people in the hospital, and generally helping out all around was wonderful, just the kind of guy I'd love to have as a minister. Noah is a really laid back kind of guy who isn't prone to being judgmental. He may have briefly hesitated in hiring Ellie as his assistant, but once he made the decision he never looked back. He wasn't overly worried what the townspeople would think if they found out she was a former stripper, and he never admonished Ellie for anything she did, past or present, even when she says bad words in church. I also love how he's always looking out for Ellie and her kids in a sweetly protective way, and the man definitely has a way with words when it comes to expressing his love and passion for her.

Ellie has been through a lot in her short twenty-five years, but somehow, she's still managed to keep a positive attitude and always look on the bright side of things. Initially, she comes off as something of a bimbo, especially when we learn that she used to work as an exotic dancer, but it quickly becomes apparent that there's more to her than meets the eye. She's a devoted mother, who only lost her kids due to the machinations and ill-will of others, and is prepared to do anything to get them back. Even though her own life is something of a mess, Ellie is great at counseling others, because her grandmother gave her a solid upbringing along with imparting all her words of wisdom. Ellie is a huge bundle of energy, and isn't afraid of hard work. I can only wish that I were as fast at housework as she is.:-) She breezed through cleaning and painting the church, and was always ready to lend a helping hand anywhere it was needed. I love how she helped Vanni in her hour of need and made a huge difference in her and Paul's lives. In my opinion, she had all the qualities a good pastor's wife should have.

I love how Noah and Ellie built a deep friendship before anything else happened between them, but I didn't feel like the transition from their friends relationship to becoming lovers was quite as smooth and seamless as it could have been. I think that some of the moments that were intended to build romance felt more like friendship, so when they suddenly became lovers, expressing all these strong feelings for one another, it seemed like things sped up a tad too quickly. Still, by the end, I was definitely sensing the romantic connection between them and was convinced that they were perfect for each other.

As I mentioned before, pretty much all the previous main characters put in an appearance. Paul and Vanni were the ones who had the meatiest secondary roles, as they deal with having a bombshell dropped on them when Paul's ex-girlfriend, Terri, unexpectedly passes away. I like how they were able to weather through this crisis and come out on top, keeping their marriage intact, even though it was primarily Vanni who had the most adjusting to do. Ms. Carr also brings back long-time, Virgin River residents, Jo and Nick Fitch, who I don't believe we've seen since the first book of the series when Nick made a pass at Mel and got his butt kicked. We get to learn why Nick behaves the way he does, and what happened to cause the rift in their marriage. They end up becoming surrogate parents/grandparents for Ellie and her kids, while Ellie helps them rebuild their marriage and reconnect in their love for one another. We also get to meet Noah's friend, George, an older, retired minister who I really liked. I hope he'll be visiting Virgin River often. Last, but certainly not least, we finally get to witness the wedding of Luke and Shelby, attended by the entire Riordan and McIntyre clans.

Overall, Forbidden Falls was an enjoyable read. It would be darn near impossible not to like one of these books. However, for some reason, I didn't find it to be un-put-down-able. I simply didn't have that, “Aww, do I really have to stop” feeling when it was time to put it down, nor that burning need to pick it back up again. I also felt like it was a bit less polished than some of the other books in the series. I detected some mild repetition that could have been tightened up. These two things almost made me give the book four stars, although it would have been a very solid four stars. There wasn't anything wrong with it per se. I loved the characters, and the story was good. It just didn't quite move me as much as some of the other books in the series have, but then Robyn Carr managed to make me teary-eyed, not once, but twice, during the final pages, which I thought warranted the extra half-star after all. Bravo, Ms. Carr for grabbing me in the end, and for writing another lovely story in the Virgin River series. show less

I was happy to find that this book concentrated on the two major characters. I was uncertain whether to even try this book since the last one tried to cram in too many characters and story lines so that none were done justice. This one was much more focused. We did get to see some of the old characters where their stories were pertinent to the main characters here. I do like when new characters interact with previous characters but only if it directly affects the main characters. Once I've read their stories I generally do not like to read much from their points of view. Others obviously feel differently.

SPOILER below

I loved the character of Ellie and really enjoyed her insights which she learned from her grandmother. I liked reading show more more about Jo and Nick. The only thing that rang a slightly sour bell with me was that Noah slept with Ellie before marriage. Now I'm not a prude and I'm not particularly churchy but I just think if you're writing about a pastor, he shouldn't sleep with the heroine before marrying her. It's a practice what you preach thing and I've never heard of any preacher who said premarital sex was okay. I just like my characters to be true to themselves. show less

I went on a Virgin River marathon the past week just because sometimes you want to stick with a series because everything after a while feels old and familiar. This is one of my favorites from the series though there are a couple of quibbles here and there, it honestly is just a really good story.

Noah Kincaid comes to Virgin River to re-open a closed church that be buys due to some inheritance. He feels part of the community and wants to do whatever he can to build up the town around him. Realizing that he is going to need an assistant he ends up interviewing residents of Virgin River and that is how he meets Ellie Baldwin. Ellie comes with a lot of baggage, but Noah cannot help feeling more and more drawn to the single mother of two show more who it seems has been dealing with hardships almost from birth.

I really loved Ellie. I have to say next to probably Paige and Brie from earlier books, she is one of my favorite female characters. I always grieved a bit in later books when you would just hear about her, but the character never speaks again really which is a shame. Ellie is feisty, not afraid to do hard work, and refuses to let those around her dictate what she can wear and how she should carry herself. Fresh off of a divorce from a controlling man who now has primary custody of her two kids would be enough to have anyone feel beaten, but Ellie is determined to get a job so she can prove to a judge that she is capable of taking care of her children. There is so much backstory to Ellie, and though I usually loathe information dumps via conversations with people, it works okay in this book since Noah is a pastor and is used to counseling people.

Noah we find out had a hard father who was also a minister, but one of those tv evangelical types who was focused more on money than souls. He still misses his wife that passed away and is not looking to start a relationship with Ellie or anyone. However, something about Ellie and her plight tugs at him while he can’t help feeling physically drawn to her.

Noah and Ellie as a couple makes sense, and Carr doesn’t draw things out too long before they are together. But it’s a relationship with a sale by date since Ellie decides as soon as she gets custody of her children she is going to move away.

We have familiar characters from previous books showing up in this one, Jack and Mel Sheridan, Mike and Brie Valenzuela, Paul and Vanessa Haggerty. Per usual, there is a secondary plot that involves Paul and Vanessa but at least once again it ties into the main characters. I don’t know how I felt about this little twist for the Haggerty family since it felt a bit too soap operaish, but Carr pulls it off in the end. I had read the previous book that was Paul and Vanessa’s (Second Chance Pass, Virgin River #5) so I was familiar with the background to it.

The writing is typical Carr with her handling what feels like a huge cast of characters, but able to keep the story-line moving. The love scenes between Noah and Ellie were great and I definitely got why they were attracted to each other.

The flow actually works much better in this once, because once again, the main characters are tied to the secondary plot so you don’t notice any abrupt changes.

I loved the ending and I liked how the story-line included characters we had met/heard about before in previous books. show less

If I had to pick one word to describe this book it would be awkward.

"Rev." Noah hires ex-stripper Ellie as an assistant to help him at the church. Ellie has lost custody of her children to an ex-husband and Noah helps her fight to get them back. He falls in love with her along the way.

The actions of Noah were just to hard to fit into the minister position. It was very awkward to read. I must admit, had it not been apart of a series I really like, I probably would not have finished reading this book.

Ik heb nog nooit en serie gelezen die zolang blijf boeien ook dit deel was weer geweldig (9).
Steeds nieuwe personages komen erbij ,maar de oude worden niet vergeten en komen in ieder deel weer voor.Ook de liefde word in deze boeken mooi beschreven niet zoals vroeger in een boek zo van: ze kuste hartstochtelijk en klaar is kees,nee hoor ook in deze serie word het soms een tikje pikant.
Ik hoop dat de rest (zo'n 11 boeken te gaan)net zo mooi is.

It was great and exactly what I was looking for for comfort. Ellie's story was full of misunderstandings and sadness, but she faced life with the most amazing attitude, which served only to make her even more lovable. Noah was one bad boy of a minister and I think his and Ellie's chemistry was one of the best of the series so far. I absolutely loved Vanni and paul's story, which was incredibly touching and made me love them all that much more. Great also to see Jo Ellen and Nick finally mending their fences or at least on their way to mending them.

I was sort of shocked that the original VR characters are hardly in this book at all. After 8 stories with overlapping characters, stories, and plots it was a relief to focus on one story. Noah and Ellie are funny and cute and good foils for each other.