PUBLISHER: MIRA
PUBLICATION DATE: APRIL 24, 2012
RATING: 7 OUT OF 10 – GOOD
PROS: Strong heroine who cares about
her children; endearing secondary characters
CONS: Relatively predictable romance; inconclusive
sub-plot; includes an awkwardly-phrased sex scene
Nora Crane
is desperate for a full-time job that will support her and her two small
children. Abandoned by her drug-addicted boyfriend, who was eventually imprisoned,
she’s stranded in Virgin River and is thankful to at least have a roof over her
head. She’s being relying on the kindness of the residents of the town, and as
much as she appreciates the help from the local minister and her neighbours,
she wants to make it on her own. But convincing Tom Cavanaugh to take her on as
one of his seasonal apple-pickers isn’t easy. He doesn’t believe that the
slight, single-mother can do the hard work, and only offers her the job at the
insistence of his grandmother, Maxie, who sees a lot of herself in Nora. Soon
Nora is spending every day at the orchard, and soon feels like she’s part of
Tom’s family. Tom can’t help noticing Nora’s unfortunate situation, and while
he doesn’t want to get involved with a woman so young yet so
worldly-experienced as Nora, he can’t help but lend a hand every now and then. He
has his eye on a woman far more sophisticated than Nora, but when secrets from
his apple-picker’s past begin to surface he finds himself becoming more
involved in her life. Can he truly stay away?
A friend
recommended the Virgin River series
to me sometime last year, but I hadn’t been able to find the first book in my
local library and was daunted by the long list of books already released. Ultimately
I became impatient as I received more recommendations for this series, so I did
what any insane reader would do – started at #19. While frequent readers of this series may be
going into a full-blown panic attack right now, I can confirm that I didn’t
have any major difficulties jumping into the series at Sunrise Point and that
while there are references to characters from previous books, these didn’t
alienate me or distract me from my reading experience. However, since I’ve only
read Sunrise
Point so far, I can’t guarantee that every book in the series can be
read as a standalone, but I would hope that this is the case.
I’m a sucker
for romances about single mums and dads, and the kids in this story weren’t
simply there for “Aww!” factor as they are in some novels. Nora was such a
strong character, in both her mothering instinct and her desire to make
something of her life and to stop relying on the charity of others. While
sometimes this made her quite stubborn, her commitment to finding a job that
would support her two children made her an incredibly endearing character. Nora
is a woman who made plenty of mistakes in her past and is likely to challenge
readers’ assumptions about single parents and how they end up in these sorts of
situations, just as she challenges Tom’s judgements when she initially
interviews for a job at his orchard. Both Nora and Tom have a lot of personal
issues to work through before they can reconcile their differences. In Nora’s
case, she has to deal with some ghosts from her past that are holding her back
in the present, while Tom has to decide whether he’s ready to settle down on
his grandmother’s orchard, and whether his aspirations for his future are truly
realistic.
While I
enjoyed Nora and Tom’s romance, it is ultimately rather predictable, but the
secondary characters were what made it stand out for me. Tom’s grandmother, Maxie
is one of my favourite characters in Sunrise Point, and I can only hope
that when I’m a grandmother I’ll be just as considerate and loving as she is. I
initially thought that she’d turn out to be your typical old-fashioned
grandmother, but her interactions with Tom’s potential girlfriend, Darla,
proved otherwise. Darla is slightly caricatured, but I do know some women who
would think spending over a thousand pounds on a pair of designer boots is
reasonable, and plenty who miss out on the joy of good food because they’re too
concerned about their weight. Maxie’s witty remarks about Darla’s laziness and
eating habits made me laugh out loud in several places, particularly when she
suggested to Tom that she should mow the lawn and give Darla the grass cuttings
for lunch. Darla’s attitude in general provided plenty of amusing moments in
the story, and while I never believed that she was a true rival for Tom’s
affection, she created a couple of bumps in the road for Tom and Nora, as well
as some light entertainment.
Sunrise
Point is a
gentle, light romance, and I was surprised by how slow moving it truly was. I
don’t read a lot of contemporary romance, mainly because I prefer the
old-fashioned values of historical or Amish novels, but the structure of this
novel allowed time for both Tom and Nora to develop personally as they got to
know each other better, long before they decided to embark on a relationship.
The best way to describe their relationship is “sweet”, and it brought many a
smile to my face.
To readers
who typically read Christian fiction, I must warn that there is one sex scene
in this novel, and a couple of references to sexual urges. I read a fair amount
of general market fiction and some of my favourite authors include sex scenes
in their novels, although most of them tend to focus on the emotions of the
characters during the act, not the physical act itself. Sunrise Point’s sex scene
was definitely more physical, and some of the descriptions were pretty
cringe-worthy, including the awkward reference to the female character becoming
“as limp as a noodle”. Generally, I skim-read sex scenes just in case there is
some crucial dialogue or internal thoughts as to the relationship between the
characters, but in this case, if you don’t care for sex scenes, I’d recommend
just skipping this scene altogether. You won’t miss anything important to the
story.
I thoroughly
enjoyed my introduction to the Virgin
River series, and while I was initially a bit bemused by the subplot
revolving around another resident in the town, I expect that his story will be
continued in a later book in the series. This isn’t a series where you can pick
up one book and not end up wanting to read the ones that come before or after
it, and I guarantee that fans of contemporary, small-town romances will get
caught up in the lives of the residents of Virgin
River, just as I did. Sunrise Point is a great induction
into this series, and I won’t be forgetting Nora’s stubbornness or Maxie’s wit
any time soon.
Review
title provided by Mira.
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