Monday, March 25, 2013

Currant Creek Valley by RaeAnne Thayne

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Hope's Crossing #4
Publication Date: 26th March 2013
Pages: 320
Book Source: Harlequin & NetGalley

Synopsis: If you build it, love will come …to Hope's Crossing.

Alexandra McKnight prefers a life of long workdays and If you build it, love will come…short-term relationships, and she's found it in Hope's Crossing. A sous chef at the local ski resort, she's just been offered to Hope's Crossing. her dream job at an exclusive new restaurant being built in town. But when it comes to designing the kitchen, Alex finds herself getting up close and personal with construction foreman Sam Delgado….

At first glance, Sam seems perfect for Alex. He's big, tough, gorgeous—and in town for only a few weeks. But when Sam suddenly moves into a house down the road, Alex suspects that the devoted single father of a six-year-old boy wants more from her than she's willing to give. Now it's up to Sam to help Alex see that, no matter what happened in her past, together they can build something more meaningful in Hope's Crossing.

Karen's Thoughts:
I wanted to love this book, I really did.  It had so many aspects that I look for in a contemporary romance. At times I saw glimpses of what I crave in my reading, but this story just fell short for me.  I adore Robyn Carr’s Virgin River series and I thought this book would be similar.

Firstly, I found it really hard to keep track of the characters. I initially believed from looking at Goodreads that I was reading the first book in a new series, but on further investigation I realized that there are three books set in Hope’s Crossing before Currant Creek Valley. 

I think my enjoyment of this book would have benefited having read the earlier books in the series. In the end I blocked out who was related to who and what their story was and just tried to focus on the main characters. Sam Delgado was just lovely, and his son was adorable. They were certainly my favourite aspect of this story. However, the female lead Alex McKnight did not impress me at all, she  gave up on things way too early and without any explanation. I felt their “I Love You’s” in the end, came without me feeling a real connection between Sam and Alex.

Much of what I read lately is contemporary romance that has a bit of sizzle. In comparison Currant Creek Valley is very sweet and very tame.

All in all, nice enough but not one I’ll remember. 

To find out more about RaeAnne Thayne visit her website

Guest review by Karen Barr





9 comments:

  1. such a pretty cover too. A new to me author, if I give this one a go I'll be sure to start with the first book. Thanks again Karen :)

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    1. Definitely start with the first book, I'm sure it always makes a difference to my reading experience if I miss earlier books. I'm going to keep my eye out for them because there were parts of this book I really loved.

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  2. I've noticed this author quite a bit lately - such nice covers on all of her books. I'll keep in mind to find the books before this one if I decide to read it. Thanks for pointing that out.

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    1. The covers are lovely Mary...I'm going to hunt around for the previous books and start at the beginning, I'm hoping that might make me look at this novel differently.

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  3. Bummer about the actual book because the synopsis sounded really good!!

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    1. Still worth trying Julie...I think it would have made a difference had I started the series from the first book. I'm not giving up on this author yet, because there were shades of this book I did enjoy....Sam particularly!

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  4. I totally trust your opinion. How could I not, because you led me to Shalvis and Higgins. I'm going to pass on this series!

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    2. I adored the main man in this book Sam and his son, so I'm not going to give up on this author's works just yet, I'll keep an eye out for her earlier books. I adored Robyn Carr's Virgin River series but there were one or two books in that series that didn't give me the usual spark and maybe that's the case with this one.

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