I hate not clicking with a book. ESPECIALLY when the book has all these elements that really appeal to me and is part of a long, potentially interesting series. A few of you who follow me on twitter and goodreads know what book I’m talking about — Hidden Summit by  Robyn Carr – a book I had hoped would be my huge push on people looking for adult contemporary romance, but instead turned out to be a total failure for me.
Hidden Summit
The plot of Hidden Summit by Robyn Carr had such potential to be suspenseful yet sexy, but alas, did not deliver. Connor Danson is an eye witness to murder. His livelihood is threatened in Sacramento, so the DA makes Connor hide out in Virgin River. Connor figures he will lay low and make it work until he can get back to Sacramento. Leslie is reeling from a bad divorce and a crazy ex who wants to be BFF and won’t leave her alone. Much like Connor, she escapes to Virgin River. Obviously, there are sparks between the two.
The dialogue in Hidden Summit felt very stilted to me. I can’t imagine real people speaking like that, much less salt of the earth blue collar workers. I mean, it felt really stiff and formal. Complete sentences, no contractions. Personally, I was hoping there would be some slang or something to make the characters sound authentic.
THEN — with the plot I described above you would expect thrilling, right? You’d be expecting hit men. Maybe a horse head or something to make Connor question his safety in the quasi witness protection. NOPE. DID NOT HAPPEN. Instead we get Connor buying food from Jack’s dinner and wondering about his sister and him courting Leslie. It was totally mundane and a waste of a cool concept. I mean, how do you make being a murder witness boring? HOW?
In all, it really blows that I couldn’t make myself DNF Hidden Summit, that I didn’t find a great new romance series and that I made myself spend so much time reading Hidden Summit hoping something exciting or spicy would happen and then magically make the trudging happen.
Disclosure: Received for review.
Other reviews of Hidden Summit by Robyn Carr:
Read My Mind
Book Obsessed
The Bibliophilic Book Blog
Smexy Books
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love the Godfather reference.
Sigh. If only the godfather showed up while reading this book.
The idea reminds me a bit of a Meg Cabot book…I think it was called She went all the way…but I could be confusing it with another one of her books (I read two of them back to back). Anyway, that one had the excitement you were looking for and an awesome love-hate relationship. Wasn’t my favourite book ever, but it had what this book was lacking.
I may have to check that out, because I LOVE Meg Cabot. And would like to read this story, only done better, ya know what I mean?
I tried this series too and had pretty much the same reaction you did. First, I probably shouldn’t have jumped in mid-series – I had no clue who the characters were. Second – totally agree on the stilted dialogue. Finally, it was just…boring. The series is so popular, though, that I kept wondering what I was missing – clearly, not much.
I am so glad I am not the only person who was MEH about Virgin River. Like, there are SO many fans and I want to know why. Because I felt like I was missing something too.
So, so glad to not be alone with that, ha ha.
definitely not for me. the cover is a bit cringe, no? :/
Ahahaha, yeah it is!
Huh. Usually a Robin Carr is a good read for me. I haven’t read this one yet but the blurb & plot concept versus reality definitely sounds disappointing. Hate when that happens. Hope your next read rocks yer socks!
That’s what I’ve heard, that Robin Carr is good, but unfortunately just didn’t do it for me.