People come to Virgin River for all sorts of reasons. For Leslie Petruso it is a way to salvage her badly bruised ego and hopefully gain back some self respect. Maybe Leslie will even be able to find the part of her she lost so many years ago -- since her doomed marriage to a man with his sights set on a public life. However that wasn't all Greg had set his sights on -- he had also zeroed on an attractive attorney who he claimed had stolen his heart. Greg wasn't all bad -- but there was a self-centered part of him that overrode any possibility of finding the good. It didn't help that his new wife is now very pregnant and that the entire town looked at Leslie with that pity look. No way could Leslie reclaim any strength as long as that pervasive look existed -- and in Virgin River she is far away from her world with Greg. Well that's what she thought. Funny how bad news follows you.

Conner Danson was actually placed in Virgin River because of its small town off the map existence. Conner had witnessed a brutal murder and after receiving believable threats the D.A. had to place Conner somewhere hopefully safe prior to his court testimony. Talk about trying to do the right thing. It isn't in Conner's nature to follow any other path -- not that he is overly righteous but he never will walk away from doing the responsible thing.

Neither Leslie nor Conner's lives have any room for romance or any kind of involvement but it quickly became obvious that this thing between them is something real and has promise. And they both deserved a break in the love department. Conner's split with his ex is enough to drive a man to be overly cautious before committing to anyone else. Leslie's ex is becoming an albatross and even her most hilarious attempts to ward off his new desire for friendship just aren't getting the job done. Between the two of them, the baggage is just unbelievable. But what they lacked in separate positive histories they more than make up with the chemistry, trust, and humor and hopefully love brewing between them.

Once again there is no lack for humor and witty conversation as well as deep feelings of warmth for the characters we meet over and over again in Robyn Carr's series set in Virgin River. In HIDDEN SUMMIT, the characters personalities literally leap off the page. As always the ending comes too soon and leaves you wanting more -- and hopefully there are enough hanging threads to warrant still another installment. As you can readily see I'm totally smitten with Carr.