Robyn Carr and A New Hope

Every time I see a new Robyn Carr book my thought is Hooray. I’m going to make new friends. I did a conversation with Robyn back in October 2014 after the sixth book in the Thunder Point series, The Homecoming came out.

On June 30^th, her latest book came out. A New Hope.

How do you describe Robyn Carr’s brand of writing? It’s a meld of women’s fiction and romance. Robyn creates a town and populates it. I adored Apple Valley and Virgin River. You may have read them. And now there’s Thunder Point. If you’ve never been to her Thunder Point, a small beach town on the Oregon coast, I strongly suggest a visit. While each book is a stand-alone, my preference remains to read them in order.

What is Robyn’s style? I’ll let her speak for herself.

“I began to develop my own brand of women’s fiction, a style that most closely resembles my take on life. I want to laugh through a book, but I don’t want a book that’s a big laugh. As a reader I want to have a genuinely good time, but I don’t want the book to be a joke. I want real women’s issues, real humor and teeth in the story.”

I just finished reading A New Hope and, as usual, that’s exactly what. Robyn delivers.

Yes. Robyn writes to a formula. Nothing wrong with that. I love her recipe. 

In each book we follow one couple, but other stories weave through the book. Stories of friends old and new.

Example: In book 7, One Wish, the main plot is the romance between workaholic Grace, a newcomer with a secret who’s chosen to settle in Thunder Point and high school teacher Troy Headly who appoints himself her fun coach. (No I’m not going to tell you the secret. That would be cheating. But it’s so cool!)

A side story is Ginger Dysart, whose aunt Rae brings her to Thunder Point to try to lift her out of clinical depression cause by her four-month-old son’s death. The whole town rallies to help Ginger through the pain and depression.

In Book 8 - A Hew Hope, Ginger is the main story.

When Ginger agrees to attend the wedding of the town doctor and her new friend, Peyton LaCoumette, she doesn’t anticipate being groped by the brother of the bride. Matt LaCoumette is gorgeous, drunk and disorderly and Ginger knocks him out. A big step on her part.

Ginger is beginning to move out of the depression caused by the death of her baby son and the disintegration of her marriage. Her ex-husband didn’t even bother to come to the funeral.

Matt LaCoumette now known as Mad Matt used to be the most loving person imaginable, according to his sister. But the breakup of his marriage left him bitter and aching. Seeking solace in all the wrong things.

Matt’s attempt to apologize to Ginger is the start of an unlikely friendship. Their almost nightly talks on the phone begin a relationship which deepens into love. But before they can believe in the possibilities, they both have more healing to do. How do you go forward into a new love until you understand what happened in the old love?

Much of the pleasure in Robyn’s writing is meeting old friends and setting up new ones. A New Hope follows old friends like Troy and Grace, and introduces us to Lin Su and her fourteen year old son Charlie. I'm sure that Lin Su and Charlie, whom I already adore, will be the focus of her next book. And guess what? The ARC of Wildest Dreams just came in the mail! I adore ARCS! Bet you know what I’ll be doing tonight? 

I received the ARC of A New Hope in return for an honest review and I am going to give one lucky reader a chance to win it. If the lucky reader hasn’t read the series, I will gift a Kindle copy of Thunder Point # one. The Wanderer. It’s winner’s choice.

 Read on!

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