Family Drama

A highly stressed surgeon runs home to daddy's camp grounds to recovered from lifes hard knocks. ( )

There was no real angst or anything else really moving this story. It's about two pretty bland people finding each other, enjoying having sex with each other, and getting married. The end. Seriously.

I loved Carr's Virgin River series, so I tend to pop up and read her standalones now and again hoping that I can capture some of the magic from that series in her other works. But this book was not that interesting.

Maggie Sullivan is a neurosurgeon who suffers a breakdown after being dumped by her long term self involved boyfriend as well as dealing with the aftermath of a miscarriage. To top all of that all off, she's also being sued by the parents of a teenage boy she could not save. She decides to retreat to her father's store/camp grounds in Colorado (Sullivan's Crossing). Maggie gets there and ends up pretty much hiding from friends/family and herself while staying in Sullivan's Crossing.

The book jumps back and forth between Maggie and her love interest named Cal Jones. A running (not funny theme) is Maggie trying to figure out what Cal stands for in the book, I have to say the reveal of his full name made me cringe in sympathy.

We find out that Cal is also running from some things, but Carr tries to build it up into something big that may separate the two lovers from each other, but that does not happen.

There are other characters in this book, but honestly I was more interested in Maggie's stepfather Walter. Maggie who is 37 by the way, pretty much rails at her father, mother, and anyone dumb enough to listen to her about how hard her life was and how angry she was that her mother divorced her father and rarely let her see him. But then you read she did get to see her dad for months at a time and honestly I started running out of sympathy for Maggie. Poor you, you had a well to do stepfather who honestly loved you and your mother and your mother wanted something more than just running a general store with her husband in the woods. At least Maggie's father finally had enough and told her about herself (the only part of the book I liked).

There's also a random kidnapping plot point in this thing, as well as a woman who is being charged as an escort that totally made me wonder why in the world Carr included that in this book. Maybe even she realized that the two leads were boring.

The writing and flow kind of chug along. I really wish I could say more than just I was bored. But honestly, I was just bored. The end eventually comes and I was relieved. I definitely will not be reading any more books in this series. ( )

With What We Find, Robyn Carr's newest series, Sullivan's Crossing, is off to a fantastic beginning. Set in Colorado, this first installment pairs neurosurgeon Maggie Sullivan with mysterious stranger Cal Jones and their unexpected romance is absolutely delightful.

When Maggie's professional and personal worlds implode, she retreats to her family's campground for a much needed break. Immediately after her arrival, her beloved father Sully suffers a heart attack and what is supposed to be a short stay lengthens as she helps him through his recovery and pitches in as needed around the camp. Along with the regular employees, camper Cal volunteers to help them prepare the campground for the upcoming season. Although Maggie appreciates his help, she cannot help but be a little suspicious of the enigmatic outsider. While Cal does not reveal much information about his past, Maggie slowly begins to trust him and their friendship slowly turns romantic. With both of them at a crossroads in their lives, will their love affair survive once summer ends?

Emotionally depleted and somewhat depressed, Maggie is in desperate need of a break when she returns to Sullivan's Crossing. Although she is a talented and highly competent neurosurgeon, her career is unsettled due to an impending court case and her partners' misconduct. Her personal life is in shambles following a heartbreaking loss and the abrupt end to her relationship with another doctor. Maggie loves performing surgery and helping her patients but the business aspect of her job is rather draining. She is somewhat in limbo as she tries to decide what she wants both professionally and personally and her unexpected sabbatical provides her the opportunity to reconnect with Sully while at the same time deciding what she wants for her future.

Cal is friendly and well-liked by everyone at the campground but he is very close-mouthed about his past. He reveals just enough to alleviate Maggie's qualms but he easily deflects her more in-depth questions. Despite his reticence to talk about himself, Cal is always upfront and honest with Maggie about his intentions and plans. After re-evaluating his priorities and coming to term with a tragic loss, Cal is ready to move forward but he still remains uncertain exactly what comes next for not only himself, but his relationship with Maggie.

Despite Maggie's initial doubts and misgivings about Cal, the two quickly form an easygoing friendship. Their romance is slow-growing but passionate and free from conflict despite their uncertain futures. They are very supportive of one another as they talk through their problems and they respect one another's boundaries. When Cal begins to pull away from her, Maggie does not hesitate to confront him when doubts begin to creep in.

What We Find is a leisurely paced novel with an engaging storyline, a picturesque setting and a marvelous cast of characters. Maggie and Cal are well-developed and likable protagonists with realistic flaws and true to life issues to overcome. Sullivan's Crossing is a delightful location and Robyn Carr brings both the locale and its residents vibrantly to life. An enchanting romance that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the next installment in the Sullivan's Crossing series.
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I had to try a few times on this one. I should have just dropped it, but I kept reading how good it was. It was just okay, imo. ( )

OMGosh, I haven't read Robin Carr for awhile, probably thought I could indulge my brain to bigger things but you know what?, my brain ate this book up like candy. And I do learn things with every book I read. I didn't realize the Continental Divide Scenic Trail, is the longest in the USA, over 3000 miles and goes through Colorado. I know the second of this series is out but I'll wait for paperback to come out! ( )

Good book about two people who are looking for answers after their lives undergo massive shake-ups. Maggie is a neurosurgeon in a busy Denver hospital. She has a boyfriend who is just as busy as she is. When her co-workers in her practice are accused of fraud, then she is sued by the parents of a patient she lost, her stress goes through the roof. Add in an unexpected pregnancy that ends in a miscarriage, a boyfriend who is a total jerk about it, and her emotions are all over the place. She finally arrives at the point where she knows she has to get away, so that's what she does. She goes home to Sullivan's Crossing, where her father runs a campground and general store. An absence of judging and the opportunity to share in his simple life gives her the respite she needs. Then Sully is taken ill, and she has to step up and take care of him, plus the campground. She couldn't do it without the help of his friends, including Cal Jones, a mysterious camper who is eager to do whatever is needed.

Cal is an attorney who was very successful. He had it all - great reputation, nice house, and the love of his beautiful wife. Then she came down with a devastating illness, and by the time it was all over his material possessions didn't hold the same meaning any longer. Feeling lost and lonely, he set out to hike some of the trails around the Continental Divide, which brought him to Sullivan's Crossing. While waiting for the trails to warm up, he finds comfort in the people around him.

Maggie is suspicious of Cal at first. First, she thinks he's homeless, and that he certainly has no direction in his life. He seems content to just hang out, read his books, and chat with Sully. She can't deny that he's good looking, and that she feels a certain attraction to him. When he jumps in to help with the campground while Sully is recovering, she gets a chance to get to know him. What she finds is a charming, well-read man with a sense of humor and an amazing sense of calm around him. Their friendship starts with banter and teasing and an attraction that simmers just below the surface. As the weeks go on, that simmer grows stronger, and pretty soon the kisses lead to more.

I loved seeing the relationship develop as each of them shares what has brought them to this point in their lives. Cal gives Maggie a quiet port where she can look at her life and the choices that are open to her. He doesn't push or direct or even suggest, he's just there when she wants to talk or just be together. Maggie gets Cal out of his funk and to start living again. Neither one pushes the other to give more than they are ready for, but instead provides the support needed to deal with their issues. I loved seeing them back each other up when complications would arise. I especially loved seeing Maggie dealing with Cal's parents in such a kind, yet matter-of-fact way. It was just what Cal needed to realize that, though his parents are part of him, they don't define him. I really enjoyed seeing that their relationship grew with mature discussions and understanding of what's important, without any major arguments or drama. The ending was sweet and romantic and just right for them.

I loved the setting of Sullivan's Crossing. The people are fun, diverse and interesting. The stories of the various campers who came through the crossing were varied and fun. I loved Sully and his unquestioning love for Maggie. They had their issues at the beginning, but her extended time with him gave them a chance to resolve them. I enjoyed how everyone around him helped with his recovery. His friend Tom was great, as a single father of four and a busy life that wasn't too busy for his friends. His ex-wife's problems gave Cal a chance to dip his toes back into the world of lawyering. Tom's son also provided tension at the end with a search and rescue mission that had an unexpected twist for Maggie. I am looking forward to the next book and seeing what's in store for the people at Sullivan's Crossing. ( )

This is the first in a new series for Robyn Carr and I could not be more excited. It is a really, really strong start with great multi-dimensional characters, fully developed, an interesting story line with a lot of room to grow in the series. Something Carr does exceptionally well that I crave in a book, and absolutely need if I'm going to invest in a series, is location as a character. She's done just that in Sullivan's crossing in wilderness of Colorado. Highly recommended, and looking forward to the rest of the series! ( )

Let’s face it, this book has a GORGEOUS dust cover jacket! Inside the cover, instead of plain white paper that holds the printed pages together, this book has an extremely bright yellow paper, so it was like reading with sunshine peeking through! This story does take place during the late spring and all through summer, so it is a nice time of year to read this right now because it’s currently summer (as I write read this and am writing this!) so we can relate to it right now. I had a really good laugh when the author wrote into the story that the state of Michigan ‘invented’ winter! LOL! That IS where I am from! I guess I need to find out from her why she feels that way! I would think that Colorado, where this book takes place along the huge hiking trail would be ‘the’ place that invented winter being they had avalanches in the mountains near the crossing, etc.! Perhaps the author knows this area, and she does know it well! The character, Cal, during a period in his life is working in Detroit and living in Grosse Pointe, truly a very affluent area to live, giving people a very easy and close commute to work in Detroit, but a completely different city. The same thing would apply for his wife when she was alive, giving her easy access to her profession.
Maggie, the main character in this series, comes back home to a place called Sullivan’s Crossing, a place her grandfather’s and father made for hikers, campers, anyone who wanted to stay, to recharge, shower, shop, stay in a cabin for a day, or a week! Many people use this place to get on and start to hike on the Colorado Trail, or to continue their hike. This place can be used for so many things, it’s an ideal place for some rest and relaxation, and this is why Maggie came back home here, to be with her father, Sully, for a while. Maggie needs a change of pace and time to reflect on her life at the moment, and perhaps even escape it a little bit. She is being sued at work for no reason as the surgery she performed was textbook, however, the patient did not make it, so the family filed a lawsuit against her as she is a Neurosurgeon. She has lost her surgical practice, and a human life - her own pregnancy through miscarriage, and this, perhaps, is most likely why she needs some time to herself. This was devastating to her, at age 37 she feels this accident was meant to be because she keeps getting older and the chance for her current relationship is only a dead-end in her opinion because who wants to be with a complete Mommy’s boy? I have to agree with her there. Maggie needs time to reflect on her own life and not others but she doesn’t quite get that chance. As it turns out, it happened to be the perfect time to come home because her father, whom she calls by his first name of Sully like everyone else does, suffers a heart attack. Thankfully, Maggie is right there with Sully throughout his recovery and is a huge help for him. She most likely has extended his life as well by changing everything about him, such as his complete diet! He’s not so cheery about that but he is listening and proving he will stick to this healthier diet! This is a major positive step for Sully, for once. While there, she also meets a new man she finds herself very attracted to, and he is just as attracted to her. He goes by the name of Cal and is expecting to hike out onto the trail once the weather conditions turn warmer so he doesn’t end up dying in an avalanche of snow, so while waiting he starts to help Sully with work that needs to be done around the camp. Maggie and Cal have a fun, flirty relationship at first, and they do end up getting closer. It’s all those late night campfires! All things come to an end, and Cal does go on his planned hike. Maggie doesn’t think she’ll ever see him again. The matter of the lawsuit/trial rears it’s ugly head, she gets deposed and more. I didn’t like that part, but who does unless you love the law?
At first I had a very difficult time getting started reading this book. I felt like I could not get into it, and I was not looking forward to reading it, either. It was work. However, at around page 45, 47, 50, that I noticed the pace started to pick up quicker. I started to get much more invested into the story, and I really was looking forward to picking the book back up again after having to put it down! After that, I was hooked into the story! I do believe this author can have a good series here. This book focused mostly on Maggie, Cal and her father Sully, in addition to the lay of the land and how Sullivan’s Crossing works, the hiking trails, etc. The interesting thing is the secondary characters got as much attention as did Maggie, the main character, but I believe that may just be the set-up for this new series, and I do believe this author has several volumes planned, or else I don’t think she would have spent so much time setting the stage as she did. We would need all of the information she gave us to set this up. This book was a little refreshing to read about a good relationship such as was Maggie and Cal’s, but Maggie at times was often worried that Cal was going to leave despite his attempts at trying to convince her enough he was not going anywhere, but they did have some things to iron out in the end. I hope the next book brings more for this couple! I enjoyed their relationship very much, and I enjoyed what Cal felt for Maggie. He seems like such a wonderful man, an honest man with nothing to hide, and the things probably most people would want to hide about themselves, he was more than willing to open up and tell her about. That, is GOLD! I couldn’t help but to feel as if something was missing from Maggie. Her fire? Or maybe because of everything she is going through at this time is just so much she is having a very difficult time getting through it all. She was pretty quiet for the most part, she just didn’t feel like a good, solid character . . . yet when she is supposed to be one of the main ones. I wanted more strength from her, and at times we sure did get it! It just took time and the right circumstances to make her strength come out, and when it does, watch out! It did take almost the entire book for some situations to come up where we could see just how much strength this woman has, and again, once she shows us her true colors and her strength, we know there is no stopping her and she also surprises herself that she can be as strong as she is. When she doubted herself, the funny thing was her own father told her she definitely had strength, she just needed to go to work and leave the campground to see it come out. Cal even told her in the end she needed to find her fire, to choose something that she ‘had’ to do. I hope in the next book her fire works out. We’ll see! One of the neatest things the author did with this book was at the beginning of each chapter she had a quote. You could read the quote and somewhat guess what that chapter was going to address, or not, but it would be about the feelings, a topic, an event, something that that quote would apply to in that chapter. I have never come across anything like that in the past, and I loved that a lot! When I first realized that was what this author was doing, I did have to go back a few times and reread the quotes because when I first read them I did not catch what she was doing at first, and I wanted to figure out how that quote applied to the chapter, and they ALL apply to each chapter! I enjoyed a little laugh with that! Thanks to the author for providing that extra thought! Now I want to read Book 2 in this series NOW! I am VERY MUCH looking forward to it.
A special thank you, MIRA publishers, for sending me this beautiful hardcover edition of this book that showed up in my mailbox! I was SO happy! I now had a beautiful book from this author I have been wanting to read for quite a while now! ( )

I have been experiencing burn out with contemporary romance this year. I think my biggest problem was the prevalence of new adult heroines... immature girls with lots of drama that made me feel old. So I thought I would try some new authors, those who write more mature female leads who are ensconced in their professional lives. I figured I would have more in common with these types of heroines.

Unfortunately, this book didn't do it for me. It started out okay. Maggie is a successful neurosurgeon who has experienced a personal tragedy, and is being sued for malpractice. But as the story got going, I really felt like I was watching one of those movies that comes on the Lifetime Channel. (They really aren't my thing either.) Overall, I found Maggie to be boring and I lost my connection to her very quickly.

I did like the hero, California Jones, lawyer and widower. The story about his wife was sad and moving, and he seemed like a genuinely good guy. I didn't find anything about him to be exciting though. Even the intimacy between the couple seemed more clinical than steamy or romantic. However, I totally lost respect for his character when he started talking about legal procedure because he was just flat out wrong. (Discussed below)

The story meandered along at a snail's pace, except for a small blip of excitement around 35%. I wanted something to happen to spike my interest, but it didn't and I ended up losing interest all together. By 76%, I realized I was skimming pretty often and I decided to stop reading.

I think the final nail in the coffin for me was the incorrect legal information that I kept coming across. For example, Cal is telling Maggie that she should not testify... but this is a civil trial, she does not have a choice. Either party in a civil case can be compelled to testify. Then a couple paragraphs later, Cal tells Maggie that if he were the plaintiff's attorney, he would use all her prior lawsuits against her. But a jury does not get to consider prior bad acts in a malpractice suit. There were a number of these mistakes, and they are the reason I usually stay away from books that cross my professional arena. I can't help picking apart glaring mistakes to legal practice and procedure... and its pretty clear that this book has criminal procedure confused with civil procedure. They are quite different.

Otherwise, I am not giving up on this author. I have heard good things about her Virgin River series, so I think I will give it a shot and see if another story piques my interest.

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 2 stars / 2 flames. ( )

What we Find by Robyn Carr is 2016 MIRA publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book in the Sullivan’s Crossing series by the amazing Robyn Carr. I have been very curious about this new series and I eagerly dived into it.

Maggie is dangerously close to meltdown territory after a series of huge professional dilemmas takes place, and her personal life implodes, as well. Heeding the advice of friends, Maggie decides to take a leave of absence and visit her father, Sully, who lives in the small community of Sullivan’s Crossing in the Colorado mountains.

But, her plan to escape from life’s pressures are quickly dashed when Sully has a heart attack, and Maggie must tend to him, which means sticking around much longer than she had anticipated.

Cal is in Sullivan’s Crossing with a top secret mission of his own. He hangs round the general store helping with chores while Sully regains his strength, which gives him time to get to know Maggie.

Initially, Maggie is wary of Cal, who seems like a man without direction, or goals, and no apparent need to work a real job. But, there is no denying an underlying attraction to him, and it could be that Cal is just the soothing balm Maggie needs right now. But, once the summer is over, will Cal move on?

First of all, the setting for this book is perfect. While I consider myself more of a beach person, this book had me pining for the Colorado mountains. The slower pace of life is evident and I could feel the stress Maggie was under slowly begin to ease, the more times she spends here. This setback in her life also offers her the opportunities to address old resentments, which helps her strengthen her relationship with Sully, and realize the sacrifices he made for her.

However, there were a few issues with this series debut, one of which, for me personally, was Cal’s understated personality. He was too cool for school sometimes, personifying his parent’s hippie background with a kind of laid back response to almost anything, which is charming at first, and his playful teasing draws Maggie out of her depression. But, he remains too calm even in life’s most poignant moments, or in situations that are extremely heavy, dire, or dangerous, or just plain stressful or emotional. I wanted him to show some kind of righteous indignation on Maggie’s behalf, to wipe away a few understandable tears, or feel his heart beat out of his chest during harrowing moments, but I never picked up that vibe from him, and it’s a little odd for a person not to respond to those situations with more gusto. In real life, I think someone like Cal would drive me nuts. But, he is super sweet, too, and really comes through for some folks in a big way, and I knew he had a big, generous heart, which eventually won me over. I also appreciated that his character was a little offbeat, his unusual background, and his approach to Maggie and the building of their relationship.

The other issue with the story was the pacing, which unfortunately is almost a death knell for this book, because of its sluggishness. I had a very hard time staying focused and fought hard not to skim over some areas.

However, Maggie more than makes up for any of Cal’s blandness, and single handedly saves the story with her exploits, which come out of nowhere sometimes, and are often hilarious or exhilarating, giving the story a strong shot in the arm at just the right moment. Maggie is the heart and soul of this story, and her journey to Sullivan's crossing, and all the trials she faced, will open her eyes to all there is to be thankful for, will teach her some very important life lessons, and open doors for her that are far more appealing than the life she was living in Denver.

I also enjoyed the quotes that started off each chapter, and loved seeing two people with huge, life altering issues to face down, helping each other move upward and onward to bigger and better things, learning what is most important in life, accepting that fate has plans for them, they didn’t expect, and finding the courage to embark on a new path, working things out as they go, and are rewarded with peace, contentment and true love.

Although, the road was a bit rocky, overall, this is a solid begging for this new series. 3.5 stars ( )

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