Robyn Carr just seems to bring out the best in me. Her writing style is remarkable and she once again hits on life in the small town of Grace Valley and centers on the life of Dr. June Hudson whom we came to love in Deep in the Valley.

There is just so much to love about this novel but the one that I find interesting is that June's in love with a man no one in the "nosey" town of Grace even knows exist and she can't tell anyone, not even her father, as her lover happens to an undercover DEA agent.

If you're expecting a novel filled with violence and sex, this isn't the novel for you. But if you're looking for a novel about caring and sharing, where people actually about family, friends and neighbors -- usually whether you want them to or not, go pick up Just Over the Mountain. You're bound to be caught up in the magic as I was.

....and heading off in search of Grace Valley!!!

Very rarely does a reader come across a cast of characters she wants to move in with, but Robyn Carr's books always do this to me!! She writes "real" and this reader appreciates that--even the best characters in Carr's books have their quirks and idiosyncracies that make them a little less than perfect and in JUST OVER THE MOUNTAIN she triumphs with a mix of the good, the bad and the funny. Mixed with a little too-good-to-be-true and bittersweet. Warm, wonderful characters in situations that mirror life. I found myself nodding my head in several spots and my eyes tearing up in others. Reading aloud the funny parts to my son. Just what this reader wants in a book!!!

I am looking forward to the next book in the Grace Valley series--don't know that I'm going to be able to make it until then!!

Just over the Mountain is a wonderful sequel to Deep in the Valley. The characters came to life like my own neighbors through the course of the story. The characters made me care about what happened to them. A very light, refreshing book...I highly recommend it...

What struck me most about The Blue Falcon is that I expected a typical historical romance. Believe me, this is not your typical, funny historical romance. The plot is far more complex than others. Characters, such as Lady Chandra, Sir Conan, and Lady Udele, are well described and developed, both heroes and villains. Subplots are also very entertaining, such as the one between Lady Edythe and her lover. Other likable characters are Lady Edwina, Giselle, and Sir Medwin. The way medieval life (tournaments, balls, customs, etc.) is portrayed is excellent. The story also takes us through the pain,loss, and change of warfare (the Crusades). But most of all, what I most liked is how a stronger bond of love and feeling between the main characters (Chandra and Conan) is shown in this book than in any other historical romance I've read, and I've read a lot.

Jocelyn is a wonderful, caring heroine, that I wish I could be just like and I totally fell in love with Trent. I love this time period (the return of Charles Stuart after the tyranny of Cromwell) and this book doesn't disappoint. I loved that Jocelyn was just a "common" girl and I also loved that Trent didn't care! This is my favorite book. I own a copy and have read it over and over and over.

This was a wonderful book !!! Highly Recommended- 5+ ***** One of my all time favorites !!!! I loved Chelynne and Chad. They were great characters !! Great storyline, writing and character development. A Brief Synopsis: Chad's father, Earl of Bryant is old and in failing health. He wants to secure the future earldom and inadvertently 'forces' Chad to marry Cheylnne, who's consenting family consists of a loving Uncle, an Overbearing Aunt and Devious cousin. There are circumstances, misunderstandings, past hurts and fears which causes Chad to feel pressured and resentful of his marriage so he does all he can to prevent himself from happiness, love and getting close to Chelynne, including avoiding 'consumation' of the marriage... which frustrates her to no end !!! You laugh, you cry... It has everything you want in a romance novel........ There are misunderstandings and bittersweet moments, alot of interesting characters and plot twists.... There is even Another Woman who still pursues Chad even tho he is wed ! .... She is his former mistress whom Chelynne suspects still is his lover.... I couldn't put it down the first time I read it and I have read this book many times over. It's definitely worth reading again and again!

If you like a good historical romance at the time of 15th century chivalry, this book is for you. This book has everything in a good romance novel... passion, longing, desire, villans, heroes, life-long vendettas, revenge. Even though the ending was somewhat predictable, it still held my interest and curiousity from the very first page.

I would have to agree with a previous review that this story was not truely a romance. Our hero and love interest Jim played a very minor role. The story focuses on June and the people of Grace Valley. However, the lack of romance did not take away from the book. I felt drawn into the town of Grace Valley and it was a wonderful experience. I thought that too many characters would make it hard to keep track of who was who but it did not happen. It made it all the more real. I would recommend this book but not as a romance but as a heart warming story that will touch you and maybe think about moving to a small town like Grace Valley.

DEEP IN THE VALLEY shares the day to day happenings of the Grace Valley inhabitants who can count among their townsfolk those who are loopily odd and charmingly eccentric, those who are pillars of the community and irreplaceable, and those who are bottom-of-the-barrel bad, so bad even prayer is wasted on them.

One gets the feeling that Robyn Carr placed each of these characters on a tiny square town map that she created, then shuffled them around like chess pieces until they fell into their comfort zones. They operate as fluidly.

June Hudson is thirty seven, single, and Grace Valley's general practitioner. The alarm on her biological clock is a tick away from shrieking and she knows that if she is to have a child she has to do something about it now. But in this town where everyone knows every blessed thing June doubts that her dreams will ever bear fruit. Because it is a known fact that if you live and work in Grace Valley you needed to have picked out your husband way back in the ninth grade. June didn't. Dumb, dumber, dumbest. Now she is overworked, underpaid, and time is galloping past so fast it is like witnessing the wind from the interior of a vacuum pack.

Sam owns the gas station a block from the town center. His priorities are clearly flagged -- when he is not fishing Sam is happy to pump gas. Sam is seventy if he is a day, with a body like a seventeen year old and eyes that Paul Newman would gouge for. Justine, twenty-something, is the town florist who provides flowers for the church. Busy-bodies in town have her supplying more than flowers for the local minister, a randy devil whose sexual exploits are legendary. As are his wife's instincts for sniffing young ladies out of the presbytery. Sam, after a couple of chapters guffawing at the situation, starts to look out for Justine: creating new May-December fodder for the gossips.

Myrna, June's elderly aunt, lives in a large gothic home on the edge of town. Myrna writes mystery. A while back, Myrna was married to a philandering travelling salesman, but somewhere en route she 'misplaced' her man. Since then her tales have become more ghoulish, more gory and themes of dismemberment and buried body parts are common. Locals speculate over coffee that Myrna's real life story is just as grizzly as her fiction. Myrna's character alone is worth the price of this book. Such a chortle!

Way back, hiding deep and dark in the national forest live the Mull family. The Mulls will break your heart. Clarence, a Vietnam vet, suffers from PTS. As a child his wife was slashed and bears a deforming scar down her cheek, but a larger scar undermines her psyche. Terrified, they live as isolates, which is what they seem to need. But they have kids and they know this is not good. Teenagers. Who need a place in society.

Up there on Trinity Alps if you listen carefully you can hear the DEA helicopters searching out marijuana plantation sites even on the quietest night. And sometimes sufferers of drug war wounds furtively arrive at June's surgery. One of them, Jim, brought a patient bleeding from a gunshot wound. His was a rifle request for help, his finger curled around the trigger, causing June's heart to stop. Then go hip-hop.

There are few secrets in Grace Valley. Robyn Carr goes so far as to make a lovely tension out of trying to keep the love story a secret here, attempting to outwit the gossip. But the gossip and the grapevine prevail - to such an extent that this very failing of the townsfolk almost causes a catastrophe. It certainly contributes. How they respond to that catastrophe is a measure of how caring the townsfolk really are. The love story in this tale is peripheral but the characters, the joys, and the travails that evolve are so captivatingly drawn the focus matters not.

Hopefully, this is only the first of a trilogy of the Grace Valley characters. May they live, love and laugh together long and happily. This is a delightful, engaging tale filled with juicy gossipy substance.

In her late thirties in Grace Valley, California, Dr. June Hudson wonders if she will ever find a lasting relationship. She would like something similar to that shared between her dad and her mom who died nine years ago. Even as she speculates that no one is available for her, June interviews a new doctor, John Stone, to share the overwhelming workload, but he has a past that makes him seem shaky.

Beneath the surface of the small Mendocino County town lies different extremes of sexual harassment. Gus Craven is physically and mentally abusive towards his wife and children. Gary Baker not only hits his spouse Christina, he demands she remain model thin even though she carries his baby. Even the married pastor makes plays for females and has had affairs. Can June and company idly sit by while her gender is under attack? She is also beginning to fall in love with an undercover Drug Enforcement Agent.

DEEP IN THE VALLEY is a complex look inside relationships in an isolated small Northern California town. The story line is enjoyable yet scary because the large cast of charcaters seems genuine. Although the ending lessons the impact of the problems of spousal and child abuse, and the need to bring medical attention to remote areas, the plot works because fans care about the vast ensemble. Robyn Carr provides readers a powerful, thought-provoking work of contemporary fiction that centers on some members of our population living their lives under constant terrorist activity.

Harriet Klausner

So often, one opens the new novels written by members of that small and exclusive club of best-selling authors, and the entire book is nothing more than re-cycled garbage. Maybe the garbage once was fresh and new, but after the umpteenth airing, there's nothing to recommend it. Still, these writers have become brand names, so their publishers give each of their new books the big send-off with the requisite advertising budget and a publicity tour. And faithful readers buy these books without hesitation.

Then, one stumbles upon a gem, a little perfect gem. THE HOUSE ON OLIVE STREET is just such a gem. Its author deserves the book tour, the big ad budget. Instead, this book simply will have to make its own way on the paperback racks. That's fair neither to Robyn Carr, who wrote HOUSE, nor to the legion of women who look forward to reading good fiction and who should be assisted in finding her novel more easily.

This novel has all the elements: A half-dozen complex characters, real and well-drawn, multiple plots, lively prose. The underlying subtext is about values and about love. None of the storylines descend to cliche. Unlike many similar novels, the ending is not entirely predictable, either, much to Ms. Carr's credit.

The thread that weaves HOUSE together is a writers' group, with some of the members single, some married, some childless, some with large broods, each of whom writes a different kind of book and all of whom support and nurture the others through every kind of crisis.

THE HOUSE ON OLIVE STREET deserves a big success. Read it, you'll like it.

I've enjoyed all of Robyn Carr's romances, but approached this with a bit of caution since it's more women's fiction. I should have had more faith in Carr's talent. This is one of the most enjoyable books I've read in months, filled with beautifully constructed characters, relationships, emotion, and humor. (Poor Barbara Ann with her testosterone-ridden household of five hulking males was as funny as she was poignant.) The insights into different aspects of writers' lives were also dead on. I hope we see many, many more equally fine women's fiction novels from Ms. Carr.

Ms. Carr's THE HOUSE ON OLIVE STREET is that good. It has been quite a while since I've had the joy of reading such a satisfying book. Ms. Carr's characters became my friends; I laughed, cried, and shouted in triumph with them as each grew and experienced events that I could relate to, both as a struggling writer and simply as a person. Be prepared to put down everything else while you read; my world stopped while I experienced the lives of these remarkable women--Beth, Elly, Sable and Barbara Ann, and their families. Thank you, Robyn, for a terrific read! This book is beautiful.

Seems like everyone living in Grace Valley, California knows that Dr. June Hudson slept with an unknown man last night. June's partner in a local medical practice, Dr. John Stone, also confirmed she is four months pregnant. The amused and embarrassed June plans to introduce her beloved retired law enforcement agent Jim Post to her family and friends as she knows the town waits for them to show up at the café.

At about the same time June's octogenarian Aunt Myrna Hudson Claypool plans to soon present her mystery man to the crowd. Meanwhile, a druggie causes problems for everyone and a flood may destroy the town. In that atmosphere the townsfolk adopts Jim, though he had "deflowered" a favorite daughter, as if he lived there for life.

This is an interesting look at small town life with a touch of suspense thrown in on the side. The story line ambles slowly for most of the novel though the flood and the actions of a miscreant add suspense at the end. Readers see favorites from previous Grave Valley tales while also get deep inside the psyche of the key cast members to their inner essence. Robyn Carr shines a strong spotlight on life in small town California.

Harriet Klausner

Sometimes in small towns, gossip spreads so fast that your neighbors now what you have done before you do. However, that is not always the case. For example, town doctor June Hudson managed to keep her secret romance hidden so well that no one knew about it until she was several months pregnant. Fortunately, by the time it was noticed, the father had returned to June's life. Now that Jim Post retired from the DEA, he wanted to make a new life in Grace Valley with June and his child. Hopefully, they can make it to the alter before the baby makes it to the world.

June is not alone in having secrets. Her Aunt Myrna has a hidden love as well, and the preacher is hiding something too. There is plenty to keep the tongue waggers busy, plus danger comes from natural and man made causes to keep life interesting.

**** With more tension than the Mitford series that this book could be compared to, Ms. Carr holds the readers' interests from page one. The suspense is mild, just enough to keep things from getting boring, and her portrayal of small town life seems well researched and accurate. ****

I had already read the book before and just wanted it for my own. The 3 stories in the book are decent. Of course, my favorite was the one by Linda Howard.

I was so excited to read this book that I started reading it as soon as I got it and then began to frown a little, then more, then realized I was frowning so much because the heroine was not only irritating, but she was flaky and cold. I got about 100 pages in and was wondering when it was going to pick up finally and the again realized that the book was 377 pages. It should've been very involved at this point, but all I got was bored and confused.
Confused because the jumbled plot was filled with too many people all talking at once and information into their lives when they had nothing to do with the story, or, the 'wedding party'. What party? There was no funny and quirky wedding party with crazy characters that will make me laugh until I ache or touching moments where I sigh and shake my head. Too much insight into the main character Charlene's friend's life, Pam and Charlene's 25 year old daughter Samantha. Also more looks into the lives of a single mother's life whom Charlene is representing in court, a couple that is divorcing, her ex-husband, her elderly mother,her present boyfriend and future husband Dennis-with whom we're supposed to see in the wedding party as the groom, ha!, Dennis's dead wife, his sister...I can go on. My point is, is it too confusing. Too many plot developments that lead nowhere.
In short, this story was supposed to be about, and I stress the word 'supposed' because it came nowhere near it; a 45 year old woman who is sucessful at being a family lawyer and is happy with every part of her life, even with the long-term relationship she has with her boyfriend who is a doctor. The problem comes in when her daughter says she doesn't want to end up like her, single and alone and then her mother seems to be losing her mind when she gets lost in a grocery store parking lot and to top things off her ex still loves her and says she can't commit. To fix the problem she decides she wants to marry Dennis,(the doctor boyfriend).

This is where we're supposed to have the wedding party, but we don't. The entire book is a mix of her life's setbacks and letdowns and how she hated her father and how he caused her to shrug off relationships. How her fiance is her 'rock' and her staunchest supporter, but he starts an affair with the wedding cordinater. She doesn't seem to care either way. Her spoiled daughter gets way too much time in the book and we were introduced to her boyfriend Grant too late.
All in all, we are faced with a flaky 45 year old heroine who is having some sort of mid-life crisis and it definately isn't funny, lol, a spoiled 25 year old daughter who is just as flaky, a quirky ex husband whom we never really understand, a cheating doctor fiance and an elderly mother who keeps upsetting Charlene. I am still waiting for the 'hysterical wedding fiasco' that I was promised on the jacket back... save your money on this one....

Tracy Talley~@

My title is basically my review. I didn't like Charlene. There are strong women and then there are self absorbed whiny people, Charlene fits the latter. Why the author describes Dennis as being loyal and wonderful is beyond me. He didn't have the gumption to break off his "engagement" before he starts an affair with the wedding coordinator. Charlene needs some snappy dialog and some female friends to get her on the right track but then that would be a Jennifer Crusie novel.....the premise for this book showed promise it just wasn't well executed.

If you enjoy ensemble comedy with a wide cast of characters, you will find a lot to appreciate in this riotous book. Charlene, the 45-year-old heroine, finds a host of obstacles in the way when she attempts a long-avoided walk down the aisle with her boyfriend of five years, including: her mom going off the deep end, her daughter angsting about growing old and ending up alone like her mom, her fiancé hanging out far too much with the wedding planner, and the her sexy ex husband stepping forward with the craziest behavior of all, a demand for another chance.

Robyn Carr keeps a lot of balls in the air with this story, but all the colorful characters and their competing needs add excellently to the frenetic pace which is a main source of the book's humor. The various story lines leap and skitter, ultimately feeding into each other for a strong climax. In addition, the romance with Charlene's ex husband is sexy and adds a lot to the humor as well. I also really appreciated encountering a well-lived-in older heroine for a change.