When you’re into the 15th or 20th book of a series, you either have to love the characters or story or both. My sister Marisa can’t get enough of Christine Feehan’s Carpathians and she wouldn’t think of missing an installment of J.D. Robb’s In Death series. There are legions of fans who wept when they thought they’d seen the last of the Suzanne Brockman’s Troubleshooters. When you’re obsessed with a series – the only cure for the addiction is the next book.
My particular vice is Robyn Carr’s Virgin River series. It’s not easy to keep a reader coming back book after book after book. Heck, I’ve stopped reading a four book series in the middle of the third because it just lost my interest and I no longer gave a hoot about the characters. But after 12 books, Robyn Carr still makes me care. This is a series that is as much about the characters as it is about the place. Virgin River, is in the middle of nowhere, but it is where people come to heal their broken hearts and souls and to fall in love again for the last time. There are multiple characters that appear in each book , chief amongst them is Jack Sheridan. He’s the hero that started the series, and his character is a continual thread in each book, the one that holds Virgin River together weaving in and out of each person’s life. He is the king pin, the touch stone in everyone’s life. If the series was just about him through the years, I’d be completely content. But Robyn Carr has created an ensemble cast of characters that keep you running to the book store, or pushing the buy button on your computer to read the next installment in a terrific series.
In the latest book Wild Man Creek one broken heart and one broken dream come together to find one new beginning. Jillian Matlock, a high powered PR specialist, is forced into a very early retirement; losing her heart, her self esteem and her career. Colin Riordan is fighting back from physical damages and addiction after his Black Hawk went down, surviving when no one thought it was possible. Both find themselves in Virgin River looking for solitude, space and a chance to rethink their lives. What they never expected to find was each other.
There are, what some would call, several secondary story lines in this book.,but what you realize with Ms. Carr is that no story is secondary. In the Virgin River Series you know each story will be fleshed out and appear again in a later book, making each read that much more satisfying. Her ability to write and make you feel each emotion is visceral. You feel the characters pains, joys and sorrows. Her writing is fluid and she sweeps you up in the lives of the people who inhabit this little hamlet of Virgin River and as the series grows so does the town. As you greet new people and say goodbye to others there’s always a very warm feeling each time you visit Virgin River.
I want to give a special shout out to P.J. Audensmore of The Romance Dish for turning me onto Virgin River.She not only has great taste in books, she gave me the first two books in the series to read, and from then on it’s been an auto buy for me.
What’s your favorite long time running series? You don’t have to pick just one.
Maria, what a lovely blog! I'm so glad you're enjoying Robyn's Virgin River series. "Virgin River" is my favorite romance to give to friends and I'm always delighted when they love the books as much as I do.
You know how I feel about reading a series. Love them! 
A few favorites are:
Joanna Lindsey's Mallory series
Julia Quinn's Bridgertons
Christina Dodd's Darkness Chosen/Chosen Ones
Monica McCarty's Highlanders (different trilogies but inter-connected)
Janet Chapman's Highlanders
Mary Jo Putney's Fallen Angels
...and many, many more. ;-)
