Title: The Wanderer Series: Thunder Point #1
Author: Robyn Carr
Published: March 26, 2013
Genre(s): Romance: Contemporary
Page Count: 384
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:Nestled on the Oregon Coast is a small town of rocky beaches and rugged charm. Locals love the land's unspoiled beauty. Developers see it as a potential gold mine. When newcomer Hank Cooper learns he's been left an old friend's entire beachfront property, he finds himself with a community's destiny in his hands.
Cooper has never been a man to settle in one place, and Thunder Point was supposed to be just another quick stop. But Cooper finds himself getting involved with the town. And with Sarah Dupre, a woman as complicated as she is beautiful.
With the whole town watching for his next move, Cooper has to choose between his old life and a place full of new possibilities. A place that just might be home.
I am absolutely kicking myself for not picking up The Wanderer sooner! I adore small-town romances, and Robyn Carr brings something to the mix that had me absolutely in love with this book from the beginning. It wasn’t what I expected at all, and I couldn’t be more pleased.
Interestingly, this book is 100% focused on the town and its inhabitants, not on the developing romance between Cooper and Sarah. They don’t even meet until 45% into the book, for Pete’s sake. Rather, Carr takes her time setting up the town of Thunder Point and its inhabitants, and while the Cooper/Sarah relationship is important (once it actually gets started), there are three other romances up in the air, and numerous townspeople happenings and suchlike. I’m absolutely thrilled with how important the small town setting was to The Wanderer. The author didn’t just plop some people down and have them start making kissy faces right away; she paid attention to atmosphere and culture in a way I’ve not encountered in the genre before. Because of this, I can truly see this as a long-lived series, one that won’t wane or get boring in later installments.
While I’ve just talked about how the “central” romance in this book wasn’t actually all that central, I would also rush to say that it was well-done and remarkably drama-free. When I got a third of the way in and realized the two protagonists hadn’t even met, I was worried; I was even more worried when it stretched out to very nearly the halfway point. But here’s the thing: Cooper and Sarah’s relationship was mature and honest and open, and without all the fluff and unnecessary bickering that so frequently beefs up the average romance novel, Carr didn’t truly need that page space. The romance between these two characters was fully fleshed out and completely believable, but the author didn’t have to do any magic tricks to secure a happily ever after. And so with Cooper and Sarah “under control” (as it were), The Wanderer is free to explore the town of Thunder Point and give a strong, lasting image of the town and its inhabitants.
I mean…wow. This book was funny in all the right places, and serious when it counted. The Wanderer was charming and sweet and down-to-earth in a way I don’t often experience in romance novels. I heartily recommend it to readers of the genre.
