Customer Reviews

Just Over the Mountain (Grace Valley Trilogy, Book 2)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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 <care> 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.

This was a fantastic sequel to "Deep in the Valley". I do recommend you read Deep in the Valley first though to truly appreciate the characters. Please give these two books a try- regardless of what you thought of "The House on Olive Street" or "The Wedding Party". These two Grace Valley books are different. They include the entire town in the book not just one character. I very rarely write reviews, (although I often read them- shame on me)and I just had to recommend this book and its prequel. I wonder if this could be a series? I hope so!!

....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!!

Dr. June Hudson has served as a doctor in Grace Valley, California ever since her dad retired. Grace has little time to relax, but she does serendipitously see undercover DEA Agent Jim Post whenever he can pay her a visit. Currently, Jim is in the Ozarks working his last case before early retirement and a permanent relationship with his beloved.

Returning to town is Jim Forrest accompanied by his angelic-looking, troubled twin teenage sons. Jim dated June in high school, but while she attended Berkley pre-med, he deserted her to marry Nancy Cruise. Now divorced, Jim wants June back in his life and most of the townsfolk think she does too since she seems to have no male leading to the conclusion she pines for her former lover. She denies it and says no to his insistent efforts to court her. June also contends with other issues such as her long time nurse suffering a heart attack, her medical practice partner objecting to his own wife serving as their nurse, and human bones found on her aunt's estate that might prove to be her long lost spouse. Life is normal in Grace Valley as far as June is concerned.

JUST OVER THE MOUNTAIN retains all the quirks that made DEEP IN THE VALLEY a wonderful relationship drama. The key players return such as June and Police Chief Tom struggling with the ups and down of living that endears them and other townsfolk with readers. Fans of small town contemporary tales will enjoy the return to Grace Valley as Robyn Carr provides a warm slice of life tale.

Harriet Klausner

Just Over the Mountain is Book 2 in Robyn Carr's Grace Valley trilogy. In this continuation of Deep in the Valley, we see more of the original characters and find them in new and challenging positions.

Dr. June Hudson finds herself falling for DEA agent Jim Post whose visits are sporadic and clandestine, yet passionate. At the same time she fends off advances from former beau Chris who has returned to Grace Valley with two wayward teenage sons. Her nurse Charlotte has a heart attack and is forced to give up her job with Dr. Stone's ex-nurse wife Susan stepping in against the wishes of her husband. Receptionist Jessie decides she wants to be a doctor and strives to obtain her GED, and Justine is found not to be pregnant but to have ovarian cancer.

The Mulls are persuaded to move in to town: Clarence can be treated with drugs for his post-traumatic stress disorder, and plastic surgery can repair Jurea's damaged face. Their children start school and begin to thrive, but the transformation seems too much for Clarence who retreats to their shack in the woods.

Meanwhile, a warrant is brought to June's aunt; it is suspected that her husband who disappeared twenty years earlier might be buried beneath a rhododendron. And between Jim's occasional nocturnal visits, love blooms, but June is unsure how compatible they might be if they ever get to be together for any length of time.

A near fatal accident brings two old friends together; a tragedy heals old differences and June discovers she's got some `splainin' to do.

All ends well for the main characters but room is left to solve other problems in Book three which I am eager to begin.

Grace Valley physician Dr. June Hudson awaits the return of her secret lover, DEA agent Jim Post, and gets a shock when her first love, Jim Forrest (yeah, two leading men named Jim...) returns to town divorced and ready to resume their relationship with his rowdy teenage sons in tow. Since she has remained single, everyone in town assumes she'll take up with Forrest, but she'd rather wait for the other Jim. When mysterious bones turn up, finally the small town has something else to keep them occupied besides her love life.

Not realizing that this story was part of a series, I was at a disadvantage. Undeveloped characters kept popping up in the story, and felt out of place. One main character was absent throughout most of the novel. And the romance itself was minimal. When compared to her later novels like "Never too Late," this one just falls short at 2.5 stars.

We get to revisit the wonderful characters from Deep in the Valley.

Dr. June Hudson,37, is still taking care of her friends and family in Grace Valley and still yearning for a baby of her own.

She is pretty sure that the job of OB-GYN will go to Dr. John Stone. He has moved his wife, Susan and daughter to Grace Valley and settled in.

June finds out that Blythe Culley has peppered Daniel in the rear with buckshot and wonders what has set her off. The Culleys have live in Grace Valley where they own a horse stables for the past 30 years.

Tom Toopeek runs his police department exceedingly well. His family is back with his oldest son, Johnny getting in trouble.

Jerry Powell, the therapist is called in to help Frank Craven.
They ran the womanizing preacher, Pastor Wickham out of town and they have a new one, Harry Shipton, who seems most likable.

Then we have a Paul Faraday, who claims to be a bird watcher who is hanging around Hudson House and trying to get to know Myrna Hudson Claypool. Did she kill her husband?

And more trouble - Daniel Culley is seeing Sarah Kelleher an artist. And interloper?
Birdie and Judge Forrest got more that they bargained for when their son, Chris came home with his two 14 year old twin sons.
Yup! those twins turned out to be trouble makers big time.

And June's secret? It seems that Jim Post has shown up a couple times and she didn't even get out her silver box.

This is wonderful country living at it's best. Everyone knows everyone and is willing to help if needed. It is close family feelings in this hamlet.
And then comes the big "accident" - Johnny gets to be a hero.
The pace is non-stop living action and human emotions. Wonderful!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - but don't stop there - now read Down By The River.

This story takes up where Deep in the Valley ends. It has the same characters with a few new ones added. A very good read.

just over the mountain, the grace valley trilogy book 2 by robyn carr
same as deep in the valley, but more births, deaths, and general every day
living. what a treat!

THE FOLKS AND THE TOWN OF THE GRACE VALLEY ARE SO REAL I AM READY TO MOVE TO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.