by Robyn Carr author of the Virgin River series from MIRA books.

I’ve received thousands of letters over the past couple of years from readers who ask me, Where is the real Virgin River? Readers want to go there, move there, because the people in this little town are supportive of each other.  It disappoints me to  have to explain that Virgin River exists only in our hearts and minds.  I know some of the reasons my readers love it there—most of the characters have such integrity and honor; they’re stand-up folks who aren’t afraid to get involved when help is needed.  But it’s a fictional town nestled into a factual setting; the people are only real when we make them so by our own intentions and deeds.

Of course I get to live there every day; I’m working on the 12th, 13th & 14th Virgin River novels right now, scheduled to be released in January, February and March of 2010, with more to follow.  I’ve come to know the kind of person the readers love and want to be close to, the characters who will be drawn to Virgin River.  I have learned what kind of character will be drawn to the little town and want to make a home there.

I usually have to tell my readers to unpack those boxes, they’ll never find the place—it’s buried deep in my imagination.

Not this time.  Now it’s time to offer my readers a chance to live in Virgin River!  Harlequin has created a contest in which the grand prize is becoming a character in one of the 2011 Virgin River novels!  So—pack your bags!  All you have to do is tell us why you should live there.

Head to BeInVirginRiver.com to enter the contest to become a character in Robyn’s next Virgin River novel! You can also read the first chapter of Robyn’s latest novel in the series, Forbidden Falls.

by Robyn Carr, author of Forbidden Falls, the latest release in her Virgin River series.

There are lots of different kinds of heroes in this romance world—the bad boy, the damaged man with the strong heart, the passionate guy who just can’t help his urges, the solid man who hasn’t allowed himself to love before, but with the right woman….

I like them all.  But my question was bigger—what kind of man does Virgin River need right about now?  A man with vision and commitment.  A man passionate about his beliefs; a man with integrity and the strength to stand by it.  Enter Pastor Noah Kincaid, a young widower with enough imagination and compassion to open up the old, abandoned, boarded up church that sits right next to Jack’s Bar.

It’s a big job.  It’s going to require a pastor’s assistant.  And of course he doesn’t have any intention of hiring one applicant: the short skirted, cleavage-bearing, big-haired former stripper. That would totally ruin his debut in the little town of Virgin River.  But then he learns that Ellie Baldwin needs a respectable job, a job like he is advertising, to regain custody of her children—and he’s sunk.  Because in spite of all that vision, commitment, passion and imagination, he also has an irrepressibly soft heart.  Besides, he can’t help but admire her determination.  And there’s a little something else—once he stops looking at that cleavage long enough, he discovers a strength of conviction to rival his own.  And boy—is it sexy.

A pastor and a stripper?  Where else but Virgin River!  And what a way to start off the new year!  Forbidden Falls is full of surprises, the first of which is—how long can the good reverend resist the beautiful, earnest, honest young woman he hired to help open his church?  Is there anything more intriguing than watching a good man at war with his libido?

While there are some very tense moments besides the almost instant attraction, I think readers will have the most fun trying to decide which one of these two has the greatest strength and wisdom.  Is it the over-educated, 35-year-old theologian or the 25-year-old woman with a GED and a long history of survival skills?  Noah grew up rich and spent a over a dozen years in college, collecting post-grad degrees; Ellie grew up dirt poor and worked full time from the age of 14.

The town of Virgin River can be judgmental sometimes, but they also tend to like things a little edgy, exciting, interesting.  Some of the regulars like Mel and Jack Sheridan, Preacher and Paige, General Walt Booth…they appreciate Noah.  Admire and respect him. But they love Ellie.

Do we really get to choose whom we love?  Does the person for whom we have passion come packaged a certain way?  Can we turn the object of our desire into the kind of person who seems more right for us?

What’s next for Virgin River?  Readers have fallen in love with the Riordan brothers, and I aim to please!  In Angel’s Peak (on sale January 26, 2010) Sean Riordan reappears with a huge desire to win back his ex-girlfriend, former USAF flight nurse Franci Duncan.  And in Moonlight Road (on sale February 23, 2010) we’ll catch up with Aiden Riordan, who finds himself stuck between the most desirable woman he can imagine and an impossibly crazy ex-wife!

I guess as long as there’s a Virgin River, there are many possibilities.  I like it here, so I’ll stay.

Welcome to the River!