Netflix New Series ‘Virgin River’ Gets At Least One Thing Right: There’s Incredible Chemistry Between Its Stars

Photo by Taylor Simpson on Unsplash

Although I’m not a big fan of romantic fiction, I’ve read every book in Robyn Carr’s multi-book Virgin River series. Here’s the premise: Recently widowed nurse-practitioner and midwife Mel Monroe heads north to escape heartache, landing in the remote, mountain town of Virgin River. She soon meets former marine Jack Sheridan, who falls in love with Mel at first sight. Jack is the buoy who keeps Mel afloat as she works to prove herself to the community, and to move beyond her painful past. Jack appears to have his life together, while vowing to keep real love at a distance — until he lays eyes on Mel. He’ll do anything to keep her in his life, from teaching her to fish, to supplying her with endless cups of gourmet coffee, to remodeling her death-trap of a cabin.

As brought to life by Netflix, Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge) and Jack (played by former Grey’s Anatomy heartthrob Martin Henderson) have incredible on-screen chemistry. This is an important element because we need to be rooting for Mel-and-Jack from the start, and engaged enough to keep watching for most of Season 1 before things really get going. Even though these actors don’t exactly resemble the physical descriptions envisioned by Carr, it doesn’t matter, because they get most of the rest right…