Netflix’s “Virgin River” is a fan-favorite show based on a series of romance novels by author Robyn Carr. Set in the small Northern California town from which the series takes its name, the drama series stars Alexandra Breckenridge as Melinda “Mel” Monroe, a nurse practitioner and midwife from Los Angeles who has relocated to Virgin River looking for a fresh start. She ends up with more than she bargained for, though, when she falls in love with the hunky and reliable Jack Sheridan (Martin Henderson), a former Marine and the owner of the local restaurant and bar.
If you’re a fan of the show and thinking of reading the books (or the other way around!), you should know that the series doesn’t follow Carr’s novels to a T. In fact, the show has changed a number of things along the way. Sometimes these changes are practical and have been made out of necessity, while sometimes they are done to add more drama to the proceedings. These are the biggest differences between the Virgin River books and the Netflix show.
Each book in the “Virgin River” series follows a new and different set of protagonists while previous characters remain as secondary characters or in the background. That would be a strange way to write an ongoing TV show though, so the series’ writers have chosen to combine multiple books and introduce characters much sooner than they were introduced on the page, while keeping Mel and Jack at the center of the story.
For instance, the first season of the show combines the storylines from the first two books, “Virgin River” and “Shelter Mountain,” as the character of Paige (Lexa Doig) isn’t introduced until the second book but appears as a recurring character and love interest for Preacher (Colin Lawrence) during the first season of the show. Meanwhile, the second season of the show introduces Jack’s friend Mike (Marco Grazzini), whose relationship with Jack’s sister, Brie (Season 3 newcomer Zibby Allen), is actually at the center of the third book, “Whispering Rock.”
Introducing characters early and combining storylines from multiple books into single seasons of the show is a smart storytelling decision because it helps to build out the small town at the center of the story while creating a more balanced narrative. However, it does seem the show’s writers also take liberties with these storylines as well (see: Paige being written out of the show early in Season 2 after her ex-husband comes to town looking for her).
