Review: A Virgin River Christmas by Robyn Carr (e-book)

First line: Marcie stood beside her limegreen Volkswagen, shivering in the November chill, the morning sun barely over the horizon.

Synopsis from B&N: Last Christmas Marcie Sullivan said a final goodbye to her husband, Bobby. This Christmas she’s come to Virgin River to find the man who saved his life and gave her three more years to love him.

Fellow marine Ian Buchanan dragged Bobby’s shattered body onto a medical transport in Fallujah four years ago, then disappeared as soon as their unit arrived stateside. Since then, Marcie’s letters to Ian have gone unanswered.

Marcie tracks Ian to the tiny mountain town of Virgin River and finds a man as wounded emotionally as Bobby was physically. But she is not easily scared off. As Marcie pushes her way into his rugged and reclusive life, she discovers a sweet but damaged soul beneath a rough exterior.

Ian doesn’t know what to make of the determined young widow who forces him to look into the painful past and, what’s worse, the uncertain future. But it is, after all, a season of miracles and maybe, just maybe, it’s time to banish the ghosts and open his heart.

My thoughts: This is the 4th Virgin River book, though the time frame of the story actually puts it happening approximately halfway through the 3rd book, Whispering Rock.

Marcie Sullivan travels to Virgin River to seek out the man who saved her husband Bobby’s life when he was critically injured in Iraq. Since saving Bobby, Ian Buchanan has withdrawn from everything and everyone and is living the life of a hermit. Ian gave Marcie three more years with Bobby before he died from his injuries, something that Ian feels guilty about, but Marcie is thankful for – she savored and embraced each second she was given. Marcie feels she can’t move on with her life until she thanks Ian. She didn’t expect to find a man who was hurting and didn’t understand her gratefulness at saving her husband’s life. Taking one day at a time, Ian never stood a chance when Marcie came knocking on his door. Two people, dealing with loss in very different ways, manage to find some common ground and help one another more than they anticipated.

One of the things I love about reading this series is that with each subsequent book, we meet new characters, but still get to see the ones we’ve already  met. A Virgin River Christmas is a bit different – we do get to see some familiar faces, but the focus is primarily on Marcie and Ian. The other characters only appear when either Marcie or Ian interacts with them. Thus we don’t get involved with the other characters as has occurred in the previous three books. This is no way detracts from this story, it just stands out as a noticeable difference.

I love how Robyn Carr writes romance stories while taking on some rather serious topics. In A Virgin River Christmas, she deals with what families of injured soldiers go through and the emotional scars a lot of returning soldiers bear. It makes the story have more of an impact than it would if it were just a plain, old romantic tale.

(I purchased this e-book.)

Books in this series:

1. Virgin River                                  11.  Moonlight Road
2. Shelter Mountain                         12.  Midnight Confessions
3. Whispering Rock                          13.  Promise Canyon
4. A Virgin River Christmas          14.  Wild Man Creek
5. Second Chance Pass                    15.  Harvest Moon
6. Temptation Ridge                        16.  Bring Me Home for Christmas
7. Paradise Valley                            17.  Hidden Summit      
8. Under the Christmas Tree       18.  Redwood Bend
9. Forbidden Falls                           19.  Sunrise Point – due out Apr 2012
10. Angel’s Peak