Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5975 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 320 pages

From Booklist
Marcie Sullivan buried her Iraq War–veteran husband a year ago after watching him suffer from battle injuries for three years, and she just can’t seem to move on with her life. Deciding to find his missing best friend, she travels the back roads of Humboldt County, California, looking for the hero who has become a hermit. After visiting Virgin River, she finds Ian Buchanan living in a primitive cabin with no amenities. Ian growls at her, but she refuses to leave, almost dying of hypothermia until he rescues her, then nurses her back to health. With the specter of Bobby between them, they finally forge a friendship but feel much more than that. All Carr’s Virgin River regulars are here, turning this sometimes tearful tale into a warm, fuzzy read. Strong women, honorable ex-marines, and rural dangers, the hallmarks of this life-affirming, feel-good series, are all here. --Diana Tixier Herald

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Marcie Sullivan drove into the small town, her sixth small mountain town of the day, and found herself face-to-face with a Christmas-tree trimming. The assembled staff didn't look big enough for the job—the tree was enormous.

She pulled up beside a large cabin with a wide porch, parked her Volkswagen and got out. There were three women at work on a Christmas fir that stood about thirty feet. One was about Marcie's age, with soft brown hair and she held an open box, perhaps containing ornaments. One woman was old, with springy white hair and black-framed glasses, who pointed upward, as if someone had put her in charge, and the third was a beautiful blonde at the top of a tall, A-frame ladder.

The tree stood between the cabin and an old boarded-up church with two tall steeples and one stained-glass window still intact—a church that must have once been a beautiful structure.

While Marcie watched the trimming, a man came out onto the cabin's porch, stopped, looked up and cursed, then took long strides to the base of the ladder. "Don't move. Don't breathe," he said in a low, commanding voice. He took the rungs every other one, climbing quickly until he reached the blonde. Then he slipped an arm around her, somewhere above what Marcie realized must be a little pregnant bulge and beneath her breasts and said, "Down. Slowly."

"Jack!" she scolded. "Leave me alone!"

"If I have to, I'll carry you down. Back down the ladder, slowly. Now."

"Oh for God's—"

"Now" he said evenly, fiercely.

She began to descend, one rung at a time between his big, sturdy feet, while he held her safe against him. When they got to the bottom, she put her hands on her hips and glared up at him. "I knew exactly what I was doing!"

"Where is your brain? What if you fell from that height?"

"It's an excellent ladder! I wasn't going to fall!"

"You're psychic, too? You can argue all you want, I'mnot letting you that high up a ladder in your condition," he said, his hands also on his hips. "I'll stand guard over you if I have to." Then he looked over his shoulder at the other two women.

"I told her I thought you wouldn't like that," the brown-haired one said with a helpless shrug.

He glared at the white-haired woman. "I don't get into domestic things. That's your problem, not mine," she said, pushing her big glasses up on her nose.

And Marcie became homesick. So homesick. It had only been a few weeks that she'd been driving around this area, but she missed all the family squabbles, the tiresome complications. She missed her girlfriends, her job. She longed for her bossy older sister's interference, her goofy younger brother and whatever current girlfriend was shadowing him. She missed her late husband's large, fun, passionate family.

She hadn't made it home for Thanksgiving—she'd been afraid to go for even a day or two, afraid she'd never pry herself out of Erin's grip a second time. Home was Chico, California, just a few hours away, but no one—not her brother and sister, not Bobby's family—thought what she was doing a good idea. So, she'd been calling, lying and saying she had tips about Ian and was close to finding him. Every time she called, at least every other day, she said she was getting closer when really, she wasn' t. But she was not ready to quit.

But one problem was looming large—she was just about out of money. She'd been sleeping in her car lately rather than in motels, and it was getting uncomfortable as the temperatures dropped in the mountains. At any moment snow would be falling now that it was early December, or rain could turn to sleet and that little VeeDub could sail off the mountainside like a missile.

She'd just hate to go home with this mission incomplete. More than anything, she wanted to see it through. If she wasn't successful now, she'd only go home to earn a little money and then do it all again. She just couldn't give up on him. On herself.

They were all looking at her. She pushed her wildly curly, out of control, bright red hair over one shoulder nervously.

"I… Ah… I could go up there, if you want. I'm not afraid of heights or anything…"

"You don't have to go up the ladder," the pregnant blonde said, and her voice had softened considerably. She smiled sweetly.

"I'll go up the ladder," the man said. "Or I'll get someone to go up the goddamn ladder, but it's not you."

"Jack! Be polite!"

He cleared his throat. "Don't worry about the ladder," he said more calmly. "Anything we can do for you?"

"I… Ah…" She walked toward them. She pulled a picture out of the inside of her down vest and extended it toward the man. "I'm looking for someone. He dropped out of sight just over three years ago, but I know he's around here somewhere. He seems to be taking mail at Fortuna Post Office general delivery."

She passed the picture to the man. "Jesus," he said.

"You know him?" she asked hopefully.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "No, I don't, and that's strange. The guy's a marine," he said, studying the picture of a man in uniform. It was Ian's official Marine Corps portrait, a handsome man all clean shaven and trussed up in dress blues, hat and medals. "I can't believe there's a marine within fifty miles of here I don't at least know about."

"He might be keeping that fact to himself—he and the Marine Corps had a troubled relationship at the end. So I've heard…"

He looked back at her face and his expression was much more tender. "I'm Jack Sheridan," he said. "My wife, Mel. That's Paige," he said, nodding toward the younger woman. "And Hope McCrea, town busybody." He put out his hand to Marcie.

She placed hers in his. "Marcie Sullivan," she said.

"Why are you looking for this marine?" Jack asked.

"Long story," she said. "A friend of my late husband. I'm sure he doesn't look like this anymore—he had some injuries. There's a scar down his left cheek and on that same side, no eyebrow. And he probably has a beard. He did the last time he was seen, about three or four years ago."

"No shortage of beards around here," Jack said. "Lumber country—men get a little scruffy-looking sometimes."

"But he could've changed in other ways, too. Like— he's older. Thirty-five now—that picture was taken when he was twenty-eight."

"Friend of your husband's? From the Corps?" Jack confirmed.

"Yes," she said. "I'd like to find him. You know— because he's been out of touch for a long time."

Jack seemed to think while he studied the face in the picture. It was several silent moments before he said, "Come on into the bar. Have a bite, a beer maybe, or whatever you like. Tell me a little about him and why you want to find him. How's that?"

"The bar?" she said, looking around.

"It's a bar and grill," he said with a smile. "Food and drink. We can eat and talk."

"Oh," she said. Her stomach growled angrily. It was late in the day, about four o'clock, and she hadn't eaten yet, but she was saving her money for the gas tank and she figured she could forget about food a while longer. Maybe she'd get something real, real cheap to tide her over, like a loaf of day-old bread to go with that half a jar of peanut butter in the car…. Then, she'd find a safe spot to park and button down for the night. "A glass of water would be really welcome—I've been driving around for hours, showing his picture to anyone who will take a look. But I'm not hungry."

"Got lots of water," Jack said with a smile. He put a hand on her shoulder and started to direct her toward the porch of the bar, but then he stopped suddenly. His brows drew together in a frown. "Go ahead," he said to her. "I'm right behind you."

Marcie walked up on the porch and turned to see what he was doing. He was confiscating the ladder so his pregnant wife wouldn't climb it again, that's what he was doing. It was a jackknife kind of affair that could be a short or tall A-frame ladder, and he collapsed it, folded it up until he could lift it with one hand. It was about six feet long dismantled and he carried it right into the bar. Behind him, Marcie heard his wife yell, "You're a bossy pain in the ass! When did I ever indicate I'd take my orders from you?"

Jack didn't say anything back, but he grinned as though she'd just thrown him a kiss. "Hop up there," he said to Marcie, indicating the bar. "I'll be right back." And he carried the ladder through a door behind the bar.

She took a deep breath and thought, Oh hell—I'm not going to be able to survive the aromas! Her stomach made itself heard again and she put a hand against her belly, pushing. Something in the kitchen was sending out waves of delicious smells—something simmering, rich, hot and thick, like beefy, seasoned soup; fresh bread; something sweet and chocolate.

And when the man named Jack came back, he was carrying a tray with a steaming bowl on it. He put everything in front of her; chili, corn bread and honey butter, a small bowl of salad. "Gee, um, sorry," she said. "Really, I'm not hungry…"

He drew a cold draft and her mouth actually watered. Gratefully she didn't drool on the bar. She swallowed hard. She had about thirty bucks and didn't want to waste it on a fancy meal, not when she needed every cent for gas to hit all these little mountain towns.

"Fine, then you'll only eat what you want," he said. "Just have a taste. I showed the picture to Preacher, my cook. He hasn't seen the guy either. We'll check with Mike—he's the town cop and gets around all the back roads, just to know who's out there—maybe he'll have a tip or two. They're also marines."

"Where exactly am I?" she asked.

"Virgin River," he said. "Population six hundred twenty-seven at last count."

"Ah, that made the map."

"I should hope so—we're a screaming metropolis compared to a lot of small towns out here. Just try it," he said, nodding at the bowl.

Her hand trembled a little as she picked up the spoon and sampled some of the finest chili she'd ever eaten. It melted in her mouth, and she actually sighed.

"Made with venison," he said. "We got a nice buck a couple months ago and when tha...

Customer Reviews

''Healing,'' Papa would tell me, ''is not a science, but the intuitive art of wooing nature.''-W.H.Auden
Marcie's husband, Bobby, came back from war in Iraq with a spinal injury and in critical condition, he never recovered. For more than three years Marcie cared for him and nursed him, always grateful for the time they still had. The person responsible for that time was Bobby's best friend and Sergeant, Ian. Ian had saved Bobby in Iraq and he managed to look in on or write Marcie when he had the chance. Then suddenly he went missing. No one had seen or heard from Ian in years. It's been almost a year since Bobby has passed away and Marcie has made it her mission to find Ian. She wants to talk to him about what happened, make sure he's OK and finally have some closure.

Her search leads her to the northern California mountain town called Virgin River. She finds her man, though hardly recognizable, and begins the last chapter of her healing process.

This is the 4th Virgin River book, though the time frame takes place approximately midway through the 3rd book, Whispering Rock. Marcie is a feisty little heroine and although she has been through the unthinkable she is a modern day Pollyanna. She never regretted that her husband came home to her half alive, instead she savored and embraced each second they were given.

Ian has his battle scars, but his emotional scars are what have him living a hermit like existence in the mountains. Taking one day at a time, he 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.

This was a fantastic addition to the series. The scenes written about Bobby are painful to read. I had tears in my eyes, a lump in my throat and an ache in my heart. The writing made it so real I couldn't keep from sobbing. Despite the depressing nature that brings these two people together, the book was full of laughs. Marcie is sarcastic and sassy and she and Ian had me cracking up. Visits from the Virgin River folks we have come to know and love only enhance this tale. A wonderful Christmas tale; friendship, love, healing and happily ever after.

Cherise Everhard November 2008

A Virgin River Christmas - my least favorite so far, but still good
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 Buchannan 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. 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. Can Marcie continue to reach out to this rough and brute man?

Since this is romance, you know the answer to that. Being snowed-in in a little cabin with no electricity, and bang, you have yourself a romance. A Virgin River Christmas is the fourth book in Carr's Virgin River series, and is probably my least favorite of the books so far, but it is still a good book. I thought Marcie was a little too gold-hearted and not real enough. Also, in all the other Virgin River books, before the main characters engage in sexual relations, birth control is discussed or used, but it was never addressed between Marcie and Ian. I was bummed because I thought Carr was setting a precedent in her previous books.

A Virgin River Christmas- A Joyfully Recommended Title
Marcie Sullivan came to Virgin River looking for Ian Buchanan. Ian had saved her husband's life while both men served as marines in . Bobby had lived several years almost comatose before he finally passed away a year ago and Marcie is determined to find Ian and find out why, after one visit, he never came back to see his friend again. She finally finds Ian, she finds a damaged soul who has been living as a hermit. Ian has never been able to forgive himself for the way Bobby died and has lived his life trying to escape the nightmare of Bobby's vegetative state. But Marcie's arrival brings light and laughter back into Ian's life. As they spend the days together love blooms between them. Can they forge a new life between them?

Robyn Carr's Virgin River Series is simply excellent. From one book to the next the characters you fell in love with in other books keep the story moving and remind the reader why we love this series. A Virgin River Christmas is just the right touch for the season. Readers can't go wrong with this book. I can't recommend A Virgin River Christmas highly enough!

Melissa
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed