false 4 4 false true Wed Aug 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 06 18:20:24 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 25 07:37:13 -0700 2008
Ian Buchanan doesn’t want to remember what happened back in Fallujah, and the repercussions of his decision to save his best friend’s life, when the result was leaving Bobby with no life at all. Ian’s guilt is insurmountable. He earned medals for something that he deems unforgivable. So he retreats into the woods of California, and takes up with an old man who has plenty of land and no help to mind it. When the old man dies, leaving Ian his rustic cabin, which lacks indoor plumbing and other basic necessities, Ian’s fine with it. It’s what he deserves after the life that he’s led, and he’s fine with the solitary life that it brings. When Marcie shows up at his front door, stirring up the past and uncovering memories he’d rather keep buried, he’s furious. He roars at her and leaves her in the snow. But gradually, with a persistence and stubbornness that rivals his own, Marcie begins to break down the walls that Ian has built around himself. And to help him learn that the past can’t hurt you in the present.

When I picked up A VIRGIN RIVER CHRISTMAS, I was at first a little startled that I didn’t recognize Marcie and Ian from the previous books. But this book had the same heart, warmth, and richness that I’ve come to expect from this series, and Marcie was every inch the Virgin River heroine. These female protagonists are strong, level headed, and determined. If they want something, there’s no getting in their way, 200-pound marine or no. In order to put the past behind her, Marcie knew that she needed to make sense of why her husband’s best friend would just fall off the face of the earth. It was important to her to have closure, and to be sure that Ian was okay, since he was the one who made sure that Bobby was. Forget the fact that a man who moves to the woods and lives on six hundred acres of land by himself doesn’t want to be found. Marcie has a goal, and she won’t rest until she attains it. And Ian, like the other Virgin River heroes, is a proud, protective hero whose whole life is thrown into question by what happened to him at war. He retreats so that he can find himself, and even knowing that isolation isn’t a long-term solution, doesn’t stop him from living in the moment. It takes Marcie’s determination to pull him back into the land of the living, and I enjoyed every minute of these two battling it out.

A VIRGIN RIVER CHRISTMAS might take a little getting used to for those used to the format established in VIRGIN RIVER, SHELTER MOUNTAIN, and WHISPERING ROCK, but I have no doubt that you’ll enjoy the journey. You’ll see some familiar characters in A VIRGIN RIVER CHRISTMAS, but really this book just continues to build on the strong community foundation that Robyn Carr continues to perfect in this fantastic dramatic series. I’ve been a fan of Robyn Carr’s Virgin River series since the eponymous first book, and I’ve always described the series as Gilmore Girls with a more dark and twisty edge. If you love stories written with depth, heart, and an established sense of community, A VIRGIN RIVER CHRISTMAS will be an excellent choice.

For fans of the series, this book also includes a snippet from the next book Second Chance Pass, which is about ***** SPOILERS AHEAD*** stop now if you don't want to know.

Vanessa and Paul (finally!)

Next up in this series are:
Second Chance Pass, February 2009
Temptation Ridge, March 2009
Paradise Valley, April 2009]]>