Genre Fiction
![Robyn Carr - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B000APBY7S.jpg)
A Virgin River Christmas (Virgin River, Book 4)
Return to Virgin River for the holidays in this uplifting tale from the beloved series by New York Times bestselling author Robyn Carr. Now a Netflix series!
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.
Originally published in 2008
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.
Originally published in 2008
Readers Top Reviews
SK
The number of stars reflects my personal level of satisfaction with the book I read. Probably each of us perceives books differently. We have a different level of humour, ethics, and things we like or don't like.
Charlotte Lamb
I'm really enjoying this series of books I like that they feature a new couple but.they keep checking back with favorites.
Mrs. L. Lawson
Another love story to read for Christmas Virgin river a place where there are no differences with the people who all come together to help each other.
Kindle
This was a lovely story, I loved the characters and the storyline. It will definitely go into my favourites and I will enjoy reading it again.
Kristen YoungKate Va
I’m a huge fan of this series so far but not a fan of this book. I had a hard time getting through this one. It rambled on and the past history of the main characters was told so many times to different characters, it was just too much. Quite frankly I was bored out of my mind for most of the book. I’ll keep reading the series but this book is making me take a break from it for a little bit.
Short Excerpt Teaser
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 aroun...
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 aroun...
