A Cowboy for Christmas

In A Cowboy For Christmas by Katherine Garbera, Annie never expected to come back to Marietta, the small town she left in the dust years ago.  When the life Annie has worked to build after leaving Marietta crumbles and leaves her humilated, broke and alone, she heads back to Marietta to pick up the pieces again.  Staying in the run down old family home and working in the cafe, it is inevitable she will run into Carson.  Because all those years ago it was not only Marietta Annie left in the dust, it was also Carson, her high school sweetheart.

Carson could never understand why Annie just left without looking back.  Especially since they had such a great connection.  It took him a while, but he moved on.  At least he thought he had until he sees Annie again.  Seeing Annie again brings the memories flooding back, along with the pain of her leaving.  It also brings back the feelings he thought he no longer had for her.  This time, Carson is determined to get answers from Annie before she disappears again, because that is Annie's plan...to heal, rebuild the home, and move on again.  

Carson has a lot going on in his life, he has changed a lot in the years since he was with Annie.  He's been married, had a son, and widowed.  He also has a ranch to run, a tree farm, and lots of brothers.  He is busy, but when he sees Annie again and spends some time with her, he realizes what he's missing in his life.  "Life was short - no one understood that better than he did.  And Annie had always been the one woman who'd been able to make him feel wild."  But can he risk his heart to Annie again, knowing she probably won't stay this time either?  Annie feels more for Carson than she thought she still would, but she doesn't know what she's doing or where she's going right now.  She realizes it's not fair to either of them to start something she can't finish...but it might be too late for that.

Carson is happy in Marietta, but can Annie ever be happy there?  It's Christmas, a time of magic, a winter wonderland.  Can Carson and Annie find something to celebrate?

A Cowboy For Christmas is a novella packed with a very complicated love story!  Annie and Carson have quite a history together, but it was a long time ago.  They are getting to know each other again, at the same time remembering how well they know the other.  The emotions that Katherine writes about, the wide variety of them, are great examples of very real emotions that anyone in a similar situation might have.  I did feel that more of a history of Annie's past in particular would have been a great complement to Annie and Carson's love story, and would have filled in what I felt were a lot of grey areas.  I'm not completely sure why Annie ran off to begin with, but for Carson's sake I'm glad she's back in Marietta.  Annie is a bit of a puzzle for me!  Carson was a what you see is what you get kind of guy! He was open, he knew what he wanted, and he was going to do what he could to get it, but at the same time he was very respectful of Annie.  Carson is a lot more careful with Annie this time because of his son...he thinks of his son and his son's needs first.  Carson strikes me as being much happier in his life than Annie has been in hers!

I loved being back in Marietta for A Cowboy For Christmas!  Katherine could make me feel the cold air and the snow on my face...I love winter!  All of Carson's brothers made great secondary characters, because they play such an important role in Carson's life.

Any reader looking for some holiday romance will enjoy this novella!