Title: The Surgeon’s Christmas Baby by Marin Thomas
Cowboys of the Rio Grande Series Book Two
Release Date: November 1, 2015
Publisher: Harlequin American Romance
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 224 pages
Book Rating: B
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by the Author
Summary:
UNEXPECTED FAMILY…
After a tour in Afghanistan and years as a trauma surgeon, Alonso Marquez needs to get out of Albuquerque and away from his past. A trip seems like the perfect solution, but he doesn’t make it far. Sparks fly when Alonso stops to help a gorgeous rancher fix her car, and just like that his road trip is cut short by one very hot night…with some very real consequences.
Hannah Buck didn’t plan on starting a family that night. Her hands are already full managing the ranch and helping her troubled half brother. But Hannah sees the good in Alonso and knows he will be an incredible dad to their baby—if only he could see it, too. Alonso has spent his life saving others. Now, with Hannah at his side, can he finally save himself?
Review:
The Surgeon’s Christmas Baby is a delightful addition to Marin Thomas’s Cowboys of the Rio Grande series. This second installment features trauma surgeon Alonso Marquez and his unexpected romance with bison rancher Hannah Buck.
Disheartened by the losses he has experienced in both his professional and personal lives, Alonso is taking a much needed break from his job at an Albuquerque hospital. While hitchhiking across New Mexico, he meets Hannah and her half-brother Luke when he stops to help them change a tire. He and Hannah are immediately attracted to one another and they decide to throw caution to the wind and indulge in a no strings fling. After Luke is suspended from school, Alonso helps secure him a spot at a ranch for troubled youth run by the same people who helped him when he was a teenager. Deciding to stick around for a while to help Hannah, Alonso finds some much needed peace but when their night together leads to unexpected consequences, will he allow his fears to ruin their future together?
After the death of their father, Hannah willingly abandoned her plans to stay on the ranch as Luke’s guardian. She has never regretted her decision but they are barely scraping by and she has her hands full trying to keep Luke out of trouble. While she is trying to keep the ranch afloat, Luke is running wild and skipping out on chores. As if Hannah does not have enough problems to deal with, now she has to deal with a sudden rash of vandalism on the ranch. While she is not worried about taking care of things on her own, she does appreciate Alonso’s willingness to help out while Luke is gone.
Alonso is surprised by how much he enjoys the slower pace of life on Hannah’s ranch. His experiences have left him with an incredibly negative outlook on life and he is dreading his return to job. He has never had time for a relationship and his previous losses have left him with an irrational fear that he finds very difficult to overcome. When Hannah discovers she is pregnant, his kneejerk reaction is to leave but Alonso finds himself grabbing any excuse to delay his departure. Will an unanticipated job opportunity provide him with a reason to stay? Or will Alonso continue to let his fears keep him from fully committing to a future with Hannah?
The Surgeon’s Christmas Baby is another wonderful installment in Marin Thomas’s Cowboys of the Rio Grande series. The romance between Alonso and Hannah is very sweet and remarkably free of angst or drama. The characters are beautifully developed with realistic issues to overcome. An understated but very enjoyable love story that old and new fans to the series are sure love.
