A Broken Christmas by Claire Ashgrove

War is hell and it can leave scars on a man’s body but also his soul. But each person has scars that we don’t always see. A Broken Christmas is about two people who need to heal together in order to heal at all.

Delta Force operative Kyle Garland divorced his wife to protect her. His top-secret missions expose him to constant danger, and his world is full of lies and deceit. But the threat to Aimee doesn’t come in the form of insurgents or bombs. Rather, his soul-deep love and the dreams he silently nurtures are her greatest hazard. When a career-ending injury brings him home for Christmas, to keep her safe he must bury his feelings and hide the monster he’s become.
Fourteen months ago, Aimee had the perfect marriage… then Kyle blindsided her with a divorce. Now, he’s coming home, and she intends to get her answers. Yet the crippled man she confronts bears scars her years of nursing cannot heal. The secret he’s hiding is tearing him apart. No matter how she tries, he keeps her at a distance, despite the love that’s still evident in his kiss. What Aimee doesn’t know is her own damaged past terrifies Kyle more than any wartime horror.
As she forces him to confront his demons, will the holiday shred the fragile bonds they share, or will Christmas complete all their broken parts?

Kyle Garland was set up in Afghanistan. His team took a horrible hit after being betrayed by a person that they trusted and worked with for two years. While lying on the floor, Kyle had to kill the insurgents who were torturing his friend and face a difficult decision, end his friend’s life in an act of mercy or let his friend die horribly and painfully. Kyle did what was necessary and it weighed on his conscious. He wanted to stick his gun in his mouth and die as well.

Aimee Gardner was Kyle’s wife but he sent her divorce papers while he was gone to Afghanistan, thinking that he was trying to protect her. Aimee and Kyle had suffered a horrible second term miscarriage that took Aimee a long time to recover from. She still carried her scars on her soul. But she wanted another child and never got to speak with her husband about that before he left and sent the divorce papers. When Kyle returns crippled from Afghanistan, Aimee sets out to win his love and help him heal.

A Broken Christmas is a sweet and heartwarming read. I was hurting along with Aimee about the harsh way that Kyle treated her when he returned and how he shut her out of his life. It was frustrating that Kyle didn’t think that Aimee was strong enough to handle the truth, yet she had been a soldier in her own right. Many times I wanted to smack Kyle upside the head for being so dense and tip toeing around what was really bothering him. Love means that you accept and see the person that you love for who they are, warts and all. Kyle didn’t really believe that Aimee loved him enough to see and understand what Kyle was forced to do. But it was more than the war that was in the way. Kyle didn’t want to see Aimee hurt in anyway, so having another child he felt was off the table. And he couldn’t handle that.

A Broken Christmas will challenge your thinking. It is a tale of friendship and love that goes beyond just simple lust or passion. Kyle is a changed man, who struggles to handle his new capabilities. Aimee is a woman who loves her ex-husband so much that she is willing to give up things that are important to her such as her tub to make the home more accommodating for Kyle.

I highly recommend that you read A Broken Christmas. This book isn’t just for the holidays but will show you the true meaning of love and forgiveness. After all, we do often have to forgive ourselves more than we forgive others.