Sandy M’s review of A Light at Winter’s End by Julia London
Contemporary Romance published by Pocket 22 Feb 11
Wyatt. My Wyatt. I felt for this man when I read and reviewed A Summer of Two Wishes. I wanted more about him when his life and world crashed at the end of that book, but we got only a smidgen, and I was unhappy about that. Because I’m always so behind on who’s got what book releasing when, I didn’t know Julia London had written Wyatt’s story. So you can imagine my happiness going through the roof when I picked this book up and started reading.
After Wyatt’s meltdown in ASoTW and he walks off into the sunset, so to speak, in this book we find him on a ranch he’d bought to get away from everything and everyone. Wyatt is not a pity man and the looks he got in Cedar Springs weren’t for him, so he left. The ranch needs work, he has the time. His assistant takes care of his land development business, so fence repairing and feeding the cows fill his days. He’s thinking about approaching his neighbors to perhaps buy their property to expand his own. The first time Wyatt visits he meets Holly, and to his amazement he’s attracted to her, despite his vow to stay away from women and the pain that goes with them.
Holly has just had her own meltdown when her sister Hannah out of the blue drops her son Mason off at Holly’s and walks out. Holly is dumbfounded, angry, and terrified. But she has no choice but buck up and take care of her nephew the best she can. Needing more space for both Mason and her songwriting, Holly moves them to the homestead she recently inherited from her mother, and there they both flourish as Holly learns to be a mother. Then Wyatt rides into her life and they begin play dates with Mason and Grace, his daughter. She’s smitten once they make explosive love, he supports her career choice as no one else ever has, and he does little things around the ranch. He’s perfect.
It does my heart good to see Wyatt happy again. And he is happy with Holly. Of course, we know that their little family can’t last, Mason’s mother will come home some day, and when that happens, it’s Holly’s world that falls apart. Only Wyatt can understand what it’s like to have the rug pulled out from under you, but while Holly realizes this, she just can’t let Mason go, and she pushes Wyatt away in the meantime. I wanted to scream when that happens. Wyatt has given his heart once again, and – once again – he’s filled with nothing but pain. He goes back to his life pre-Holly – alone, isolated, devastated.
Holly’s way of dealing with her grief is the exact opposite. She heads to Nashville where a couple of doors have opened for her and her songwriting career gets a huge boost. Of course, I wasn’t too happy with her when she walks away. Dammit. But I know she doesn’t do it light-heartedly. I just want my Wyatt to be happy and she makes him happy. The only way he’ll even think of giving them another chance is if she comes to him herself, not friends and family telling him how Holly feels. When he learns she’s headed to Nashville, his final hope is lost.
I am so glad Ms. London has given Wyatt his story. I had no idea which direction he needed to go, I just wanted him to have his happily ever after, especially after the emotional turmoil he went through in the previous book. I’m very satisfied with what Ms. London has given him and us. She does Wyatt proud and gives him the perfect heroine, someone who brings him back to life and who really needs him in her moment of crisis.
Happiness forever, My Wyatt.
Grade: A
Summary:
Whose baby is he?
Hannah has always done everything right: getting married, having a baby, caring of her mother in her final days, all the while performing impeccably in a high-level job. Her sister Holly is the college dropout, the one who works at a coffee shop and wants to be a songwriter. Then one day perfect Hannah suddenly–without explanation–leaves her baby with Holly and disappears. What Holly knows about babies is laughable, but she takes little Mason to the empty family homestead, where she meets Wyatt Clark, a close-mouthed, handsome cowboy who is mysteriously good with babies. And then, just as Holly can no longer imagine her life without either Mason or Wyatt, Hannah returns for her son…
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
