A Light At Winter's End by Julia London ~ review

Product Description


Holly Fisher opens her door one day and finds her estranged sister Hannah standing there with a glassy look and her nine-month old baby on her hip. Before Holly knows what is happening, Hannah has left her baby with Holly and disappeared. Three months later, fresh out of rehab for addiction to painkillers, Hannah shows up sober, contrite, and wanting her son back. But Holly is in love with the baby and not willing to give him up to the mother who abandoned him.

Into the middle of this extraordinary conflict between two sisters walks a lonesome cowboy, Wyatt Clark (Summer of Two Wishes) who knows a thing or two about childcare and fractured families. He’s had his own troubles and has stayed away from women the last couple of years, but he can’t resist Holly and the baby. But when Holly is delivered a devastating blow and returns the baby to his mother, Holly is too distraught to continue her relationship with Wyatt. It will take an extraordinary turn from Hannah to bring Holly and Wyatt together so that they both may find the happiness that has eluded them.

My take on this book:
 Holly Fisher is the sister who always feels like she isn't quite good enough, her career as a song writer wasn't good enough because she was perceived to be the slacker in the family she sort of just fell into that roll. Her mother always compared her to her sister Hannah, whose life seems to be totally together, she has a happy marriage, a good job and Mason, her nine month old son. But when Hannah's life spirals out of control, she "dumps Mason on Holly and takes off saying she will be back. While Mason, starts out as an inconvenience to Holly he soon becomes the center of her world, she even moves back to the old home place, which she inherited after her mothers death because she thought it was more child friendly. The last thing she was looking for when she moved back to the homestead was a romance but when her neighbor Wyatt Clark comes riding in she soon finds herself falling in love with him, but not just him but the ideal of the family they could be. When Hannah returns wanting Mason, how will Holly handle it, and what will become of the relationship between Holly and Wyatt?

I loved this story. The author writes her characters with such depth. While the sisters were quite different, they also had alot in common. It was easy to sympathize with Hannah and Holly. Hannah loved her son Mason, but she had no choice but to get help. When she leaves Mason with Holly the bond that develops is quick and strong. I could feel Holly's fear and dread when she knew that she might have to give Mason back. By the end of the story I felt like the author had made them better versions of themselves, allowing what they had been through to actually bring them closer.
Wyatt was one of those guys every girl dreams of finding. It was so nice to see his broken heart find someone else to love. There were a few times when Holly was pushing Wyatt away that I just wanted to kick her. The author wraps up the story nicely with a somewhat expected ending.

I also liked the secondary character of Jesse Wheeler, the ranch hand, he was a fun loving guy who brought a bit of humor to the story.

This book is a sequel to "Summer of Two Wishes" but can easily be read as a stand alone work. I didn't read the first book in the series and had no problems jumping into this story, although I really wish I had read the first story because it tells the story of Wyatt and how his heart was broken.
If your a fan of contemporary romance that has very well developed characters and a story that will also tug at your emotions then your going to enjoy this one.

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.