A Light at Winter's End
Julia London
Pocket, Feb 22 2011, $7.99
ISBN 9781439176498

Heartbroken Wyatt Clark watched his wife Macy leave him to return to her first husband Finn Lockhart, who had been mistakenly reported dead by an IED in Afghanistan (see Summer of Two Wishes). Wyatt spends the next two years moving back and forth between anger as he brought Macy back to life after she learned her Finn died and self pity as he believed Macy owed him. He remains in isolation on his Texas ranch.

In Austin, Texas Holly Fisher has dreamed of being a songwriter for a long time. Now the time is right to begin her career. However, her aspirations are put on hold when her estranged sister, Hannah, a drug addict, arrives with a baby. She dumps Mason on Holly before leaving to enter a rehab program. Holly takes Mason with her as she goes to the Fisher family spread, next door to the silent sourpuss Wyatt. As she falls for Wyatt and Mason, she wonders whether a love song can do her feelings justice only reality turns her lyrics to How can You Mend a Broken Heart (BeeGees).

This sequel is a super character driven Texas romance starring a mentally wounded rancher who understands Nazareth's Love Hurts so refuses to go back on the horse that threw him and a nurturing woman who puts her aspirations aside to care for her one year old nephew. Filled with angst due to realistic characters, readers will enjoy A Light At Winter's End though it helps to understand Wyatt better by reading his previous heartbreaking appearance in Summer of two Wishes.

Harriet Klausner