Summer of Two Wishes

What would happen if one day your wish that you dreamed about came true? That your first husband was alive and well and not dead as everyone thought. But when you make one wish you only find yourself wanting another and that is where Macy finds herself - in love with the husband thought dead and in love with the husband she is currently married to. Macy Lockhart Clark finds herself reunited with her first husband long thought dead in Afghanistan and realizes she is married to two men and suddenly it occurs to her to be very, very careful what you wish for. How had it come to this that when Macy turns to her right there stands Army Sergeant Finn Lockhart returned alive after being held a prisoner of war for three years. When Macy turns to her left there is Wyatt Clark her current husband and the man that brought her back to life and smothered her in love and luxury. Macy had found love again with Wyatt but the love she had with Finn was never gone just buried along with his dog tags or so she thought. Now she must choose which man will be her future, the one from her past or the one in her present. She can't have both and when fate throws another curve no one saw coming at her there is even more at stake than anyone could imagine. Finn is back, battling PTSD and trying to find a place in a world he no longer seems to belong to. His horses have been sold off, his ranch is a shambles and his wife has moved on to a new life. All the while that Finn is fighting to find a way back into Macy's heart Wyatt is fighting the battle of his life doing everything he can to stay in Macy's life and heart and keep her as his wife. How could Macy choose between these two halves that make her whole - can she? With so much at stake and the reality that one will be happy and the other devastated instead of looking left or right Macy looks straight ahead and tries to figure out which husband she wants and which one will get his heart broken and try to live without Macy something both men cannot fathom. This book is amazing but not everyone will think so. Depending on who you believe should be with Macy will determine how you feel about this story. I went in with a pre-conceived idea of which she should end up with and thought when it did not turn out as I wanted I would be disappointed but I was not. You absolutely have to read this entire book to understand the complexities of the characters and absorb where the feelings are coming from especially in Macy's point-of-view. She may be torn but it seems her mind was made up from the beginning when she heard the news that tore her life apart the second time.

Macy Lockhart is devastated when she is informed that her beloved husband, Finn, has been killed while fighting in the war in Iraq. She succumbs to depression and lands herself in a deep, dark hole that she just can't seem to climb out of. That is until Wyatt comes along and helps her accept the fate that Finn is gone and she must move on with her life - she eventually falls in love with and marries him. Then the news arrives that Finn is not dead - but alive. Macy is overcome with joy - her one true wish - that the love of her life is not dead but alive has come true... but what about Wyatt? She is now also in love with him. What about their marriage? Which love does she choose? We've all seen this story more than once.. just recently in Jennifer Haymore's A Hint of Wicked, if you think about it. But this just never gets old. I enjoyed the tug and pull that you feel from both Finn and Wyatt. They are both in love with Macy and you (as the reader) can't choose one or the other. They are both good men, yet are both flawed, but in the end they each have one goal ... spending the rest of their lives with Macy. I liked these characters so much. They were all fleshed out in a way where you felt their joy and you also felt their pain. I was drawn to Finn - just because I'm gushy about the whole love of your life romanticism but at the same time Wyatt was very appealing - he came into Macy's life and picked up the pieces making her a very happy woman. Ms. London's writing was superb and there were some sensual scenes that were quite beautiful (to say the least). I really liked that the chapters were read through different narrators (Macy, Finn and Wyatt). It really gave you and in depth feel for each character making Macy's/your decision an even harder one. I was absolutely captivated by this love triangle and I would recommend this to anyone who likes character driven novels - not just romance readers since it did have a dramatic flare to it.

There's nothing like a good story about love lost and then love found to get the heart going. SUMMER OF TWO WISHES by Julia London was heart wrenching, yes, heart-wrenching from the very first page. A beautiful story about love and life, London created a masterpiece in this beautiful story. If you are a romance fan of any kind, I highly suggest SUMMER OF TWO WISHES. This is the kind of book that keeps you up at night wondering about the characters until you finally get a chance to go back to the book and dive back into the world. We've seen the story before. A woman is married to her true love, he goes away to war and she gets word that he has died there. Practically dead from grief, she finally manages to find solace in the arms of another man and eventually marries him. Suddenly her first love is back, miraculously returned from the grave. What's a girl to do when she's faced with two men, both of whom she loves just as desperately as she needs the air? Macy has just started to pull her life together. She's barely crawling out of the dark hole that she's been hiding under and finding joy in her new husband Wyatt when Finn returns. Now, overjoyed at his return she's faced with the difficult decision of breaking someone's heart. Whether it's Finn or Wyatt, one thing is for sure; her heart is going to be a casualty as well. If you couldn't already tell, I loved SUMMER OF TWO WISHES. Admittedly, I was a little reserved about reading the book seeing as how the general premise of the story has been used fairly often. Jennifer Haymore's A Hint of Wicked, the movies Pearl Harbor, Three For the Show, and Too Many Husbands all follow the same idea although each puts a great spin on it. I'm pleased to say that my concerns were wasted as London did an excellent job putting her own twists and turns on the idea, creating an intriguing and suspenseful plot. Usually I'm able to sit here and type fairly quickly, telling you what I loved or didn't love about a book. In this case, I'm having a hard time figuring out exactly what it was that made the book so great because I got so distracted by the story that I never took the time to stop and think, "Oh yeah, this is good." Maybe that's part of what I love. I think that if I really had to pick one thing, it would be the way that London fills the pages with tension. Even something as simple as preparing for a luncheon becomes filled with tension and pulls the reader along. Tension is a wonderful ally to an author if used correctly. It makes the book addicting; it makes you want to read more and keeps you turning the pages. London certainly mastered that. I actually had to convince myself pretty hard that it was not a good idea to take my book to the dinner table with me; I was just that into it. Another great aspect of SUMMER OF TWO WISHES, just as in many great books, is the characters. London has created characters with a good deal of depth that add layers to the book and give us something to ponder. Mo

Julia London left Regency England and flew her time machine straight to the present in Cedar Springs, TX. With her, Ms. London brought her New-York-Times-best-seller-list writing skills. She needed every one of them because this must have been a tough book to write. She succeeds, of course, but only the most talented of writers-like Julia London-would be able to pull together this weaving of stories and emotions. For almost everyone in town, the homecoming of Finn Lockhart, previously reported as dead but now found after three years in captivity, is a cause for celebration. But not for Wyatt Clark who is now married to Finn's wife Macy. And, while Macy is overjoyed the love of her life is safe, how does she treat Wyatt, the man who pulled her from the deep depression after Finn's reported death and to whom she owes her sanity? How can a woman make a decision like that? Although Finn's return is joyful, it brings with it problems and repercussions for many citizens of Cedar Springs. How does the town handle the return of a war hero? How does the man who doesn't consider himself a hero take the adulation and interest his return brings with it? From the tangled motives and feelings, Ms. London creates a marvelous story of love and deceit, hope and redemption. She deals honestly with the deep emotions of Finn's family and friends. Perhaps the most poignant is Finn's story. This is a man who returns home to find all those things he dreamed about, that kept him going during his captivity, are gone: his wife, his land, his career, even his horses and dog. How does he deal with the trauma of those three years and his losses when his privacy is constantly invaded? Macy and the man she chooses face incredibly difficult decisions. Through Ms. London's deft writing and great talent, we feel the pain of the characters and cheer for them to have their two wishes-and many more-granted. This book is highly recommended, a real keeper and the start of a new chapter of Ms. London's exceptional career. Jane Myers Perrine