Today's Special - - Julia London

We are so excited to welcome Julia London to the Romance Dish today!  Gannon and PJ had the pleasure of spending some time with Julia at a RWA conference and know that this popular author is as warm, friendly and genuine in person as she comes across online.  Born on a ranch in West Texas, Julia's former career in government took her far from home, including a stint working in the White House.  But Texas eventually lured her back and, luckily for us, this born storyteller turned her efforts to writing.  The author of more than twenty books, Julia has been on the New York Times and USA Today Bestseller lists, has been a four-time RITA finalist and the winner of the RT (Romantic Times) Bookclub Award for Best Historical Romance.  Her new book, A Light at Winter's End will be released tomorrow. (Read Gannon's review here.)  For more information about Julia, visit her website (be sure to check out her unofficial bio!), like her on facebook and follow her on twitter.  You can also find her blogging with fellow authors at Whine Sisters and the Goddess Blogs. 


Five Things You Didn’t Know About Julia

I am frequently asked where I get my ideas, how I like writing both historical and contemporary settings, and how I got started in this business. I thought it might be fun for a change to tell you five things about me that might have crept their way into A Light at Winter’s End. This is a book about two sisters who face an extraordinary conflict with each other, and the lonesome cowboy who appears at a fence line one day and unwittingly steps into their conflict. If you read Summer of Two Wishes, you might want to know that the cowboy is Wyatt Clark, who comes to this novel with some baggage of his own.

1. I am hopelessly un-domestic. I don’t cook, I don’t decorate a house very well, and I have tried my hand at various crafts and either lose interest or really suck at it. In this book, Holly Fisher is a woman who has never had to make a home or cook a meal for anyone but herself. She doesn’t even have a fully equipped kitchen. So when her sister dumps her baby on her and disappears, she has no clue what to do. She doesn’t even know what she can feed the baby.

2. I grew up on a ranch in West Texas. A Light at Winter’s End is set on the edge of the western part of the state, but Wyatt’s ranch and cattle and horses are all things I grew up with.

3. I was forced—forced, I tell you—to take piano for ten years and violin for two when I was a kid. I don’t play either instrument worth a darn anymore, but I do have an appreciation for music and the construction of songs. Holly Fisher is a songwriter, and I think it would be so cool to be that. If I had another life, I would try harder at the music thing. I would want to be a songwriter and play all the different instruments.

4. I was once a public administrator and I know how mind-numbing that can be. For some people, it is truly a calling, and I knew some really fine public servants. But I was not a fine public servant. For me, it was stressful. I am a much better person when I am in a creative occupation. Hannah Drake, Holly’s sister, is in a stressful job that, on top of the dissolution of her marriage, helps to bring her down. My job didn’t bring me down in spectacular fashion like Hannah, but it did imbue me with the desire to move on. And here I am!

5. I love writing this sort of book as much as I love writing historical romance. I love creating these worlds and watching the characters take shape. I think all the characters I write are bits and pieces of people I have known. These three characters—Holly, Hannah, and Wyatt, are definitely bits and pieces of many people I have known and loved. I hope you enjoy reading about them as much as I enjoyed creating them.

Thank you so much for having me here today! I am giving a signed copy of Summer of Two Wishes and a Starbucks gift card to one lucky commenter today!

Review -- A Light At Winter's End

A Light At Winter's End
By Julia London
Publisher: Pocket
Release Date: February 22, 2011







Holly Fisher has spent most of her life trying to measure up to her older sister Hannah. While Hannah made straight A's, Holly struggled in school due to her dyslexia. College was not her thing, so she never finished, but Hannah graduated with honors and went on to get a fantastic job, marry, and have a precious baby boy. Holly's passion has always been music, particularly songwriting, but in her mother's eyes that would never be a "real" job, not that working in a coffee shop makes the grade, either. Now her mother is dead after a long battle with cancer, and Holly is trying to repair her relationship with Hannah. But life throws Holly a major curve ball when Hannah shows up unexpectedly at her apartment and leaves her baby, Mason, with Holly. Shocked and confused, Holly has no choice but to put on her big girl panties and take control of the situation. She decides to go to the family homestead, that her mother willed to her, and figure out how to care for her nephew and what to do with the situation she now finds herself in. Little does she know that her handsome cowboy neighbor will be a bigger help to her than she can imagine.

Wyatt Clark has been hurt deeply by love so he lives alone on his ranch with just his dog for company. One day he sees smoke coming from the Fisher place, and when he goes to investigate he finds a flustered Holly who made a fire in the fireplace without opening the flue. Wyatt does the neighborly thing by helping Holly. He can see she's out of her element where the farmhouse and baby Mason are concerned. Wyatt has a baby daughter from his former marriage, so he's a veritable fount of child rearing information, which makes him even more attractive to Holly. It's not long before they are having play dates with the babies and growing closer, their own little family. Wyatt praises and encourages Holly with her songwriting and she in turn opens Wyatt's heart again to the possibility of love. Life is pretty close to perfect when Hannah shows up and wants her son back. Will Holly's and Wyatt's new found love continue to grow or will it crumble under the pressure of family drama?


And then, of course, there had been that kiss. That spectacular, unplanned-for, unanticipated, unlikely, out-of-the-blue kiss. That kiss was chocolate souffle, it was expensive champagne, it was a warm fire on a snowy winter day. Wyatt had seemed shocked by his own actions. He'd stared at her when he'd lifted his head, clearly stunned by what he'd done, and she'd felt him retreating, felt him pulling away, cobwebs and all, and she'd grabbed him back, had kissed him back. That kiss had been a gold strike, a summer thunderstorm, New Year's Eve fireworks. Spec. Tacular.


Julia London tackles painful issues like addiction, divorce and family drama in A Light At Winter's End. These characters traverse an emotion filled journey that takes them from despair and uncertainty to hope and love. Wyatt first made an appearance in Summer of Two Wishes, where he lost his new wife Macy to her first husband, Finn who was presumed dead while he was serving in the army in Afghanistan, but one day he came back home to Texas. It's not necessary to read this book first, but it does give a little more depth and understanding as to why Wyatt is so closed-off and stoic. What I love about Ms. London's contemporaries is that she writes about real people in heartbreaking situations and makes you feel every emotion right along with them. Their tears and their triumphs become yours, and you will be pulling for them all to find their happily ever after.

~ Gannon


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