Summer of Two Wishes Book

I wrote the review below 2 years ago after reading the paperback. Today I finished the audio book and came away with a much clearer picture of the story and a better understanding of what motivated the characters to behave the way they did. The narrator, Natalie Ross (nar. KMM's Dreamfever series) did an outstanding job of bringing the story to life. My revised rating for SOTW is a solid 5+ stars and probably my new number 1 favorite audiobook.



If ever there was a heroine confronted with a mind-blowing dilemma, it would have to be Macy from Summer of Two Wishes by Julia London. Macy was one of the lucky ones that married the love of her life...and every day she and Finn were together was like living the eternal "happy-ever- after". However, the couple's cocoon of bliss is destroyed when Finn enlists in the army, goes to war in Iraq and is officially pronounced dead several months later - the victim of a suicide bomber. For the next two years Macy simply "exists"...fueled only by memories of the extraordinary love she had shared with her husband. Time moves on, however, and eventually so does Macy. She meets and marries Wyatt...a wonderful man who helps her let go of the past and someone with whom she, once again, finds love and happiness.

Does the curtain drop here? Oh, hell no...this is where the book begins! We know what "assume" does to you and me so I imagine it works on a larger scale when the army assumes a soldier is dead from finding his mutilated dog tags and 3 years later he turns up alive... and as well as can be expected (considering he spent those years in captivity). No matter...the army is redeemed because Finn is on his way home! And yes, Macy has a HUGE problem!

The first half of this book was excellent but heart-wrenching. As Macy goes off alone to do some soul-searching for answers, we watch Finn struggle to survive in the normal world again. This poor guy lived in hell for 3 years, and returned home only to find everything that was once his (the memories of which had given him the will to live) had been taken away from him. Finn deals with the loss of his wife, PTSD, alcohol dependency and an overbearing mother (named Karen, no less) while publicly being touted a national hero. At the same time, Wyatt feels his world getting ready to crumble...the idealistic life and love he shares with Macy, the future they are building together and the child they are trying to have, is suddenly an uncertainty. Although my heart was with Finn, Wyatt was a great guy in his own right and did not deserve this cruel hand dealt by fate.

Just as I was beginning to acknowledge the fact that this book was well on it's way to becoming my all-time favorite (unseating another novel by London), it hit the wall (but just enough to knock it's halo crooked). Suddenly we have a "bad" guy, another big wrench thrown in the works and Macy going from sympathetic to annoying. She made her decision but never convinced me she was truly happy with it. And she fluctuated between the two men to the point of madness. In Macy's defense, however, I can't imagine what I would have done in the same situation...probably a lot worse. Another concern I had with the book is that we never get a good fleshing out of Macy's character. Who was this woman that captivated the hearts of 2 men so completely? Normally I don't care for flashbacks, but this book would have benefited from using them. I wanted to "feel" the love that Finn and Wyatt felt for Macy...a little evidence of why they both loved her to distraction.

I wanted to rate this book 4.5* but tipped it up because I'm nice like that. (uh-huh) Despite the misgivings I had (they aren't too major), this book is definitely worth reading...if for no other reason than to fall in love with Finn. You feel so bad for the guy you just want to kiss him and make it all better (of course it does not hurt that he is described as a total hotty)! London became an auto-buy for me several books back, but this is the first contemporary I've read by her. I was impressed enough to pull her back list up and GRRRrrrr...she's got at least 6 other contemps I feel I must read. *sigh* My tbr pile is going to be as big as Dina's pretty soon. ;)