Julia's Secret Mission

Julia's Secret Mission follows Julia Halvorsen, a woman who has spent sixteen years living a double life. To her family, she is the mother who walked away after the deaths of her husband and father. In reality, Julia has become an agent for M-3, a secret government organization charged with locating and securing magical objects before their powers can be exploited. Yet every assignment has hidden a second purpose. Julia has never stopped hunting Oluf, the dangerous man responsible for the deaths that shattered her family-and she has never abandoned her desire to make him pay.
Julia's carefully controlled world begins to unravel when her estranged daughter, Christina, encounters a mysterious wooden cat in a San Francisco antique shop and immediately senses the magic inside it. Before Christina can buy the carving, the intimidating M-3 agent Thomas Colson takes it from her. The incident brings Christina directly into the world Julia has kept secret for years and forces mother and daughter into a painful reunion. Christina has not forgotten being abandoned, and Julia quickly discovers that recovering a dangerous magical artifact is far easier than recovering the trust of the children she left behind.
Determined to prove that her years away meant something, Julia returns to the hunt. Clues buried in the journals of her adventurous Aunt Cora send her to Norway, where the remnants of an old Village may reveal the secrets of Oluf's past and the key to defeating him. Julia's search leads her through dangerous encounters, mysterious magical artifacts, and missions stretching far beyond home. At her side is Colson, the tough, guarded M-3 agent whose relationship with Julia becomes increasingly difficult to dismiss, while Wendy-a rebellious six-inch teenage fairy with Gothic clothes, a sharp tongue, and an attitude large enough for someone ten times her size-makes Julia's already complicated life even less predictable.
But the greatest struggle facing Julia is no longer simply finding Oluf. Reconnecting with Christina and her son, Justin, forces her to confront an uncomfortable possibility: perhaps protecting her family was not the only reason she stayed away. Revenge gave her purpose, M-3 gave her a mission, and distance allowed her to avoid facing the pain she had caused. As Julia slowly becomes part of her family again, she meets the people who now fill Christina's life-including Ian and his daughter, Holly-and begins to understand everything she sacrificed during her years of obsession. When Oluf once again threatens the family and the magical Villagers they have protected for generations, Julia must decide whether settling the past matters more than preserving the future she has only just begun to reclaim.
Blending cozy mystery, secret-agent adventure, family drama, romance, humor, and a world of magical woodcarvings and enchanted objects, Julia's Secret Mission is ultimately a story about second chances. Julia may know how to fight, track dangerous magic, and face enemies who would frighten most people, but returning home requires another kind of courage. With Christina preparing for a new life with Ian, Holly discovering an unexpected grandmother, Wendy encountering the magical Village, and Julia finding herself drawn back toward both family and love, the woman who spent sixteen years chasing revenge begins to wonder whether her most important mission has been waiting for her at home all along.