Julie Long was born in Fairfield, Iowa, a typical Midwestern town (the kind with a bandstand in town square), which just happened to become the center of the Transcendental Meditation movement. For several years she lived in Southern California (where she never did find the center of town) before opting for the rural life in Western Pennsylvania. Today she lives on a farm with her husband, extended family, and an English bulldog. She coauthored BABY: An Owner’s Manual, A Mouthful of Truth, and Fat, Dumb & Lazy. This is her first novel. Visit her at JulieLongWrites.com

Rooville is the story of California weatherman Owen Martin, who can’t predict the atmospheric pressure he’ll encounter when he decides to return to his childhood home in Iowa, which he left after his father died. Thinking he’s moving back to the simple life his father intended for him, Owen is stunned to learn that Martinville has become a Mecca for meditators, and the Mayor is scheming to turn the family farm into a New Age theme park. Making matters worse, Owen is attracted to the mayor’s levitating daughter Trishna instead of the down-to-earth girl he hand in mind. In a town where old beliefs and open minds are clashing like warm and cold fronts, Owen gets caught in a veritable tornado. In the end, he realizes that he can calm the storm and bring the town back together, but he must accept that even the simple life has its compromises and complications.