Barbara HannayReseñas
Autor de Adopted: Outback Baby (Harlequin Romance)
Reseñas
4 Stars
Byrne Drummond first met Fiona McLaren on the worst day of his life in the aftermath of a devastating accident for which her brother was to blame. Now, three years later, Fiona and Byrne meet again and struggle against the sizzling attraction between them. But as they grow closer, Fiona knows that the information in her possession will break his heart all over again ...
Byrne and Fiona's romance is both heartwarming and heartwrenching. They are such loving and caring people, and one cannot help but root for their HEA of which they are both so deserving.
The descriptions of life in the Australian outback are compelling and call to mind some of my favorite television shows such as The Thorn Birds, Flying Doctors and McLeod's Daughters.
My only minor issue is that Byrne and Fiona's
I liked all the residents involved with the garden although I did find Maddie rather naive and frustrating. It also took me most of the novel to appreciate Nancy, However, I loved Vera and her grandson, Henry, who was just a delight with his enthusiasm for the garden and the worms. He made me smile.
Full of hope, second chances, connections and the power of nature, "The Garden of Hopes and Dreams" lacked depth but was a lovely novel that I enjoyed reading.
Tilly's world has fallen apart. Her single Mum died suddenly & to heap salt on the wound, she has been torn away from everything she knows & loves to a little town a million miles away where she knows nobody.
Kate is trying to move one from her divorce & her dream of doing up her camper van & taking it around Australia is suddenly put on hold by the arrival of an unexpected responsibility has landed in her door.
Former celebrity actress Olivia is used to getting the best roles in her local theatre group but when she takes the term 'break a leg' a little too seriously while exiting the stage, she is relegated to the wings.
These lost souls come together under the roof of Burralea's Amateuer Theatre, just before opening night.....
I loved this. It's a lovely easy to read story with a host of colourful characters, wonderful friendships tragedies & triumphs. The POVs from the vast age differences were pretty entertaining too. This was my first Barbara Hannay book but I don't think it'll be my last. She has a way of bringing the characters to life with her writing & I feel like I've made three new friends. I also loved reading about life in a small country town again, she made it seem so magical. All in all a wonderful, light, entertaining read.
This was a sweet romance between two people who were meant for each other but who had let each other slip away 5 years before. I loved the rationale for her mistake. I think it made a lot of sense. Not real sure about his rationale but overall it worked.
Well written and interesting.
The building is in inner city Brisbane, Australia with a range of ages and life stages of the characters. Maddie is a young, heartbroken paralegal while Vera feels as though she has been banished from the family station to the city. Ned is an academic with a passion for bees and plants while caretaker Jock is writing a novel and waiting for his wife to come home. Other residents support these characters such as couple Dennis and Joe and grumpy Nancy. However, the majority of the book focuses on Vera and Maddie. They are somewhat of a contrast due to their ages, yet they are going through (or have been through) similar things. Maddie is unlucky in love, having caught her boyfriend cheating and her new boyfriend has some very strange mood swings. Vera and her husband were exiled from England to Queensland after she found out the truth about his gambling on her wedding day. Both feel lost in the city, having come from smaller towns. There is a sense of each character trying to find where they fit in their current setting.
The other characters that come to play a larger role in the story don’t have as detailed backstories as Maddie and Vera. Jock, the caretaker, comes on the scene about halfway into the book and later, a tragic event has him as a central focus. I found this a bit off balance, especially given that as the caretaker he would have been known to all the residents. Likewise with Ned, he is very mysterious with the reader not knowing a lot about him, yet several of the residents gush about how great he is. There wasn’t much evidence to support that for me until his backstory was revealed very late into the book. I would have liked a bit more history of both of them earlier on in the story.
The themes of the story are very wholesome – friendship, helping people out and second chances. It has a real community spirit to it and the pages roll by. You can’t help but be entertained by this tale, it’s easy to read and genuinely engaging.
Thank you to Penguin for the ARC. My review is honest.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
Unfolding from the perspectives of Freya and Billie, The Sister’s Gift by Barbara Hannay is a story of motherhood, secrets, and second chances.
At the heart of this novel is the secrecy surrounding the surrogacy arrangement shared by Freya and Pearl. Hannay’s portrayal of their complicated relationship is thoughtful and nuanced. The experience drove a wedge between the sisters, largely due to Pearl’s fears and insecurities about motherhood tangled with the remnants of sibling rivalry. Freya has never regretted her decision, though it came at a personal cost, but she has been disappointed by the distance between herself and her sister, and tried her best to maintain a relationship, at a distance, with Billie.
Freya’s return to Magnetic Island is inadvertently a catalyst for Billie learning the secret of her birth, but it also offers Freya a surprising opportunity for a second chance when her ex-fiancé, with whom she ended things in order to become Pearl’s surrogate, arrives at the island for the winter months. I sympathised easily with Freya and was pleased by the closeness she established with Billie, and the romance that developed between Freya and her old beau.
Billie has never understood the tension between her mother and aunt, but has always largely dismissed it as being due to her mother’s high-strung, anxious personality. It’s one of the reasons Billie keeps secrets from Pearl, though she can’t hide this latest one for long. Though somewhat impulsive and directionless, I liked Billie well enough, and thought her emotions related to events were portrayed authentically. What surprised me was the haste of her romantic relationship arc, I didn’t mind that Hannay developed one, but I didn’t think the timeline was believable given the circumstances.
In the end it’s the reveal of a secret Pearl is keeping from both Billie and Freya that leads to the sisters mending their rift. Though the plot points of the story are fairly predictable, they still offer emotional impact, with both heartwarming and poignant moments.
The Sister’s Gift is an engaging and pleasant read, and those who enjoy family drama with a happy ending will surely find it gratifying.
This story has two main characters, Freya and Billie, who are aunt and niece. Neither of them have had the easiest of times lately. Freya is divorced and out of work. When her house burns down, it’s the last straw – and the last link to her old life. Billie will be looking after the family restaurant on Magnetic Island while her parents travel and needs Freya’s help. It’s the opportunity for Freya to start again and Billie to recover after a failed overseas relationship sent her back home. Billie’s mum is surprisingly negative about the whole situation, but reluctantly grants her permission to let Freya help. The island offers new opportunities for both Freya and Billie. Both find unwelcome parts of their past coming to the fore, and their relationships with each other and new and old friends grow. But the people on the island have long memories, and rumours start to surface about Freya and Billie. Will the rumours destroy all of their relationships? Or it is an opportunity to let old wounds heal?
I enjoyed The Sister’s Gift for the complexity of the relationships between the women. They aren’t your usual secrets and their effects on the family are carefully and sensitively examined. There is a lot more at play here than a first glance at the blurb reveals. There are themes of infertility, sexual assault, serious illness and relationships in older women. I felt the sexual assault plot thread was handled well, demonstrating the realities of what women can face from their employer. The illness thread I felt was a little rushed, with a very neat ending. This may be my own bias working in the field – I’d love to see a life changing problem solved so quickly and perfectly! But overall, the story was gripping and just right for a rainy weekend. The Sister’s Gift is a book that entices you to pick it up every time you tear yourself away from it. This is because the characters feel realistic. They are whole, with memorable quirks, worries and endearing traits. The interactions of the female characters are strong and accurate, from the everyday conversations to the big reveal. And finally, I couldn’t help but enjoy the setting. Warmth, sunshine and sea is just what I needed in the middle of a rainy winter. The Sister’s Gift not only added sunshine to my heart, but a great story.
Thank you to Penguin for the copy. My review is honest.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
A year after the sudden death of her beloved husband, Daisy Benetto can think of no better place for a family reunion than Venice, the place of Leo’s birth. While Daisy and her youngest daughter, nineteen year old Ellie, will fly in from their home in Queensland, Australia, oldest son Marc, and his wife, will be traveling from California’s Silicon Valley, and Anna from London, where she has been trying to launch her career as an actress.
Hannay has created a loving, ordinary family in Meet Me in Venice with whom most readers will relate. Daisy is a warm, caring mother who is proud of her children, and her children clearly adore her in return. I thought the dynamics of the sibling relationships rang true, with the rivalries and role playing that often carry into adulthood.
Daisy’s children all want her to have a wonderful time in Venice and so are determined not to worry her with their own problems, but that’s not easy in such close quarters when tensions sit so close to the surface. The strain only increases when the family learns that Leo kept a secret from them all which threatens to undermine what they thought they knew of the husband and father they admired. I really liked the way in which Hannay dealt with all of these varied issues and the way in which they were resolved.
Hannay‘s novels are usually set in rural Australia but this is set almost wholly in Venice. It’s such an appealing city and the descriptions of its historic architecture, delicious cuisine and rich culture enhance the enjoyment of the story.
A captivating story about family, love and life’s journey, Meet Me in Venice is an engaging and enjoyable read.
The funny thing is that, this book reminds me of me when I got proposed to during one of my friend's wedding. When I first got proposed to I was in my early 20's and I was young. But anyways, the book just reminded me of how it felt when you would go out with friend's who are in a relationship and you like an odd ball out.
Anyways, good read over all.
The story begins as Chloe, a journalist at Girl Talk magazine, broaches children with her partner. Previous discussions have been fobbed off with excuses but this time Chloe gets to the heart of the matter and realises her future is not with him. She’s decided to be a single mother and to get far away from Sydney. That’s how she ends up as the second journalist on small town Queensland paper, the Burralea Bugle. Things don’t get off to a good start after her editor, Finn, forgets to pick her up from the airport. Then Chloe discovers him in the middle of a bottle of whiskey. It’s not what she signed up for, but the rest of Burralea is a delight and she begins to make friends. But Finn isn’t who she assumed he was and the pair fall into a friendship. But all of Chloe’s new friends have secrets – Jess at the café, Emily the newspaper owner, Tammy the hairdresser and Finn himself. Over the course of the summer, the secrets will be revealed, along with the case of the missing baker.
There is a lot going on in The Summer of Secrets but Barbara Hannay takes it all in her stride, never once losing the pace or the plot threads. It’s a pleasure to read and watch as the story unfolds with critical information coming to light at just the right moments. I also enjoyed the flashbacks into town stalwart Izzie’s childhood and time as an ATA pilot in World War II. I think Izzie’s story could make an excellent book of its own (yes, that’s a hint). I thought a plot twist using something every day and seemingly innocuous in the modern world was very clever.
Barbara Hannay’s books are always so welcoming, as a reader I feel enveloped in the small town of Burralea. I think it’s because the characters are realistic and relatable, but also have the touch of the exotic about them (such as Finn’s previous life overseas). Glimpses of characters from previous books were also delightful to catch up on too. Chloe is an everyday heroine – there’s nothing overly remarkable about her appearance (which was quite refreshing – not all women have auburn or raven shiny locks unless they’ve just been to the hairdresser). She’s intelligent, but not a genius. She’s simply a good person which is what Finn sees in her. Likewise, he isn’t a buff ex-model but a clever man bogged down by the past. The approachability of all the characters (with perhaps the exception of Izzie because she just shines awesome) was a major highlight for me. The Summer of Secrets is enticing, well written and a lovely respite from a cold winter.
Thank you to Penguin for the copy of this book. My review is honest.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
If you’ve read The Grazier’s Wife, you will know Flora Drummond, sister to Seth and daughter of Jackie. If you haven’t, that’s perfectly okay because Flora was a minor character in The Grazier’s Wife and everything that is relevant is explained. For the fans of the previous books, you get to say hi to Charlie and Alice again. Flora is an exceptionally talented musician who has come to Burralea to practise for a role in the Queensland symphony orchestra. She’s also come to escape her abusive former partner Oliver, but she doesn’t want anyone to know this. It’s with deep reluctance that she tells local policeman Mitch her troubles. But Mitch has his own problems – jilted at the altar and now human bones have appeared on Seth’s new property. The discovery makes state news, which leads Hattie to return to the town she departed so abruptly after a wedding. Can she and former owner Joe shed light on what happened?
Both Flora and Hattie are lovely main characters, despite the decades between them. I enjoyed both their stories equally as Hattie faces her old love after many decades and Flora fights an increasing attraction to Mitch which could just be remnants of a teenage crush. (Or that’s what she tells herself). This story is not just about the romance though. It’s about becoming part of a community that loves you and looks out for you, as both Flora and Hattie discover. It’s about protection, support and helping each other. Flora and Hattie are quite similar, thinking themselves big city women who left the country far behind. But they both have kind hearts and the willingness to help that is revered in small communities. I liked their unlikely friendship as much as I enjoyed their paths to happiness.
Barbara Hannay creates characters that are different from each other, real and unique. I enjoyed reading about the minor characters just as much. Who would have guessed the bane of Mitch’s police life, elderly lady Edith, was so smart and caring? Father Jonno I feel has a few more stories up his sleeve – how did he get to Burralea and his post? I’d love to read more about him and this humid oasis.
I’m a big fan of multiple narratives across history and the story of Hattie’s mother and aunt didn’t disappoint. Shanghai in the late 1930s and during war time came alive for me, rich with detail and excitement. The complex relationships that went on were a bonus!
Rich and lush, Barbara Hannay’s stories are always a joy. If you’re looking for a book to warm your heart, The Country Wedding is just right.
Thank you to Penguin for the copy of this book. My review is honest.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
The book opens with a bang both in the past and the present. The first grazier’s wife Stella looks to be in trouble and she does what she considers a terrible thing. Then we move to the current day as Seth, the current grazier’s son is working on the family property. He has very few cares in the world – his parents are on a well-deserved holiday and he’s enjoying his work. Then a former short-term girlfriend appears, baby in arms. Little Charlie is now his as she’s going home to marry her fiancé. Seth cops it on the chin and immediately becomes man of the district as he looks after little Charlie as a single dad. Things look sweet again for the Drummond family as life settles into a new routine but when Jackie, Seth’s mum decides to get the family sideboard resilvered, she shakes up Drummond history in a way that nobody expects. Hidden behind the mirror is Stella’s diary of life as a nurse in Singapore and her ‘dreadful’ secret revealed.
The narrative then moves between past and present day as Stella’s life in Singapore during World War II is revealed. How she came to marry Magnus Drummond is revealed as Jackie reflects on her own perceived shortcomings in social status. But it’s Alice, she works on repairing the sideboard who captivates Seth. Alice has her own past that she believes will prevent anything long term with Seth. Can the women move through their problems and the family survive the reveal of Stella’s secret?
Barbara Hannay’s books are always comforting and captivating for me. I love the way that history and the present are tangled together and the characters are always fascinating. Not just Seth, who is the bachelor of the district (seriously, this guy has few flaws) but Stella could have easily had her own book. Her stories in war time were very interesting, particularly as I have an interest in Far North Queensland and Singapore during that time. Alice is wonderfully complex with a lot to work through and it’s pleasing to see her growth throughout the story.
The big secret didn’t quite end up the way I thought it would (which I like, because surprises are good). I feel though that the way the family dealt with the reveal was a bit mixed. It was a really big deal, which I expected. Then Jackie had some practical ideas, which I thought was a good step. Then we had some falling out with Hugh Drummond’s sister, which I thought was a bit petty, but incredibly sweet-natured on Hugh’s behalf. Then everyone calmed down and started to work things out, then it was solved very quickly. So quickly that the Drummond family announced their intentions the very next day. It just seemed to be tied up very neatly, very fast for me. Perhaps the Drummonds are a quick-decision family and the forthcoming party was the next thing on their minds! It certainly didn’t ruin the story for me, but I did feel a little bit, ‘so this is it?!’. I got my happily ever after so I can’t complain too much!
Overall, The Grazier’s Wife is warm and engaging – just what you want to read during a cold winter.
Thank you to Penguin Books Australia for the eARC. My review is honest.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
Army logistics officer Lucy Hunter is relieved to be home in Townsville after her six month deployment in Afghanistan but she isn't prepared for the changes in store for her. Her mother has exchanged her childhood home for a sterile condo apartment she is sharing with a new man, her grandfather's health is failing, and her fiance, Sam, has cold feet. With several weeks of leave ahead of her, Lucy is at a loose end until she discovers a box of wartime memorabilia that contains clues to her family's history that neither her mother or grandfather are willing to talk about. Hoping to understand the secrets of the past, Lucy travels to Cornwall, a place where she just might find her future.
Moving between the past and present, the narrative shifts between Lucy's journey to unravel her family's secrets, and the story of the relationship between Lucy's cattleman grandfather, Harry, and his aristocratic bride, Georgina. Emotions run high in both timelines through scenes of wartime drama, desperate passion and captivating romance.
I liked Lucy and I sympathised with her desire to understand the past. The mystery stems from the discord between Lucy's mother, Ro and Lucy's grandfather, Harry, which Lucy learns is related to her mother's brief time in England. I also enjoyed Lucy's romance with the dashing Nick.
But it was the story of Harry and George's courtship and marriage that I found particularly entrancing. Their love is touching, and their wartime experiences are exciting, if also sobering.
The story takes us from Australia's coastline and outback, to London during the Blitz, from the wild bluffs of Cornwall to the jungles of Papua New Guinea as the Japanese invade. Both the contemporary and wartime settings are vividly described, as are the characters experiences of them.
The Secret Years is well written with appealing characters and a moving story. Another winning romance.
The book introduces us to Sally, a young widow and journalist living in Townsville. Her husband died in an accident over two years ago and her friends are encouraging her to socialise a little more. However, it takes an older lady, Kitty, at the nursing home where Sally visits her grandmother, to get Sally to attend a 1940s themed ball in Charters Towers. There, Sally meets Luke and sparks fly. He tells her how he is renovating the family homestead at Moonlight Plains and the journalist in Sally sniffs a story. But after an enjoyable night, Sally gets cold feet and tells Luke she’s not looking for a relationship. The story then switches between the growing friendship between Sally and Luke as Moonlight Plains is rebuilt and Kitty’s life in Townsville and Moonlight Plains during the war, starting with an aeroplane crash near the homestead. It’s here that Kitty meets Ed, a handsome American pilot from a wealthy family in Boston. Nothing can come of this relationship across class, can it?
I enjoyed both Kitty and Sally’s stories in Moonlight Plains. Hannay knows just when to switch between narratives so that the reader can get their next fix of Kitty or Sally’s story. I loved how the older Kitty was trying to act as matchmaker for Sally and Luke, not knowing they’d already ‘enjoyed’ each other’s company! Seeing Kitty as a young woman also brought to mind just how short life is and that elderly people were young and mischievous once! I liked how both stories eventually came together – I didn’t see it coming (although I see in other reviews that people did). Perhaps I’m too trusting and gullible, but the sentinel moment at the grand party for Moonlight Plains had my jaw dropping along with the guests who realised what had happened!
Both Sally and Luke were likeable characters. I was worried initially that Sally was going to be too wishy-washy about whether it was right to enter into another relationship, but she’s a strong and practical woman who was able to separate her love for Josh (her husband) and what he would have wanted for her. Luke was definitely handsome and a true gentleman, however, I wish he had talked to Sally a bit more about his feelings towards her (I know, he’s a man, difficult). The part near the end where Luke decided the relationship was over because of what had happened with Kitty was a bit out of character to me, but perhaps he’d been thinking it over too much. All was right in the end, which is what was important.
I loved the descriptions of Moonlight Plains – the house and surrounds sounded beautiful and the reason the fish pond was built was touching. I also enjoyed reading about Townsville during the war – it’s something I’ve not read much about, but Hannay made it all seem perfectly real, as if the scene was laid out in front of me. The sandbags on the Strand, the planes and the soldiers amongst the hive of activity and uncertainty of invasion – the writing was strong and the plot well-paced.
One thing I didn’t know until the end is that this is the third book Barbara Hannay has written about the Fairburn family (Luke’s family). Zoe’s Muster is the story of his half-sister and Home Before Sundown is about Bella Fairburn. I’ll definitely be checking these books out. I do hope Hannay continues the historical fiction elements of her books because they work brilliantly, capturing the essence of a long-ago time in Australian history.
Thank you to Penguin Australia and The Reading Room for the copy of this book.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
In 1942, as the Japanese threaten the coast of North Queensland, nineteen year old Kitty Martin is sent to Moonlight Plains, the home of her widowed great uncle, far west of Townsville. Kitty, frustrated to be thwarted in her desire to assist in the war effort, is only in residence for a few weeks when two US airmen, blown off course, are forced to ditch their planes at the isolated property, and she finds herself facing tragedy… and heartbreak.
Nearly seventy years later, Kitty is glad her grandson is restoring the faded grandeur of the homestead at Moonlight Plains and quietly pleased that her young friend Sally Piper, a journalist, has taken an interest both in the project, and Luke Fairburn. Kitty only hopes that with the restoration of the past, she can keep hidden her own long held secret that could ruin everything.
Kitty’s wartime narrative reveals a bittersweet love story, of risks taken and hearts broken. Kitty’s 70 year old secret is easily guessed but I really liked her storyline which is sweet and poignant and I felt for Kitty confronted with a difficult choice in a difficult time.
The development of Sally and Luke’s contemporary relationship follows a familiar path, their physical attraction eventually leads to deeper feelings though neither are willing to admit it. I could understand Sally’s hesitance, though I thought the specific reason for her feelings of guilt was an odd aside.
I didn’t think Luke’s reaction to his grandmother’s secret was entirely in keeping with his character. A moment of pique I could understand but his hurt feelings, even in light of his relationship with Sally, seemed excessive. Laura’s reaction to the cache of secret letters written by her father to Kitty was more believable given she lacked the context of the relationship and was still grieving both her father’s passing and bitter over her recent marital breakdown.
I often forget that WW2 was also fought on our shores (I’ve complained before about the failure of the Australian curriculum to focus on the conflicts that occurred on our own soil when I was at school) and so I appreciated the brief glimpse from Hannay of its effects on Townsville and its residents. I also found it easy to visualise the restored grandeur of the old Queenslander at Moonlight Plains, nestled within its bush setting.
A winsome novel, Moonlight Plains seamlessly weaves together a lovely story of love lost and gained. This is another delightful rural romance from Barbara Hannay, following on from Zoe’s Muster and Home Before Sundown.
Ellie has done a marvelous job running the station on her own and raising their son. She worries about Joe staying there because she realizes that she still has feelings for him. I liked seeing the way that she made a real effort to change the way she treated him. Those feelings and something she sees in his eyes makes her think about the past and what went wrong. I loved the way she took an honest look at herself and realized that part of the problem was a lack of trust on her part. She had been taking those issues out on Joe without realizing it. Her desire to see if they could start over caused her to open up somewhat to Joe and admit her feelings. She also realized that they had both grown up over the past few years and could be better able to deal with their problems.
Joe had loved Ellie from the beginning and nothing had really changed there. He had left for the army as a way to escape their troubles. His life in special forces enabled him to stay busy enough that he could avoid thinking about her too much. When he arrived at the station to sign the divorce papers he was reminded how much she had meant to him. He also was seeing his son for the first time in more than a year. When he got stranded because of the rain he had to face his feelings. I loved seeing the way he and Jacko bonded so quickly, even though Joe hadn't expected that. Joe also found himself thinking about what it would be like to stay and start fresh with Ellie. His idea of a truce between them was inspired and gave them a chance to get to know each other again. He was also able to explain to her why he had chosen the army and what had driven his actions. I loved seeing them grow closer and overcome their past problems to find a happy future. I liked the last little twists at the end.
I was delighted to return with Hannay to the characters I grew familiar with in Zoe’s Muster. Zoe, the daughter of Peter Fairburn and half sibling to Bella and Luke, is now happily settled with Mac McKinnon. Home Before Sundown features Bella and her Aunt Liz, Peter’s sister, both of whom fled Mullinjim after experiencing heartbreak.
Bella was crushed when Gabe rejected her in the wake of his father’s death and took off to Europe but he was never far from her thoughts and now she has returned she has to face him. Gabe had his reasons for pushing Bella away but now that she is back he doesn’t want to see her leave again. It’s a sweet romance with evident chemistry simmering between the pair. Naturally their reunion is complicated by not only their past but by the cute, French, ski instructor boyfriend Bella left behind and the Bella’s indecision regarding what she truly wants.
Liz’s story arc gives added depth to this novel about family, love and loss. A renowned concert pianist, Liz also fled Mullinjim nursing heartache and a secret she has never shared but that has haunted her for thirty years. Being home forces Liz to confront her past and re-consider her future.
Home Before Sundown is an engaging story of joy, tragedy, romance and heartache set within the dusty landscape of the Australian outback. I am already looking forward to Hannay’s next book which promises to feature Bella and Zoe’s brother, Luke Fairburn.
Milla had left home dreaming of a bigger life to live. After several years of moving around and working in the hotel industry, she met Ed. She was attracted to him but thanks to a past event his intensity scared her off. She ended up meeting and marrying his brother who was an immature cheating womanizer. She left him and returned home to decide what to do next. Finding out about the revitalization efforts was the answer to a prayer and she threw herself into the bakery. When Ed showed up she was upset by his news but had no intention of returning to the US. I loved the way that Milla took charge of her future. Having grown up working in the bakery she knew she could run it. She let Ed know that this was her dream and he had no say in it. She wasn't going to let him talk her out of it. With him staying around for a few days she began to realize that the attraction she had felt for him hadn't gone away. She was also certain there was no future in it so she resisted. I loved her confusion when he kept coming back since she couldn't figure out why. I liked seeing the way that they were able to talk about things and come to understand each other's lives. I loved the way that Milla worried about Ed's decision at the end, the way he had worried about hers at the beginning.
Ed was a really nice guy at heart. He was running the family business when he went to see Milla and try to convince her to come back. He had fallen for her when he first met her but hadn't pursued her when his brother cut in. He especially regretted it when he discovered how bad their marriage was. When he found her in Bellaroo Creek he thought she was crazy for trying to start the bakery back up and tried to convince her to give up. When he couldn't he found himself doing everything he could to help her. I loved seeing the way he constantly found himself thinking about her and how he started to reevaluate his own life. I loved his solution and how everything worked out for them.
Zoe Porter is stunned to learn that a North Queensland cattleman, Peter Fairburn, is her biological father, not the high profile Brisbane politician who raised her. Against her mothers wishes, but agreeing to keep her secret, Zoe abandons her cupcake business and takes a temporary position as the stock camp cook at Mullinjim, the Fairburn’s property, eager to learn more about her father and his family. Zoe expected cooking for half a dozen ringers over an open fire during muster would be challenging but not revealing her true reason for taking the position proves more difficult, especially under the scrutiny of Mac McKinnon.
Zoe’s Muster is well plotted with a credible storyline and I like the way in which Hannay expands this story beyond her main protagonist. This is not just Zoe’s story, her discovery, and her desire to learn more about her biological father, has implications for both the Porters and the Fairburns. Claire’s relationship with her husband is already under strain when Zoe discovers the truth of her paternity and though her instinct is to protect her husband, who is standing for re-election, Claire’s guilt proves to be a catalyst for change.
Virgina, Peter’s wife, is impressed with Zoe and considers her a possible partner for her son, Luke, who makes his interest known. Obviously Zoe’s secret precludes that relationship which creates some tense situations. When Zoe’s identity is revealed Virgina feels betrayed which is magnified by her insecurities stemming from Peter’s past relationship with Claire.
The characters of Zoe’s Muster are credible and Zoe is a likeable protagonist. Her motivations are easily understood and she is a well developed character. I loved the scene in which she gets her own back on Julia in regards to the spider and admire her willingness to awake in the pre dawn hours to feed half a dozen ravenous men.
The romance between Zoe and Mac has its own challenges, aside from the secret Zoe is keeping. Mac is wary of Zoe at first simply because she is a city girl, reminding him of previous heartbreak, but he also suspects she is hiding something. There is for me, the right amount of heat in this novel, smouldering looks and a passionate encounter or two.
While a romance is at its core, Zoe’s Muster combines an engaging story with appealing characters set in a wonderful landscape. I enjoyed reading Zoe’s Muster and consider it another fine example of the growing rural fiction genre being published in Australia.
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The story then expands to include the cast of the local drama group, the aging actress Olivia, and the hot town sparky Liam. There is country town solidarity, a found family and a budding romance. This was a pleasant light read. My main criticism would be that Tilly, after a tiny bit of acting up in her distress, rapidly settled into a paragon of teenage virtue, which seemed rather inconsistent with reality. I am happy to accept an improbable premise, such as being forced to take in an unrelated child, because it is fiction and therefore I suspend my disbelief. However I still like my fictional characters to feel plausible. Nevertheless it was a feel-good easy-read story.