Book: The Homestead Girls

Summary: Moving to the outback to join the Flying Doctors will change Billie's life forever.

After her teenage daughter Mia falls in with the wrong crowd, Dr Billie Green decides it's time to leave the city and return home to far western NSW. When an opportunity to pursue her childhood dream of joining the Flying Doctor Service comes along, she jumps at the chance. Flight nurse Daphne Prince – who is thrilled to have another woman join the otherwise male crew – and their handsome new boss, Morgan Blake, instantly make her feel welcome.
Just out of town, drought-stricken grazier Soretta Byrnes has been struggling to make ends meet and has opened her homestead to boarders. Tempted by its faded splendour and beautiful outback setting, Billie, Mia and Daphne decide to move in and the four of them are soon joined by eccentric eighty-year-old Lorna Lamerton.
The unlikely housemates are cautious at first, but soon they are offering each other frank advice and staunch support as they tackle medical emergencies, romantic adventures and the challenges of growing up and getting older. But when one of their lives is threatened, the strong friendship they have forged will face the ultimate test . . .

What I Thought: Loved this one. So much good rural romance out there. 

Book: Being Bee

Summary: Since her mother died, it'd been just her, her dad and her guinea pigs, Lulu and Fifi. A perfect, non-nuclear family. Exactly how Bee liked it. Nothing stays the same forever though, and when Jazzi moves in, bringing with her a whole new way of looking at the world and a whole lot of secrets, Bee knows things are going to be completely different from now on.But change can be a scary thing, and when someone reaches out to you, sometimes the hardest thing to do is to take their hand.

What I Thought: A early teen novel. Explored some good issues.

Book: House Rules

Summary: When your son can't look you in the eye...does that mean he's guilty?
Jacob Hunt is a teen with Asperger's syndrome. He's hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, though he is brilliant in many ways. But he has a special focus on one subject - forensic analysis. A police scanner in his room clues him in to crime scenes, and he's always showing up and telling the cops what to do. And he's usually right.
But when Jacob's small hometown is rocked by a terrible murder, law enforcement comes to him. Jacob's behaviors are hallmark Asperger's, but they look a lot like guilt to the local police. Suddenly the Hunt family, who only want to fit in, are directly in the spotlight. For Jacob's mother, Emma, it's a brutal reminder of the intolerance and misunderstanding that always threaten her family. For his brother, Theo, it's another indication why nothing is normal because of Jacob.
And over this small family, the soul-searing question looms: Did Jacob commit murder?

What I Thought: Brilliant - great, great read. A good Picoult one as some of her's can be dodgy. This was excellent though.

Book: Down Outback Roads

Summary: Kree Garrett's younger brother Seth is all the family she has left, so when he goes missing while working in the Australian outback, she races from America to join in the search.

To everyone's relief, Seth is rescued by local volunteers and Kree finds, in an abandoned historic Cobb & Co Coach House, the opportunity to thank the community she's fallen in love with. But it isn't only the town she's fallen for.

Ewan Mackenzie has given up everything for his brother's family, but he can never give enough to assuage his guilt at what happened one dark night, years ago . . . Ewan knows he doesn't deserve happiness, however with Kree he finds it hard to keep his distance.

Can Kree and Ewan leave the tragedies of their pasts behind long enough to find a future together?

What I thought: Loved this one - hooked from page one.