2017 - Books in Review

In 2017 I had an excellent reading year with 57 books read. Probably close to my best ever.


So a quick breakdown:

Non-fiction - 4
Teen - 7
Rural Romance (I can't get enough of this) - 42
General Fiction - 4

 So 2018 is here and I will aim again for 52 books - fingers crossed I get there - just so many other competing demands :)

Book: No Job for a Girl

Summary: Leah Jackson leaves behind everything familiar, taking a job as the resident safety advisor and nurse in a construction fly camp in the remote South Australian outback. Everyone has told her that it's no job for a girl, but this isn't the first time she's had to prove her mettle.
Project supervisor Alex McKinley is happy to be as far away from the city as he can get. Recently divorced, he's reassessing where he went wrong. Alex has nothing against women specifically. He'd just rather they weren't working on his construction site, sharing his office, invading his space.
In the close confines of the desert camp, anything can happen, and Leah soon finds herself the centre of attention - from bothersome bureaucrats to injured workers and hordes of isolated men. But it is one man in particular who pushes her to her limits ... in more ways than one.


What I thought: Ripped through this on holidays in a day.

Book: The House at the Bottom of the Hill

Summary: The mysterious death of her mother has left Charlotte Simmons on edge and off-balance for too long. The only way to move forward is to get answers, and those answers can only be found in one place. So Charlotte buys a Bed & Breakfast establishment in Swallows Falls, a small town in Australias Snowy Mountains, as a ploy to get close to the man who might have the answers. Shell jazz up the old place, flip it, get her answers, and be gone in two-months max. What she doesnt count on is opposition from the dogmatic and slightly eccentric members of the town council, and the hotshot owner of Kookaburras Bar & Grill and his two-hundred-squats-a-day physique whose mouth offers to act as mediator, but his eyes promise something so much more. Easy-going Daniel Bradford knows progress is slow in Swallows Fall. Hes finally about to put his plans into place to upgrade the hotel when a prim-and-proper, citified redhead blows into town, putting everyone on edge. The only way to contain the trouble shes about to cause is to contain her but he knows trouble when he sees it, and soon it becomes very clear that theres absolutely nothing containable about Charlotte, or the way he feels about her.


What I Thought: Enjoying this little series.

Book: Shadows of Hunters Ridge

Summary: Ebony Blakely has her life nearly exactly where she wants it. She's a country vet with a successful business in Hunters Ridge, a town that she loves, and has a close group of friends. The only thing missing is romance. Unfortunately, the man she wants treats her as a good friend, and no matter how much she tries to change that perception, he just won't get it.
Lee Dalton is an ex-cop with a chip on his shoulder about his past. He's determined to make a success of his building business  –  and keep his thoughts away from his best friend's sister, Ebony. But seeing Ebony every day as he works on her surgery renovation makes that almost impossible and soon their hidden feelings begin complicate their friendship.
When it becomes apparent Ebony's life is in danger, she is scared but determined not to run. But following an earlier encounter Lee knows what these monsters are capable of and is forced to use everything he's ever learnt as a policeman to keep her safe.
Because these monsters are serial killers, and they'll stop at nothing to claim their prize.


What I Thought: Got sucked in to this - enjoyed this second in the series and now off to read book 3. Bit far fetched but still enjoyable.

Book: Along Country Roads

Summary: Matilda Denver seeks the sanctuary of sleepy Moonstone Valley where she hopes to heal and make a fresh start. But her plans go awry when the vehicle breaks down and she’s stranded at the side of a deserted country road.
Ryan Hunter, after working himself into the ground at his interstate truck-driving job since his sister’s death, is making his last run before a well-earned month off. On the last stretch home, he happens across a beautiful woman and scraggy dog hitchhiking. It’s not long before he connects Matilda’s bruises to her past and what she’s on the run from. He instinctively wants to protect Matilda and offers her a place to stay at his property, Heartsong.
Although both battling their own demons, they start to discover how much they have in common – and soon they’re also battling the strong desire to fall hard for each other. But when Ryan tries to help by organising for the four-wheel drive to be fixed, he unwittingly gives away Matilda’s location and now her life may be on the line. Can Ryan find her before it’s too late?


What I Thought: Really enjoyed this as a work of fiction but it could've dug deeper to deal more with domestic violence - surface level only really.

Book: Finding Jennifer Jones

Summary: The long-awaited sequel to the critically acclaimed LOOKING FOR JJ. Kate Rickman seems just like any other nineteen-year-old girl. She goes to university, she dates nice, normal boys and she works in her local tourist office at the weekend. But Kate's not really normal at all. 'Kate' is in fact a carefully constructed facade for a girl called Jennifer Jones - and it's a facade that's crumbling fast. Jennifer has spent the last nine years frantically trying to escape from her horrifying past. Increasingly desperate, Jennifer decides to do something drastic. She contacts the only other girl who might understand what she's dealing with, breaking every rule of her parole along the way. Lucy Bussell is the last person Jennifer expects any sympathy from, but she's also the last person she has left.

What I Thought: I was hesitant to read this after the thinking the first book was brilliant but this didn't disappoint. Still had me gripped. A powerful book.

Book: The Greatest Gift

Summary: Radio host Harper Drummond lives for her glamorous career. Every day she meets fascinating people doing extraordinary things, but has begun to wonder whether there’s something more for her out there. She’s financially secure, happily married and loves her job — what more could she want from life? An interview with a childless couple prompts Harper to think about whether she could make a contribution. She and her husband, Samuel, know they don’t want a child in their lives, but could she help someone else become a mother?


The childhood cancer that left Claire Beggs infertile doesn’t matter to her husband, Jasper. He loves her unreservedly, and they are passionate about their thriving hot air balloon business in the Hunter Valley. Despite their contentment, Claire is desperate to have a child — she knows Jasper would be a brilliant father and doesn’t want him to regret choosing her over a family in the years to come. An egg donor seems to be Claire and Jasper’s only chance of a happy family.


Can they find someone who will give them the greatest gift?


What I Thought: Wow - what a book. Brilliantly written. So moving and so so sad. Not sure I agree that this would happen in reality but it is fiction after all! A really fab read.