Book: The Road to Karinya

Summary: Prue King is nineteen and lives on Karinya Station, one of seven girls. She and her friend Sally decide to go on the adventure of a live time—a road trip, right around Australia. Neither Prue nor Sally is in any hurry to settle down, unlike some girls their age. They want to see the country and prove their independence. When they meet brothers Dan and Steve on the Sunshine Coast Prue is stunned by her feelings for him, but her plans remain the same. She and Sally are determined to get to Perth where they will live for at least a few months and decide what their futures hold. When the girls leave the brothers behind though, a horrifying experience will change their plans and their lives, perhaps forever. The Road to Karinya also tells the story of Ellie, Prue’s mother. Ellie is a beautiful young woman living in wartime Adelaide when she meets Keith. It’s love at first sight for her, but she’s not sure how Keith feels, even after they marry. Karinya Station is his first love and Ellie will have to leave her family and her life in the city and contend with the loneliness of the outback. Ellie’s story begins in 1941 while Prue’s is set in the 70s. What I Thought: Loved this book. Purchased book 3 straight away!

Book: Marble Bar

Summary: Why is Gareth Ford being shadowed through the outback by a tattoo- faced man in a designer suit and his umbrella-toting mate? Gareth Ford, with a cloud still hanging over him because of his involvement in the Gwardar Gold Heist, has decided to make a new beginning in the iron mines of Newman. But when he returns home from the night shift and finds his flatmate has been murdered, suspicion quickly falls upon him. He, however, fears he himself was the real target and soon discovers he is being tailed. He summons his old ally from the Gold Squad, DC Rose Kavanagh, and soon they find themselves in Marble Bar, searching for the Gwardar Gold and being pursued by a variety of desperadoes, each with their own agendas What I Thought: Not as good as the first in series. Still enjoyed the main character though.

Book: Stony Creek

Summary: Laura Prescott is a city girl. She lives in Melbourne and enjoys the life of a single girl in 1970, with no intention of marrying any time soon, if at all. She has no desire to live the life she sees her mother has, with a house full of children. Things change suddenly after she loses her job and she finds herself faced with very different choices. She finds a new life in the outback, with a new kind of love and a new kind of pain. What I Thought: Loved this one. Already halfway through the next one!

Book: The Shearer's Wife

Summary: 1980: Rose and Ian Kelly arrive in the small South Australian town of Barker for supplies, before driving a further couple of hundred kilometres to begin shearing at Jacksonville Station. Rose, heavily pregnant with their first babies, worries that despite Ian's impending fatherhood he remains a drifter who dreams of the open road. 2020: When the Australian Federal Police swoop unheralded into Barker and make a shocking arrest for possession of narcotics, Detective Dave Burrows is certain there is more to the story than meets the eye. After many months of grief over her brother's illness and death, journalist Zara Ellison is finally ready to begin a new chapter of her life and make a commitment to her boyfriend, Senior Constable Jack Higgins. But when she's assigned to investigate the Barker arrest, Jack begins to believe that Zara is working against him. It takes a series of unconnected incidents in Zara's digging to reveal an almost forgotten thread of mystery as to how these two events, forty years apart, could be connected. What I Thought: Enjoyable. But not amazing.

Book: The Crescendo

Summary: Recruited by the agency less than a year ago, Jaz has had her life turned upside down by a shocking revelation and the death of a friend. Now Ryan, the sexy, dangerous man who recruited and trained her, has gone MIA while out on an undercover mission. And on top of all this, she’s sitting exams and finishing school. With the help of her friends, Jaz is going to have to risk her own life to save Ryan, even if it means walking on the dark side. But can she work alongside the bad guys she’s been trying to take down if it means seeing Ryan again? What I Thought: I enjoyed this series. Nice to have a strong female lead.

Book: November (Conspiracy 365)

Summary: The December 31st deadline is fast approaching, and Cal's enemies are closing in on all sides. Even the notorious "Toe Cutter" Durham has emerged from the underworld to join the hunt. What I Thought: Loving this - one to go!

Book: Second Chance Christmas

Summary: Australian celebrity chef Jack Carter is determined to convince his estranged wife he’s not the smooth-talking workaholic she married six years ago. Olivia has invited him to Canada for Christmas, not for herself but for the sake of their three-year-old daughter Scarlett. Jack willingly agreed, hoping this is the second chance he’s been looking for. Olivia has been hurt too many times by her soon-to-be-ex-husband and she doesn't trust him anymore. But she has to deal with him for Scarlett's sake, because her child deserves to grow up with both parents. But when Jack joins them in Niagara-on-the-Lake for Christmas and asks Olivia to reconsider the divorce, she is shocked. And more than a little worried that a part of her wants to say yes. Jack promises he’ll give up everything for her and Scarlett, but Olivia is not convinced. Can he really turn his back on his high-flying television career in Australia and the lifestyle that comes with it? Will ten days over Christmas be enough time for Jack and Olivia to mend their broken hearts? Or will it take Jack’s career or an unexpected accident to rip them apart again? What I Thought: An enjoyable easy read.