Bookgroup: Wimmera

Summary: In the long, hot summer of 1989, Ben and Fab are best friends. Growing up in a small country town, they spend their days playing cricket, yabbying in local dams, wanting a pair of Nike Air Maxes and not talking about how Fab's dad hits him, or how the sudden death of Ben's next-door neighbour unsettled him. Almost teenagers, they already know some things are better left unsaid.
Then a newcomer arrived in the Wimmera. Fab reckoned he was a secret agent and he and Ben staked him out. Up close, the man's shoulders were wide and the veins in his arms stuck out, blue and green. His hands were enormous, red and knotty. He looked strong. Maybe even stronger than Fab's dad. Neither realised the shadow this man would cast over both their lives. Twenty years later, Fab is still stuck in town, going nowhere but hoping for somewhere better. Then a body is found in the river, and Fab can't ignore the past any more.




What I Thought: Wow. Tough content (had to pause to gain my sanity). Brilliant read.

Book: Riverstone Ridge

Summary: After making a mistake that felt like the end of the world to her teenage self, Nina Jones fled the small town of Huntingvale. Now sixteen years later her beloved adoptive mother, Bea, has passed away, forcing Nina to return and decide whether to sell her family home, Riverstone Ridge. But even though Bea can't be there to help her through it all, she's left Nina five letters, one sent a week, to finally share the secrets she'd been unable to reveal in life.
For Logan Steele, Nina's return is the catalyst he's needed to finally move beyond his tragic past and start living again. But only if she stays. When mysterious and increasingly worrisome accidents start happening around the homestead, both Logan's cop instincts and his protective feelings toward Nina spur him to investigate. Will he be able to piece together the puzzle of the past in time?
And with dark family secrets emerging from Bea's last words rippling into the present day, how will Nina find the courage to be truthful to the one man who has always held her heart?


What I Thought: A enjoyable read with some surprises thrown in.

Book: Class A (CHERUB)

Summary: When CHERUB kids go undercover, no one suspects that they are trained professionals, working to infiltrate criminal organisations that have eluded MI5 and the police for years.

James Adams is on his biggest mission yet, working to nail Europe's most powerful cocaine dealer. He'll need all his specialist training if he's going to bring down the man at the top.

The reason for CHERUB's existence is simple: adults never suspect that children are spying on them.

For official purposes, these children do not exist.


What I Thought: Enjoyed this one - lots of action. Rather graphic considering the ages of the kids too. A bit advanced! Looking forward to the next in the series.

Book: Dark Lake

Summary: The lead homicide investigator in a rural town, Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock is deeply unnerved when a high school classmate is found strangled, her body floating in a lake. And not just any classmate, but Rosalind Ryan, whose beauty and inscrutability exerted a magnetic pull on Smithson High School, first during Rosalind's student years and then again when she returned to teach drama.

As much as Rosalind's life was a mystery to Gemma when they were students together, her death presents even more of a puzzle. What made Rosalind quit her teaching job in Sydney and return to her hometown? Why did she live in a small, run-down apartment when her father was one of the town's richest men? And despite her many admirers, did anyone in the town truly know her?




What I Thought: Another great rural crime read. Loving these at the minute. Bring on book 2.

Book: Ali Cross

Summary: Ali Cross has always looked up to his father, former detective and FBI agent Alex Cross. While solving some of the nation's most challenging crimes, his father always kept his head and did the right thing. Can Ali have the same strength and resolve?
When Ali's best friend Abraham is reported missing, Ali is desperate to find him. At the same time, a string of burglaries targets his neighborhood---and even his own house. With his father on trial for a crime he didn't commit, it's up to Ali to search for clues and find his friend. But being a kid sleuth isn't easy---especially when your father warns you not to get involved!---and Ali soon learns that clues aren't always what they seem. Will his detective work lead to a break in Abraham's case or cause even more trouble for the Cross family?


What I Thought: Enjoyable but rather simplistic. Maybe it was setting the scene for the next one in  the series.

Book: Murder on the Orient Express

Summary: Just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks.

The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of the year, but by the morning it is one passenger fewer.

An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Isolated and with a killer in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot must identify the murderer - in case he or she decides to strike again.


What I Thought: A great mystery. Haven't read one of these in years! Also get to scratch it off my book poster!

Book: The Siege

Summary:  Tough enough? Smart enough? Max will require all his skills just to stay alive as a Special Forces Cadet...
A top-secret government programme needs a crack team of undercover military operators. They must have awesome levels of determination, endurance and fitness. They must be able to think on their feet.
The recruits undergo the most rigorous and testing selection process the modern military can devise. And in order to operate in circumstances where adult forces would be compromised, the recruits must be under sixteen.
Only a few are tough enough and smart enough to make it . . . And once out in the field, they will require all their skills just to stay alive. Which is what happens when Max Silver, Abby Asher, Lukas Channing and Sami Hakim are sent into an armed siege in an inner-city school . . .


What I thought: Another great teen series. Loving this secret spy stuff!

Book: Scrublands

Summary: In an isolated country town brought to its knees by endless drought, a charismatic and dedicated young priest calmly opens fire on his congregation, killing five parishioners before being shot dead himself.

A year later, troubled journalist Martin Scarsden arrives in Riversend to write a feature on the anniversary of the tragedy. But the stories he hears from the locals about the priest and incidents leading up to the shooting don't fit with the accepted version of events his own newspaper reported in an award-winning investigation. Martin can't ignore his doubts, nor the urgings of some locals to unearth the real reason behind the priest's deadly rampage.

Just as Martin believes he is making headway, a shocking new development rocks the town. The bodies of two backpackers - missing since the time of the church shootings - are found in a dam in the scrublands. It's the biggest story in Australia. The media descends on Riversend and Martin finds himself caught in the spotlight. His reasons for investigating the shooting have suddenly become very personal.

Wrestling with his own demons, Martin finds himself risking everything to discover a truth that becomes darker and more complex with every twist. But there are powerful forces determined to stop him, and he has no idea how far they will go to make sure the town's secrets stay buried.


What I Thought: Brilliant! Loving rural crime at the minute.

Book: The Recruit

Summary:  Jasmine Thomas may not be completely normal, but she's a pretty typical seventeen–year–old girl. She hates the rich mean kids, loves her best friends, and can't wait to get out of school each day. Her spare time is spent at The Ring – a boxing gym where she practically grew up – learning karate, boxing and street fighting. So, yeah, Jaz can kick some major butt. Life seems pretty normal until the day Ryan Fletcher enters her gym…mysterious and hot with heaps of bad boy charm. Sure, she checks him out. Who wouldn't? But what doesn't show on his gorgeous abs are secrets and lies that dominate his very grown–up world. Now Jaz has to figure out just how far she is willing to go to know more. Could Ryan really be offering the life–fulfilling life path she's always dreamed of?


What I Thought: Enjoyed this teen novel. Nice to have a female lead. Off to read the next in the series.

Book: The Woman in the Green Dress

Summary:


1853 Mogo Creek, NSW
Della Atterton, bereft at the loss of her parents, is holed up in the place she loves best: the beautiful Hawkesbury in New South Wales. Happiest following the trade her father taught her, taxidermy, Della has no wish to return to Sydney. But the unexpected arrival of Captain Stefan von Richter on a quest to retrieve what could be Australia's first opal, precipitates Della's return to Sydney and her Curio Shop of Wonders, where she discovers her enigmatic aunt, Cordelia, is selling more than curiosities to collectors. Strange things are afoot and Della, a fly in a spider's web, is caught up in events with unimaginable consequences…


1919 Sydney, NSW
When London teashop waitress Fleur Richards inherits land and wealth in Australia from her husband, Hugh, killed in the war, she wants nothing to do with it. After all, accepting it will mean Hugh really is dead. But Hugh's lawyer is insistent, and so she finds herself ensconced in the Berkeley Hotel on Bent St, Sydney, the reluctant owner of a Hawkesbury property and an old curio shop, now desolate and boarded up. 
As the real story of her inheritance unravels, Fleur finds herself in the company of a damaged returned soldier Kip, holding a thread that takes her deep into the past, a thread that could unravel a mystery surrounding an opal and a woman in a green dress; a green that is the colour of envy, the colour buried deep within an opal, the colour of poison…


What I Thought: First time reader of Tea Cooper. A bit slow to get going for me but otherwise I quite enjoyed this one.

Book: A Distant Journey

Summary: In 1962 Cindy drops out of college to impulsively marry an Australian grazier, moving from the glamorous world of Palm Springs, California, to an isolated sheep station on the sweeping plains of the Riverina in New South Wales.

Cindy's new life at Kingsley Downs station is not what she'd imagined as she is flung into a strange and challenging world. Natural disasters and the caprices of the wool industry shape her destiny and though she tries hard to fit in, she finds she is always the outsider.

Adjusting to her new life, Cindy discovers that her new family comes with secrets and a mystery that haunts them all. When Cindy uncovers the shocking truth, the consequences lead to tragedy and Cindy must fight to save her family.


What I Thought: This was ok. A bit disjointed for me and not her best piece of work.

Book: Peace

Summary: Constable Paul Hirschhausen runs a one-cop station in the dry farming country south of the Flinders Ranges. He's still new in town but the community work-welfare checks and working bees-is starting to pay off.
Now Christmas is here and, apart from a grass fire, two boys stealing a ute and Brenda Flann entering the front bar of the pub without exiting her car, Hirsch's life has been peaceful.
Until he's called to a strange, vicious incident in Kitchener Street. And Sydney police ask him to look in on a family living outside town on a forgotten back road. Suddenly, it doesn't look like a season of goodwill at all.


What I Thought: Brilliant - loved it.

Book: Up on Horseshoe Hill

Summary: Jemima Kincaid loves her home, her horses and her job as a farrier. Life has not been kind to her, but Jemima is happy in the close-knit rural community of Horseshoe Hill, which rallied around in her hour of need. Even so, she is fiercely independent and will never rely on anyone again. Particularly a man like Finn Blackwood.


An infuriatingly attractive geneticist and wild animal vet, Finn threatens not only the serenity of Jemima's present, but that of the future she has so carefully mapped out. But as their paths continue to cross, she finds her attraction to Finn impossible to counter, even as the trauma of her past threatens to undo her. Finn is fascinated by Jemima's solitary nature and unique vulnerabilities but Jemima knows all about loss and how to avoid it. Don't let anyone get close in the first place ...




What I Thought: Enjoyable - a bit disjointed at times but I'll give the author another go.

Book: Who's Minding the Farm

Summary:  In an era of rapid climate change, this vital account of how agriculture can address major issues is an Australian story with global ramifications. Patrice is at the frontline of enormous challenges, from water scarcity and land stewardship to food security and the rural-urban divide. The devastation of drought and the crises created by industrial-scale chemically-dependent primary production are discussed and alternatives proposed – along with bold ideas for new sources of energy.


What I Thought: OK. A bit too preachy, a bit too rambling but also some great stuff in there.

Book: The Lost Man

Summary: Two brothers meet at the border of their vast cattle properties under the unrelenting sun of outback Queensland. They are at the stockman’s grave, a landmark so old, no one can remember who is buried there. But today, the scant shadow it casts was the last hope for their middle brother, Cameron. The Bright family’s quiet existence is thrown into grief and anguish. Something had been troubling Cameron. Did he lose hope and walk to his death? Because if he didn’t, the isolation of the outback leaves few suspects…


What I Thought: Another great read which had me guessing (wrongly). Looking forward to her next book.

Book: Charlotte Pass

Summary: When ski patroller Vanessa Bell discovers human bones high on Mount Stillwell at Charlotte Pass ski resort, Detective Sergeant Pierce Ryder of the Sydney Homicide Squad is called in to lead the investigative team.
Arriving in the isolated, snowed-in village with Winterfest celebrations underway, Ryder soon determines that the bones are those of Celia Delaney, a young woman who disappeared from the ski resort in 1964 during the biggest winter storm in Australian alpine history.
When a second murder takes place, Ryder suspects that the deaths are related, and that the person responsible is still in the village. Amid the escalating tension, Ryder is desperate to make an arrest before the stakes rise even higher.




What I Thought: Brilliant - so loved this. New author! Looking forward to the next in the series at some point.

Book: Wilder Country

Summary: Finn, Kas and Willow have survived the winter of storms. Severe winds and cold have kept the Wilders at bay. Now that spring has come, everything has changed. They're being hunted again, and they won't be safe while Ramage wants their blood.  But Finn and Kas made a promise to Rose - to find her baby and bring her back. And finding Hope means finding Ramage.


What I Thought: Great read - bring on book 3.

Bookgroup: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Summary: Meet Eleanor Oliphant: she struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding unnecessary human contact, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.

But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen, the three rescue one another from the lives of isolation that they had been living.


What I Thought: Absolutely brilliant - listened to the audiobook version and it was just wonderful. Really enjoyed this book.

Book: The Road to Winter

Summary: Since a deadly virus and the violence that followed killed his parents and wiped out most of his community, Finn has lived alone on the rugged coast with only his loyal dog Rowdy for company.

He has stayed alive for two winters - hunting and fishing and trading food, and keeping out of sight of the Wilders, an armed and dangerous gang that controls the north, led by a ruthless man named Ramage. But Finn's isolation is shattered when a girl runs onto the beach. Rose is a Siley - an asylum seeker - and she has escaped from Ramage, who had enslaved her and her younger sister, Kas.

Rose is desperate, sick, and needs Finn's help. Kas is still missing somewhere out in the bush. And Ramage wants the girls back - at any cost.


What I Thought: Great read - along the same vein of John Marsden's Tomorrow series. Looking forward to book 2.

Book: The Cedar Tree

Summary: Grace Campbell agrees to do just that, buoyed by the belief that isolation and rural peace will repair her marriage and provide a good life for her growing family.

But, as the ramshackle old homestead, shaded by an ancient Cedar Tree, unravels it’s secrets, Grace is swept up in the harsh beauty of the outback and it’s colourful characters. As if adjusting to a new and isolated lifestyle isn’t enough, the handsome new owner of Tullagulla shows up and Grace is thrown into turmoil.

Torn between the gentle stranger and her hot-headed husband, Grace is forced to confront her feelings and question her loyalties, while her love for Tullagulla further challenges her ability to make a life changing decision.

When tragedy strikes, will a century old ghost help her or destroy her?


What I Thought: A new author! Loved this and looking forward to book 2.

Book: The Recruit (CHERUB)

Summary: A terrorist doesn't let strangers in her flat because they might be undercover police or intelligence agents, but her children bring their mates home and they run all over the place. The terrorist doesn't know that one of these kids has bugged every room in her house, made copies of all her computer files and stolen her address book. The kid works for CHERUB.

CHERUB agents are aged between ten and seventeen. They live in the real world, slipping under adult radar and getting information that sends criminals and terrorists to jail.

For official purposes, these children do not exist.

What I Thought: Oh a new teen spy series. Can't get enough of these. This was good. Think I need to read more to get into it though.

Book: Force of Nature

Summary: Five women reluctantly pick up their backpacks and start walking along the muddy track. Only four come out the other side.
The hike through the rugged Giralang Ranges is meant to take the office colleagues out of their air-conditioned comfort zone and teach resilience and team building. At least that is what the corporate retreat website advertises.
Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk has a particularly keen interest in the whereabouts of the missing bushwalker. Alice Russell is the whistleblower in his latest case - and Alice knew secrets. About the company she worked for and the people she worked with.
Far from the hike encouraging teamwork, the women tell Falk a tale of suspicion, violence and disintegrating trust. And as he delves into the disappearance, it seems some dangers may run far deeper than anyone knew.


What I Thought: Great read - loved the storyline and it certainly kept me guessing!

Bookgroup: When Breath Becomes Air

Summary: At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.




What I Thought: It was ok. Some amazing parts and some not so amazing parts. Feels horrible to say that as the poor man has passed away but it just lacked something for me... Tragic though.

Book: Starting from Now

Summary: When twenty-five year old journalist, Zara Ellison receives her mother’s ominous text message, ‘Call me when you can’, Zara knows it’s not good news. Her brother is seriously unwell on their family farm 400 kilometres away and Lynda Ellison needs Zara’s help at home.
Two weeks later, Zara has left her much-loved city life and is unpacking boxes in her new, rather empty house in Barker. She’d been right in the thick of reporting on an explosive court case in Melbourne. Animal welfare activists had stormed a farm determined to do damage, but it had all gone wrong and one man had lost his life. The case threatened to divide city and country. And there’d been one mysterious man present who, over the five days of the trial, had come to Zara’s curious notice. He seemed to have no reason to be there, no one knew him, nor could she find out anything about him.
With her job on the Farming Telegraph, and an introduction to Detective Dave Burrows, his friendly wife Kim and Dave’s second-in-charge, Senior Constable Jack Higgins, Zara’s stint in the country isn’t as quiet as she’d feared. If only there was a miracle cure for her brother.
After more terrible farming accidents and reports of unidentified drones flying over farmlands, Zara is shocked by a chance sighting of that mystery man from the courtroom and by witnessing Jack Higgins in a role she’d never have believed. What is the significance of the mystery man and what is Jack playing at?




What I Thought: Really enjoyed this one.

Book: The Debt - Take a Life

Summary: Dom's almost there. It's the sixth instalment and the end is in sight, but he's about to face the biggest hurdle. The Debt wants proof. Proof that Dom has the mettle to become one of them. Proof he can kill. Dom is desperate to be rid of this debt but at what cost? Could he put a friend out of their misery? Or defend himself to the bitter end? And if he does flush out who is behind this monstrous organisation, is he ready for the truth? This time it is not just a life at stake, it's humanity. Dom's humanity. And if Dom crosses the line, is there any coming back?


What I Thought: What a fantastic series. Really enjoyed it. I would've loved an epilogue though as now I'm guessing what happened.

Book: The Dry

Summary: After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives in his hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Twenty years ago when Falk was accused of murder, Luke was his alibi. Falk and his father fled under a cloud of suspicion, saved from prosecution only because of Luke's steadfast claim that the boys had been together at the time of the crime. But now more than one person knows they didn't tell the truth back then, and Luke is dead.
Amid the worst drought in a century, Falk and the local detective question what really happened to Luke. As Falk reluctantly investigates to see if there's more to Luke's death than there seems to be, long-buried mysteries resurface, as do the lies that have haunted them. And Falk will find that small towns have always hidden big secrets.


What I Thought: Brilliant - just loved it! Didn't pick it! Ha ha

Book: Return to Stringybark Creek

Summary: When Hadley Callahan returns to Stringybark Creek without her husband, Mitch Samuals, she plans to tell her parents one major piece of news while determinedly hiding another even more explosive secret.

For Oliver Dawson, the Callahans' neighbour, Hadley's celebrity wedding two years ago had killed any hopes he'd nurtured that one day they might end up together.

With Mitch putting pressure on Hadley and the secret she's keeping causing her great anguish, Hadley's developing feelings for Ollie take her by surprise. But with her life thrown into so much chaos at the moment, what future could they possibly have together?




What I Thought: Great (but sad) topic to explore. Really enjoyed this conclusion.

Book: The Debt - Yamashita's Gold

Summary: After Rome, Dom has quit running. He's still training, though. Swimming lap after lap of the pool. And waiting.

Until Dom receives another threatening message. In Latin. He doesn't know who is after him now, but he hopes it's The Debt. He's pieced together the puzzle of the previous instalments, and he knows that the fifth one must be the search for Yamashita's Gold - the legendary treasure looted during the Second World War that might have ended up in the waters of Diablo Bay.

But for months he's heard nothing from The Debt. Just silence and more silence from this shadowy organisation. Could this message be it?

But if Dom goes out searching, he won't be the only one looking for gold. And The Debt won't be the only organisation looking for Dom. It might be desperate times, desperate measures, but there's only one person looking out for Dom Silvagni - himself.

What I Thought: Loved it. Bring on the final book!

Book: Matters of the Heart

Summary: Western Australia, 2019: The Bennets are a farming family struggling to make ends meet. Lizzy, passionate about working the land, is determined to save the farm. Spirited and independent, she has little patience for her mother's focus on finding a suitable man for each of her five daughters.
When the dashing Charles Bingley, looking to expand his farm holdings, buys the neighbouring property of Netherfield Park, Mrs Bennet and the entire district of Coodardy are atwitter with gossip and speculation. Will he attend the local dance and is he single? These questions are soon answered when he and Lizzy's sister Jane form an instant connection on the night. But it is Charlie's best friend, farming magnate Will Darcy, who leaves a lasting impression when he slights Lizzy, setting her against him.
Can Lizzy and Will put judgements and pride aside to each see the other for who they really are? Or in an age where appearance and social media rule, will prejudice prevail?




What I Thought: Enjoyable and a nice attempt at Pride and Prejudice but I much prefer her normal rural romances.

Book: The Debt - Fetch the Treasure Hunter

Summary: So must thou bear witness also at Rome...Dom should not be going to Rome with the rest of the track team. He wasn't good enough. He knows it. Coach knows it. Rashid, who should be going but isn't, knows it. But it seems The Debt has other plans. So it's not long before Dom finds himself in Italy receiving the fourth instalment. He is to find E Lee Marx, the world's greatest treasure hunter who has gone into recluse following the tragic death of his nephew in a diving accident, and bring him back to the Gold Coast. It will require manipulation and deception, but Dom is fast becoming a master at both. So much so that when he's in Italy, Dom decides to do a little digging of his own. He travels to Calabria, to the very place where The Debt originated. But the more Dom finds out about The Debt, the less he seems to know. Only one thing is sure - whatever they want, they get.

What I Thought: Loved it. A ripper series - two to go! 

Book: The Debt - Bring Back Cerberus

Summary: Dom should be concentrating on training for his big race and a possible spot on the Australian team to compete at the World Youth Games. But the powerful, shadowy organisation, The Debt, has other ideas. And as Dom knows: you don't mess with The Debt.

The Debt has handed down the next task to repay Dom's ancient family debt, and it's seemingly impossible! Procure a Cerberus. Rumoured to be still in development, Cerberus is an innovative piece of next-generation technology, only whispered about in the furthest reaches of cyberspace. Drawn into the shady world of black-hat hacking and industrial espionage, Dom will need every skill he's learnt, and acquire some more, to complete this instalment. How do you steal something that doesn't exist? This time will he fail and lose a pound of flesh?




What I Thought: Loved it - a great read. great little series. Hope my boys enjoy reading when they are older as there is so much good stuff out there!

2019 - Books in Review

In 2019 I had an excellent reading year with 74 books read. Would have to be my best ever.


So a quick breakdown:

Non-fiction - 4 (all about rural stuff)
Teen - 13 (finished Alex Rider and Agent 21 both awesome teen series. And started The Debt - also great)
Rural Romance - 49 (it's all I read)
General Fiction - 8 (a few Grishams/Picoults/Baldaccis and bookclub books)

I did manage a few Bookclub books - but not many...

Incredibly I listened to 42 audiobooks - generally while driving or re-finding my love of jigsaw puzzles.

For Christmas I got a scratchable book poster - 100 to read before you die. Hopefully I can manage 3 in 2020...

So 2020 is here and I will aim again for 52 books - fingers crossed I get there - just so many other competing demands :)

Book: House at the End of the Street

Summary: Gemma Munroe loves hard, laughs hard and plays hard. Or at least she did before today. Her dream is finally within her grasp – owning the toy shop in Swallow’s Fall and establishing herself permanently. Only one person has the power to get in her way: Josh Rutherford – the love of her life who kissed her and left her ten years ago is coming home.

Josh will be in town for five days. Only five days. He’ll finally sever the ties to a youth filled with poverty by selling the properties that are now his. He’s returning healthy, wealthy and emotionally stable, and then he’ll leave forever. It’s all in the plan. Everything…except for Gem. He never forgot her, but he definitely forgot the effect she has on him. Now she’s got problems, and he can’t seem to leave without trying to help her solve them.

The town itself also has its own plans: Gemma and Josh are thrown together in Speed-Date fiascos, kissing experiments, bar fights and an issue with the North Star – Josh’s compass and the road to his next adventure. Seven weeks later Josh is still in town. Gem has to get through her best friends’ wedding and Josh has to get over Gem. Because he’s not staying. Is he?


What I Thought: A nice enjoyable read. One to go in the series.

Book: Undara

Summary: Within the treacherous caves of Undara, a betrayal will test the bonds of friendship and family. A page-turning new eco-adventure for readers who love Di Morrissey.When entomologist Emlyn Rees arrives at Hidden Valley she wants nothing more than to escape her marriage breakdown by burying herself in the research team's hunt for new species of insects in the depths of the dramatic Undara lava tubes. However, little does she suspect she will be the key to solving a mystery that's more than one hundred years old.​

Travis Carlyle is initially resistant to letting some city folks tramp over his cattle station, but soon the researchers' findings and a growing friendship with Emlyn bring opportunities to turn around his struggling farm. With a broken marriage behind him and children to care for, Travis needs to plan for the future and this could be his family's best chance.
But when things start going wrong for the farm and around the dig site, Emlyn and Travis are at a loss as to understand why. Are they cursed with bad luck, or is there a more sinister force at play? Are the tall tales of enigmatic stockman Bluey turning true? As the unseen saboteur grows bolder, Emlyn and Travis are caught in a race against time to save the station ... and their lives.


What I Thought: Brilliant - sucked in. Great read and some amazing history learnt too. Definitely on my "to visit" list!

Book: Agent 21 - Endgame (Agent 22)

Summary: For some time now, Zack Darke has been operating solo, in total secrecy, for a shadowy government organisation. When his handlers are abducted by somebody with a serious personal vendetta against him, Zak has no choice but to go after them. And heading across the world to find them - into danger like he's never known - is something that, this time, he cannot do alone . . .

What I Thought: Loved it. Shame the series ended as I would love it to keep going.

Book: Stone Country

Summary: South Australia, 1919. Ross Grant has always felt like the black sheep of his wealthy Scottish family. An explorer by nature, he dreams of life on Waybell, their remote cattle station in Australia’s last remaining wilderness, the Northern Territory. But when his brother Alastair is branded a deserter after going missing during the Great War, to help restore the Grants’ damaged reputation, Ross is coerced into marrying Darcey Thomas, a woman he has never met.

Disgusted by his manipulative family, he turns his back on his unwanted wife just hours after the ceremony, and heads to Waybell with no plans to return. He carries with him the hope of carving his own empire in the far north.

But Ross has not counted on Darcey’s determination to be his wife in more than just name. Nor did he anticipate meeting Maria, a young woman who will change his life. And he certainly wasn’t prepared for how this beautiful yet savage land will both captivate and destroy his soul . . .

From nineteenth-century Adelaide and the red dirt of mid-north South Australia, to the cattle stations and buffalo plains of the far north, Ross’s journey is one of desire, adventure and determination, to the heart of stone country and beyond.

What I Thought: This sucked me in - I really enjoyed it.

Book: Agent 21 - Under Cover (Agent 22)

Summary: Zak Darke is sent on what seems like a straightforward surveillance op in South Africa but it soon turns into the toughest, most dangerous mission he has ever faced. An old enemy has teamed up with a terrifying gang of child soldiers and Zak is caught in the middle. Having travelled to the heart of the African jungle, will he make it out alive . . . ?


What I Thought: Loved it - a new Agent is introduced and I was totally sucked in!

Book: Agent 21 - Deadfall

Summary: Zak Darke is sent on what seems like a straightforward surveillance op in South Africa but it soon turns into the toughest, most dangerous mission he has ever faced. An old enemy has teamed up with a terrifying gang of child soldiers and Zak is caught in the middle. Having travelled to the heart of the African jungle, will he make it out alive . . . ?


What I Thought: Sucked in - another great read.

Book: Central to Nowhere

Summary: When Ivy steps over the cattle grid, reality hits. Capricorn Station is vast, desolate and Central to Nowhere. But Ivy has come too far to back out now. She’s left her past behind her and is desperate to make this work.

Stockman Adam O’Rourke is equally determined she’s going home ASAP. This girl is not the jillaroo he was expecting to help on his station over the summer. She can’t even handle a horse.

It isn’t long before Ivy realises there’s more between her and Adam than the job. But Ivy has only one summer on Capricorn Station. One season that’s passing way too fast.

And when Adam’s past blows in unexpectedly, Ivy realises too late that falling for him is bringing back everything she is running from.


What I Thought: A nice easy read. New author - will try again. Didn't hook me in like others.

Book: Love Song

Summary: At age seventeen, Beth Paterson was determined to study medicine at university, despite the heartache of losing her mother. Tutoring Charlie Campbell worked well with her plan – but falling in love with him sure didn’t, and neither did getting her heart broken when he abruptly left town.
Now Charlie is a big star on the alternative rock scene, while Beth is a respected doctor in her hometown. When Charlie comes back to fight for the tiny community where he was raised, neither one of them can ignore the wild attraction they once shared.
Beth swore no man would ever hurt her again – least of all this man. But some love songs can never be forgotten, especially when they were written for you…




What I Thought: Enjoyed the ending of this trilogy.

Book: The Land Girls

Summary: Melbourne,1942. War has engulfed Europe and now the Pacific, and Australia is fighting for its future. For spinster Flora Atkins, however, nothing much has changed. Tending her dull office job and beloved brother and father, as well as knitting socks for the troops, leaves her relatively content. Then one day a stranger gives her brother a white feather and Flora's anger propels her out of her safe life and into the vineyards of the idyllic Mildura countryside, a member of the Australian Women's Land Army.
There she meets Betty, a 17-year-old former shopgirl keen to do her bit for the war effort and support her beloved, and the unlikely Lilian, a well-to-do Adelaide girl fleeing her overbearing family and theworld's expectations for her. As the Land Girls embrace their new world of close-knit community and backbreaking work, they begin to find pride in their roles. More than that, they start to find a kind of liberation. For Flora, new friendships and the singular joy derived from working the land offer new meaning to her life, and even the possibility of love.
But as the clouds of war darken the horizon, and their fears for loved ones - brothers, husbands, lovers - fighting at the front grow, the Land Girls' hold on their world and their new-found freedoms is fragile. Even if they make it through unscathed, they will not come through unchanged...


What I Thought: Absolutely LOVED this book. A beautiful story and I feel like I've learnt so much about our history.

Book: Agent 21 - Codebreaker

Summary: An unknown bomber is conducting a terror campaign in London. After an explosion on the tube leaves someone dead, Zak and his team are brought in to try and work out how this terror cell operates - but clues are scarce and they have no idea where, or when, the bomber will strike next. A teenage boy, currently detained in a young offender's institute, claims he has the answer - but before Zak can question him, the boy is shot and falls into a coma. Will Zak be able to break the cipher before the bomber strikes again?


What I Thought: Loved it. Hooked straight away and stayed up late to finish!

Book: Wish you Well

Summary: Tragedy strikes the New York-based Cardinal family when their car is involved in a terrible accident. Twelve-year-old Lou and seven-year-old Oz survive, but the crash leaves their father dead and their mother in a coma. It would seem their world has been shattered forever until their great-grandmother, Louisa Mae, agrees to raise the children on her Virginia mountain farm.

But before long their rural idyll is threatened by the discovery of natural gas on the mountain. Determined to protect her home from the ravages of big business, Louisa Mae refuses to sell, but when the neighbours hear of the potential wealth the company could bring, they begin to turn against her. And now the Cardinal family find themselves ensnared in another battle, to be played out in a crowded Virginia courtroom: a battle for justice, for survival, and for the right to stay together in the only place they know as home.


What I Thought: So different to what I was expecting but still a rather beautiful book about love and loss.

Book: Agent 21 - Reloaded

Summary: In the year since Zak Darke was approached by a shadowy government agency to become Agent 21, his world has changed completely. But there is no time to reflect on this - the undercover operations go on.
Zak is sent to a port in west Africa, a known terrorist stronghold, under the guise of working ona charity volunteer project. But charity work could not be further from Zak's real mission - he must sneak onboard an enemy ship, gather information - and then destroy it.
Never has Zak's training been more useful: Trust nobody.


What I Thought: Loving this series. Off to hunt down book 3!

Book: The Debt - Turn off the Lights

Summary: With Tristan in hospital and Imogen increasingly suspicious of Dom's behaviour, Dom has had it with The Debt. But this mysterious organisation hasn't finished with Dom. No matter how hard he runs, The Debt is not far behind.

Then he gets the next instalment, and it's even harder than the first. Dom must turn off all of the Gold Coast's lights during Earth Hour. But Dom is learning quickly. He has the ClamTop and a few tricks of his own, and starts plotting how to get into Diabolo Bay Power Station.

Dom's not been tested in this way before, but his brush with The Debt has given this task an urgency he's not faced before. And he's starting to realise that this organisation means business. He's not just racing against time, he's racing for his life.


What I Thought: Loved it! Bring on book 3!

Book: The Debt - Catch the Zolt

Summary: It's a beautiful day in paradise. The sun is shining. The birds are chirping. And Dom Silvagni, eldest brother, indifferent student and elite middle distance runner, is turning fifteen. But instead of cake and candles, Dom receives the most unlikely gift. An ancient family debt from an organisation so secretive and powerful, they are only known as The Debt. And The Debt have made it clear - Dom must perform six Herculean tasks or lose a pound of flesh. The Debt has ways of making Dom believe and before long he has his first instalment. He must catch The Zolt - the 17-year-old Facebook Bandit who has stolen light planes, boats and cars from 'deserving' homes on nearby Reverie Island. But getting close to the Zolt means persuading his neighbour, the smug self-obsessed Tristan, to invite him to his sumptuous holiday home. And it seems Tristan has an angle too - and it involves Imogen, the only girl close to Dom's heart. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Dom has to honour his family. But the more he discovers about his father, the less he seems to know. Meanwhile The Debt wants its payment...now!


What I Thought: A new teen series to sink my teeth into. I've wanted to read this for a while and wasn't disappointed.

Book: Holly's Heart

Summary: Doctor Ben Brieley is keen to settle into life as a small town general practitioner and help his grandmother run Brieley Park. The city life was never for him. He’s finally found the peace he’s longed for, until the arrival of that one woman he’s never been able to forget, threatens to shatter it all. No way is he revisiting that road of unrequited love...except Holly Peterson seems fragile and in need of saving, and Ben’s never stopped being Holly’s white knight.

After losing her sister and her faith in the world of medicine, Holly Peterson moves home to Wirralong along with her two nephews. Determined to rebuild her life and create a loving home and sense of belonging, she opens the Outback Brides Coffee Shop as her new vocation. When she learns that Ben Brieley, the man she said no to years ago is home to stay, Holly fears she’ll lose her heart and her focus on her nephews if she lets him in.

Will Ben be able to break through Holly’s fears and barriers or will history repeat itself and destroy him once again?

What I Thought: Enjoyed this one to finish off the series. 

Book: The Desert Midwife

Summary: When outback midwife Ava May meets Zac on a flight to Alice Springs, they tumble into a whirlwind affair. But an exciting adventure leads to a terrible accident, with shattering consequences. The couple who had so much going for them now find themselves with everything to lose.

Devastated, Ava retreats to her family cattle station to help salvage what she can of the critical situation. But at home on the drought-ridden farm, her brother is being pushed to his limits, and as his depression intensifies, Ava must step in to prevent another family tragedy.

Against the majestic backdrop of Australia’s Red Centre, old dreams are shattered, new babies are born and true love takes flight.




What I Thought: Really enjoyed this one - hoping to head to the Red Centre next year - just such vivid descriptions and love for the land in this book.

Book: Agent 21

Summary: When Zak Darke’s parents die in an unexplained mass murder he’s left alone in the world. That is until he’s sought out by a mysterious man: “I work for a government agency,” the man tells him. “You don’t need to know which one. Not yet. All you need to know is that we’ve had our eye on you. There’s a possibility you could help us in certain… operational situations.” Zak becomes Agent 21. What happened to the 20 agents before him he’ll never know. What he does know is that his life is about to change forever.


What I Thought: Loved it! Was looking for a new series similar to Alex Rider and this was on the money. Ordered the rest of them now.

Book: Return to Roseglen

Summary: On her remote North Queensland cattle station, Ivy Dunmore is facing the end of her days. Increasingly frail, all she holds dear is threatened not just by crippling drought, but by jealousy and greed – and that’s from within her own family.
Can Felicity, who's battling her own crisis as her fiftieth birthday approaches, protect her mother and reunite her family under the homestead's faded iron roof? Or will sibling rivalries erupt and long-held secrets from the past break a family in crisis?


What I Thought: Loved this one - very different to her other ones. Great storyline.

Book: Home at Last

Summary: Flying solo for the first time had been the greatest high of Anna Kelly's life. So when the chance of a dream job as a pilot with the Royal Flying Doctor Service comes up she takes it, even though she has to leave her home in Adelaide and move to remote Broken Hill - a place she had hoped she would never see again.

The bad memories the town provokes remind Anna why she keeps men at arm's length but as her work proves fulfilling, her housemate becomes a friend and a warm community grows around her, Anna is surprised to discover that Broken Hill is starting to feel like home.

But there is no such thing as plain sailing and with errant mothers, vengeful ex-patients and determined exes on the prowl, life is becoming increasingly complicated. More than that, the distractingly attractive Flight Nurse Nick Harrison seems keen to get to know her better, and he has a way of finding a path through her defences. But will he still want her if the truth comes out?




What I Thought: I enjoyed this one - would love to visit Broken Hill one day.