Book: Ruby Redfort: Look into my Eyes

Summary: Ruby Redfort is a genius code-cracker, a daring detective, and a gadget-laden special agent who just happens to be a 13-year-old girl. She and her slick side-kick butler, Hitch, foil crimes and get into loads of scrapes with evil villains, but they're always ice-cool in a crisis.

What I Thought:

Book: Maximum Security

Summary: In Maximum Security, 280 child criminals live in the sun-baked desert prison Arizona Max. One of them is the son of a weapons dealer who has been selling U.S. missiles to terrorists. If CHERUB can get the kid, they have a chance to stop his father. Getting into the prison is easy. Breaking out is the hard part.

What I Thought: Really enjoyed this. Bring on book 4!

Book: Stockman's Secret

Summary: In the small town of Little Heart, Juliette Kerr and Joel Hunter are drawn together by their shared experience being targeted by school bullies. But when the bullying takes a drastic turn, Juliette can see no other way to protect Joel from the aftermath than to break his heart and make him leave her behind. Devastated and confused, Joel packs his bags, heading far away in the heart of the outback to jackaroo at Rosalee Station for as long as it takes his heart to heal. A decade later, Joel returns to mend fences with his family and to offer Juliette support. He's no longer the hot-tempered young man who left, but he's never stopped loving her. Is it finally time to make things right between them? Will these two lovers find a way to make peace with the past and regain their future together?


What I Thought: This was ok - not one of her best.

Book: Sure Fire

Summary: For twins Rich and Jade, their lives have just been turned upside down. When their mother is tragically killed in a car crash, their long-lost father, John Chance, appears to collect them at the funeral. He's a bachelor who lives on his own, and it's clear that Rich and Jade aren't welcome. But when Chance suddenly disappears, Rich and Jade uncover the truth: He's a spy. And now, whoever kidnapped their father is after them, too...

What I Thought: Really enjoyable. A new teenage 'spy" type series. Off to get book 2!

Book: The Country Singer

Summary: It's been years since Gemma visited the small country town where she grew up. She probably wouldn't have returned at all if it weren't for her father's passing. Seeing the town's dusty old buildings and her parent's run-down house reminds her of events in her childhood that she's tried to keep in the past, even though they colour her every decision in the present.

Memories of strained silences and reproving looks overwhelm her, as do fragments of things her mother said to her father before she died –  things that have haunted her forever, like 'Why didn't you let me go?'

Discovering a music score as she cleans through her parent's belongings, she learns about a love story so heartbreakingly beautiful that it changes her mind about love.

What I Thought: Enjoyed this one.

Book: Out of Alice

Summary:  When Sara Blake takes up a position as governess on Redhill Station in Central Australia, she isn't expecting to encounter a family in crisis, or to uncover a tragedy of her own. With the owners' son critically ill, Sara is called upon to take care of their young daughter. As the family struggles to make a living from the drought-stricken land, everyone pitches in - and Sara finds herself letting people in to the empty spaces in her heart. But the longer she spends out bush, the more she becomes plagued by elusive visions of her dark and troubled childhood. The fragments of memory lead her deep into the red centre of Australia, where at picturesque Kings Canyon she must confront the horrifying secrets of her past. 


What I Thought: Absolutely loved this one. Probably my fav of hers so far!

Book: Silverfin (Young Bond)

Summary: James Bond will one day become the world’s most famous spy, but at the moment his challenge is to fit in at his new school - making friends, learning the rules and facing up to bullies. Unknown to James though, there is an even tougher challenge awaiting him- something mysterious and deadly lurking in the water. Something called SilverFin.

What I Thought: Loved this. Just brilliant. Bring on book 2!

Book: Wind in the Willows

Summary: This book focuses on four anthropomorphized animals in a pastoral village meant to represent Edwardian England.


What I Thought: Loved it. A fabulous little tale and another book scratched off my poster.  I'm sure this was read to be as a kid - certainly watched it on TV (probably some BBC version)!

Book: Heist

Summary: Left for dead in the desert, framed as the inside man in a bullion robbery at the remote mine site where he works, and fearing that his daughter and ex-wife have been abducted from their home in Perth, Ford must cross a thousand miles of wilderness to find his family.

Ford forms a fragile alliance with Doc and Banjo, a pair of fugitive bikers, and Kavanagh, a cop from the Gold Stealing Detection Unit who's found herself shut out of the case. As this unlikely team sets out across the Outback, they are pursued by cops, mercenaries and bikers, each group with its own agenda for preventing Ford from reaching Perth and uncovering a conspiracy that spreads through the upper strata of Western Australian life.


What I Thought: I enjoyed this - great setting. Bit disjointed in parts but I'll read book 2 still.

Book: Cedar Tree

Summary: In the spring of 1949, Stella O’Riain flees her home – a sheep property on the barren edge of the Strzelecki Desert. She leaves behind the graves of her husband Joe and her baby daughter.

With no money and limited options, Stella accepts her brother-in-law Harry’s offer to live at the O’Riain cane farm in the Richmond Valley. There she hopes to get answers to the questions that plague her about her marriage. However Harry refuses to discuss Joe or the family’s secrets, even forbidding her to speak to the owner of the neighbouring property.

Nearly a century earlier in County Tipperary, Irish cousins Brandon and Sean O’Riain also fled their homes – as wanted criminals. By 1867, they are working as cedar-cutters in New South Wales’s lush green Richmond Valley.

But while Brandon embraces the opportunities this new country offers, Sean refuses to let go of the past. And one cousin is about to make a dangerous choice that will have devastating consequences down the generations . . .




What I Thought: I enjoyed this but not as much as her last few. Just didn't quite hot the mark in some spots.

Book: The Mission

Summary: Recruited into the secretive, shrouded MTG Agency, Jaz dives headfirst into her training, regretting nothing about her decision to help save the world at the age of 17. Now she’s ready and anxious for her first mission — to prove she has what it takes…and to start making a difference.
The only thing that stands in her way is Ryan, the dangerous and sexy agent who first recruited her, and is now guiding her. He doesn’t want Jaz to sink too deeply too quickly into his world of secrets and lies, but his inability to trust her to know her own mind only makes Jaz furious.
When a job comes along that only Jaz can do, Ryan has to let go, and Jaz soon learns that she can swim with sharks, but she’ll come away with scars.

What I Thought: Enjoyable read - bit far fetched but looking forward to book 3.

Book: White Horses

Summary: Following the disappearance of her mother when she was just a young child, Drift has been raised by her father, growing up to work alongside him as an itinerant cattle drover along the beautiful coastline of remote Western Australia. It's a tough life, but nurtured and taught by two wise women - Wilma, a gentle travelling librarian and straight-talking Charlie, the legendary mobile saddler - Drift grows up to become a confident, idealistic young woman. But the world Drift lives in can be ugly and brutal. After a frightening assault, Drift meets a handsome young stockman, but he is not all that he seems and she is drawn into a baffling world of lies and mysteries, centering on a lushly beautiful property called The Planet, run by a wealthy American woman. When Drift's father is hospitalised following a tragic accident and the young man she loves disappears, Drift has to find the courage to make her own way in the world. Drawing upon the deep well of women's wisdom taught her by Charlie and Wilma, Drift has to overcome heartbreak, betrayal, loneliness and pain in order to forge her path, own her truth, and create the kind of world that she wants to live in.

What I Thought: I did enjoy this but it was all a bit too preachy for me. Too much holistic farming, too much "guided by the universe", too much "we are all bad/sinful/ignorant people". And didn't tie up loose ends properly like the rape... A bit unrealistic where everything worked out for everyone and that just isn't real life.

Book: Wildhorse Creek

Summary: Billy Martin runs from home, burying his past in the quest for a future. He finds it in Queensland's spectacular Gulf Country, on the sprawling cattle runs. The Gulf breeds tough men, and Billy is quickly drawn to the excitement and adventure of working with the fiery cattleman and ex-con Blake Reilly and his daughter Jo.
Billy finds mateship, danger and romance in the Gulf, but he also finds an untamed and violent land. In the brooding heat and unpredictable storms, the future he had sought unfolds – in ways as turbulent and unexpected as the country itself – and Billy discovers a place where he can at last belong.


What I Thought: Another great book. Love the settings, the flawed characters, the story. A nice book to escape with.

Book: Flight to Coorah Creek

Summary: What happens when you can fly, but you just can’t hide? Only Jessica Pearson knows the truth when the press portray her as the woman who betrayed her lover to escape prosecution. But will her new job flying an outback air ambulance help her sleep at night or atone for a lost life?
Doctor Adam Gilmore touches the lives of his patients, but his own scars mean he can never let a woman touch his heart.
Runaway Ellen Parkes wants to build a safe future for her two children. Without a man – not even one as gentle as Jack North.
In Coorah Creek, a town on the edge of nowhere, you’re judged by what you do, not what people say about you. But when the harshest judge is the one you see in the mirror, there’s nowhere left to hide.


What I Thought: Enjoyed this. Looking forward to the next in the series.

Book: The Rip

Summary:  A young woman living on the street has to keep her wits about her. Or her friends. But when the drugs kick in that can be hard. Anton has been looking out for her. She was safe with him. But then Steve came along. He had something over Anton. Must have. But he had a flat they could crash in. And gear in his pocket. And she can't stop thinking about it. A good hit makes everything all right. But the flat smells weird. There's a lock on Steve's bedroom door. And the guy is intense. The problem is, sometimes you just don't know you are in too deep, until you are drowning.


What I Thought: A riveting read. Great insights from the protagonist. I wish the ending gave me more answers. I guess it ends however I want to interpret it!

Book: Run

Summary: After being cheated on by her ex, Leanne Riley is trying her hardest to get her life back on track, which isn't easy without a job and living in a bedsit surrounded by a junkie and a mad woman.

On a night out with her best friend she meets Jake, a face from her past who has changed beyond all recognition. Jake is charming, handsome and loaded, a far cry from the gawky teenager he used to be. Weary of men, Leanne isn't easy to please, but Jake tries his best to break through the wall she's built around herself.

But good looks and money can hide a multitude of sins. Is that good-looking face just a mask? And what's more, what will it take to make it slip, and who will die in the process . . . ?


What I Thought: Enjoyed this - not enough action til the end for me but still a great little read.

Book: The Long Road Home

Summary: Alice Hamilton is enjoying her new life in Ballarat with the freedom to explore her future now she's stepped away from the constraints of her upbringing. She's learnt the hard way that knowledge is power, and is looking forward to her legal studies, then making a difference as a lawyer with heart.
But while Alice's life is looking up, back in Hope Springs the world of her former husband Rick Peterson is unravelling. After a chance meeting a few months earlier, Rick and Alice have reconnected. And it's fortunate they have, because Rick is about to need Alice's friendship like he's never needed it before.
Rick has always felt a bit lost - as a farmer, he could never admit he didn't feel the deep connection to the land that the only son and third generation farmer should. And now he's suddenly being forced to come to terms with just why his heart isn't in it and what's behind his fractured relationships. Has his whole life been a lie - and if so, where did that lie begin?


What I Thought: Enjoyable. Liked the Ballarat location. Characters were a bit whiny though.

Book: Fool Me Once

Summary: Farmer Georgie Henderson manages a cattle property in the New England region of New South Wales, but her dream has always been to buy back her family farm, Tamban.

When an unlikely meeting with Michael Delacourt at a rowdy B&S Ball sends them on a whirlwind romance, Georgie can't believe it's possible for life to be this good. For the first time ever, her dream of buying back Tamban takes a backseat to her happiness.

But her world shatters when she discovers the shocking secret Michael has been trying to keep from her.

Can Michael convince her they still have a future? And after having her heart so thoroughly broken, can Georgie ever trust anyone again?


What I Thought: Loved this - nice easy read. My fav kind of book :)

Book: Justice (Special Forces Cadets)

Summary: Tough enough? Smart enough? Max will require all his skills just to stay alive as a Special Forces Cadet... Child slavery is rife. Hundreds of young people are being forced into lives of slavery by an international trafficking ring based in the jungles of central Africa. The cadets are tasked to present themselves as bait for the traffickers. Some of them head to Africa. Some stay in the UK. They are to gather hard intel which the authorities can use to nail the perpetrators of this twisted business.

But the bad guys are one step ahead. The cadets lose contact with their handlers and are taken off grid by some of the most brutal criminals in the world. It will take all their skills to get themselves to safety - and to bring the traffickers to justice.



What I Thought: Enjoyable - off to find book 4!

Book: Red Dirt Country

Summary: Returning to Perth after a near-fatal undercover case in outback Queensland, Dave Burrows, now a Detective Senior Constable in the stock squad, receives an ultimatum from his deeply unhappy wife, Melinda.

Before Dave and Mel's problems can be resolved, Dave is sent to the far north of Australia on a stock theft investigation. He finds two cattle stations deep in a complex underbelly of racial divide, family secrets, long-repeated lies, kidnapping and murder.

Facing one of the biggest challenges of his policing life and the heartbreaking prospect of losing his family, Dave can't imagine things getting worse. But there's a hidden danger, intent on revenge, coming right for him.

What I Thought: Loved this - bring on the next one.