Book: Lacey

Summary: Nine months later... Lacey Jerome had always fought her attraction to sexy police officer Cameron James, but one crazy night, she let her hair down and fell into bed with him. Their night together turned more passionate, more soul-scorching than she'd imagined it could be, but mixed messages from Cameron had her fleeing the scene. Now, she's back in Wirralong with the memories of their one-night stand etched into her mind and a mission to reconnect with the man who made her lose her head in the most delicious manner. Cameron never forgot Lacey -- and not for lack of trying. He has his own restrictive code, but somehow his thoughts always manage to wander to the newly returned beauty. He has questions and Lacey knows all the answers. What I Thought: Easy read. Felt a bit disjointed but still enjoyed.

Book: Conspiracy 365 - February

Summary: Cal’s old life ended as soon as the deadly 365-day countdown began. So far he’s been attacked by sharks, blamed for a vicious assault on his family, kidnapped by two criminal gangs, and left to drown in a fast-filling oil tank. He’s a hunted fugitive who’ll do anything to survive. But is Cal desperate enough to befriend a traitor with killer connections? Or risk returning to the scene of his attempted murder? Should he meet with a mysterious informant, when it could be a set-up? What I Thought: Enjoyed this – binged in a night. Shame book 3 never arrived at the Library in time for lockdown so now I have to wait.

Book: The Farm at Peppertree Crossing

Summary: An unexpected inheritance, a traumatic past and a family whose secrets are kept by the town. After a fractured childhood spent in foster homes, city-girl Roni has convinced herself that she has no need of anyone - other than her not-as-tough-as-he-looks rescued street cat, Scritches, and her unborn baby, who she's determined will feel all the love she's been denied. Despite facing a bleak future, Roni distrusts the news of a bequest from an unknown aunt, Marian Nelson. But, out of options, she and Scritches leave Sydney behind, bound for the 800-acre property on the edge of the wheat fields of South Australia. However, this is no simple inheritance: Marian seeks to control her legacy from beyond the grave by setting tasks that Roni must complete before she can claim the property and a life that could change her future. With everything at stake, Roni must learn to trust in the truth of Marian's most important lesson: everyone deserves love. What I Thought: Absolutely loved this book. Sucked in from the start. I think it would have been good to delve a bit deeper on some of the issues the characters had faced in their past but overall loved it. New author added to the list.

Book: Blood Fever (Young Bond)

Summary: James Bond has discovered danger. Now it’s come looking for him. An Eton boy’s family disappears at sea. James uncovers a shadowy society operating in a hidden corner of the school. And far from England, in the bandit-infested interior of Sardinia, a sinister Italian count has built himself a mountain fortress. Is there a connection? Young James Bond is about to find out – and face a lethal group of villains beneath the burning Mediterranean sun.

What I Thought: This one was a bit slow through the middle but I still enjoyed it. Good little series.

Book: Silver

Summary: For half a lifetime, journalist Martin Scarsden has run from his past. But now there is no escaping. He'd vowed never to return to his hometown, Port Silver, and its traumatic memories. But now his new partner, Mandy Blonde, has inherited an old house in the seaside town and Martin knows their chance of a new life together won't come again. Martin arrives to find his best friend from school days has been brutally murdered, and Mandy is the chief suspect. With the police curiously reluctant to pursue other suspects, Martin goes searching for the killer. And finds the past waiting for him. He's making little progress when a terrible new crime starts to reveal the truth. The media descend on Port Silver, attracted by a story that has it all: sex, drugs, celebrity and religion. Once again, Martin finds himself in the front line of reporting. Yet the demands of deadlines and his desire to clear Mandy are not enough: the past is ever present. What I Thought:Loved this. Different to the first in the series but it still hooked me. Looking forward to book 3 due out soon!

Book: Wedderburn

 

Summary: One fine Wednesday evening in October 2014, 65-year-old Ian Jamieson secured a hunting knife in a sheath to his belt and climbed through the wire fence separating his property from that of his much younger neighbour Greg Holmes. Less than 30 minutes later, Holmes was dead, stabbed more than 25 times. Jamieson returned home and took two shotguns from his gun safe. He walked across the road and shot Holmes' mother, Mary Lockhart, and her husband, Peter, multiple times before calling the police.

In this compelling book, Maryrose Cuskelly gets to the core of this small Australian town and the people within it. Much like the successful podcast S-Town, things aren't always as they seem: Wedderburn begins with an outwardly simple murder but expands to probe the dark secrets that fester within small towns, asking: is murder something that lives next door to us all?

 

What I Thought: This was a ripper read. I'm familiar with Wedderburn having visited and stayed there multiple times. This book gave a great insight into a shocking event and really highlighted a microcosm of society.  

Book: Heartwood Hotel

Summary: In the abandoned railhead town of Tewinga, now almost a ghost town, Lyn and Adam Portman struggle to keep the Heartwood Hotel afloat. Lyn loves her husband and longs to be a mother. But she’s kept busy caring for her elderly father, her community, and Max, the young worker who reminds her of the brother she’s lost and dearly misses.

When he fails to return from a day trip, Lyn’s concern deepens as the length of his absence grows, the more so with rumours of criminal activity at a nearby station. Meanwhile, a chance meeting uncovers a family bombshell that leaves Lyn reeling. The community must pull together as never before, proving that sometimes the smallest towns have the biggest hearts – and hide the darkest secrets.

What I Thought: Really loved this one. Off to get another of her books. I binging them too fast!

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.