Wattle Creek by Fiona McCallum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Always love an Aussie read (or listen). The narrator was fabulous and the interpretations of each character was fun to listen to. Wattle Creek sounds like the typical Australian small town with gossip mongers galore and drama around every corner.
Shows the fantastic community support of small towns and how they pull together when somebody's in need.
Can't wait to read the sequel, Standing Strong.
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Summary: First love. Second chance?
As the daughter of a hoarder, Phoenix Fuller had a tough childhood. So when the handsome, popular Riley Stinson became her boyfriend in high school, she finally felt as though she had something to be proud of. Phoenix was desperate not to lose him—especially once she found out she was pregnant. Yes, she might have acted a bit obsessive when he broke up with her. But she did not run down the girl he started dating next!
Unfortunately, there was no way to prove her innocence. Now, after serving her time in prison, Phoenix has been released. All she wants to do is return to Whiskey Creek and get to know her son. But Jacob's father isn't exactly welcoming.
Riley doesn't trust Phoenix, doesn't want her in Jacob's life. He is, however, ready to find someone to love. And he wants a good mother for his son. He has no idea that he's about to find both—if they can forgive the mistakes in their past…
Title: This Heart of Mine
Series: Whiskey Creek #8
Author: Brenda Novak
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Released: 31st March 2015
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Format: eGalley
Source: invitation for an honest review from Author - Thank you :) and via Publisher on NetGalley
I am a big fan of Brenda Novak’s Whiskey Creek series, it is such fun and the characters so varied and lovable. I was excited to read Phoenix and Riley’s story, hearing so much about this woman who went to prison for taking the life of a local girl, I just had to know what was going through her mind. Riley is such a sweetheart, but needs to stand up for himself and his son. Would definitely love to hear more from the Amos brother’s too…. J
Phoenix Fuller has been ridiculed her whole life. Having a mother that’s a recluse, lives in a trailer and a hoarder was hard on everyone. Her father left shortly after Phoenix was born and when her brothers were old enough, they left too. Now back from serving seventeen years in prison for a crime Phoenix is adamant she didn’t commit, life in Whiskey Creek for her is anything but easy.
Phoenix met Riley when he tutored her in high school. They quickly discovered a connection and started dating. Riley Stinson is from a well-respected family in Whiskey Creek and he had everybody in his ear saying she wasn’t worthy. When he broke it off with Phoenix, she had discovered she was pregnant, emotional and distraught with a broken heart and so Phoenix went a little obsessive wanting to win Riley back.
Phoenix is seeing her son for the very first time in person. Jacob and Riley meet Phoenix for breakfast, she’s only been released for three days but is desperate to see Jacob. The only reason she came back to Whiskey Creek was for her mother and Jacob. Now here though, the whole town seems to be against her.
Kyle Houseman is Riley’s best mate and believes Phoenix has served her time and should be free to do as she wishes. He decides to help her out and Riley becomes protective of Phoenix, saying she is the mother of HIS child and warns Kyle away. The more Riley sees Phoenix his feelings come to the forefront from high school and now he is having doubts about the last seventeen years. Should he have listened to his parents about Jacobs’s relationship with his mother? Is Phoenix really innocent? What happened to Phoenix that left her scarred?
Spending time with Riley, Phoenix tries to convince him she won’t ever become a nuisance again like her crush from high school that got out of hand. She doesn’t want to cause any problems that would jeopardise her son. So, did Phoenix really run Lori Mansfield over? Will Jacob want to spend time with her?
Another fabulous Whiskey Creek instalment and the next being, Kyle’s story. So excited for that, poor Kyle hasn’t had an easy love life. Ms Novak is a master of surprises and this intense “love can endure over a decade” story was a heart pumping, drama filled, small town gossip, fantastically written novel. This series is a must read and again, it doesn’t need to be read in order, each book is a standalone with connecting characters. Pick one up now!
So her frame of mind clinches the deal? Makes her guilty? Or did my mom go to prison just because she was heartbroken and jealous? She was pregnant at eighteen, with no one to turn to except a weird mother who couldn't really do anything to help, anyway.
~ Jacob to Riley
It was a shocking experience that jump-started Brenda Novak’s bestselling author career.
“I caught my day-care provider drugging my children with cough syrup and Tylenol to get them to sleep while I was away,” Brenda says. “It was then that I decided that I needed to do something from home.”
However, writing was the last profession she expected to undertake. In fact, Brenda swears she didn’t have a creative bone in her body. In school, math and science were her best subjects, and when it came time to pick a major in college, she chose business.
Abandoning her academic scholarship to Brigham Young University at the age of 20 in order to get married and start a family, Brenda dabbled in commercial real estate, then became a loan officer.
“When I first got the idea to become a novelist, it took me five years to teach myself the craft and finish my first book,” Brenda admits. “I learned how to write by reading what others have written. The best advice for any would-be author: read, read, read….”
Brenda sold her first book, and the rest is history. Many of her novels have won or placed in contests such as the National Reader's Choice, the Bookseller's Best, the Write Touch, the Award of Excellence and the Beacon Award for Published Authors.
Brenda and her husband, Ted, live in Sacramento and are the proud parents of five children—three girls and two boys. She juggles her writing career with her children’s softball and soccer games, field trips, carpool runs and homework sessions.
When she’s not spending time with her family or writing, Brenda is usually working on her annual fundraiser for diabetes research—an on-line auction held at her website May 1st – May 31st. Her youngest son, Thad, has diabetes, and Brenda is determined to help him and others like him. She also enjoys traveling, watching sporting events and biking--she rides an amazing 20 miles every day!
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at The Romance Evangelist.
As each book in the White Years portion of Tiffany Reisz’s Original Sinners series is released, we discover more about how this unconventional family came together as one. So if you’ve read the Red Years books, you can guess the outcome of The Virgin, even if you don’t know how you’ll get there. Yet that’s what makes each of these stories so remarkable, as Tiffany Reisz continues to capture the attention of readers who already think they know how everything will work out. With this latest release, THE VIRGIN, the story of how Eleanor ran away from the only man she’d ever loved and not only found herself, but helped Kingsley do the same, however inadvertently, and like the others, the story might not go quite as the reader might expect.
Eleanor could never have left Søren without being caught if she hadn’t had Kingsley’s detailed training on how to get lost and stay there. But once away, she needs a place where even Søren himself could not gain admittance. Her mother’s convent home may be an unlikely sanctuary, but just as unlikely is the one person who helps Eleanor find the strength to go on, with or without her only Master.
The moment that drives Eleanor away from Søren sets Kingsley on his own path in the opposite direction, unsure if he’ll ever return to his kinky kingdom. The despair of the woman he discovers outweighs his own, stoking his need to save them both. But as Eleanor and Kingsley both find new love away from home, will their individual travels bring them back to Søren or keep them all apart for good?
In THE VIRGIN, as in the others before it, it’s the journey itself and not the destination, and the personal quests for both Eleanor and Kingsley make it all worth reading. And like the other White Years books, we have a present-day framing device designed to keep us guessing as to what is actually happening and how it will affect our beloved characters. All of these threads are expertly woven together in a tapestry of extreme emotions which will keep the reader bouncing about with anticipation as to how it will all come together in the end.
I was happily transported by the majority of THE VIRGIN, with only the part of the story featuring Kyrie, the young novitiate and title character, falling somewhat flat for me. I couldn’t help thinking that her presence was contrived solely for the purpose of helping Eleanor out of the safety of the convent back out into the real world, especially with regard to Eleanor’s future career as an erotic novelist. But that’s a minor quibble compared to the glory that is the sublime romance between Kingsley and Juliette, the heartbreaking angst as Søren and Eleanor struggle with what has driven them apart, and the joy of the first wedding between two of my most favorite Original Sinners.
If you’re a fan of this series, THE VIRGIN is obviously a must read, even though it also means there is only one more book in the series before it all ends forever. I’m sure I’m not prepared to face THE QUEEN, but I can’t wait to read it just the same.
Summary: Bestselling author Rachael Johns takes you back to Hope Junction and the characters from Jilted.
Nurse Lauren Simpson is known in Hope Junction for the wrong reasons – and she’s over it. Watching the man she’s always loved marry someone else is the last straw – she decides to get out of Hope. But her resolve is tested when the hot new locum doctor arrives in town.
Doctor Tom Lewis also has skeletons in his closet – including a painful breakup and devastating family news. He’s hit the road with his vintage ute and surfboard, to travel the outback and live in the moment.
When Tom and Lauren meet the attraction is instant, but for Lauren Tom threatens to be just another fling and Tom has his own reasons for hesitating. Everyone else – their friends and patients – can see how perfect they are together, but just what will it take for them to admit this to themselves?
A brand new Hope Junction story of fresh starts and second chances.
Title: The Road to Hope
Series: Hope Junction #2
Author: Rachael Johns
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Released: 1st March 2015
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format: paperback
Source: ARC for an honest review via Publisher - thank you
I am a big fan of Rachael Johns and was very excited to receive her latest. I hadn’t read Jilted but it didn’t cause any confusion throughout. The Road to Hope was a fabulous Australian read and I loved the fun characters and the small town know all gossip. As always, Ms Johns has a fabulous writing style, I was totally addicted and with realistic emotions I was caught up in Laurie’s drama.
Lauren Simpson (Laurie) is a nurse at the local hospital and loves her job. She doesn’t feel appreciated and the town believes she’s the “town slapper”. Seeing the love of her life walk down the aisle with another woman, Laurie is determined to change her ways and become a good girl. She has made a plan to leave the small town of Hope Junction and move onto bigger and better things and hopefully find the love of her life in the process.
Living by herself with her parent’s overseas and her brother, Frank, in Nepal, Laurie feels all alone. Her best friend has her mind stuck on babies and doesn’t seem to realise how hurt Laurie is.
Just as the ceremony ends, the Grandmother of the groom takes a turn and Laurie goes to the rescue. Thinking it could be dehydration and heat related, she is taken to hospital to get checked out. Dr Bates is heading on holidays and the new locum, Dr Tom Lewis will be taking over. He was tall, dark, broad-shouldered and extraordinarily handsome. But Laurie is determined to be the good girl.
When she arrived home after the wedding reception, she found a strange Ute in her driveway and the lights on inside. Laurie grabbed her jack out of the car and headed inside ready to whack the intruder. When the door opened, there was a hot man standing there wearing only boardies. It took her a minute to recognise the man as Dr Lewis, the new locum.
It appears Laurie will be having a visitor for a few months and now maybe regrets the change of rules with this hot eligible doctor living in her house. But she’s still determined to stick to her guns. Trying everything she can to deter Dr Delicious from flirting, Laurie carries on with her daily routine.
The more time they spend together the stronger their feelings and attraction become. But Tom is hiding a massive secret of his own and knows he doesn’t want a long term relationship. The see-saw of feelings and actions towards each other would give anyone whiplash, but can these two overcome reputations and secrecy to be together?
What is Tom hiding? Will Lauren end up leaving Hope Junction? Can she continue to be the good girl with Dr Delicious in her house?
Watch the relationship unfold and discover the strength that people find once they’ve found love. I adored the older patients in residential care at the hospital and the antics they get up to. From painting nails to dancing to playing board games, it was inspirational and light-hearted fun. I am certainly looking forward to reading more fun romances from Ms Johns, with the next being, The Patterson Girls due out in October 2015.
Rachael is an English teacher by trade, a mum 24/7, a supermarket owner, a chronic arachnaphobic and a writer the rest of the time. She rarely sleeps and never irons. She lives in rural Western Australia with her hyperactive husband, three mostly-gorgeous heroes-in-training, two fat cats, one naughty dog and a very cantankerous budgie.
At 17 Rachael began writing enlightened by the thought that she could create whatever ending she liked and so she embarked on a Bachelor of Arts in Writing. Almost fifteen years later, after joining the Romance Writers of Australia, she finally achieved her goal of publication. Since then Rachael has finaled in a number of competitions, including the Australian Romance Readers Awards. JILTED (her first rural romance) won Favourite Australia Contemporary Romance in 2012 and she was voted in the Top Ten of Booktopia’s Favourite Australian Author poll in 2013.
Rachael loves to hear from readers and can be contacted via her website – www.rachaeljohns.com She is also on Facebook and Twitter.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review at The Romance Evangelist.
Second in the White Years books but sixth in the overall Original Sinners series, THE KING finally gives readers the story of how Kingsley Edge founded the 8th Circle, New York’s most exclusive and notorious BDSM club, and fills in more of the gaps only hinted at in previous books. Although no book in this series can technically be called a romance, this particular entry is the least romantic of the lot, reading more as a classic mystery, complete with red herrings, McGuffins, and more than a few double crosses. But that still didn’t mean anything less than a tip-top read, as I raced through its pages trying to guess just how everything would play out on the way to the ending I thought I already knew.
THE KING also advances the story of Kingsley and Søren’s relationship that began in THE PRINCE, showing how Nora would fit perfectly between them if Kingsley could learn not to resent her place in Søren’s heart. And when combined with the ongoing White Years’ conceit of framing each story of the past with a continuation of the characters’ present-day lives, the result is a essential volume for any fans of the Original Sinners series. Just make sure you’ve read all the previous books first, so as not to spoil the secrets revealed within.
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