Home at Last by Meredith Appleyard

Title: Home at Last

Author: Meredith Appleyard

Publisher: 18th March 2019 by Harlequin Australia, HQ & MIRA

Pages: 416 pages
How I Read It: ARC book
Genre: contemporary romance

My Rating: 3.5 crowns

Synopsis:

Flying solo can be harder than it looks ... A warm-hearted rural romance about finding your way home. 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?

My Thoughts

An engaging and heartwarming rural medical romance is what you will discover with this book. It is an enjoyable women's fiction tale, with themes of general living, family, friendships, romances, life choices and the challenges of living in a small rural town. I especially appreciated witnessing the life of a shift worker and the challenges that ensue.

This story also highlighted a number of important issues such as mental health, especially when associated with remote and isolated living situations; aged care and assisting aging parents; homelessness for a range of ages - adolescent boarding school to medical shift workers, to estranged marriages, to aged care - important issues that I felt were dealt with in an appropriate and enlightening way.

At its heart, however, this is a medical rural romance, set in and around Broken Hill (NSW - Australia) with the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS). It was above average as far as romance goes but, at times, was a little repetitive and prolonged in sorting out the relevant issues for both major parties. What I did appreciate and wish was investigated further, was the gender role reversal of a male nurse and female pilot - I wish more had been attributed to this significant aspect. The plot is simple but engaging with regards to the various relationships and there are some good secondary characters.

The highlight of this book would have to be the fascinating insights into RFDS culture and traveling the vast regions of the Australian landscape. I understood but never really appreciated the difficulties of not only dealing with providing medical assistance to remote areas, but also the pressure it brings to those who provide such services eg. insufficient staffing, long shifts and available expertise. The cases themselves are dealt with in realistic ways, that bring about true empathy for all involved.

If learning of such true to life situations appeals to you, then I recommend you go on a journey to the heart of Australia and discover how life is for the teams who provide such valuable services.

Visit Helen @ Great Reads & Tea Leaves

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release

The French Photographer

Title: The French Photographer

Author: Natasha Lester

Publisher: 26th March 2019 by Hachette Australia

Pages: 488 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: romance, historical fiction

My Rating: 5 crowns

Synopsis:

Inspired by the incredible true story of Lee Miller, Vogue model turned one of the first female war photojournalists, the new novel by the bestselling author of The Paris Seamstress

Manhattan, Paris, 1942: When Jessica May's successful modelling career is abruptly cut short, she is assigned to the war in Europe as a photojournalist for Vogue. But when she arrives the army men make her life as difficult as possible. Three friendships change that: journalist Martha Gellhorn encourages Jess to bend the rules, paratrooper Dan Hallworth takes her to places to shoot pictures and write stories that matter, and a little girl, Victorine, who has grown up in a field hospital, shows her love. But success comes at a price.

France, 2005: Australian curator D'Arcy Hallworth arrives at a beautiful chateau to manage a famous collection of photographs. What begins as just another job becomes far more disquieting as D'Arcy uncovers the true identity of the mysterious photographer -- and realises that she is connected to D'Arcy's own mother, Victorine.

Crossing a war-torn Europe from Italy to France, The French Photographer is a story of courage, family and forgiveness, by the bestselling author of The Paris Seamstress and A Kiss from Mr Fitzgerald.

My Thoughts

Natasha Lester books have all been five star reads for me. So it was with great anticipation that I took up her latest novel. Yet again Natasha has floored me with her storytelling, almost to the point of speechlessness. Where to start with a read that was so powerful, so raw and intense, taking the reader on a rollercoaster ride of emotion. This book consumed me and, closing the last page, left me almost bereft.

Just when you think she can’t get any better, Natasha produces another spellbinding tale, a true historical showpiece. Being such a fan of  dual timeline narratives, Natasha has excelled in this genre with this highly absorbing tale that follows a former model turned photojournalist Jessica May, in the midst of World War II in tandem with the modern day tale of art curator D’Arcy.

Romance is something Natasha writes well and here you will lose yourself in the passion, the heartache of lost or missed opportunities. Amazingly this applies to both storylines, which in itself, is a difficult undertaking. The story is filled with so many characters to love (and hate!), adore and cry for.  Jess’s feistiness is fabulous, her moments of saying what she thinks, priceless. And what about Dan - Dan’s the man! - he could indeed be one of my all time favourite fictional male leads.

Yet, this is also a tale about war and tragedy. You cannot help but be absorbed into the story and feel like one of the female war correspondents, who had to wage battle against not just the enemy, but the sexism that prevailed. I consider myself fairly well versed on WW2 details, but the research Natasha has presented here was new and astonishing. To feel like a witness to the hapless task for so many female correspondents, wanting to report on the details but being censored for every word and disallowed to portray the truth of what was occurring to the world at large.

‘The men died, not gloriously, not spectacularly and certainly not without anyone to mourn them, disappearing into the mud beneath their feet. Two lives had just ended, one of them was frozen in time inside her camera. She didn't know how she would bring herself to look at that negative, didn't know that she could ever allow herself to discover exactly what it meant to die. She was supposed to be glad; two fewer Germans was a good thing for her country. But how could anyone be glad of a boy dying alone, an unthought-of consequence in this grand mess called war?’

It is here that I must pay tribute to the many female correspondents and applaud not only their perseverance and efforts, but the real sacrifices they were prepared to endure for equality. The courage  and strength exhibited throughout this book is so powerful. The Author's Notes at the back of the book most noteworthy.

Finally, a focus on Natasha’s writing prowess. The links she makes between past and present tales - I mean how does she do it? I will not give anything away regarding the plot but truly, this is a masterpiece of writing. The balance Natasha strikes and links made between chapters and events is mind-blowing. And the ending ... with all the air sucked out of my lungs ... I could not breathe! It is that powerful. Bittersweet, heart wrenching and breathtaking - literally.

The French Photographer by Aussie author Natasha Lester is absolutely brilliant. It is a very special kind of book, that is to be devoured and then ruminated on. Natasha is a delightful author, so accessible on social media and so very humble. Thank you for your storytelling .... never doubt that you are an incredibly talented writer and congratulations on producing and sharing the amazing tale that is, The French Photographer

‘Every word I write is as difficult as tears wrung from stone.’

Visit Helen @ Great Reads & Tea Leaves

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher.

In a Great Southern Land

Title:  In a Great Southern Land

Author: Mary-Anne O'Connor

Publisher: 18th March 2019 by Harlequin Australia, HQ & MIRA

Pages: 352 pages
How I Read It: ARC book
Genre: historical fiction, romance

My Rating: 4.5 crowns

Synopsis:

From the soft green hills of Ireland to the wild Shipwreck Coast of southern Victoria, the rich farm lands of New South Wales to the sudden battlefields of Ballarat, this is an epic story of the cost of freedom and the value of love in a far-flung corner of the world where a new nation struggles to be born. 1851: After the death of her father, young Eve Richards is destitute. Her struggle to survive sees her deported in chains to the colony of New South Wales, penniless and alone. But here in this strange new world fortune smiles on the spirited, clever Eve in the shape of a respectable job offer that will lead to a quiet, secure life. Then the fiery and charismatic Irishman Kieran Clancy crosses her path...

For Kieran Clancy, the kindest man on earth, and his brother Liam, the promise of free passage and land in this brave new world is a chance to leave the grief and starvation of County Clare behind. But while Liam works to farm their land, Kieran has the fire of gold-fever upon him and is drawn to the goldfields of Ballarat. As tensions grow on the goldfields, and with the blood of an Irish rebel still beating through his heart, Kieran finds himself caught up in the cataclysmic events at the Eureka Stockade and faces the decision of a lifetime: whether or not, when it comes to love, blood will remain thicker than water...

My Thoughts

‘The great southern land,’ Liam said, looking at him, then laughing at his own incredible words. ‘I’m still trying to believe it.’

This is a really great story that I thoroughly enjoyed - quite the saga with both lead characters starting out in Ireland and then ending up in Australia. Firstly there is Kieran, a poor tenant farmer, who (with his family) gains free passage to the Australian colonies to farm. Then there is Eve, a servant, charged with a crime she did not commit and sent to the colonies on a convict ship. This is their story, inclusive of the challenges they faced from firstly, their time in Ireland, to adjusting to life in the colonies.

Firstly this book is a love story with a fair amount of Irish luck involved with coincidences. Still, if you enjoy historical fiction of this era, then you will revel in the times and circumstances. While some meetings were difficult to believe, you let it go as there is just so much to love about so many of these characters. There is a breadth and depth to the people you will meet and it adds a real richness to the story with a few good twists towards the end.

Secondly, this book incorporates a range of places and events highlighting many significant occurrences from history. From the harsh life in Ireland, to being onboard a convict ship, resettlement and farming in the colonies, life on the goldfields in the 1850s culminating in the momentous Eureka Stockade. I felt Mary-Anne’s retelling of key events in colonial history to be highly engaging, bringing to life what it would have been like in a wide range of scenarios.  Her research and in depth presentation of the Eureka battle, especially the consequent fallout, was a certain highlight.

Finally, if you delve deeper and take into account the detail Mary-Anne has gone into, this is a tale of injustices and the fight for equality and rights. Through the story of key individuals, you are shown what it was like to love, to lose, to fight, to win, in a search for a new beginning and true love. The desire to leave behind the controlling gentry in an effort to forge freedoms in an new land.

I was thoroughly impressed and absorbed in this high quality historical drama - the story is rich and filled with emotions, all tied together with factual accounts of major historical events related to Australia’s colonial history. I highly recommend this book.

‘We’ve crossed one to be here, don’t forget,’ he said more softly now, taking her hands again, ‘for different reasons and from different worlds, but somehow we’re standing under the same sky.’

Visit Helen @ Great Reads & Tea Leaves

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release

The Forgotten Secret

Title: The Forgotten Secret

Author: Kathleen McGurl

Publisher: 1st March 2019 by HQ Digital

Pages: 285 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: romance, historical fiction

My Rating: 3.5 crowns

Synopsis:

Can she unlock the mysteries of the past?

A country at war

It’s the summer of 1919 and Ellen O’Brien has her whole life ahead of her. Young, in love and leaving home for her first job, the future seems full of shining possibility. But war is brewing and before long, Ellen and everyone around her are swept up by it. As Ireland is torn apart by the turmoil, Ellen finds herself facing the ultimate test of love and loyalty.

A long-buried secret

A hundred years later and Clare Farrell has inherited a dilapidated old farmhouse in County Meath. Seizing the chance to escape her unhappy marriage she strikes out on her own for the first time, hoping the old building might also provide clues to her family’s shadowy history. As she sets out to put the place – and herself – back to rights, she stumbles across a long-forgotten hiding place, with a clue to a secret that has lain buried for decades.

My Thoughts

This was an engaging read set during two different time periods and centred around a farmhouse in Ireland. In the past there is Ellen and her experiences of life and love during the Irish Uprising of 1919 and the war of independence. In modern day there is 50 year old Clare embarking on a fresh start after leaving her critical and overbearing husband. The link, apart from the farmhouse, is personal documents discovered in a old armchair being reupholstered by Clare and she embarks to find their rightful owner.

Apart from solving the above mystery, the stories are separate with the only common theme centring around two women trying to get by. Both tales are easy to follow which can often be difficult in dual narratives. There are quite a few twists in both storylines - some realistic others, not so much.  I felt that the historical story held more appeal with the history of the IRA deftly woven throughout Ellen’s story.

I like the mystery Clare embarked on and how the author used the artefacts to link the narrative from the past. Ellen’s story is interspersed with rich historical detail of Ireland’s struggle for independence with solid experiences and is a rather sad tale. Clare’s story itself was not as strong. Whilst I appreciated having her older in age and questioning life’s meaning,  it all played out a little too conveniently with her actions to leave a bad marriage after so many years.

‘There’s something funny about being at my stage of life. OK, spare the jokes about the big change, but being 49 and having the big five-oh looming on the horizon does make you reevaluate who you are, what your life is like, and whether you’ve achieved your life’s dreams or not. Ever since my last birthday I’d been doing a lot of navel gazing. What had I done with my life?’

Overall, the story moved along at a good pace and I recommend this book to anyone who likes stories set in Ireland, with a strong focus on Irish independence.

‘The forgotten secret, buried in the depths of that old chair, now revealed and resolved.’

Visit Helen @ Great Reads & Tea Leaves

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

A Life of Her Own by Fiona McCallum

Title:  A Life of Her Own

Author: Fiona McCallum

Publisher: 18th March 2019 by Harlequin Australia, HQ (Fiction, Non Fiction, YA) & MIRA

Pages: 416 pages
How I Read It: ARC book
Genre: women fiction

My Rating: 3 crowns

Synopsis:

When knowledge gives you the power to change your life ... Alice Hamilton loved being a mature-age student, but now she's finished her university degree she needs to find herself a career. But the job market is tough and it doesn't help that her partner David keeps reminding her about their sizeable mortgage. When she's offered a role in a major real estate agency, she jumps at the opportunity. David is excited by her prospects in the thriving Melbourne housing market, and Alice is pleased that she'll be utilising her exceptional people skills.

But Alice quickly realises all is not as it seems. What is she doing wrong to be so out of sync with her energetic boss, Carmel Gold, agent extraordinaire? Alice is determined to make it work, but how much will it affect her values?

As everything starts to fall apart, a sudden visit home to the country town Alice escaped years ago provides an unexpected opportunity to get some perspective. Surrounded by people who aren't what they seem, or have their own agendas, can Alice learn to ask for what she really wants ... on her own terms?

From Australia's master storyteller comes an inspiring story about standing up for yourself, making difficult choices and chasing your dreams.

My Thoughts

A Fiona McCallum book will always provide you with a good dose of reality tied together with an emotional plot line. On this occasion, there is Alice who, after a failed marriage and undertaking studies as a mature age student, tries to find a place in the workforce to help her partner with the payment of their new home in Melbourne. Sadly, however, she doesn’t enjoy her work and longs for a fulfilling life. Thus begins a journey of self discovery, of picking up the pieces and finding the courage to try and start anew. Can Alice make ‘A Life of Her Own’?

There are many hurdles and hoops for Alice to jump over and work her way through in this book ... so many, in fact, that it becomes somewhat dull. There is the sad upbringing, unsupportive family, failed marriage, the domineering and uncaring partner, the vicious boss .... the list is long. So with little support, Alice understandably starts to fall apart, crying regularly and often. Unfortunately the overkill makes me blase regarding her plight as it all gets a bit repetitive.

Yet for those readers who can relate to one, or all, of the sad scenarios, then Fiona’s writing will undoubtedly speak to you. There are many emotionally charged pages as you hope Alice will indeed find the courage to forge ‘a life of her own’ in this heartfelt tale; that she will overcome life’s hurdles and find the strength to create a brighter future for herself.

‘In not too long you’ll be in a much better place and you’ll look back on this time and laugh at how hopeless it all seemed. Meanwhile, I think you need to relax, ease up on yourself, not expect to have all the answers–that’s the universe’s job. Put it out there and ask for help. That’s what I do.’

Visit Helen @ Great Reads & Tea Leaves

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release

Rosie's Travelling Tea Shop

Title: Rosie’s Travelling Tea Shop

Author: Rebecca Raisin

Publisher: 3rd March 2019 by HQ Digital

Pages: 250 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: romance, contemporary, humour, womens fiction

My Rating: 5 crowns

Synopsis:

The trip of a lifetime!

Rosie Lewis has her life together.

A swanky job as a Michelin-Starred Sous Chef, a loving husband and future children scheduled for exactly January 2021.

That’s until she comes home one day to find her husband’s pre-packed bag and a confession that he's had an affair. Heartbroken and devastated, Rosie drowns her sorrows in a glass (or three) of wine, only to discover the following morning that she has spontaneously invested in a bright pink campervan to facilitate her grand plans to travel the country.

Now, Rosie is about to embark on the trip of a lifetime, and the chance to change her life! With Poppy, her new-found travelling tea shop in tow, nothing could go wrong, could it…?

My Thoughts

‘The bookworms are utterly lovely. They cuddle their books like newborn babies, chat for hours over tea and cake about their favourite writers, cliff hangers, preferred chapter length, eBooks versus paperbacks and the like! In a way I wish I could have poured my own pot of tea and sat with them like Aria did. You have to envy her sometimes. It’s a great way to live life.’

Bookworms beware! As soon as I saw this and read the blurb, I knew I needed to read this book! Sometimes you need some light escapism for lifting one’s mood, and this is one of those books that came to me at the right time. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it from start to finish.

There is just so much to love about this story .... with some really compelling life lessons included. I really appreciated Rosie’s story, both the literal and figurative journey she was on. In fact, there were quite an assortment of characters on this wonderful trip across the UK - what a great way to travel! I totally lost myself to van life and felt like I was at one of the festivals where Rosie and Aria have set up. I want a van!

‘A busy day ahead doing this. I grin, imagining him in some rural hamlet, a pot of steaming hot tea at the ready, a new novel to sink into and nothing else to do all day besides enjoy the solitude.’

Rebecca Raisin’s writing has a wonderful warm feel to it, both in terms of people and place. The people are engaging and the places .... well you just wish you were there - pink van included! Then there is the food and tea! Don’t get me started! You will adore Aria’s van, you will love the combination of tea and books, especially Rosie and Aria’s attempt to match a brew to a title! I could really do with a cup of ‘Sense and Sensibility’ right about now!

‘She goes to the first shelf, pulls down a once cobalt blue hardback, its cover now ravaged and faded with time-and she takes a great big sniff, before she turns to me, her eyes bright as though she’s just discovered the meaning of life. “That is the best scent in the world, better than any perfume, any flower. It’s the smell of lives lived.”

Delve a bit deeper and this book is about life, love and friendship and how it can be found in the most unlikely of places. It’s all about finding yourself and daring to break out of the humdrum daily existence to try something new and exciting. Could you reinvent yourself? Live nomadically from venture to venture? Who wouldn’t love to try a summer of festivals in a camper!

‘With a long sigh she says, “I felt like there was no sunshine anymore, you know? Like I was trudging through interminable darkness. Have you ever considered why you’re here, Rosie? Like right here, right now? This moment.”

This wonderful cosy read just resonated with me so much! With copious amounts of tea, books and a trip to the countryside ... what is there not to love?

“Sometimes I feel like I’ve lived a thousand lives already,” he laughs. “And one thing I’ve learned is there is no right way to walk this earth, and we can only learn from those in our lives, take whatever lesson we can from it and keep going.”

Visit Helen @ Great Reads & Tea Leaves

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon

Title:  What the Wind Knows

Author: Amy Harmon

Publisher: 1st March 2019 by Lake Union Publishing

Pages: 416 pages
How I Read It: ARC book
Genre: women fiction, historical fiction, romance

My Rating: 4 crowns

Synopsis:

In an unforgettable love story, a woman’s impossible journey through the ages could change everything…

Anne Gallagher grew up enchanted by her grandfather’s stories of Ireland. Heartbroken at his death, she travels to his childhood home to spread his ashes. There, overcome with memories of the man she adored and consumed by a history she never knew, she is pulled into another time.

The Ireland of 1921, teetering on the edge of war, is a dangerous place in which to awaken. But there Anne finds herself, hurt, disoriented, and under the care of Dr. Thomas Smith, guardian to a young boy who is oddly familiar. Mistaken for the boy’s long-missing mother, Anne adopts her identity, convinced the woman’s disappearance is connected to her own.

As tensions rise, Thomas joins the struggle for Ireland’s independence and Anne is drawn into the conflict beside him. Caught between history and her heart, she must decide whether she’s willing to let go of the life she knew for a love she never thought she’d find. But in the end, is the choice actually hers to make?

My Thoughts

Amy Harmon has a new book out! Sign me up! Amy is one of those buy without knowing authors, as her writing is so lyrical and you are always guaranteed to be swept away. ‘What the Wind Knows’ is a wonderful tale of Ireland during the 1920s.

‘I’d often wondered, absorbed in piles of research, if the magic of history would be lost if we could go back and live it. Did we varnish the past and make heroes of average men and imagine beauty and valor where there was only dirge and desperation? Or like the old man looking back on his youth, remembering only the things he’d seen, did the angle of our gaze sometimes cause us to miss the bigger picture?’

The novel was well researched on so many aspects, everything from the clothing worn, to the political unrest, all adding to its authenticity. There are a number of really interesting aspects to this book: the mythical story of Niamh and Oisin, excerpts from Yeats poems, key moments of the Irish Revolution, cameo’s by Michael Collins’ and his fight for freedom and finally, a timeless love story of Anne and Thomas. Bound to be something for any history lover in this book.

What I did find, however, was the balance was not quite right for me between all these aspects. There is a lot of history in this book and sometimes it is to the detriment of the more personal aspects, such as the love story. I would have preferred to learn more of the story between Anne and Thomas. Amy makes a valiant effort to link the history to the people ie. through the inclusion of Michael Collins, but it does not quite fully gel. I feel like there were two distinct tales - one a history lesson the other a love story. So whilst I appreciate the amount of time and research that went into this book , I really wanted to learn even more about the characters, particularly Eoin who was so central but glossed over as an adult. I admittedly skimmed some parts which is shocking for an Amy Harmon book , yet I needed to be more invested in the personal tales that were being told and not the outright historical recount.

If you have never read an Amy Harmon book, I suggest you do ... and soon. She has an incredible way with words and I will gladly read anything and everything she writes. This book is not one of my more favoured ones of hers, however that being said, I still loved it and would recommend to those who have a particular interest in Irish history. This is a well written tale with the added bonus of a beautiful, historical, time traveling romance.

“Shh,” I soothed. “’Tis just the wind.”

“What story is it trying to tell?” she murmured, her voice rough with spent emotion.

“The wind knows every story.”

Visit Helen @ Great Reads & Tea Leaves

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release