'Clancy of the Undertow' by Christopher Currie

Received from the Publisher 

From the BLURB:

We’re sitting there with matching milkshakes, Sasha and me, and somehow, things aren’t going like I always thought they would. We’re face to face under 24-hour fluorescents with the thoroughly unromantic buzz of aircon in our ears and endless flabby wedges of seated trucker’s arsecrack as our only visual stimulus.

In a dead-end town like Barwen a girl has only got to be a little different to feel like a freak. And Clancy, a typical sixteen-year-old misfit with a moderately dysfunctional family, a genuine interest in Nature Club and a major crush on the local hot girl, is packing a capital F.

As the summer begins, Clancy’s dad is involved in a road smash that kills two local teenagers. While the family is dealing with the reaction of a hostile town, Clancy meets someone who could possibly—at last—become a friend. Not only that, the unattainable Sasha starts to show what may be a romantic interest.

In short, this is the summer when Clancy has to figure out who the hell she is.

‘Clancy of the Undertow’ is a new contemporary YA novel from Australian author, Christopher Currie.

So strange that on the day I set aside to write my review of ‘Clancy’, I was getting all sorts of ping-alerts about this YA author Scott Bergstrom who had, advertently or inadvertently (but either way: stupidly), dissed the entire YA readership by claiming that his self-published YA novel (which recently had film rights bought by Jerry Bruckheimer) was more “morally complicated” than anything else in YA. A hashtag has since started up, with a whole bunch of authors and readers calling out Bergstrom’s self-absorbed, White Knight bullshit (and Chuck Wendig probably has the best response so far).

But it was amusing to me, because here I was trying to write a review of this book by Christopher Currie … a book with a lesbian protagonist, growing up in a rural small town whose already dysfunctional life is thrown into chaos when her father is involved in an accident that kills two local teens and the family suddenly finds themselves local enemies No.1

Yeah.

No moral complexity here AT ALL.

Move along.

The phone’s off the hook because some reporter from Brisbane got our number and Titch answered when she called. Mum ripped the cord and she was still shaking half an hour later. Kept saying, ‘Vultures,’ over and over. A news van came up to the top of the driveway one afternoon, a satellite dish poking out conspicuously from its roof. I was up in my room and I saw it creep up, stay for a moment, then drive away. Dad sleeps most of the day, goes out to the shed late in the afternoon and stays there until late at night to listen to the cricket. Angus is out most of the time. Probably up in the mountains or out at the observatory, who knows. 

In the mornings I collect the paper and take it up to my room. Dad’s name is in there now, going from ‘a local man’ to ‘council worker Robert Underhill.’ They’re still not calling him a suspect, because they can’t, but it’s clear the town’s already made up its mind.

‘Clancy of the Undertow’ is a complex, slow unravelling … of a town, a girl and an investigation. There were parts that reminded me of Robert Drewe’s ‘The Shark Net’, and more than once I found myself quietly comparing Currie to Raymond Carver, particularly for his short story "So Much Water So Close to Home" (which the film ‘Jindabyne’ was based on).

Currie has written about his transition from an Adult author to a Young Adult one – and to some extent, I had this article of his in the back of my head while reading his book (not least because I loved this metaphor: “equivalent of Superman trying to write his memoirs with a Kryptonite pen”). He said he stumbled across his 15-year-old protagonist, and then didn’t stop writing once he found her … I was thinking about this because a plot like ‘Clancy’ has, about the death of two local teens and impact on the family of the accused local man, has such multi-faceted possibilities. But there’s real power and impact in 15-year-old Clancy to be the one telling this story.

Clancy has a crush on the local hot girl. Her family was already dysfunctional, long before her father became front-page local news and the eyes of the town turned on them … There’s a sense when reading Clancy’s turbulent year, that we’re witnessing a young woman being forged in flames here. The story certainly had lots of possibilities, but coming from Clancy’s first-person point of view heightens everything to a delicious, heart-sickening tension – that this huge and devastating event has happened right when Clancy’s in the middle of figuring herself and her world out, to suddenly have it all ripped away from her.

Morally complex YA, yo!

I’ve said Currie’s storytelling reminded me of Robert Drewe and Raymond Carver ... allow me to add one more; ‘Clancy of the Undertow’ also feels like it could be a Paul Kelly song – all Australian setting and moral questions, being told by a young woman stuck in the middle of her life. Currie may not have consciously set out to write a YA novel – but I’m glad he found 15-year-old Clancy, and I hope he comes back to this readership who will welcome any new words from him with open arms.

5/5

The Wicked + The Divine: The Faust Act

From the BLURB:

Every ninety years, twelve gods incarnate as humans. They are loved. They are hated. In two years, they are dead. The team behind critical tongue-attractors like Young Avengers and PHONOGRAM reunite to create a world where gods are the ultimate pop stars and pop stars are the ultimate gods. But remember: just because you’re immortal, doesn’t mean you’re going to live forever.

‘The Wicked + The Divine: The Faust Act’ is the first volume (issues 1-5) of the popular Image Comics series, written by Kieron Gillen and illustrated by Jamie McKelvie.

I am so late to this series – I’ve heard people raving about it from the moment Issue #1 came out in June 2014, but it was only the recent announcement of a television series adaptation that finally jolted me to read. So now that I’ve read this first volume, I’ve become one of those frustrating people who want to talk about how great a series is … oh, twelve months after everyone else has already had the conversation. Apologies!

But, seriously, this series is amazing.

At first it was hard to wrap my head around the storyline, which is based on pop-culture mythologising. The series is told from the perspective of teenage Laura, a young woman obsessed with The Pantheon – a group of twelve people who discover that they are reincarnated deities and consequently live like supernatural rock-stars and powerful celebrity wild-childs for the two years of life they are granted.

Laura – like so many – is a real groupie of The Pantheon, who choose to wield their powers in various ways. Sun Goddess Amaterasu, for instance, plays up a hippie/boho Stevie Nicks-esque pop queen persona. Sakhmet is a spitting image of Rihanna (and if she’s not invited to play her in the TV series, I think fans will revolt) and has fun with her literal sex-kitten celebrity. Baal is a playboy with a mega-ego to rival Kanye’s, and a few others of the Pantheon like Baphomet and The Morrigan are cashing in on the mystery of their Gods and deities by spreading not-so-far-fetched rumours about their power and ire.

But Laura befriends one in particular called Luci – and does so just as shit hits the fan, and a murderer seems hell-bent on framing this Morning Star with the power of her own mind.

See why I struggled initially with the basics of this story? There’s so much going on and quite an eccentric cast of characters – and actually having the story told by Laura (who is a long time groupie of The Pantheon) is great, because she knows everything there is to know about them, and offers internal asides to the audience to keep us at once informed, and guessing.

You know what this series actually reminds me of? Those classic 90s (soooooooo 90s) TV shows – ‘Hercules: The Legendary Journeys’ and ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’. Oh my gosh – I was obsessed with those shows as a kid, and ‘The Wicked + The Divine’ has a little touch of their mythology fun, bringing famous Gods and Goddesses to hilarious life. Of course ‘The Wicked + The Divine’ does a lot more of mixing darkness with that flamboyance of god-like celebrity. I’m talking detailed illustrations of exploded-heads and deity smack-downs.

This series is also refreshingly diverse – with a multiracial cast, LGBTQ+ relationships teased and hinted at, and even a transgender character.  Yet another reason to be excited about this series coming to our TV landscape! There’s one potential coupling in particular that I found myself really rooting for (because their chemistry is a little electric) … but now that I’ve read Volume Two I can only warn you that ‘The Wicked + The Divine’ is like ‘The Walking Dead’ for stomping on fan’s hearts with who they take away. It certainly keeps things feeling thriller, when you never know who’s going to stick around from page-to-page, panel-to-panel.

This series is at once a delicious slice of jaded celebrity observation, with snarking Gods and witty back-and-forth banter, but it’s also got a lot of heart … when you think that these twelve young temporary deities only have two years of this immortal life – it’s no wonder they burn so brightly (even burning those around them) when they’re destined burn out so suddenly.

5/5 

Giving this Christmas

I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.

― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Christmas is nearly upon us, so I wanted to take this opportunity to blog about some gift-giving ideas. No doubt the bookish amongst us have wish lists to grow our reading pile, and that’s grand – buying books for Christmas is always a marvellous idea! 

But I wanted to let you all know of some truly wonderful charities that could use your help this Christmas, from all of us. Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, December is still a time of giving, and these charities need our help and support.  I know there are so many I could mention in this post, but I’ve chosen to highlight four that I proudly support.

Thank you,

Melbourne City Mission

This one in particular is for publishers (though donations from individuals are also needed and more than welcome! But they don't accept second hand donations, all must be "new, unwrapped and non-perishable"). I’ve been told that the Melbourne City Mission really needs children’s and young adult books as a priority. I know that as a book blogger I get lots and lots of books kindly provided for free, but I just can’t keep all of them because otherwise I’d be buried under a pile of paperbacks. I do donate books to the likes of the Footpath Library (more on them later), or my grandmother’s nursing home – but this year I’m putting aside all the kids and YA books I can’t keep, and I’ll be sending them on to Melbourne City Mission.

So if there are any publishers out there that always set aside books for donation, or maybe they (sadly) have books to pulp – it’d be great if they could consider donating to the Mission.

There are just a few things to consider when you’re donating books to them;

-       Age range: 10+ and adults
-       Off topic: Poverty, violence, alcohol, drugs, crime, trauma

Please deliver these any time between now and 4 December to:

Melbourne City Mission Christmas Gifts
164-180 Kings Way,
South Melbourne VIC 3205

Befriend a Child in Detention

This is a wonderful community project, committed to ending the detention of child asylum seekers. They could really use some help this Christmas – so if you’re in the market for beautiful Christmas cards – all proceeds go towards helping children in detention.

These cards feature artwork by Australian artist and author, and ‘Befriend a Child’ advocate, Gabrielle Wang! They’re just beautiful, and they’re also a reflection of the Pen Pal project that Befriend a Child also organizes.

Catrina Sofo, Project Volunteer, also stresses that an even better present to a child in detention is to; ‘get in contact with a Member of Parliament and ask them why 112 children remain in Australian detention centres, whilst another 95 languishing in Nauru. You might also ask them to explain why the average time a person is kept detained has now increased to 434 days (with the majority held for more than 730 days), despite all that we know about how traumatising detention is for all people, especially children. This will do so much for the long-term goal of changing refugee policy in the country.’ Amen.

The Footpath Library

This is one of my favourite organisations; ‘The Footpath Library aims to enrich the quality of life for homeless people, encourage literacy and promote a society that is well informed about homelessness.’

I recently asked some questions of Founder Sarah Garnett, for a freelance piece I’m working on. I asked her specifically about what the organization needs this Christmas. This is what she said to me:

‘Believe it or not, we don’t need books!  We have more books than clients thanks to the generosity of publishers and the general public.  What we do need are donations to help us deliver our service – every book costs us $11 to deliver.  And that one book can change the life of a child who is living in crisis accommodation with no possessions, or a young man who wants to return to study, or someone battling an addiction or depression who just wants to escape into a good story.  The Footpath Library’s running costs are $130,000 per year…. not much when you consider we deliver 28,000 books annually and we service the big charities like St Vincent de Paul, Mission Australia and the Salvation Army.  So please consider The Footpath Library if you are thinking of donating to a charity this Christmas!’

Donate here.

Indigenous Literacy Foundation

This is another wonderful organisation that does such grand work, and there are a few ways you can celebrate them.

The ILF sell some beautiful products – including books! – that would make pretty awesome Christmas presents. And then depending on if you want to help them out as an individual, as a drive in your school community, or if you’re a publishing house that can give a little – the ILF have ways for all of us to help them out.

'A MacKenzie Clan Gathering' MacKenzies & McBrides 8.5 by Jennifer Ashley

From the BLURB:

Ian Mackenzie is awakened at Kilmorgan Castle one night to find robbers stealing the priceless art collection of his oldest brother, Hart. Since Ian and Beth are the only ones in resident at Kilmorgan at the moment, Ian decides he must find the art and the culprits before the family shows up for Hart's birthday gathering. With Inspector Fellows and Beth, he investigates, though Ian is somewhat worried by Beth's late husband's brother, a retired missionary, who decides to visit. Does John Ackerley hold the "cure" to Ian's madness? And can Ian discover what has happened to Hart's treasures, and who is targeting the Mackenzies before the enemy strikes again?

‘A MacKenzie Clan Gathering’ is book 8.5 in the ‘MacKenzies & McBrides’ historical romance series by Jennifer Ashley.

This book is set in 1892, and though I had to catch-up on my reading with books #7 and #8, I followed the story of ‘Clan Gathering’ just fine, though others may be wary of spoilers for who ends up with who.

The book takes place in the lead-up to Hart Mackenzie’s birthday celebrations at Kilmorgan, with Ian and his family staying at the castle home when it’s broken into and a number of Hart’s priceless artworks stolen and Ian attacked when he confronts the thieves. This event triggers an investigation, with half-brother Mackenzie Inspector Fellows on the case of who is causing problems for the family.

The other storyline centring on Ian is the arrival of John Ackerley for a visit; he’s Beth’s brother-in-law from her marriage to deceased first husband, Thomas. When this book takes place, Ian and Beth have been married ten years and have three beautiful children – but Ian is still a little discombobulated by the arrival of someone from Beth’s past. Even more so when John – a missionary who has travelled to a variety of exotic locations – tells Ian that he is hoping to go into the mental health profession, and wishes to try his treatments out on the famously “mad” Mackenzie himself. This triggers Ian’s memories of growing up in a mental asylum, though John assures him such institutions have changed and improved since Ian’s torture at the hands of such “doctors”.

What’s really heartbreaking about this book is that a lot of it sees Ian questioning the life he has built with Beth, all because John dangles the promise of a “cure” for his madness;

 Help me do what? Be normal? Give Beth a husband she doesn’t have to apologize for, change her life for, be ashamed of?
 

It’s a fascinating time to touch base again with Ian, the lodestone of Ashley’s series and undoubtedly the most beloved of the Mackenzie clan. On the one hand he is thoroughly happy, content in his marriage and fatherhood – but even after ten years with Beth who has seen his socialising improve, he still questions and doubts himself as “good enough” for her.

I really loved this book though, for the way that Jennifer Ashley makes abundantly clear that Beth loves Ian in spite of nothing; she just loves all of him, always.

 The clarity of the numbers, the equation that existed in eternal perfection started to penetrate the fog. He was Ian Mackenzie, husband of Beth and father to Jamie, Belle, and Megan. Children with no madness in them, and clever, all three of them in different ways. Children to make a man proud.
 

Ian remains a real outlier in historical romances, for Ashley choosing to write a hero who is on the autism spectrum. ‘A MacKenzie Clan Gathering’ is a fun book to touch-base with all the Mackenzie families (though I always want more mention of Cam and Ainsley, my personal favourites) but it’s Ian who shines a little brighter in this delicious series, and a book so focused on him and his many happy years as a family man will be a lovely salve for fans of this series.

5/5

Writing for The Stella Prize Schools Blog

Soooooooo I have some news that I'm very delighted to share with you all ... I'm going to be writing for the Stella Prize Schools Blog over the next few months! 

The Stella Prize is of course the major literary award celebrating Australian women’s writing. In 2014 the Award branched out into the Stella Prize Schools Program - which is bringing Australian women's writing into schools and in some cases trying to make the reading curriculum more balanced and inclusive. 

Basically: it's an amazing and inspiring organisation all about helping and celebrating Australian women writers and I am thrilled and honoured to be working with them! 

My very first post is up (and features inspiring words from LoveOzYA author, Amie Kaufman!);  

Gender-flipping and Twilight

... And there's plenty more where that came from. OH! I have things to blog about, let me tell you. Stay tuned :) 

'Burn' The Rephaim #4 by Paula Weston

From the BLURB:

Suddenly, Gaby remembers everything. 

For a year she believe she was a backpacker chilling out in Pandanus Beach. Working at the library. Getting over the accident that killed her twin brother. 

Then Rafa came to find her and Gaby discovered her true identity as Gabe: one of the Rephaim. Over a hundred years old. Half angel, half human, all demon-smiting badass and hopelessly attracted to the infuriating Rafa. Now she knows who faked her memories, and how—and why it’s all hurtling towards a massive showdown between the forces of heaven and hell. 

More importantly, she remembers why she’s spent the last ten years wanting to seriously damage Rafa.

‘Burn’ is the fourth and final book in Australian author Paula Weston’s young adult supernatural series, ‘The Rephaim’. 

I did not want to read this book, and at the same time I’ve been dying to read this book! Yes, the epic struggle every reader must face as they come to the end of a favourite series – when we want to find out what happens, but don’t want the adventure to end. So perhaps the highest compliment I can pay to Ms Weston is a conflicting one; when I say I absolutely loved this book, but I hate that the series has ended. 

‘Burn’ picks up from the epic cliff-hanger of Book 3 ‘Shimmer’, when Gaby’s beloved Pan Beach was facing imminent attack by demons … and she also happened to get her lost memories of some 130+ years of life as an angel-spawn-warrior back. Yes – Weston hits the ground running in this epic finale, and she never lets up. 

In ‘Burn’, fans will be reminded that the events of these four books take place over just one week in the series’ timeline. Yes, ‘Shadows’, ‘Haze’, ‘Shimmer’ and ‘Burn’ are set in just one week of Gaby’s life; from the moment Rafa’s mysterious hooded figure first appears in her sleepy beach town, to Gaby getting 130+ years’ of memories back in the blink of an eye. But Weston makes beautifully perfect sense of this elastane timeline – she has, after all, written a supernatural series with immortal, heavenly creatures who can transport to any place in the world with just a thought. And at one point, Gabriella muses on the complexity of her immortality, revealing that Weston has craftily made readers feel as infinite as she does via the book’s elongated timeline; 

A thousand stars fill the sky, ghosts of dead suns suspended in infinite blackness. 

Infinite.  

I’ve never been able to get my head around the concept. How can space be endless? How can time have no beginning and no end? How can I – made of flesh and blood and bone – live forever? How can other realities exist somewhere out there – or right here – side by side with ours? Hell dimensions and heavenly dimensions. Endless realms in between, one of which is probably hiding, or holding, the Fallen.  

Where do we fit in the universe? We exist in this world but we’re tied to other, unseen worlds. We are Rephaim, children of the forsaken. What future exists for us if we find the Fallen? What future exists for us if we don’t?  

God, my brain hurts. 

Weston really plays around with time and memory in this book, which is no easy feat when the crux of the story has been a very human Gaby discovering that she’s actually a very old angel-spawn warrior whose memories were wiped. Weston provides back-story to the decade-old feud between Gabriella and Rafa that saw her turn away from her twin brother Jude when he formed the Outcasts … we are also flung back to just a year ago, and the events surrounding Jude and Gaby’s reuniting and disappearance. 

I have to work out how to wear my old life. I’ve been someone else for a whole year; I’m a different shape now. 

I’m not always a fan of the flashback – but Weston has a beautifully nuanced and complex few in ‘Burn’. I was particularly impressed at how well Gaby’s interior voice changes – between her human self being given back her past memories, and going back to ten-years-ago when Gabriella is a hardened Rephaim fighter. There’s real distinction in the Gaby/Gabriella’s first-person-narratives, and I found myself liking old-Gabriella just as much as the Gaby I’ve been reading since ‘Shadows’. 

I especially loved the way Weston reveals Gaby and Rafa’s tumultuous history. We all knew it was coming – this couple who’ve been drawn and repelled to one another, who have a slow-burn chemistry that’s simply delicious to read – but I tip my hat to Weston for making the pay-off so completely worthwhile. It’s been building up over four books now, but Weston managed to both give Gaby and Rafa enough plausible hurt in their history, tempered with the fiery romance they’ve been building throughout this series … they’re a masterstroke of a coupling, and as this series concludes I’m mostly going to miss their duck-and-weave romancing. 

Jude is another stand-out in this book which, again, is kinda impressive for a character that readers were only formally introduced to one book ago. But loving Jude so much in ‘Burn’ is bittersweet … but only if this really is the last-last-last time we’ll get any ‘Rephaim’ stories from Paula Weston. Probably because he’s been such a big part of this story, even with so little real-time page-time, Jude still feels like a mystery that readers could have fun unwrapping. And because I loved where Jude ended up by the end of this book, I’m crossing my fingers that maybe Paula Weston has some spin-off, short-stories SOMETHING – ANYTHING up her sleeve!

Highlight for spoiler!

[And because I loved where Jude ended up by the end of this book, I’m crossing my fingers that maybe Paula Weston has some spin-off, short-stories SOMETHING – ANYTHING up her sleeve!]

I don’t want to go too much into the plot details of ‘Burn’ – save to say, Paula Weston answers all our most burning questions and still leaves us wanting MORE … indeed, the book ends with so much possibility. Which is what you want from a series that was all about immortal teenagers – the sense that their crazy, supernatural life goes on and on and on. For me; I’ve loved everything about this series, and the finale was exactly what I wanted. Secrets revealed, lies exposed, romance galore and second-chances. I’m going to miss this world and these characters so damn much, but I thank Paula Weston for gifting readers this epic rollercoaster of a ride. 

5/5

'The Outback Bachelor Ball' series review

Received from the author 

SERIES BLURB:

A cow, a cowgirl and a divorcee walk into a bar...

Three unlucky-in-love girlfriends make a road trip to the Outback Bachelor & Spinster Ball, a highlight of rural Australian life. One's looking to move on, one’s thumbing her nose at romance, and one's looking to slip away and hide. None of them are looking for love...

Three women are about to meet their match in a cowboy, a soldier and a country rock star. One magical night. One less than magical morning after.

Forty-eight hours can change your life.

‘The Outback Bachelor Ball’ is a contemporary rural romance novella series from Canadian Joan Kilby, New Zealander Karina Bliss and one of my favourite Aussie romance authors, Sarah Mayberry. The novellas can be read out of order as stand-alones, but they are probably best read as a trilogy – with first novella ‘Win Me’, followed by ‘Woo Me’ and concluding with ‘Wait For Me’.

Confession: I don’t particularly like rural romances. I know, I know – stone the flamin’ crows, and after I wrote a whole spiel about why people should read New Adult romance and not reject the entire subgenre out of hand too! I know. I can’t help it – but when I think “rural” I’m more likely to go to a ‘Wolf Creek’ place than a men of ‘McLeod’s Daughters’ headspace. Luckily, the ‘The Outback Bachelor Ball’ wooed me with Joan Kilby’s first instalment, ‘Win Me’ – in which we’re introduced to the series’ three heroines, who are as dubious about rural Australian courtship as I am;

Amused, Ellie and Beth exchanged glances. Jen was always efficient and super organized. Ellie clicked on the link and the first photo that came up was of a naked, drunken cowboy gyrating with an empty beer can on his dick. They all howled with laughter. 

“Now there’s your Prince Charming,” Jen said. 

“Oh, yuck. It’s all drunken yobs, wet T-shirt competitions and if you’re lucky, a quick fuck in the back of a truck.” Beth said, checking out the site. “Even the title sucks – Bachelor and Spinster Ball. I’m not a dried-up old spinster, I’m a highly desirable…” She hunted for the right term. 

“Spachelor?” Jen suggested and they dissolved into fits again.

—   Win Me by Joan Kilby

Ellie McFarlane is our first heroine – she’s coming home from America where she’s been learning all about cattle ranch management, and though she’s excited to take charge of the family business, she can’t deny that returning home to her long-time crush and station manager Rick Drummond is another plus. But Ellie has to contend with Rick’s sense of proprietary when it comes to his feelings for his boss’ daughter (the man who is also his mentor, and more of a father to him).

Second novella ‘Woo Me’ is about Jen Tremaine; prickly and disillusioned with love – until she turns up to the Outback Bachelor and Spinster Ball with her two best friends, and keeps running into sexy security guard Logan Turner … he’s an ex-Special Forces soldier and their chemistry is electric.

Third and final is Sarah Mayberry’s ‘Wait For Me’, about Beth Walker who is coming off heartbreak and scandal after it was revealed that her country music star husband had been cheating on her, and for a long time. She’s leaving America and coming home to Australia, and her two besties – Jen and Ellie – who are keen to help Beth mend her broken heart. But the person who really ends up helping is an old friend called Jonah Masters, rising country music star and someone Beth shared a connection with many years ago …

Tying all three novellas together is the women’s friendship, and the B&S ball that acts as the setting to their ‘Stella Got Her Groove Back’ moments;

He didn’t trust himself to speak, so he simply pulled her close, tightening his arms around her and resting his cheek on the top of her head. No woman had ever felt so right, so at home in his arms and he figured he would be chasing this feeling for the rest of his life, always trying to find the same sense of peace and belonging.

—   Wait For Me by Sarah Mayberry

I rather enjoyed these rural romance reads – some a little more than others – but I do think that each one had a hand in chipping away at my rural romance hang-ups. I liked that the women’s friendship was the foundation for the series, and that the authors went into the more ludicrous aspects of the famed B&S ball – arguably, that dose of reality didn’t endear me to rural romance settings, but I appreciated the honesty.

Sarah Mayberry’s ‘Wait For Me’ was my favourite of the novellas – arguably because it has that cheating spouse storyline I weirdly like (I’m in the romance-reading minority on this one, trust me – I know) and probably because it had that hint of a ‘Nashville’ storyline with the country music scene (I admit: I went to a Keith Urban place … not a bad place to be, at all). I loved that Mayberry drew out Beth and Jonah’s complicated history, and I always love a good ‘Sliding Doors’ second chances romance.

‘The Outback Bachelor Ball’ is a pretty great little bundle of rural romance – and I’m saying that as someone for whom this is not her go-to subgenre! My overall rating probably more reflects that I thought the first two books were okay, but Mayberry's was more of a 4/5 for me ... so I'm splitting the difference. 

3.5/5