I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

​Madeleine has lost her mother and braved the seas to come to the hot, untamed Hunter Valley. Within a day of her arrival, she loses her father - and discovers that he has omitted many things in his letters home. There is no grand house. There is back-breaking work to be done, especially if she wants to hold onto her father's land and his dream. But help can come from unexpected places - and so can love.

A stunning debut novel - and I certainly hope it isn't Beavan's last. I stayed up way too late just to finish this, because I enjoyed the book so much (though now I wish I had savoured it a bit!). A lot of research went into this and it shows. The writing itself is superb and flows so well, which is part of the reason I couldn't put it down. I will admit that I was easily enthralled by the setting because my own ancestors arrived near the area at practically the same time as Madeleine!

​I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Helena Montgomery has been orphaned, left penniless, and now has to somehow give her younger sister a Season. Only a good marriage will save them now. Lord Sebastian Radcliffe seems like an excellent suitor for her sister - if only Helena didn't feel sparks in his presence! And how will he respond once he knows Helena has become a highwayman in order to support her family?

I loved the premise. I loved Helena. I LOVED this book. It made going to bed at a decent time completely impossible and I have no regrets! A plus-sized heroine...diverse characters who aren't just servants...steamy scenes...a deadly secret. This ticked every box for me. It's also on the shorter side for historical romance, which I appreciated (otherwise I'd have been awake past midnight lol) but you don't feel like you're missing anything. An excellent first book of what looks to be an excellent series.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Annalisa Cappelli is the last one standing - she runs the small hardware store that her family opened during the 19th century. But the arrival of a Carpenter's Warehouse, a chain hardware store, spells disaster. Why does Ed Carpenter, whose family is responsible, have to be so good looking? If only he could be more like GardenerGuy94, her online friend. Perhaps they're more alike than she realises...

Well, this book was always going to have a tough customer in me - I absolutely love You've Got Mail. But you know what? I enjoyed most of it. I'm so relieved to find a romance book that doesn't ignore or dance around the pandemic, but incorporates it into the storyline. Annalisa and Ed were great - but overshadowed by the delightful old guys and Annalisa's nonna.

Now. The big problem. Some lines of dialogue seemed to be copied and pasted straight from You've Got Mail. Mostly tweaked, occasionally verbatim. This was really off-putting to me. If I wanted to experience those scenes again, I could just watch the movie.

Meet Me in Bendigo shines the most when it stands on its own.

​I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Gwen and her cousins, Trudy and Milo, have been forbidden from practicing magic - all thanks to an ancestor and a spell that went awry. So far they've managed lived on the straight and narrow (no one wants the Council to punish them!). Well, as much as they can. But both magic and drama are about to upend their lives, especially after Gwen's foster sister, Tannith, sends them all a mysterious letter.

I found this exceptionally difficult to get into and I was thinking "oh this reaaaally isn't for me". But once the rough start was over and done with, I started to enjoy the shenanigans in Zenobia. Gwen, Trudy and Milo are great characters - I feel like I know them after all that craziness. But Tannith was a Passions-grade villain (not my thing) and oooh that rough start. That said, A Letter to Three Witches is a bit of witchy fun that may just brighten your afternoon.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Olive, Elsie and Bree move their growing wellness centre into a larger place and must navigate the ensuing changes and challenges in their lives. For Olive, it's her secret past surfacing in the form of the wellness centre's new masseuse. For Elsie, it's her role as stepmother and soon-to-be mother. For Bree, it's the sister who blows in and out of her life and causes trouble wherever she goes. Achieving wellness will be harder than any of them ever realised.

I'm always hungry for a novel that explores the varied and fascinating relationships between women and this certainly delivered. Olive, Elsie and Bree felt like real people to me. I could easily picture running into them on the street. May has a history of making me ugly cry (see her previous novel, The One!) and All We Have is Now was no exception. Definitely park yourself beside a box of tissues when you pick up this book. A thoroughly satisfying read.