Meet Me in Bendigo by Eva Scott 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.
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The Vet from Snowy River by Stella Quinn I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Vera De Rossi moves to Hanrahan to open up a cafe in a desperate attempt to make enough money to cover her aunt's hospice stay - and to pay her own mounting lawyer bills. She definitely doesn't need the complication of starting something with a hot vet. Josh Cody already has his hands full with his job and his teenage daughter, but he's more than happy to add Vera to the mix - if she'll let him. I really enjoyed the small town setting in this book, since busybodies and larger-than-life characters are a lot of fun to read about. But for a rural romance, it seemed to lack the key "romance" aspect. I just didn't see anything believably develop between the two leads and was rather bemused by them ending up together, which is weird because I love HEAs. But the overall storyline and the superb writing helped to ease that disappointment. Snowy Mountains Daughter by Alissa Callen I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Clancy is a small town girl who has always loved Heath, the man who preferred to travel the world for years instead of coming home. Heath has his reasons for staying away - and not just for his career as an artist. He can feel the promise of something more when he's near Clancy. But he knows he's not good enough for her. And besides, he's only in town to paint a mural and then he'll be gone once more. He's definitely not staying... I adored this novel and the characters populating its pages. This is a sweet rural romance underpinned by delicious longing (mmm tasty slow burn) and words left unspoken - and to top it all off, there's a fascinating family mystery threading its way throughout the story. Rural romance can be quite crowded, but Alissa Callen has written a true gem here and any fan of the genre should check this one out. Bottlebrush Creek by Maya Linnell Angie McIntyre and Rob Jones have finally found the perfect fixer-upper for their small family, but soon after buying it the cons seem to outweigh the pros. Spiralling costs, an overbearing mother-in-law next door, a twin brother who Rob would rather never see again, and miscommunications may just be the end of what Angie and Rob have been trying to build together.
Well, this must be the first time anyone's ever managed to make me feel sympathy for an overbearing MIL! But that's what I like about Linnell's characters - they're complex and realistic and even the worst of them aren't reduced to caricatures. Another excellent piece of rural fiction. It's so easy to fall into the rhythm of the country towns that Linnell creates for us and it's always so hard to leave them after the last page is turned. (PS: I'm still tickled pink by my review of Wildflower Ridge being quoted in the front of Bottlebrush Creek! I could say that I bought a paperback over an ebook for another reason, but I'd be lying...) |
AboutAlyce Caswell, when she isn't drinking her way through a giant pot of tea, can be found dabbling in multiple genres and writing forms. She has self-published several titles in her space opera family saga, which is divided into two series: The Galactic Pantheon and The Pantheon War. Her most recent book is The Shadow of the Gods. 
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