A Snowy River Summer by Stella Quinn

 

What does a small town mechanic have in common with a hot shot lawyer from the city? At first glance, probably not much, but some times fate knows better, no matter how much we try to fight it.

Kylie Summers is trying to get her business up and running in the small town of Hanrahan in the New South Wales Snowy Mountains. She knows that her mother isn't happy with her choice of career. Mum would much rather her be working in a much more feminine career, at least up until she gets married and starts having kids. The thing is, Kylie knows what she is looking for when it comes to love. She wants a farmer type, and she wants to stay in the country. She also knows that there is no one in the surrounding area who fits the bill. Whoever she ends up meeting will also need to know that there is a special place in her heart for her tractor, Trev! She has many deep and meaningful conversations with Trev!

When Damon Johns rocks into town, it's obvious that he has no plans to stick around. Damon is a very successful lawyer in the city. What his friends and colleagues can see, but he cannot, is that he is dangerously close to burning out. After a run in with a judge about his behaviour, and then getting picked up for drink driving, Damon does a runner. 

He ends up in Hanrahan because his mother has inherited a property from a relative that her sons did not know about. Mum has an aversion to reading her emails and so when Damon arrives at the property he is not prepared for the frustraton induced anger that is directed towards him. The property has  a contract to provide afternoon tea for tourists. The idea is that they catch a paddle steamer across the lake, have scones, jam and cream, and then head back to town. It sounds like my kind of activity. Suddenly, Damon finds himself serving hungry tourists alone knowing that he is the one who needs to make the scones until such time as he sells the property. 

Damon needs a driver and Kylie needs some cash and so they start spending time together. Damon also needs help sorting out the property ready for sale. When she finds a shed full of old tractors and machinery on the farm, Kylie is very excited. Tractors help her maintain an emotional link to her dead father. What Damon doesn't need is to be attracted to Kylie as he isn't going to be sticking around. He also doesn't need  his estranged brother to turn up to complicate matters even more.

I loved Kylie's determination. She is being bullied by another mechanic who operates outside of town, so she starts to come up with ideas on how she can differentiate herself and keep herself afloat. Along the way, she brings together other women who run businesses in the town so that they can support each other, and then this also extends to community wide activities that involve everyone in town 

Damon is pretty arrogant when he first arrives, but gradually he begins to see that maybe he isn't okay, and that he does need to look at his life and make some changes. Could that include living in the country in the future? 

Oh, and I can't forget to mention Alfie the Labrador who steals everyone's hearts.

This book is not labelled as being a series but there were clearly other stories that had been set in Hanrahan and I am curious now to go back at some point and read some of them. Stella Quinn was one of the authors at the book club retreat I went to a few weeks ago. She did mention that the next time she writes another story set in Hanrahan it is likely to feature Damon's brother which should be fun. Stella was hilarious at the retreat, and stole the show at the final debate. You can see this humour in this story too.

I don't read that much rural romance any more.  I am not really sure why as I enjoy them when I do read them. It might be because many of the authors who I read regularly have transitioned into other genres and I have followed them. I am definitely curious to read more of the Hanrahan series at some point. 

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews. 

Rating 4/5

Top Ten Tuesday: Animal Companions

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Animal Companions (These animals can be real or fantasy!) (submitted by P.S. I Love Books)

I was thinking about just doing a post with the word dog in the title, but it turns out I already did that a couple of years ago and I would have used a lot of the same titles! Instead, I am choosing books where there are dogs in the books. First though, here's a recent picture of our good boi, Max.

Now, onto the books!

A Snowy River Summer by Stella Quinn - Features a black labrador named Herbert.

Snowy Mountain's Daughter by Alissa Callen - There is a kelpie named Bundy in her series who just moves from place to place around town, whereever he is needed! (My review)

The Woman Who Met Herself by Laura Pearson - One of the characters, Debbie, starts walking a dog called Bonnie. (My review)

The Recipe for Happiness by Jane Lovering - Seren finds herself temporarily owning a Collie called Kez. Or is it temporary? (My review)

The Mirror by Nora Roberts - Mooks, Jones and Yoda! With all the books that Nora Roberts has written how on earth does she come up with character names and then have multiple dogs in the story too! I'm listening to this one at the moment!

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus - How could anyone forget Six-Thirty the dog? (My review)

Starting over at Starlight Cottage by Debbie Viggiano - Tilly tells her dog Cindy all her secrets. I mean, I talk to Max. I am not sure that he is that good at keeping secrets. (My review)

Hopefuly Hearts at the Cornish Cove by Kim Nash - Gladys the labrador plays a big part in this book. (My review)

A Christmas Surprise in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Christensen - When Molly the dog gets sick, Rachel takes her to the vet and meets the vet locum, Luke, who just happens to be her first love. (My review)

Muster Dogs: From Pups to Pros by Lisa Millar- I haven't actually read this but it is the book that accompanies the Muster Dog TV series, which I adore!

Sunday Salon: The Rachael Johns Book Club Retreat 2025

Last weekend I was privileged to attend the third Rachael Johns Book Club Retreat which was held in Perth in Western Australia with around 80 other readers and 16 authors. I have been to all three and they are always a lot of fun, and a great chance to connect with other readers and with authors! Here are the links to my 2023 and 2024 recap post. For context, Perth is about at a 3 and a half to 4 hour flight from where I live in Melbourne, which it turns out it the perfect length of time to read a book that you have left to the last minute to read!

I was born in Perth, and I still have a lot of family left there so I was able to combine the retreat with spending a little bit of time with a few of them, particularly my aunts! We went to lunch at a nearby pub on the Friday before one of them dropped me off at the hotel in Scarborough, and the other one picked me up on Sunday afternoon before we all had dinner together before I got on the red-eye flight which basically leaves Perth at midnight and arrives in Melbourne at 5.15 the next morning (still about 3 and a half hours allowing for time zone changes)

One of the highlights is always catching up with the people who you don't get to see very often. We now have a pretty established group of people, most of whom come from Sydney, but there are a couple from Melbourne and Adelaide. One of the people who goes is Bree from All the Books I Can Read. There are a few other bloggers and bookstagrammers who attended too.  Here are some of us at the photo booth during the Friday night cocktail party in our bad bridesmaid and/or devil horns! The theme is related to the last book released by Rachael Johns, which is called The Bad Bridesmaid

Scarborough is a beachside suburb and the venue was literally across the road from the beach. Think long sandy beaches, decent waves, and the weather was a perfect 25 or 26 celcius every day. I did manage to go and stick my feet in the Indian ocean. And the sunsets? Absolutely spectacular.

I mentioned the theme for the Friday night cocktail party. There is another reason to dress up which is the formal dinner on Saturday night. The theme for that was All that Glitters. As you might imagine the sequins got a big workout! There was bling everywhere! It was fantastic!

It's not all about socialising though. During the weekend their are two book club discussions. The first was for Stella Quinn's latest book A Snowy River Summer, which was the book that I read on the plane, and the Sunday session was for Natasha Lester's The Madamoiselle Alliance (which I reviewed here). Both sessions included an In Conversation with the featured author and an opportunity for us as readers to have a face to face conversation about the books.

In addition there were also several author panels. These covered topics like The Dark Side of Fiction, Bold Women, Big Stories and finally From Meet Cutes to Magic. The last two were moderated by Bree who did a great job! We also got to meet all the authors in a couple of speed dating sessions. And what is the effect of all of these reader/author interactions? An ever expanding TBR list of course! And there are also lots of opportunities to get books signed. The dodgy curtains did provide a distraction during the panels because the sun was beating down on the glass and the maintenance guy had to come in to try and move them. I wasn't sure that they weren't going to fall down at one point.

I did come home with 3 books, one from the goodie bag that we received on arrival, which is also packed with things like bookmarks and other merch, and one as a prize. There are always so many great prizes to choose from through the weekend. I did also buy some book earrings, a tea strainer and mug and one book! Here's some of the merch. Yes, there is more!

One of the highlights every year is the closing debate. This year the theme was that historical fiction is harder to write than contemporary fiction (paraphrasing but it was basically that). This is always so much fun and has everyone laughing. I have to say that Stella Quinn did amazingly well given that she got called in at the last minute. And the winner? The historical fiction writers for the win!

There are so many others things I could talk about and photos I could share but I hope that this summary gives you a good feel for the event!

Next year's event is a bit closer to home in Geelong, which is about an hour an a bit from my place. I have already booked my ticket and the hotel and I am already looking forward to it! We were also given a clue as to what the Friday night cocktail party theme might be. That gives me just over a year to stress about what to wear! 

Have you ever attended a book event like this?

This week...

Rachael Johns Reader's Retreat

I spent the weekend in Perth (my home town) at the Rachael Johns Readers Retreat! I will do a proper post later in the week once I catch up on a few things, but it was an amazing weekend. The hotel was right on the beach, the weather was glorious, the sunsets were spectacular and I got to talk about books all weekend with other book lovers! I am already looking forward to next year's event which is going to be in Geelong which is a bit closer to home!

I'm reading

Most of my reading this week for for the retreat. There were two book club books and so at the very least I wanted to make sure that I had read both of those. I had started The Madamoiselle Alliance by Natasha Lester last week and I finished that this week. 

The second book club book was A Snowy River Summer by Stella Quinn. I saved that one for the plane because I was hoping that I would get it read on the flight, and it turned out it was the perfect length as I started it at the airport and I finished it just as we were landing in Perth!

I took The Bad Bridesmaid by Rachael Johns with me to Perth to get signed so I figured it was probably time to read it! I finished this one on the flight home. I was glad I didn't have much left to read as I was on the red-eye special which left Perth at 11.45 at night and got to Melbourne at 5.15am. I was able to finish the book and then attempt to sleep a bit!

In other books, I finished An Italian Wedding Adventure by Leonie Mack which I started last week. 

I have two reviews due this week. The first is Wicket Maiden by Chrissie Harrison which is cricket romance featuring a woman cricketer. I have started this one. I haven't even started the second one yet. Time to get reading. 

I'm watching


We didn't realise that there was a second series of Andor so we watched the first episode of that last week. We will watch more. 

There are a couple of new shows that came out over the last week that I am excited about so I am hoping to get to those soon. 

Other than that I watched sunsets and sunrises from the hotel window



Life


While I was in Perth I was able to spend some time with my aunts and other family. It is always lovely to see them! And we always talk about books too!

Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: Change is Good....and Somewhat Inevitable

Blog Tour: The Cornish Cottage by the Sea by Kim Nash

Blog Tour: One Summer in Italy by Victoria Springfield

Away with the Fairies by Kerry Greenwood

Afternoon Tea Diaries - Red at Oxi Tea Room

Spell the Month in Books - May


I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date and Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors attending the Rachael Johns Reader Retreat 2025

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Authors (or books by authors) Who Live In My State/Country (submitted by Jennifer @ Funk-N-Fiction)

I love it when I am able to focus on Australian authors, and I think I could write a post just on authors who live in Melbourne but I am going to narrow it down a little bit. In a couple of weeks I am heading over to Perth for the weekend to see some family and to attend the 3rd Rachael Johns Reader Retreat. There will be about 100 readers and 20 featured authors attending and I am looking forward to it! 

Today, I am sharing ten authors who are attending the retreat! A lot of these authors live in Perth so it is good for them not to have to travel to the retreat this year. I have met some of the other authors at previous retreats so I am going to start with the ones I have not yet met.

I posted about the previous retreats. This is the post for 2024 and this is the one for 2023.

Some of these might be a bit hard to track down for anyone living outside Australia, but I hope that this list is still of interest

Barbara Hannay - I have read Barbara Hannay before when she was part of the quartet of writers who wrote the Outback Brides of Wirralong (reviewed here) and the Outback Babies series. She has quite an extensive backlist!

Kylie Kaden - I am not familiar with this author's books so it will be interesting to learn more about her!

Alexandra Almond - A debut author who comes from Melbourne!

Nadia Mahjouri - I have heard such good things about this author's debut novel.

Deb Jordan - The third of the debut authors who will be attending the retreat

Nicole Flockton - I am not really that familiar with this author although she has written a lot and is a USA Today best selling author! I had to pick this title as soon as I saw it although this particular book doesn't come out until June!

Christine Wells - I have been meaning to read Christine Wells for the longest time as I should love her books! I did start this one once but didn't get very far before I got distracted!

Sara Foster - Technically I did meet Sara Foster years ago, but it was a very, very long time ago!

Natasha Lester - I actually did meet Natasha Lester a couple of weeks ago, but her book The Madamoiselle Alliance is one of the book club books we will be discussing over the weekend.

Stella Quinn - This is the other book club book that we will be discussing over the weekend. Stella was at the inaugural retreat a couple of years ago.

There are lots of other authors going that I have met before! I will most likely post something about the retreat once I get back!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Autumn 2025 to-read list

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books on My Spring 2025 to-Read List. For us, it is autumn, so I am really doing Books on My Autumn 2025 to-Read List

The Mademoiselle Alliance by Natasha Lester - In May I am going to Perth for the Rachael Johns Reader Retreat and this is one of the book club books which will be discussed. 

A Snowy River Summer by Stella Quinn  - Same with this one!

Where the Birds Call Her Name by Claire van Ryn - This is the same book club's selection for April. I have a review copy so I really want to read it and participate in the conversation for once.

I am Nannertgarrook by Tasma Walton - This is a book from a new indigenous imprint with one of the major publishers. It is historical fiction and so it should work for me.

The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods - A bakery! In France! Sign me up

The House of Lost Whispers by Jenni Keer - I am due to review this towards the end of April. I am looking forward to it.

The King,s Messenger by Susanna Kearsley - Susanna Kearsley is one of my all time favourite authors but I still haven't read this! 

The King's Jewel by Elizabeth Chadwick - And the same applies for Elizabeth Chadwick!

The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor - I have heard such good things about this book!

The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki - I am heading off to Japan this week on holidays so I really want to read one or more Japanese books while I am away.

Of course, this is all subject to change at any times and some or all of these books may yet appear on my Winter reading list. Well, except for the first two!