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Liar Bird

by Lisa Walker (Goodreads Author)

3.85 of 5 stars 3.85 · rating details · 27 ratings · 12 reviews

Cassandra Daley has never given much thought to wildlife until she loses a PR war with a potoroo.

Sacked and disgraced, she flees the city. Not for a tree-change, just a bolt hole. But small-town Beechville has other plans for her.

Feral pigs, a philosopher frog and a town with a secret, could things get worse? Add one man with the sexiest way with maps she's ever seen and...more

Paperback, 352 pages

Published January 1st 2012 by Harper Collins Australia

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Nov 05, 2011 Jill rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-romance, 2011-4-5-5-stars

Debut

The Lyrebird is one of Australia's best-known native birds.

Cassandra. She's bright and breezy, the slick PR queen from Sydney.
Mac. He's taciturn and grumpy, the wildlife ranger from the North Coast bush.

I watched him for a few moments. "Um, Mac?"

He grunted.

"What do you do if you've got a frog in your toilet?"

"Get it out." He didn't even look up.

Cassandra Daley is in big trouble. As one of Sydney’s top public relations whizzes she’s twisted the truth a little at times. But now she’s been fo...more

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Feb 09, 2012 All About rated it 5 of 5 stars

All About Romance

Desert Isle Keeper Review
Grade: A-
Sensuality: Subtle

This eBook is available from Amazon and other eBook retailers.

Quirky, innovative, original, and unpredictable are just some of the words that come to mind when describing this new release by Lisa Walker. I was thoroughly charmed by these attributes - so much so that it joins my short list of Desert Isle Keepers.

Developers working to put through a housing project on the edge of the rainforest run into a little problem wi...more

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Feb 29, 2012 Marg rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: aww2012

Cassandra Daley (always called Cassandra - never Cassie or Cass) is living the dream. Dream car, dream house, dream boyfriend (even if he is a bit dim), dream job. As one of the top PR girls in Sydney she regularly appears in the society pages. She works hard, and plays hard. Really hard. Not bad for a girl who has evolved from gothic teen with a penchant for French philosophy who comes from the less than glamorous western suburbs of Sydney.

That is until a newspaper journalist exposes some shonk...more

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Aug 27, 2012 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: aussie-author

Liar Bird is a quirky, romantic comedy and an engaging debut for Australian author, Lisa Walker.
The first rule of public relations is 'do what it it takes (but don't get caught)'. Cassandra Daley takes the fall when a journalist exposes the truth behind one of her more creative PR campaigns and is exiled to the tiny country town of Beechville. Organising a press conference in the CWA hall to raise awareness of feral pigs is a far cry from a gala perfume launch in an exclusive Sydney Art Gallery...more Liar Bird is a quirky, romantic comedy and an engaging debut for Australian author, Lisa Walker.
The first rule of public relations is 'do what it it takes (but don't get caught)'. Cassandra Daley takes the fall when a journalist exposes the truth behind one of her more creative PR campaigns and is exiled to the tiny country town of Beechville. Organising a press conference in the CWA hall to raise awareness of feral pigs is a far cry from a gala perfume launch in an exclusive Sydney Art Gallery, especially when Ranger Mac seems determined to see her fail, but with a little bit of spin maybe everything will turn out alright after all.

Written in the first person, Cassie's eccentricities, which include consulting Alice in Wonderland for advice and conversing with a green tree frog that lives in her toilet bowl, are delightful despite being a little strange. Cassandra's overinflated ego takes a bit of a battering in Beechville, especially when the local ranger Mac goes out of his way to be unhelpful, but as Cassie's 'city girl' veneer dissolves she becomes a likeable protagonist and I was charmed by her growing self awareness. She shows some smarts and grit by facing the challenges of her new role head on and also demonstrates a willingness to both admit her mistakes and learn from them. Walker plays on 'the fish out of water' scenario as Cassie encounters a rare mouse on the run, a Blue Tongue lizard mistaken for a Taipan snake and wild roosters amongst other native fauna and flora, all in situations that will make you smile.

Beechville is populated by a handful of amusing characters including a bashful admin assistant, an absent eco warrior boss and a pub owner who pits his military training against the cane toads invading northern NSW. Mac is the Wildlife Ranger who, despite his scruffy look and surly attitude, Cassie is inexplicably drawn to. Though the ups and downs of the relationship is a bit of a stretch, it plays nicely into the secret that is at the heart of the novel's plot.

Distinctly Australian with references to Chiko Rolls, swooping magpies, The Chaser, Wolf Creek and a host of music hits, including You're the Voice (John Farnham) and Love is in the Air (Paul Young), the title is actually a play on the name of a native bird - the Lyre Bird. I enjoyed Liar Bird for its wit, warmth and quirky spirit and look forward to reading more by Lisa Walker in the future.(less)

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Feb 08, 2012 Bree T rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: aww2012, australian, arc, kindle-version, chick-lit, netgalley, romance, women-s-fiction

Cassandra was the hottest thing in PR in Sydney. It had bought her a beautiful apartment in Manly overlooking the water, a Ferrari and a reputation as being the best. She had a handsome if slightly boring male hairdresser boyfriend and the hottest wardrobe and appointment book in town. Everyone wanted to book her to manage their events.

And then it all came crashing down. A scandal involving a potoroo means that Cassandra’s name and reputation are mud. Her boss is forced to let her go to distance...more Cassandra was the hottest thing in PR in Sydney. It had bought her a beautiful apartment in Manly overlooking the water, a Ferrari and a reputation as being the best. She had a handsome if slightly boring male hairdresser boyfriend and the hottest wardrobe and appointment book in town. Everyone wanted to book her to manage their events.

And then it all came crashing down. A scandal involving a potoroo means that Cassandra’s name and reputation are mud. Her boss is forced to let her go to distance himself from the scandal and she’s humiliatingly advised to stay away from any public events. Cassandra knows that she just needs to lay low for a while, maybe 6-12 months and then she’ll be back. There’ll be another scandal, people have short memories and she can come back and resume her glittering career.

She interviews for a job as a PR for the tiny town of Beechville in far northern NSW close to the border. Barely more than a dot on the map, Cassandra shudders at the thought of living there but she knows that they probably don’t read the newspaper that brought her down so therefore they don’t know of her disgrace. Surely enough they can’t wait to offer her the job and Cassandra trades her apartment for a tiny cabin in the rainforest with a frog in the toilet and cockroaches that run across the floor.

Cassandra has always been able to get what she wants, especially with men. There’s no one she can’t bring around to her way of thinking with a smile, a flick of her hair and a twitch of her hips. So when the local ranger Mac shows no signs of falling for her charms, Cassandra is both piqued and intrigued. The more he makes out he actively dislikes her, the more determined she is to make him like her. She senses he’s attracted to her but he’s steadfast in his refusal to warm to her, making life difficult for her in the small town and waging what Cassandra sees as a small one-man campaign to get her to leave.

But Cassandra’s from Sydney and she’s made of sterner stuff than that! There might be different challenges here in this small town but she’s not the type to let anyone get the better of her. Until she starts to wonder just what is going on in this town and what people, especially the taciturn Mac, might be hiding from her.

Liar Bird is the first novel from Australian author Lisa Walker and I have to say, I quite enjoyed it. We’re introduced to the not-very-likable Cassandra in her preferred environment, which is being a PR genius in the city of Sin, Sydney, admiring her lovely northern beaches apartment and her pretty-but-not-very-substantial boyfriend. Cassandra isn’t at all a sympathetic character at first and it’s almost kind of satisfying to see her brought down for lying, the scandal forcing her to reassess her priorities. She needs to lay low for a while, so she picks a tiny dot town on the map of far northern NSW to hide out in until the terrible scandal dies down. She dislikes everything about it at first – it consists of a pub, information office, supermarket and little else and her home is a supplied cabin that comes with an assortment of wildlife flatmates, none of which Cassandra has much love for.

Despite the Manly polish, Cassandra (Cassie) is really just a girl from Blacktown, in the Western Suburbs of Sydney and I love how this novel slowly strips away the facade she has established, the persona she has developed. She starts to care for other people and for the town of Beechville itself and especially for Mac, the rather standoffish ranger who first draws Cassandra’s attention with his lack of regard for her. I really liked their interactions, Cassandra trying to get his attention and him desperately trying to avoid her knowing that he was aware of her. Mac knows that she’s not the sort of girl he should be attracted to but it’s a losing battle he’s fighting.

The other thing I really enjoyed about this book was the frog in the toilet situation. When I was at my first university in Western Sydney, in our second year we had to be moved out of our dorms due to an OH&S issue and placed in some of the houses around campus that were generally for international/guest lecturers. Myself and three other students were placed in this huge gothic-style house on the second floor, which was really only four bedrooms, a sunroom and a bathroom. We shared a kitchen with the downstairs residents, a lecturing couple from America. In our upstairs bathroom we would frequently lift the lid and find a tiny frog swimming around in there. Usually he’d disappear at the lift of the lid but occasionally he didn’t seem bothered and we’d have to scare him back down as it’s not nice to pee on frogs! He stayed there for the entire length of our stay (about ten weeks) and we gave him a name and treated him like a house member. Cassandra’s situation with the frog in the toilet of her cabin reminded me a lot of the time I spent in that house!

I felt the characterisation was well done here – I grew up in an area not too far from where Beechville is supposed to be and am familiar with a lot of the small towns in the area and the people within them. The “countryfication” was well done without the locals seeming like hick stereotypes and having also lived in Sydney, I’ve met a few people like Cassandra as well! I admired the way Cassandra became a character I really felt for by the end – I was nearly crying for her when she discovers a deception towards the end of the book! I always enjoy a writer who can make me feel a myriad of emotions for a character and Lisa Walker certainly achieved that in this book.(less)

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Dec 20, 2011 Kaetrin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebook

ARC from NetGalley
full review to come.
This is an Australian book which is being released in January 2012 (HarperCollins Australia auto approved me on NetGalley - I am loved!). I've reviewed it for ARRA and it will be in the December newsletter for members. I'll post the review here after the newsletter comes out. It's kind of chick-lit with romantic elements, in that the romance is not the main/sole focus of the story. As I'm not much of a chick-lit reader, I suspect this affected my grade.

FULL...more ARC from NetGalley
full review to come.
This is an Australian book which is being released in January 2012 (HarperCollins Australia auto approved me on NetGalley - I am loved!). I've reviewed it for ARRA and it will be in the December newsletter for members. I'll post the review here after the newsletter comes out. It's kind of chick-lit with romantic elements, in that the romance is not the main/sole focus of the story. As I'm not much of a chick-lit reader, I suspect this affected my grade.

FULL REVIEW
Why I read it: I was offered a digital ARC by the publisher via NetGalley.
What it's about: Part chick-lit/women’s fiction, part farce, part mystery with a dash of sweet romance on the side, Liar Bird is the story of Cassandra Daley, shining star of the Sydney PR circuit. The story begins when one of Cassandra’s houses of spin falls in a heap, leaving her covered in scandal and persona non grata in her home city. She accepts a job as a PR rep in the small town of Beechville on the North Coast of New South Wales, where she meets a cast of quirky characters and one grouchy wildlife ranger, Mac. It seems that Mac, isn’t happy about Cassandra’s arrival and pretty soon, a series of unfortunate events which appear designed to force her back to Sydney occur – and all can be laid at Mac’s door. It’s difficult to explain the story more without giving away spoilers, but let’s just say it involves feral pigs, endangered species, lies, a media circus, a flood and wild chickens. It’s the classic fish-out-of-water story, complete with a green tree frog in the toilet!

What worked for me (and what didn't): Cassandra takes inspiration from Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass:

“Like me, my mother believes there are guiding forces at play in our lives. Unlike me, she isn’t satisfied with allowing a children’s book to channel these forces for her.”
And there are wonderful and (in the context of this book) pithy quotes from the book interspersed with the text. Cassandra also subscribes to the philosophy of Rene Descartes and, after meeting said green tree frog in her toilet, has imaginary philosophical discussions with Rene Treefrog. Told in the first person, the story shines with Cassandra’s dry humour, from the discussions with her Blacktown family, her thoughts about the Sydney social sharks and her experiences in Beechville.

Where the book falls a little flat is in the romance department. Cassandra is immediately physically attracted to Mac but they have very little interaction – Mac is taciturn, hardly talks to her at all and he gives every appearance of wanting her out of town. The reader has nothing of Mac’s POV except through his dialogue, which is, mostly, very spare. It was difficult for me to completely buy the level of attraction Cassandra felt for him and that made it hard to buy into the events immediately before the flood and her fast turnaround to “Cassie”. After the flood, the story dragged a little – I felt this part could have been shorter and this would have improved the story – for me the mystery part of the story started to edge over into frustration territory.

What else? It’s very much an Australian story, with references to local landmarks, SBS and Home and Away and it was certainly an amusing read. If you like stories with a bit of everything together with a touch of romance, this one is probably for you.

(less)

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Sep 27, 2012 Carla Caruso rated it 5 of 5 stars

Loved this book! Sated my animal-loving side and depicted the Sydney PR scene so well. Have the eBook version and now want the print one!

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Mar 26, 2012 Shallowreader VaVeros rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance, aww12, environment, rural-australia, vanity, contemporary

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 12, 2012 MB rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012, romance-and-chicklit, crossing-cultures, contains-humor

Great review here: http://www.likesbooks.com/cgi-bin/boo...

That was fun! I found myself giggling through this book. It was fun to see the city slicker dumped in the the wilds of the country played out with an Australian setting. A vocabulary list of the slang used would be a nice addition.

And I couldn't guess the ending! Always a good point for me.

3.5 stars. I'll be watching for more by this author.

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Mar 23, 2013 Lauredhel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: australian, contemporary, australian-women-writers-challenge, aww2013, romance, rural-setting, humour, rom-com

One day, one day, I'll read a chick lit book without fat-hate. 'Till then, however, this was heaps of fun. Not your average chick lit, and not your average city-slicker rural romance, this is a jolly romp, featuring a 'quirky' country town and a dishy ranger who aren't quite what they seem. Amongst the humour and lurrve, this book also has a bit to say about PR and about wildlife conservation. Enjoy.

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Feb 17, 2012 Sheri rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: chick-lit

Set in the Australian rain forest and written by an Australian author, this book had a lot of Australian slang/language in it. The author's voice was different, the story was different. It's nice to get something quite different once in a while. It's not everyday I find Tasmanian Devils in my book.

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Aug 27, 2012 Isabel Mansfield rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not bad Aussie author Aussie theme

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About Lisa Walker

Lisa's first novel, 'Liar Bird' was published by Harpercollins in 2012. Her second novel, 'Sex, Lies and Bonsai' is released in January 2013.
She is an award-winning short story writer. Her play Baddest Backpackers aired on ABC Radio National in 2008. She has worked as a wilderness guide and environmental communicator. She writes, surfs and works in community relations on the far north coast of New...more

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