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With You in Wild Orchards

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Twenty years ago, Luna's aunt Juliette convinced Luna and her mother to write down their deepest secrets. She hid those secrets in a box. Then, in a pine forest far from home, Juliette buried what they wrote.
Luna never planned to go in search of that box. Whatever secrets her mother and aunt wrote that day, Luna had wanted to remain buried. But when Juliette dies unexpectedly, Luna discovers her aunt was hiding more than the secret she buried twenty years earlier. Searching for answers, Luna returns to the small town Juliette had once loved; to the trees guarding their secrets.
There's one problem.
The pine forest is on private land. That land belongs to the sexy-but-guarded Jamie.
The more Luna chases Juliette's ghost, the more uncertain Jamie becomes of her intentions, but the more time they spend together, the more their chemistry builds.
It's complicated. And scary.
Especially since the last thing Luna expected to find was love ... or herself.

340 pages, Paperback

First published April 24, 2023

37 people are currently reading
40 people want to read

About the author

Rania Battany

13 books34 followers
Rania Battany writes raw, real and relatable romance that packs an emotional punch. Her characters are charismatic and sometimes flawed; the romances are passionate and sensual; and the stories tug at the heartstrings, always coming together in a powerful and beautiful Happily Ever After.

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5 stars
133 (58%)
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65 (28%)
3 stars
24 (10%)
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3 (1%)
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
Profile Image for Helen.
2,852 reviews41 followers
April 17, 2023
I know when I pick up one of MS Battany’s books I am going to be swept away in a beautiful, moving and heartwarming story, one that is filled with so many emotions and real people and this one is no exception as we get to know Luna, her mother Annie and her beloved aunt Juliette, add in a lovely country town and Jamie, gorgeous but so vey guarded and untrusting and he has reasons for this, come along and meet them all.

Growing up there was pretty much always Luna her mum and her aunt that is when her aunt was here but they spent many times in the beautiful small town of Edens Valley here Juliette was the fun person where as her mum always had rules to follow that really had to be followed. On one trip Juliette convinced them all to write down a secret and then buried those secrets in a tin under a pine tree, twenty years later Juliette has passed away overseas and Luna returns to Edens Valley to find answers.

Luna is overrun with memories on her return to Edens Valley and those pine trees are on private property, and her first meeting with the new owner is not what she expected, Luna has never felt this way about someone before but he really doesn’t trust her, she ends up staying in the cottage they used to stay in and here are more memories and the more time she spends with Jamie the more their attraction and chemistry grows but Jamie is a hard person to convince that she is trustworthy after what he has been through.

Uncovering this buried tin uncovers secrets, big secrets that will change so many things in Luna’s life these secrets had been held for thirty odd years and they open up so many emotions, will Luna finally find her true self and understand her mother and of course Juliette and will she find the love that she deserves with Jamie?

I could not put this book down, it is such a fabulous story written so beautifully, Luna has a lot to cope with in her life and Rania has made me see how hard it can be to live as Luna has her whole life, I do highly recommend this book it is a gorgeous romance that had me cheering them on, the characters are real and honest and they had all gone through a lot in their lives, there were tears from me happy tears, I loved Jamie and Luna this story is going to stay with me for a long time to come. Don’t miss this one. I loved it.

My thanks to the author for my copy to read and review.
Profile Image for Grisette.
618 reviews80 followers
October 15, 2023

4.8 stars

I finished this book a few minutes ago and I am still in a daze. When I started this book, I did not know that this was going to be a coming of age story, with a clean romance. I thought the blurb mysterious but nevertheless just a possibly nice little romance. How wrong I was and how happy I am to be wrong! Any vague notion I may have had before reading was far, far from what I read. Coming of age stories are rarely my cup of tea. The modern trend of recounting family secrets stories, usually by exploring at least 3 different generations of women's lives at one go, is generally a tedious experience for me. This was so not the case with this marvellous book. I got caught into a total whirlwind of soft, amazing and heartfelt emotions. And to my relief, there was no competing generational pov timelines. No, instead I got raw, genuine and tangible human emotions that echoed deeply, all wrapped in a dreamlike, earthly atmospheric setting. I can only stand up and heartily applaud RB for the magnificent prose and story that she chose to share with her readers.

Yes, there was romance and it was deliciously simple and angstily sweet. And though it is not explicitly mentioned in the story, I can't help but be convinced that the meeting of Luna and Jamie, though years in the making despite the numerous threads linking them, had all the hallmarks of sweet fate in action, waiting for just the right time for them to meet and fall in love. To that effect, their sweet romance did feel epic to me and my much contented heart.

But the story was also much, much more than that. The whole family and life story of Luna was breathtakingly captivating and profoundly human (with its flaws and all). It was heartbreaking but also exhilarating and soul reaching. The plot elements touching on Luna's lifelong struggle with Type I diabetes struck close to home in an incredibly relatable way (though I could never pretend to have had the same struggles as Luna) and it enriched the story to an even greater degree. Her 'soulless and sterile' existence also resonated deep and so true, as was her difficulties to maintain personal relationships, and her existential ponderings. I guessed the mystery by the 60% mark but I still enjoyed mightily the slow reveal of all the secrets. By the last page, I wanted to read on and on and remain in Edens Valley's cocoon.

And to top it all, the poem extracts penned by RB were pure delights:
After a beat, he started reading, his tone soft: ‘I thought I knew. Then you kissed me, and I realised I’ve known nothing at all. Sound, taste, scent. I didn’t know colour until there was you.’

Until the Author Note at the end, I had no idea that the story was taking place in Australia. It was sure a pleasant surprise 😊. I am so grateful and feel so priviledged that I read this book. It will remain in my mind as my favourite feel-good, sincere book of the whole of 2023. 💯 recommended from the bottom of my soul.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Craig and Phil.
2,166 reviews129 followers
April 23, 2023
Thank you Rania for gifting us a copy to read and review.
A contemporary fiction story with shades of the past, a splash of romance, a hint of secrets, a moment of truth and an abundance of raw emotion.
Twenty years ago, sisters Juliette and Annie and Annie’s daughter Luna were a tight threesome in Edens Valley.
They decided to write down their secrets, place them in a box and bury them in the forest.
Luna never wanted to find them but things change.
Fast forward to the present and Juliette dies suddenly.
Discovering secrets, Luna goes in search of the truth.
Returning to the small town, she finds that the box is deep down in the dirt on now privately owned land.
Land owned by the handsome Jamie.
On their first meeting they clash and continue to but soon sparks will fly.
Luna never expected to find romance on this journey of self reflection as well as the answers to her questions.
An emotionally charged tale with a delightful cast and a heartfelt encounter.
Rania’s words are appealing, hypnotic and strong and while we are totally engaged in her fictional world, her wonderful storytelling takes you away.
Capturing feelings and giving the reader something to relate to is what Rania certainly achieves and much more.
I always welcome a read from this very talented author and it regularly leaves a place in my heart.
An enjoyable experience with an author I admire and this book comes highly recommended.

Profile Image for Claire Louisa.
2,064 reviews119 followers
April 23, 2023
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

In her newest novel With You in Wild Orchards Rania has once again wowed me with her ability to write a character I related to deeply while putting my emotions through quite a bit for the 5 or 6 hours it took me to read it.

Grief, it's an emotion that most of us will experience in one form or another over the years, whether it's from losing a loved one, losing a dream, the end of a relationship, leaving our homeland or home town and many other big and small things. Grief is a complicated emotion and no one person will have the same reaction or deal with it in the same manner, for some it might last a minute, and for others an eternity. The people we meet in With You in Wild Orchards; Luna, Jamie, Juliette, Annie, and Alan, each one has lost something, a dream, a friend, a loved one, and each one has dealt with it in a different way. Juliette's grief caused her to make decisions that in turn affected the lives of those she loved, decisions that changed the course of other people's lives and left secrets in their wake.

With her Aunt Juliette's passing Luna is set on an emotional journey of grieving, remembering the past, searching for answers about her aunt, opening her heart and letting go, so she can realise a future she'd forgotten she wanted.

When Juliette dies, she leaves behind a minefield of secrets for Luna to discover and unpack, secrets which have affected many parts of both her and her mother's lives and their relationship with each other. Juliette was the person Luna felt the closest to, she was constantly in awe of her aunt and the way she seemed to live such a full and adventurous life. But Juliette also continually left, off exploring the world leaving Luna in a cycle of loss and though she hasn't really acknowledged it, essentially a feeling of being abandoned. Now Luna is forced to deal with those feelings she's done such a good job of pushing down (I'm not ready to deal with my own feelings around that subject, but then, are we ever really ready?).

It is amazing how our hearts and minds work, how we perceive people and events one way only to look at them years down the track and realise that we only saw a part of the picture or only one aspect of a person, whether by choice because we didn't want to see or because others didn't want us to see.

Luna is a character who carries a lot of pain inside, deep inside, buried deep so she doesn't have to look at it or deal with it, she's done a good job of squashing painful thoughts and feelings inside, (something I know how to do well also), but by doing this she purposely hasn't allowed herself the opportunity to love or be loved and has lost her spark and passion for life, even going so far as to forget what those passions once were.

The town of Edens Valley is as much a character as the people and plays an important role in Luna remembering the things she'd forgotten and the feelings being in that beautiful place gave her. Rania does a wonderful job of bringing the town and its surroundings to life and if I could I'd want to go and visit it myself, spend time under the willow tree by the river, sit on the hill overlooking the wild orchard, taste the food the locals put so much time and effort into producing.

It is in Edens Valley that Luna also meets Jamie, a man who is hurting, guarded and suspicious of what it is Luna is doing there. Jamie is also a caregiver and though he doesn't want Luna around and doesn't trust her one bit, he can't help but do small things to take care of her needs while also pushing her to leave. Jamie, unlike Luna, hasn't forgotten what his dreams and passions are and slowly, as Luna worms her way unintentionally into his heart, he starts to share what those dreams would look like. I could really feel Jamie's internal struggle, of wanting to dislike Luna, his mistrust of her and his desire to not allow himself to be emotionally vulnerable to anyone whilst being pulled towards her every step. I really liked Jamie, I could feel his goodness along with his hurt, I understood his dreams of not conforming to his family's expectations and following his own path, and I loved how he cared even when he didn't want to; sometimes it's the small things we do for others that can have the biggest impact.

At the same time, I could feel Luna's confusion about the feelings and emotions Jamie elicits from her, feelings and emotions she's never felt or allowed herself to feel before. I loved how once Luna makes a decision she jumps in with both feet, not allowing others to steer her off her path and I loved that by returning to Edens Valley in search of one answer, she finds so much more.

Through Luna, Rania has also managed to explore and cast a light on type 1 diabetes, a chronic disease I admit to not knowing much about. I had no idea just how dangerous it can be on so many levels to a person's health if it isn't managed correctly. I have a friend whose son has it and I've seen them constantly monitoring his levels, making sure he eats when he needs to and watching what he eats as best she can, but Luna's mother, Annie, takes all these steps to the next level, maintaining a rigidity that Luna as a child and a teenager, found stifling and caused resentment for her growing up and I can understand Annie's fear after reading about it. As an adult, we would have much more of an understanding of the dangers than a child and even then, many adults I know would struggle to make the right decisions for their health all the time. Young children are often the ones who it most commonly appears and depending on how it is managed and how their parents manage it with them, I can only imagine how it could feel terribly suffocating, limiting and a barrier to friendship and fun.

With You in Wild Orchards is a story about grief, love in its many guises, finding yourself and finding and following your dreams, about secrets and choices and their consequences. A story about living with an illness that affects your life and the choices you make, good and bad. A story that has made me wonder what I'm truly passionate about and whether there is a way for me to follow those passions once I figure them out. Rania has once again made me look at myself and the way I cope and manage my emotions and challenges (I guess I need to be reminded occasionally about this) and whether they are really working for me. It's a story with real, slightly flawed characters who are trying to live their lives the best they know how while dealing with the ups and downs life throws their way, just like all of us.
9 reviews
March 17, 2023
*I received an adavanced reader copy* Luna's story is captivating, sweet and heartbreaking all at once, wrapped up in a gorgeous small-town setting. This story starts with Luna returning to the small town she used to visit as a child with her Aunt Juliette following Juliette's death. There, she discovers that the people she loves aren't as they seem, and in searching for their thruth, she discovers her own. The romance between her and Jamie is believable and engaging. I loved thier banter! The character development, as always with Ms Battany's books, was exceptional, and the story is beautifully written. A recommended read.
Profile Image for Michelle Montebello.
Author 19 books230 followers
May 2, 2023
A sweeping tale of lost love, a decades-old family mystery and a box of secrets buried under magestic pine trees. That is what you will find in With You in Wild Orchards!

Rania Battany brings to life a captivating love story spanning multiple years that I couldn't put down. Always a fan of Rania's work, it didn't surprise me in the least that I became lost in this story. She weaves a clever web that will leave you guessing the secrets until the last page, all against the backdrop of picturesque regional Victoria.

A stunning story that came to life on the pages. 5 stars.
Profile Image for Christy Grace.
Author 2 books
January 13, 2024
3.5 stars

Cute small town feels all the way through. The story was fuelled by grief, finding who you really are, what your passion is and love.
The romance was good. I enjoyed the characters and how they came together. The “third act conflict” really almost came at the end of the book, which meant resolution was quick. I didn’t mind that though, mature and reasonable adults could easily resolve things the way we see happen in a quicker resolution, and I think this one was written quite well.
17 reviews
July 17, 2025
I surprised myself!

Romance not for me I thought. But this isn't a run of the mill romance novel. Rania Battany has written a touching thought provoking story that touched a longing to be the younger me that I had forgotten. Her style of writing is warm and beautifully crafted without being intense or smoltsy. A story of finding yourself after letting life get in the way. Yes it is escapism but don't we all need a little of that in our lives. The storyline was easily guessable but that didn't stop me enjoying it.
7 reviews
March 18, 2023
With You in Wild Orchards is about love, self discover and family. It's about the length someone will go to protect the ones they love, and about the truths we hide to do that. The romance is gorgeous. The setting is just beautiful. Another fabulous romance from Rania Battany.
I received an advanced reader cop.
427 reviews9 followers
November 15, 2023
Easy read

I am not really into romance novels. I picked this up for the mystery/secrets. It was obvious how Juliette and Noah were connected and I guessed some of the secrets. It would have been better if the revealing of secrets was scattered throughout the book instead of all revealed in the last two chapters.
9 reviews1 follower
September 10, 2023
great read

I loved it the mystery, the town the characters. A really uplifting story there’s messages there for everyone. Thankyou for bringing it to life. Happy endings are worth fighting for.
19 reviews
July 14, 2024
you won’t want to put it down!

Hooked from early on, this book leads to a very enjoyable experience of wanting to follow the dreams to be realised by the main character, Luna. Rural landscapes and the forging of relationships are revealed.
24 reviews
November 23, 2023
A beautiful story

This book had me hooked from the strong female characters to the stunning landscapes. A truly wonderful read. Would recommend
Profile Image for Kirstie Ibrahim.
1,849 reviews19 followers
December 2, 2023
I just adored this beautiful heart warming and at time heart wrenching story. My first book by this author and i will definitely be reading more. I love how things all panned out at the end.
34 reviews
December 13, 2023
wonderful Story

I loved how the story unfolded & how the main character grew. Beautiful relationships & one that made me appreciate my own Mother so much more.
18 reviews
May 24, 2024
lovely story

Truly heart warming. I really liked this book, also well written. Nothing raunchy, no explicit sex scenes, just a story about life and love.
Profile Image for Tanya Nellestein.
Author 26 books83 followers
May 6, 2023
breathtaking

This book will have everyone moving to small towns, and not just because of the handsome, brooding men. Edens Valley is brought to life in all its magical glory by Rania’s words. Her characters burrow their way into your heart as each one battles their demons. A perfect escape!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews

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