Take Two

by Danielle Hawkins

A brilliant, funny new novel from the bestselling, beloved Danielle Hawkins

'Take Two is that rare and special thing, a novel that is effortless to read – I sped through it in a day – but is also emotionally genuine and original. Danielle Hawkins is a natural storyteller with a light touch and she doesn't shy away from the gritty and the real. She is New Zealand's very own version of Marian Keyes.' - Nicky Pellegrino

Sometimes you have to revisit your past to find your future.

Laura and Doug were together for ages. Their breakup was just one of those things – she wanted children, he didn't, no hard feelings – at least not until, with their relationship barely cold in its grave, he got his new girlfriend pregnant.

Now, seven years later, a polite social call to his parents lands Laura back in the family, helping Doug and his playboy younger brother to cope with a whole raft of crises. And what better time to re-evaluate your major life decisions than when you're wrangling a farm, a bookshop, two small children, your ex's wife in labour and his two sick parents?

This is Danielle Hawkins' best novel yet. Funny, tender and not afraid to tackle the big issues, it will have you laughing and shedding tears in equal measure. "Hawkins is reliably kind, drily funny, and observant ... like Jane Austen in Red Band gumboots." - The New Zealand Herald.

Genres: Romance, Audiobook, Contemporary

288 pages, Paperback

Published March 26, 2024

About the author

Bestselling New Zealand author Danielle Hawkins lives on a sheep and beef farm near Otorohanga with her husband and two children. She works part-time as a large animal vet, and writes when the kids are at school and she's not required for farming purposes. She is a keen gardener, an intermittently keen cook and an avid reader. Her other talents include memorising poetry, making bread and zapping flies with an electric fly swat. She tends to exaggerate to improve a story, with the result that her husband believes almost nothing she says.

Reviews

[Ellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s so comforting reading about people tootling around doing farm work in rural Aotearoa and having gentle interpersonal drama.

[Zar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly love Danielle Hawkins. All of her books make me so happy - the very real NZ settings, the effortless dialogue, the way you fall in love with all of the characters immediately. This book is shorter than the others (I think?) and it feels a bit high level sometimes because of that - maybe a bit more rushed than her other books - but I still cried real tears for multiple pages and it was the sole joy of staying in bed all day with a cold so five stars nevertheless.

[Jen | jenreadsx · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tropes
- Ex boyfriends brother
- Forced proximity
- Small town
- New Zealand romance

I absolutely loved Take Two! A romance by a New Zealand author set in rural New Zealand, I could picture the scenes perfectly! The story follows Laura, after the pandemic she’s a bit lost in her career, when visiting her hometown she bumps into her ex boyfriends family, learning his Dad has terminal cancer she takes a trip back to the family farm to visit. After her ex’s new wife goes into premature labour, she is asked to help look after her ex’s parents and children. The story is so heart warming and at times super funny. I really loved reading this one and the way it made me feel. I absolute recommend this one as a gift for Mums too! It has minimal spice so is friendly for all ages.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore all of Hawkins work and this is no exception. Combining easy prose with true characters and heartfelt humour, Take Two is a great read about country living in NZ, the importance of family, and a depiction of the type of happiness I want to strive for. I recommend Hawkins to everyone and this will be no exception.

[Amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a very easy read that I could picture in my head perfectly 🤗 Being set in NZ meant I recognised exactly what the scenes would look like and had such a clear picture in my head that was absolutely lovely! Plot wise I did find this one a lil light around the middle but the beginning and ending had enough to get me through and keep me picking it up. I didn’t expect the sadder elements of the plot either which really hurt my heart at times 😭 As I often unfortunately find in novels in this genre, there were a couple of stray fat-phobic comments that were (as always) necessary but these were fortunately brief and only pulled me out of the book for a minute. Overall this was a good read, not something I think I’ll remember forever but I enjoyed reading it and am happy to have this cute cover on my shelves 💕

[Lemurkat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in one sitting (over midnight, lol). I enjoy these sort of family drama/romances with older characters and i especially enjoy Danielle's writing because shes not afraid to through in some of the grosser aspects of being a farmer/working on a farm. Gotta love a protagonist who's not afraid to dag sheep etc. Great characters... oh how i wanted to slap Camille at times! And how my heart ached for poor Cat.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always love Danielle’s stories, the NZ based family and relationships tales, and this one was such a fun read! I laughed, then cried and then laughed some more!! I found myself yelling at a few characters- you’ll know who they when you meet them! And am always a little sad when it finishes, just like any good book should!

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this read & will definitely be looking for more Danielle Hawkins books now. Enjoyed the rural setting in my home country. This story was moving, I got frustrated with characters, cried, laughed out loud many times. The sign of a good book for me; getting emotionally invested. It had depth, was an easy read and navigated some tough topics.

[Erin Rowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was an easy read and so hard to put down I just wanted to read till the end.

[Holly Sutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Danielle Hawkins! Kiwi author and her books are set in NZ rural small towns 🤩

[Grace Rhynd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always adore Danielle Hawkins and she’s done it again. A fun rom-com set in rural NZ with well thought out characters and storylines that are hilarious and real. With bits that actually made me snort with laughter - I’d highly recommend!

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this! It looks like it will be a light read but it deals with some heavy stuff.

[Thu · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars - lovely little NZ small town romcom with characters that feel so real and some genuine laugh out loud moments. the torture fly was iconic

[Dana Light (dlight_reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forced Proximity
Rural Small Town
Contemporary Romance
New Zealand

This is my first Danielle Hawkins novel, and it's safe to say it will not be my last.
Set in rural New Zealand, this book reminded me so much of my partners family home, with characters strongly representing the 'classic' NZ farmer.

It is so easy to get lost in this story, as you fall in love with each character and their effortless warmth.
This book feels like a warm hug on a cold winter's day. Containing a great mixture of tender, moving and heartwarming moments, Take Two is chocka filled with the great Kiwi personalities we all know and love.


This book deals with illness and loss so beautifully, celebrating life rather than the passing itself.

I would absolutely recommend and encourage all readers to join this romantic, rural, Kiwi journey.
I’m now on a hunt to find some more of Danielle Hawkins books! 💛

[Wendy Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've yet to meet a Danielle Hawkins book I didn't like, and this has to be one of the best so far. I devoured it in a day, it was such a delight to sit and read. Okay, so I picked what was going to happen (relationship-wise, not the whole story) but that just made it easier to sit back and enjoy the tale unfolding.

And my opinion of her books has nothing to do with Danielle (in her professional capacity as a vet) saving my goat's life after it ate some poisonous rhododendron many years ago, LOL!! ;-)

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lower end of three stars. I’ll always give Kiwi authors a go, gotta support local.

A quick, super easy read. Bit on in the family, all the comings and goings to hospital… but suspending the disbelief, I did enjoy the banter between the family members, that was very realistic!

Wasn’t 100% sold on the love story, but there was enough to keep rocketing through the book.

[thebookishkimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to read and overall a really nice story. Frustrating at times, funny at others. I enjoyed it for the most part.

[Philippa Mulqueen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in one sitting and find there is much that has stayed with me. Hawkins does young children really well with their mix of vulnerability, manipulation, unpredictability, bickering, endearing trust in the significant adults in their lives, playfulness and need for love and boundaries. There are many wonderfully drawn characters like the aunt/sister who made everyone's life more difficult when she made her brother's end stage pancreatic cancer all about her was treated with far more respect by her family than she deserved. Or the retired wealthy 'I'm so busy and important ' woman who wanted the local bookseller to hold onto a book she was desperate to read while she tried to find a cheaper copy of it at The Warehouse. Or the mother who has a knack for making really cutting comments about her daughters. And the courage and strength, generosity and humour of the main characters drew me into their world.

[Catsalive · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweetly amusing, engaging rural romance set in a small town in New Zealand. The characters & lifestyle are believable: love, family, hard work & helping out.

Laura returns to the small town of Kairimu before embarking on a hike of the Te Araroa Trail, from one end of New Zealand to the other. She ends up spending a lot of time with the family of her ex-boyfriend Doug, helping his brother, Mick, in the house & farm where dad Peter has pancreatic cancer & mum Cat has just broken her leg very badly. Doug sounds like a bit of a dick, so she's better off without him, but the rest of the family are lovely & Laura fits in perfectly. She certainly ends up with the better deal, I reckon.

A gentle, rather lovely tale. I'd like to read more from this author - as if I don't have enough on Mt. TBR as it is :0)

[Bree T · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Danielle Hawkin’s books. Chocolate Cake For Breakfast is one of my absolute favourites but I have enjoyed every single book from her. I somehow missed this one and just came across it during a random scroll of the books new to my library’s ebook platform.

Laura is in her late 30s and she’s finished up her latest government contract and is visiting a few family members and friends before going on a long hike in New Zealand. From ages 18-31 she dated Hamish Douglas (aka ‘Doug’) but they broke up because Laura wanted children and he did not. Doug immediately got his next partner pregnant within months. Upon visiting Doug’s mother she learns that Doug’s father Peter has terminal pancreatic cancer and makes an impulsive visit to see him. She’s shocked by his appearance and genuinely devastated at his prognosis. Laura was a part of their family for over a decade and it’s clear that not only do they still love her very much, she still loves them too. The fact that she’s not with their eldest son anymore hasn’t changed anything. She also sees Mick, Hamish’s younger brother and when their mother Cat breaks a leg Mick calls Laura for help. There’s Cat to take care of, Peter and his up and down days, not to mention that Doug’s wife has gone into early labour at 28 weeks and someone also needs to mind the two older kids while he tries to split his time between his farm and being at the hospital with his wife. Laura is happy to help – she loves Cat and Peter and even though the break up with Doug contained multiple layers of pain, they’re {mostly} civil. What ends up happening between Laura and Mick will definitely test that civility over the coming weeks….

Really, really enjoyed this. Loved the New Zealand setting, as I do in all her books and I loved Laura and her calm acceptance of basically, all the chaos. She steps in to do a lot – she has to look after her ex’s children with his wife (and one of them resents her enormously in the beginning) and those children are clearly confused and upset by the disappearance of their parents. Peter, her almost father-in-law is very ill, although he has his good days and bad days. He is still fragile and struggles some days, and Cat, the very capable head of the household, is laid up with a badly broken leg that at first keeps her in hospital for surgery and then definitely restricts her movement and capabilities, a source of frustration for her. She also runs a bookshop in town, which will need help and seems to volunteer for various community things. Laura finds herself cooking for shearers, dealing with overbearing relatives and when she is released from hospital, hostility from Doug’s wife who definitely isn’t happy to find Laura in residence. And then of course, there’s the complex situation with Mick.

Normally I’m not sure how I’d feel about the love interest for a character being the brother of her former long-term partner. And very long-term. Laura and Doug were together for about 13 years. So she was basically part of the family. Mick is younger than Laura by a couple of years and it does seem like he’s spent a lot of time travelling and working abroad so it’s unclear how close they were when Laura and Doug were together. However, I loved Laura and Mick in this. I felt like Mick could’ve called multiple people for help but what he wanted, was Laura’s help specifically. He seemed to appreciate her in a lot of ways and even though she’s very torn about things in the beginning, the fact is, Doug moved on. Years ago. He’s married with 2 kids and one about to arrive at any moment. I thought Mick and Laura worked well together and even though we never saw Laura and Doug together, Doug didn’t endear himself to me as a character at all. He was really sulky actually and Laura is pretty frank about the faults he has that annoyed her during their relationship, behaviour that she sees him still displaying.

I also loved Cat and Peter. So much. They were both wonderful. I loved their rapport with Laura and their relationship with each other. This book excelled in showcasing family relations, particularly through a time of turbulence. We also get some interaction between Laura and her complicated extended family that showcases that as well. But most of the action is concentrated at Cat and Peter’s farm and I loved that part of it. Despite what was happening it honestly did seem like such a lovely place to be and Laura finds endless patience for dealing with kids, helping Peter, making cups of tea, helping Cat, dealing with Doug and his attitude, his wife and hers, as well as relatives who raise their eyebrows at her returning presence. I got so invested in this family, even the kids. One of them is definitely adorable and the other one is very serious, definitely a bit standoffish at first, really not interested in Laura being caretaker but she gently perseveres and that combined with basically there being no other options, you get to see her develop a fun bond with them.

My only criticism of this one is that I do honestly feel like it was a bit short – I could’ve spent so much more time with these people! I wanted more from them, more with Laura and Mick and more just…general stuff. I never felt like I had trouble connecting with anyone but I do feel like a few more things could’ve been developed more. This is a relatively short book, it definitely could’ve easily had another 50+ pages, for me personally. This is still another excellent Danielle Hawkins book though. If only I had more to read!

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was such a splice of life of rural living on a farm and small town rather than focussed solely on the romance. I didn’t expect that but I grew to love the characters and the daily interactions whilst dealing with some serious issues and caring for the elderly.
This book features a beloved parent with terminal cancer, and some scenes just broke my heart.
I love the support that the characters gave each other and the romantic element was so cute, even the kids made the situation better!
Very enjoyable read and this won’t be my last Danielle Hawkins read.

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading a book that was so completely kiwi and relatable. There was something really comforting about it and all the familiarity.
I really enjoyed the story itself, the main characters were likeable and I was rooting for them to get together.

Personally, I found the writing style a bit jumpy and sometimes it felt like I was almost reading a script but there were also some really beautiful descriptive elements to break it up. The story itself was enough for me to want to continue.

If you're looking for a cute kiwi contemporary romance then this will scratch that itch.

[Marit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a warm, affectionate and captivating read, set in New Zealand. A delightful change from murder and dark deeds. Laura Mayer is drawn back into the life of her former boyfriend and his family’s crises. Farm life, critical friends and family, dodgy developers, infertility, a premature birth, demanding but adorable youngsters, ill health and gorgeous animals all add up to a tender, emotional, at times humorous and heartfelt story, written in an engaging style. Highly recommended.

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved When Everything Turned to Custardand enjoyed 2 other Hawkins’ novels so,looked forward to this one and it didn’t disappoint. Really authentic setting, a variety of relatable characters, great dialogue and a plot which moves along quite nicely (although some elements could potentially have been explored more - the retirement village development for example). Read in a day and thoroughly enjoyed.

[Lyss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take Two by Danielle Hawkins is an absolute delight—easy to read and hard to put down. I picked up this book looking for a cozy, heartwarming read, and it did not disappoint. The story feels like an intimate glimpse into a year in the life of an ordinary family, following them through their ups and downs (though mostly downs). By the end, Laura felt like a friend, making it difficult to part with her.

While the main plotline may seem slightly far-fetched in hindsight, it felt entirely realistic as I was reading. I really enjoyed every moment of this book and only wish I could experience it again for the first time!

[Steffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book randomly at the library and was super excited for the first 1/3 that I’d found a new romance author I could binge.. somewhere along the way I started rushing to the end but not in a good way. I would describe it more as retelling of events rather a plot.. hard to put my finger on it exactly! Not bad at all and I loved that it was set in NZ and not too spicy and tackled some interesting themes but just lacked something… for me!

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This is a cosy "home for the holidays" romcom with a distinct New Zealand/ Antipodean flavour. The author has done well weaving together themes including family, life and death, second-chances and rural life. There is a cast of distinctly drawn, funny and/or lovable secondary characters. I could clearly picture this story turned into a film or tv drama. Would also have loved to see the back story fleshed out a little more - some of the plot progression feels a bit rushed.

[Bernadette Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another absolutely fabulous read from Danielle Hawkins. Every time I read one of her books I want to meet the characters and visit the places that she talks about. (Justine from a holiday in New Zealand this week ☺️) The characters were so relatable - every family has some of these characters in their own family tree. Thank you

[Lena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVED this book! It was such an easy yet heart wrenching story and as a farmer I found the references to farming amusing. Was great that it is set here in New Zealand and I could picture lots of the places mentioned. I actually laughed out loud a couple of times. I will most definitely recommend this book.

[Avalon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laura and Doug were an item for years until he said he didn't want kids so she left but apparently he went and got the next girl pregnant to Laura's dismay. Laura is at her sister's for Xmas when Doug's brother calls and asks if she can come and help. His Mum isn't well, they need help with Doug's kids as his wife is in hospital so Laura agrees .....