Lavender Hill

A Windamere Novel #1

by Alissa Callen

Second-chance love, family secrets and a small-town mystery to uncover ... A charming and heartwarming new series begins. Picture-perfect rural romance from bestselling author Alissa Callen.


When horticulturalist Rylea Laurent lost both her brother and the boy she loved, she fled rural Tasmania and found refuge among the lavender fields of France. After nine years, her father's poor health brings her home, but to her dismay she's not the only one back in town.

Kane Ashford has returned to Windamere in search of answers. Despite his success as a grain trader, the past still haunts him. What really happened to his brother and best mate, Rylea's brother, on that long-ago camping trip? As for Rylea, the girl he was forced to leave behind to protect his family secret, he's never forgotten her either.

Determined not to fall for Kane again, Rylea tries to keep her distance. But when the two are thrown together to unravel their family tragedies, old feelings resurface - along with a new threat to Rylea's lavender farm.

As matchmaking whispers spread and Rylea and Kane become the small town's most watched couple, will the not-so-subtle efforts of the Windamere Gardening Girls be enough to help them risk their hearts and claim a long-overdue second chance?

PRAISE FOR ALISSA

'I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to say goodbye to Bundilla ... Snowy Mountains Dawn is a heartwarming story of facing your fears and opening your heart to love.' - The Burgeoning Bookshelf

'An enjoyable story about community ties and love.' - Canberra Weekly magazine

'Snowy Mountains Promise is a delightfully charming rural story about love and healing. If you love rural romance, electrifying chemistry and page-turning prose, this is the book for you.' - Better Reading

368 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication January 28, 2026

About the author

When USA Today bestselling author Alissa Callen isn’t writing she plays traffic controller to four children, three dogs, two horses and one renegade cow who really does believe the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. After a childhood spent chasing sheep on the family farm, Alissa has always been drawn to remote areas and small towns, even when residing overseas. Once a teacher and a counsellor, she remains interested in the life journeys that people take. She also is partial to historic homesteads and country gardens and has been known to drive hours to see an open-garden. She currently lives on a small slice of rural Australia in central western New South Wales.

Reviews

[Karren Sandercock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rylea Laurent lost her brother Caleb in an accident, at the time she had a huge crush on Kane Ashford, and she left Tasmania and has been working as a horticulturalist in the lavender fields of France. After nine years Rylea returns home permanently due to her father's declining health and she discovers she’s not the only one back in town!

Kane has returned to Windamere in search of answers, about what happened to his brother Lucas and his mate Caleb on the fateful camping trip? Kane, his mum and remaining sibling were forced to depart not long after the tragedy, for their own safety and he’s never revealed this to anyone.

Rylea tries to keep away from Kane which is very hard to do in a rural area, and he offers a reward for information, soon he and Rylea together are investigating leads and trying to connect the dots, and it’s obvious they still have feelings for each other and will they give in to temptation?

The narrative is full of vivid descriptions of Tasmania, lavender fields, Kane’s grandfather’s cottage and Windamere. The perfect location for a story, it has great characters including, Rylea, Kane, Denevan, Darcy, Naite, Tory, Mem, Hannah, Dr McKinley and Viola from the Windamere Gardening Girls Club.

I received a copy of Lavender Hill (A Windamere Novel Book 1) by Alissa Callen from NetGalley and Harlequin Australia in exchange for an honest review. A small town mystery and where people are hiding secrets, it’s full wonderful and diverse personalities, cute children, dogs, cats and goats and I can’t wait to discover who will be featured in the next instalment.

I’m on team Rylea or is that Denevan, Tasmania has so much yummy food and it would be a shame not to eat it.

I guarantee like me you will want to move to Windamere, meet the community and be a part of it. Yes, it’s a second chance love story, but is so much more than that, I could rave on about Lavender Hill forever and five stars from me and I highly recommend.

[✰ BJ's Book Blog ✰Janeane ✰ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Copy reeived via Netgalley for an honest review

It has been a while since I have read an Alissa Callen story, however it was like coming home when I opened up the pages.

However they both are home with an agenda, and when they join teams to find answers, of course those butterflies are going to take flight again.

I did the tree change to a small town, so I get the small town vibe of the tale. What it is like to live in the smalltown fishbowl. The gossips and the rumours.How secrets have a way of coming out.

I really got into the mystery of Rylea and Kane's past, and I couldn't help but get swept up with them as they chase down all their leads, the disappointments, the heartaches. And along the way, watching as they fell in love again.

My only thing about the whole mystery was that it felt like a bit of a... shall we say let down as to how it all played out in the end. But that is probably just a me thing.

I look forward to more in the Windamere series in the future.

[Sally906 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lavender Hill by Alissa Callen was an excellent read, and an absolute page turner. In the space of a few days Rylea’s brother had died unexpectedly when camping and the man she loved, Kane, disappeared overnight with his family without a word. She went overseas to work to get away from her double loss and now nine years later has returned to Tasmania to take over the family lavender farm due to her father’s deteriorating health. She also wants to look in to her brother’s death as she feels it was never investigated properly. To her horror Kane has recently returned - and she realises she still has feelings for him.

Kane’s brother had died at the same time as Rylea’s brother, they were best mates and were camping together when they both died. Kane also wants to investigate the deaths because his family left so quickly he couldn’t follow through at the time.

So Rylea and Kane join forces both determined to keep their distance from each other emotionally, but as the suspense rises and secrets are revealed the barriers gradually breakdown.

I adored the small country community of Windamere, and enjoyed how quickly gossip spread, which was so true to life. There are some lovely back stories demonstrating - mostly involving the garden club ladies, lead by Viola, who were the main facilitators of the spread of information in the community - both truthful and way off truthful - but swung into action when anyone needed help. They also worked as matchmakers and determined that Kane and Rylea should be a pair.

An example of a back story, is when Naite, a close friend of Kane’s lied and said he had gluten issues when asked why he didn’t come into the bakery (the truth being he was avoiding the garden club ladies) by the time he got to the counter his requested egg and bacon bread roll was gluten free. Later at the pub he was refused a beer as it had gluten in it. The community had swung into action to help him cope with his dietary condition.

There were many little back stories like this which brought the community alive and made me want to visit. One other, my absolute favourite, was about a kleptomaniac Barbie! You really will have to read the book to laugh along with this one.

This is book one in Alissa’s new ‘Windamere’ series - and there are a couple of lovely single lady support characters, and single males, that I really hope are going to be come main characters in future books and get their happy ever afters.

Thank you to HQ fiction for providing an advanced copy of this book, at my request, for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5★s

Horticulturalist Rylea Laurent returned home to Windamere in Tasmania from France, and their lavender farm, with her father in poor health. She was determined to take over the farm and prove to her dad she was more than capable. Rylea's sister Darcy lived nearby and had kept her in touch with how things were going both on the farm and around town. The unexplained deaths of both Rylea & Darcy's brother Caleb, and their neighbour Lucas Ashford, brother to Kane & Denevan, ten years prior, was still heavy on their minds. Kane arrived back in Windamere around the same time as Rylea - searching for answers.

Both Kane & Rylea had been close when they'd both been in Windamere with their families, before the boys' deaths, with Rylea being devastated when he left town. Was she brave enough to get close to him again? She knew she would help him search for the answers they both needed, but was that all?

Lavender Hill is the 1st in a new series by Aussie author Alissa Callen and one I'm sure I'll enjoy. A Windamere Novel is the series set in the beautiful Australian island of Tasmania, so I know I'll be keen to read more about that state. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley & HQ Fiction for my digital ARC to read and review.

[Maree Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've only read one story so far by Alissa Callen, which was Under Christmas Stars, and I absolutely adored it. I have her 4 Snowy Mountains Bundilla novels on my tbr read pile and will be adding others as I find them.

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the wonderful characters of Windamere. I have never been to Tasmania (I live in Brisbane Qld) but I have visited a Lavender farm in Bundaberg so could easily picture the farm Rylea and her family love so much.

I don't want to give away any spoilers, but I love the small town gossip vine and how quickly it works.
Also it's great to see how everyone looks out for each other and lends a helping hand when needed.

I can't wait to read future Windamere stories.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Australia for the digital ARC. All opinions are my own.