Woman at Willagong Creek

by Jessica Hart

Born and bred in the outback!A hard man, a typical outback man--that was Guy Richardson. And he had no intention of letting David, his cousin's orphaned son, be uprooted and dragged off to some strange country. Olivia Bridewell might have been David's legal guardian, but Guy was family.Olivia couldn't understand it. Guy was a bachelor and the new owner of a vast, ramshackle property in the middle of nowhere. Why wasn't he relieved to get rid of the responsibility of a small boy?But David needed Guy--and his life at Willagong Creek. He also needed a mother. Could a marriage of convenience be the answer?

Genres: Romance, Australia, Harlequin, Harlequin Romance, Marriage Of Convenience, Hqn, Contemporary Romance

219 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

After a haphazard career spent working and travelling around the world, I stumbled into romance writing as a way to fund a PhD. My first book, A Sweeter Prejudice, came out in 1991, and since then I've written a further 59 books, some of which have won awards in the US and the UK.
I live in York, a historic city in the north of England, and waste the best part of my days planning trips away or on Facebook and Twitter, both of which mean that I end up writing late into the night. As well as romance, I write 'time slips' as Pamela Hartshorne, and am a freelance project editor and occasional writing tutor.

In May 2013 I will publishing the Jessica Hart Vintage Collection of five of my early books from the 90s.
For news of forthcoming books and exclusive offers, do sign up for my newsletter: email jessica@jessicahart.co.uk or come and find me on Facebook.

Reviews

[Naksed · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Robin's everything you'll never be. She doesn't flaunt herself for attention the way you do. Maybe she's not as beautiful as you, maybe she's not as sophisticated, but she's a much nicer person. She's genuine and hard-working and she wouldn't dream of making a fuss about the things you do. Oh yes, you're right, it's a pity I didn't appreciate Robin while I had the opportunity. I'm regretting it now, that's for sure. I regret ever agreeing to marry you." .

If my husband said that to me, it would sure as hell take a lot more than "Please stay, don't go" to make me turn around from the airport on my way to put as many miles as I could between me and his excrement-filled sack of skin.

He was a horrid slut-shamer who did nothing to show any appreciation for what his wife did for him, his plot-moppet surrogate son, and his ranch employees, while she had no pride and bumbled around like a fool, making it easy for the OW to undermine her at every turn. I love stories where the female protagonist is not an 18 year old twit but a career woman with some life experience and wisdom but here, she was written as a 30 year old twit which is even worse because she can't rely on her youth to explain away her stupidity!

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one starts out a little slow and then develops into a lovely opposites attract romance. The heroine travels to the Outback as guardian to the son of her best friend who has been killed. The little boy is staying with his dead father's cousin, the hero. The heroine's plan is to stay in Australia for a bit and then bring the boy home to London. The hero argues that the boy would be happier at his station than cooped up in a London flat. After a few days, the heroine realizes he's right. But the hero also realizes the boy needs the heroine because he's been crying at night and is missing his mother. The heroine was able to comfort him. The heroine suggests they marry until the boy goes to boarding school.

The heroine loves clothes, music and travel, is unacquainted with the great outdoors, or children or horses or any other skill that would be useful on an Outback station. The hero is the strong silent type who just says useful things like "you'll get used to it" or "it's early yet" or "you'll learn." The heroine shows her nerves by going all frosty English Pommie and the hero stomps off to do something else when he's out of his comfort zone.

The heroine is attracted to the hero and keeps looking for glimpses of any regard for her. He brings her a cassette player and tapes from town and a beautiful cool night gown for the hot nights. The heroine thinks they are making progress (she's learning to make recipes from the 1958 cookbook she found in the kitchen). She finally works up enough nerve to seduce the hero and a good time is had by all. Then Robyn the Mary Sue of the Outback arrives in her helicopter for mustering. Heroine is jealous and says terrible things. Hero says terrible things back.

Then it's Rodeo time and the heroine meets an Englishman who is in the music business and they have a lovely time talking. Hero is jealous and says Robyn would have been a better choice as a wife. Heroine is hurt and decides she has to leave. She explains it all to the hero's mother and the little boy and she leaves for town, making sure the hero knows where to find her. When he doesn't bother, the heroine decides to go back to England. She phones the H's mother to let her know. Hero arrives at the airport just in time to stop her. He thought she was beautiful when he saw her photo (his cousin was married to her friend and she often talked about the heroine). He was intimidated by her sophistication and beauty and that's why he held back for so long. He grovels for the things he's said - he doesn't want any wife but her. He's missed her nail polish and cosmetics and fancy food. HEA.

Just a sweet romance between unlikely characters. I think they'll have a lot of good stories to tell on their 50th wedding anniversary.

[Leona · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wished the ending had a bit more explanation to it, but this was a well written book. I enjoyed the romance between these two very unlikely souls.

3.5 stars, rounding to 4 stars

[Kiki]

Don’t think my iPad can survive this:

Read Naksed's 1-star review of Woman at Willagong Creek by Jessica Hart
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Español Niña · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't get to read it

[Reads by Starburst · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jessica Hart has written a good romance with great anticipation moments and I was hooked on the story from the beginning.The pace was fast with almost no unnecessary dragging and the romance was interesting enough with great chemistry and jealousy moments for the book to be a page turner Read More

[Maddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, but rather implausible. After touring the world with orchestras, she better get a lot of books and a satellite radio for at least SOME brain stimulation in the outback. I think I would be pretty bored (plus exhausted from manual labor) outside the one hour in the evenings when cowboy comes to bed o.O

[Nell · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of Jessica's early titles but with her classic warmth and emotional depth.

[Rongbu]

Did not finish reading the book. The story seemed similar to another book I read earlier by the same author.

[Keriboo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5