Billabong Bend in Aussie Readers

Mar 08, 2014 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc, own-read, aussie-authors, net-galley, 2014-release, read-on-kindle, romance, rural

4.5★s

As Nina Moore manoeuvred her runabout, Pelican, through the marshlands, camera in hand, she was startled by the boom, boom of nearby gunshots. Horrified at finding a dead black swan floating in the water near a tinny holding two semi-drunk men, her rage at the senseless slaughter made the men wish they hadn’t ventured into this section of the Bunyip River. For Nina, the rare animals and birds that lived in the marshland of Billabong Bend were precious; she had grown up at Red Gums which bor 4.5★s

As Nina Moore manoeuvred her runabout, Pelican, through the marshlands, camera in hand, she was startled by the boom, boom of nearby gunshots. Horrified at finding a dead black swan floating in the water near a tinny holding two semi-drunk men, her rage at the senseless slaughter made the men wish they hadn’t ventured into this section of the Bunyip River. For Nina, the rare animals and birds that lived in the marshland of Billabong Bend were precious; she had grown up at Red Gums which bordered Billabong Bend, and her desire to buy the property from her elderly neighbour and good friend Eva was one she was desperate to fulfill – her protection of the habitat was a heartfelt wish; joining the two properties was her future.

With a fancy dress ball on in Moree on New Year’s Eve, Nina and her friend Kate were dressed to kill – the masks which Kate had made hid their identities until the stroke of midnight. Most of the guests Nina found she recognised by their voices – but there was one man who sent tingles down her spine; who was he? The sudden shock of discovering that Ricardo Bonelli, her old flame from school had returned home from Italy and was staying with Max, his father, next door to Red Gums sent confusion and long-forgotten feelings swirling through her head.

With Nina’s parents living in town, having retired from Red Gums and leaving the property to Nina, she worked hard day in and day out to keep her land healthy and rich. She was a floodplains grazier, and had just begun growing organic pecans. The non-stop drought was causing problems not only for her, but for many of the families further down the river and also on outlying properties. Now that Ric was home, she wondered if it would be possible for them both to share the same dream…

But things weren’t as they seemed…there were buried secrets, lies and conspiracies lurking. Then tragedy tore their lives apart once more – what would happen to Billabong Bend? Would Ric and Nina ever see eye to eye – whatever would the future hold?

Aussie author Jennifer Scoullar has a winner with this one! The beautiful description of the bush, its habitat and the Bunyip River and its environs was spectacular. I felt like I was there, wading along the muddy river’s edge, spotting the rare birds and witnessing Nina’s excitement when she found a bird which hadn’t been seen in the area for many years. I loved Sophie and her passion, and Nina’s mother was a delight; her strength of character shone through. All up, a great book which I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy to read and review.
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Mar 16, 2014 Lauredhel rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary, netgalley, australian-women-writers-challenge, rural-setting, romance, australian, mystery, aww2014

"The water was a floating carpet of vivid green, splashed with delicate purple flowers. This was worse than she thought. Water hyacinths were pretty, no doubt about it, but outside of their native Amazon they were also a curse, choking waterways. Somebody needed to clear out the weeds here. Somebody needed to clear out the poachers. Somebody needed to fix up the homestead."

Nina can build a fence or nurture a newly-hatched duckling just as easily as she can fly a plane. She is a farmer on Red Gum

"The water was a floating carpet of vivid green, splashed with delicate purple flowers. This was worse than she thought. Water hyacinths were pretty, no doubt about it, but outside of their native Amazon they were also a curse, choking waterways. Somebody needed to clear out the weeds here. Somebody needed to clear out the poachers. Somebody needed to fix up the homestead."

Nina can build a fence or nurture a newly-hatched duckling just as easily as she can fly a plane. She is a farmer on Red Gums, her family homestead in the Murray-Darling basin of northern New South Wales. Her parents have moved to the local town to manage a feed store, so she's being managing the property on her own ever since. Nina's increasingly-distant boyfriend Lockie is away on his family property in Queensland.

While drought, cotton farms, water thieves, and poachers are devastating the wetlands environment, Nina is working to rehabilitate the rivers while establishing a sustainable organic farm. She has her eyes on the next door property, Billabong Bend, and when she sees a threatened painted snipe in the river there while hearing poacher gunfire in the distance, things start to escalate. She resolves to buy the property. The owner is her friend, an elderly woman in a nursing home, who is firmly resolved to never sell - but when she eventually does die, Nina knows that her heir will sell Billabong Bend off to the highest bidder, wetlands be damned.

Meanwhile, Nina's childhood love across the river returns from overseas with his nine-year-old daughter. Son of a cotton farmer, Ric has only recently discovered that he has a daughter, and Sophie initially rails against being dragged off to a farm with a near-stranger. Sophie's engagement with the natural world is slow but delicious, reminiscent of Storm Boy and The Snow Goose.

The book takes a firm, passionate, but not-too-preachy approach to the issue of environmental change and sustainability. It is a detailed, nuanced examination at the ways in which thoughtless human activities disrupt life's delicate balance, while also acknowledging and celebrating nature's resilience. There is also a gentle touch of animism/spirituality and a deep respect for the river's stories, pre-invasion as well as post-.

It is more a romance between Nina and the Billabong Bends wetlands than between Nina and her love interest. There is also a strong mystery storyline, so this novel should have wide appeal and deserves a wide readership.

Billabong Bend has a believable romance with authentic external obstacles, a villain with some complexity, an author who knows what she's talking about, and a competent heroine who goes after what she wants. ...more

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Mar 17, 2014 Sheree rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reviews, contemporary-fiction, aussie-author, read-in-2014

4.5 stars

I was lucky enough to discover Jennifer Scoullar's gorgeous writing in 2013 with Currawong Creek. This year it's Billabong Bend and I am crushing on the loveliness. Jennifer Scoullar's love of nature literally oozes from the pages, the beautiful descriptiveness puts you right there, soaking it all in.

The dawn chorus of birdsong and the smell of dew-damp leaves. The steam curling from the reedy river. The hushed expectancy and mysterious early landscape of shadow and light.

Cotton farmi ...more

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Mar 19, 2014 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc-are, netgalley-reviews, aussie-author

Set amongst farming land in the Murray Darling Basin region of northern New South Wales, Billabong Bend is an wonderful novel of romance both on, and with, the land.

Fiercely protective of the river and wetlands that borders her property, Nina Moore's is determined to extend her sustainable agricultural and environmental rehabilitation practices on Red Gums to the neighbouring property, Billabong Bend, if only she can convince Eva, the elderly owner, to sell it to her. Nina is worried that if a c
Set amongst farming land in the Murray Darling Basin region of northern New South Wales, Billabong Bend is an wonderful novel of romance both on, and with, the land.

Fiercely protective of the river and wetlands that borders her property, Nina Moore's is determined to extend her sustainable agricultural and environmental rehabilitation practices on Red Gums to the neighbouring property, Billabong Bend, if only she can convince Eva, the elderly owner, to sell it to her. Nina is worried that if a cotton farmer, like Max Bonnelli, gets his hands on Billabong Bend, the entire marshlands ecosystem will suffer irreparable harm.
Nina's concerns are partly alleviated when, after a fifteen year absence, Max's son Ric returns to Donnalee. With the rekindling of their teenage romance, Nina is convinced Ric will be able to temper his father's greed but when tragedy strikes, Nina's dreams of rescuing Billabong Bend, and building a future with Ric, threaten to be swept away.

Conservation and environmental protection is a major theme of this novel. Scoullar's descriptions of the setting for Billabong Bend are evocative and vivid, from land scared by drought,
"The earth's living skin had peeled and cracked",
that nevertheless teems with life,
"Beneath her wheeled squadrons of pelicans and flocks of ibis. She flew lower. A startled white-bellied eagle took cover in a rare patch of weeping myall woodland. Lower again. Long-legged emus raced at breakneck speed through the swampy sedgeland. She could taste the vast, dry continent beneath her, hear the music of its river red gums, feel its clear, summer skies in her veins. Something prickled the back of her neck and a profound sense of excitement and joy coursed through her....Now this, she reminded herself. This was living."

From the opening scene, I liked and respected Nina for her passion about the land on which she lives and the unique habitat of the river, not dissimilar to the one that flows through the town I live in. I was interested by the information I learned about the wildlife, water use, and sustainable farming practices Nina engages in, and the threats to the health of the land over and above the devastation wrought by drought.

The romantic aspect of Billabong Bend is perhaps not as strong as I expected. I personally don't mind that the relationship between Nina and Ric is more a background element of the novel but those readers who prefer it as a focus, may be somewhat disappointed.

Reminiscent of the Australian classic Storm Boy by Colin Thiele, a truly delightful element of the story involves Ric's precocious daughter, Sophie, who hatches and raises a flock of a geese orphaned by Max, and teaches them to fly. The scene where the geese soar over Sophie racing on the quad bike is one of the many that will stay with me.

With appealing characters, a thought provoking storyline combining romance with a touch of mystery, and rich and resplendent setting, Billabong Bend is a captivating read, and one which I wouldn't hesitate to recommend.
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May 23, 2014 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance, arc, australian, rural-lit, aww2014

Nina Moore loves her local area with a passion. The beautiful Bunyip River and the marshlands on its banks are home to some rare and wonderful wildlife and she wants to preserve and protect it all. As her parent’s only child, she has taken over their farm and is slowly turning it organic and away from some of the more harsher farming techniques and produce. But her real dream is to purchase Billabong Bend, a nearby property that has fallen into some disrepair since one of the owners died and the Nina Moore loves her local area with a passion. The beautiful Bunyip River and the marshlands on its banks are home to some rare and wonderful wildlife and she wants to preserve and protect it all. As her parent’s only child, she has taken over their farm and is slowly turning it organic and away from some of the more harsher farming techniques and produce. But her real dream is to purchase Billabong Bend, a nearby property that has fallen into some disrepair since one of the owners died and the other went into hospital. Billabong Bend is a wildlife corridor and Nina would love to see it carefully managed so that it may flourish. However she knows that others have their eye on the property too, albeit for much different reasons to hers.

When her childhood sweetheart Ric Bonelli returns to the local area, it complicates Nina’s life. She and Ric haven’t seen each other since they were fourteen, meeting down by the river for stolen moments. Their fathers have been bitter enemies for a long time and Nina doesn’t care for the way Ric’s cotton farming father works the land. It’s in direct opposition to how she believes the area should be treated. Ric disappeared to Italy when his mother left his father but now he’s back – and with his young daughter in tow. It doesn’t take long for old feelings to rekindle, despite the fact that their families complicate things dramatically and that Nina is in a long-term relationship. Nina can see a future for herself, Ric and Ric’s daughter on the river, caring for the land and seeing the birds and wildlife flourish.

But then a tragic disappearance has Nina and Ric on opposite sides as they struggle to figure out what has happened. When Nina finds out that she may lose her beloved Billabong Bend to the one thing she cannot bear to see happen to it, cotton farming, she blames Ric for the betrayal. But has he jeopardised everything? Or can they put everything aside for one more chance at becoming a family and finding a sustainable and gentle way to work together?

Billabong Bend is the third novel from Jennifer Scoullar that I have read – they’re rural romances in a way but there’s a much deeper underlying message in each one. The author is quite clearly very passionate about the environment and conservation issues and this shines through in her work. In this novel set in northern New South Wales, most of the properties are close to a rare marshland flanking a river. Droughts and unsustainable farming as well as growing crops not entirely suited to the area (such as cotton) have led to problems with the water supply and farmers stooping so low as to “steal” more than their fair share of water. Nina is a ‘modern’ type of farmer – she’s passionate about the environment and protecting it and she puts it first, not the potential yield and money. She’s been switching to organic products and she’s keen to try new ventures such as pressing her own oil with a local co-op. She has dreams for what she can do with Billabong Bend and she’s been trying for years to get the evidence she needs of rare birds nesting there to prevent it from being destroyed.

I really enjoyed learning about the wildlife and Nina’s passion and enthusiasm was incredibly well portrayed, however the romantic aspect of this novel did fall a little flat for me. They haven’t seen each other in a long time and were only fourteen the last time they saw each other. I’d have liked more time with them getting to know each other and reestablishing that teenage connection and less time spent arguing and Nina flouncing off every time Ric did something she didn’t like or his father did something that she didn’t like. I understand that she’s passionate and that she feels very strongly about the environment but Ric had only just returned to the local area to reconnect with his father and introduce his father to his granddaughter. Punishing Ric for his father’s crimes and what his father was doing seemed very pointless to me and there was a bit of push-pull in the latter half of the novel where Nina feels betrayed and like it’s over or she never wants to see him again and then in the next chapter, they’re talking. I liked Nina, I liked Ric and I liked Ric’s headstrong daughter Sophie, who I think reacted to her situation the way most kids would… I especially liked the way that story line fully played out. However I definitely think that Nina and Ric’s relationship, so to speak, needed more work. For instance, Nina is actually in a relationship when Ric returns and it takes rather a long time for that to run its course and her boyfriend Lockie is a little inconsistent, character wise. He’s kind of an ass but then he’s not and then he is again but then he isn’t. It’s never quite explained why they’re in this relationship when both of them appear to be getting absolutely nothing out of it and they hardly even see each other.

As I mentioned, the conservation message is strong in this and that won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. I quite enjoyed that aspect of it, I think it taught me quite a lot. I’m a coastal girl, I don’t know much about farming and the different types and what sort of farming requires what sort of watering, etc. And I loved Nina – she’s a kick ass kind of girl, she’s not afraid to stand up for what she believes in and the scene where she runs off poachers/shooters in the beginning of the book is fabulous. I loved her bond with Sophie and how she takes the little girl under her wing in a way and attempts to give her some stability and some things to be excited about in her new life, which is not working out exactly the way Sophie planned. A little more devoted to the romance and this would’ve been a perfect read for me. ...more

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Oct 05, 2018 Rena rated it liked it

Shelves: first-reads

Really enjoyed the start of the book but as others have pointed out, it started to get a bit tedious with the technicalities of farming practices. I guess I wasn't expecting that in a romance book.

However, I do enjoy reading about the animals and a dash of supernatural elements towards the end. Can't say the same about the resolution between Nina and Ric though. Felt that it was a bit anti-climactic. I mean, after all the fighting and such...they made-up just like that? I was expecting a bit mor ...more

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