Beneath Outback Skies (Outback Dust #1) in Aussie Readers

Jan 13, 2013 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it liked it · review of another edition

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

Beneath Outback Skies is a winsome contemporary romance set in rural Australia by debut author Alissa Callen, published under Random House Australia's new digital imprint, Random Romance.

Paige Quinn is determined that Banora Downs will not succumb to the drought forcing outback farmers from their properties, it is her home and despite the harsh conditions, she cannot imagine a life elsewhere.
With resources stretched to breaking point, Paige is unimpressed when her father, Connor, announces he h
Beneath Outback Skies is a winsome contemporary romance set in rural Australia by debut author Alissa Callen, published under Random House Australia's new digital imprint, Random Romance.

Paige Quinn is determined that Banora Downs will not succumb to the drought forcing outback farmers from their properties, it is her home and despite the harsh conditions, she cannot imagine a life elsewhere.
With resources stretched to breaking point, Paige is unimpressed when her father, Connor, announces he has approved for a paying guest to stay at the farm. In her experience, city-slickers are nothing but trouble and Tait Cavanaugh, with his charming smile and caffeine addiction, can't leave soon enough to satisfy her.
Tait is looking forward to a break from the office, even though he still has work to do at Banora Downs. An agri business consultant, his role is to assess the future of the property, without tipping his hand to Paige, at the request of her father. That's not the only secret Tait is keeping though... he wasn't always a city boy.

While I would have preferred a little more external conflict to enliven the plot, I enjoyed the storyline of Beneath Outback Skies. Though primarily a traditional romance, there is a touch of mystery surrounding Tait and I was intrigued by Connor's motivation to pair Paige with Tait, beyond his attempts at matchmaking.

I liked Paige who is practical, independent and willful and I admired her determination to keep Banora Downs viable. I did wonder that she seemed almost friendless, even though it is explained, that as Banora Downs is an iconic station, she is desperate to hide the true extent of the farm's woes in order to support morale in the community.
I grew quite fond of Tait as well who proved to be kind and considerate, willing to help out and quietly adding small luxuries to the lives of Paige and Connor without needing recognition.
I though the pace of the romance between the Paige and Tait was well thought out, the physical attraction is obviously there to start with but the author gives the pair time to get to know each other, which i appreciate.

The setting of Beneath Outback Skies is well developed. I was able to imagine Banora Downs as both the thriving property it once was and the dustbowl it has become. I especially liked the way the author explored the ravages of drought, not only on Paige's property, but also amongst the townspeople, touching on the high rate of depression and suicide in rural communities.

I thought Beneath Outback Skies was an engaging and satisfying contemporary rural romance. I am especially pleased that Random Romance titles are available internationally and I believe that romance fans from all over the world will enjoy getting to know Paige and Tait at Banora Downs.

...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jan 13, 2013 Brenda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: net-galley, aussie-authors, read-on-kindle, 2013-release, arc, own-read, outback-romance

When Tait Cavanaugh arrived on Banora Downs, Paige was at first astounded, then angry! She was trying to keep their drought ridden property on its feet, and she didn’t have time to babysit some city-boy who had come for a weekend of fun! She didn’t have the money or resources to let him have three showers a day either! And when Paige’s wheelchair bound father, Connor, said he’d agreed to Tait coming on a Bed & Breakfast arrangement, with Tait paying his way, she immediately told Tait that whatev ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 17, 2013 Lauredhel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, australian-women-writers-challenge, rural-setting, romance, australian, netgalley, aww2013

This is a thoroughly enjoyable Australian rural romance, set in an iconic homestead deep in drought country. I loved it that the POV character, Paige, is a very ungirly-girl; she spends most of the book in torn jeans, covered in filth, and limping (when she's not conveniently having to strip off while Tait grabs an eyeful!)

The sense of place is terrific, and the backstory and B plots are well-developed and all tie in together at the end. I particularly liked that it wasn't quite the usual insta- This is a thoroughly enjoyable Australian rural romance, set in an iconic homestead deep in drought country. I loved it that the POV character, Paige, is a very ungirly-girl; she spends most of the book in torn jeans, covered in filth, and limping (when she's not conveniently having to strip off while Tait grabs an eyeful!)

The sense of place is terrific, and the backstory and B plots are well-developed and all tie in together at the end. I particularly liked that it wasn't quite the usual insta-love; while things move fast compared to typical real life, there are genuine mixed feelings and a bit of a slow burn. Another point in favour is that not all the obstacles to the romances (yes, there's more than one) are borne of contrived implausible misunderstandings and the characters' own bad choices. In other words: this book mostly avoids my many romance-novel squicks and annoyances (which is kinda high praise coming from me!). Maybe one tiny one: there are an awful lot of occasions where Tait finds himself having to sweep Paige up into his arms and carry her around. And a couple of dubious-consent-ish moments, but better-handled and nowhere near as many as some more bodice-rippy books. And not once does Tait think of Paige as a "minx"...

One thing I did notice however, and which is dealt with a bit better in some other books of this genre, was the lack of Aboriginal people in the town. This is rural Australia; why is everyone, in the background as well as the foreground, apparently white? Or did I miss something?

Despite that, I spent every moment in the story, I found myself looking forward to picking up my book again and barracking for the characters, and I could see and smell Banora Downs and Glenalla. I could see a sequel happening, and I could see myself picking it up. In the absence of that, though, I'll keep an eye out for Callen's next book.

Note to blurb-writers: this isn't the 19th century, and we don't refer to people as "crippled" anymore. Ordinarily I would have put this book straight down unread halfway into that second paragraph of the blurb. Please don't alienate your readers with disabilities in this way.

Note to readers: the disability element is handled well in the book. Connor is just another character with all his own wishes and motivations who happens to have a disability, and he's not shoved into any of the Inspirational/Pitiable stereotype boxes. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jan 15, 2013 Bree T rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, australian, rural-lit, romance, kindle-version, netgalley, aww2013

Paige Quinn is desperately trying to keep the family property, Banora Downs, alive. She is the sole worker these days, taking care of the land and cattle and looking after her father, who was crippled some years ago in an accident. Paige hasn’t told her father just how few cattle there are left now – it’s a hard struggle and backbreaking work but Paige doesn’t know or want anything else. Banora Downs is home and so she keeps drought proofing, keeps limping along, awaiting the end of the drought Paige Quinn is desperately trying to keep the family property, Banora Downs, alive. She is the sole worker these days, taking care of the land and cattle and looking after her father, who was crippled some years ago in an accident. Paige hasn’t told her father just how few cattle there are left now – it’s a hard struggle and backbreaking work but Paige doesn’t know or want anything else. Banora Downs is home and so she keeps drought proofing, keeps limping along, awaiting the end of the drought that will help re-establish the property and bring to life all the dreams she has for it. But the drought has gone on for a long time and things are getting desperate.

That’s why Paige is in no mood to tolerate city boy Tait Cavanaugh. They used to advertise on the web as a homestay location and but Paige pulled all those adverts down some time ago. City people don’t understand just how bad things are out here – they eat all their food and take all their water using long showers. There’s no denying that for a city boy, Tait knows his way around the land. And he’s unfailingly generous. But Paige just isn’t interested in someone like Tait, who’s going to be taking himself back off to where he came from soon. Even though Tait asks a lot of questions about Banora Downs and the plans she has for its future and finds her obviously attractive, Paige isn’t going to go there. Not again. She has been with a boy from the city before and he proved that when it came down to it, there’s no way he was cut out for life on the land and for Paige, the land and the farm always come first.

Tait can’t help but feel guilty because he’s hiding a secret – the real reason he has come to Banora Downs. He wants to tell Paige why he’s here but things between them are finally starting to get somewhere that isn’t hostility or arguing. His plans are almost complete but will Paige and the community still be behind him?

Beneath Outback Skies is one of the launch titles for Random Romance, the new romance-based digital imprint of Random House Australia. There are five launch titles and this is a full length rural romance novel about life on the land and finding the courage to love again.

There’s no denying that Banora Downs is in trouble. The drought has gone on so long that it looks like never ending and they’ve been forced to sell off a lot of their cattle to survive, keeping only a few breeders. They hadn’t had a crop in a while and the beautiful gardens that once surrounded the grand homestead are nothing but a dustbowl. She’s busy dawn until dusk, being the only worker on the farm these days and she makes no attempt to disguise her displeasure at her father allowing Tait Cavanaugh to holiday on the property. Paige has no time for boys and their toys, regarding Tait’s V12 car with disdain. Tait however, tags along after her everywhere, trying to get her to relax, or have a coffee or sit down and have a meal or go to this dance and this kind of bothered me a bit. I think it’s supposed to be sweet in an “ohhh, he’s looking after her”, type of way but Tait was so forceful (and often manipulative) that it came across as bossy, controlling and in a “the little woman doesn’t know what’s good for her, but lucky I do”, smug sort of way. Whilst I liked Paige and her tough, never-say-die attitude and her devotion to not only the family property but also her crippled father, I didn’t much like Tait unfortunately. He’s hiding a huge secret, the real reason that he’s out at Banora Downs but in the end, I didn’t even really understand the need for such secrecy. I can’t say too much without spoiling it (and I believe readers will discern for themselves very quickly who Tait is and why he’s actually there) but there’s a lot of build up about Tait fearing things getting out, avoiding telling Paige things, etc and likewise, Paige’s father goes to a lot of trouble to conceal things too, but it just doesn’t seem necessary? It seemed that everyone just majorly overreacted about things being revealed and when everything was revealed, it was sort of a letdown because Paige barely blinked. It was an awful lot of build up that didn’t particularly pay off and for someone who is quite smart, Tait fails to pick up on something very obvious, the owner of a company that he’s trying to find a contact name for. Paige basically gives him the information he needs on a platter and he doesn’t even put it together.

I love stories about living on the land and they’re very popular right now but I think that the wide variety of ones available are also making me a bit choosy. I know what I like and what works for me and I know exactly what’s out there and it makes me a bit of a hard taskmaster I think. This novel did have some strong ideas – loved Paige, loved her dad and I liked the community. I liked the fact that things weren’t perfect for them, they were really struggling which I felt was pretty accurate. I’d have loved more about trying to get the farm back on its feet and what that would involve. But unfortunately, Tait as a character didn’t work for me. I found him overbearing and that meant I just couldn’t really get into their romance. Whilst the characterisation was quite strong, the chemistry was underdeveloped. ...more

Like · see review

Mar 31, 2014 Kellie Schache marked it as to-read

Like

Dec 25, 2014 Rosie marked it as to-read

Shelves: australian-books

Like

From the Bookshelf of Aussie Readers…

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

What Members Thought

Aussie Readers