Turtle Reef (The Wild Australia Stories #4) in Aussie Readers

Sep 13, 2014 Brenda rated it really liked it

Shelves: aussie-authors, net-galley, contemporary-fiction, 2015-release, read-on-kindle, own-read, arc

4.5★s

When Zoe King received the telephone call telling her she had been accepted for the position of researcher in marine science at the Reef Centre in the little town of Kiawa on the coast of Queensland, she was delighted. Her life in Sydney had been rapidly going downhill for some time, and with the latest loser of a boyfriend finally out the door, she was happy to have a new start in her life.

The Reef Centre was run by Bridget Macalister who was a lovely young woman; she was also engaged to l 4.5★s

When Zoe King received the telephone call telling her she had been accepted for the position of researcher in marine science at the Reef Centre in the little town of Kiawa on the coast of Queensland, she was delighted. Her life in Sydney had been rapidly going downhill for some time, and with the latest loser of a boyfriend finally out the door, she was happy to have a new start in her life.

The Reef Centre was run by Bridget Macalister who was a lovely young woman; she was also engaged to local resident, Quinn Cooper. Quinn and his brother Josh, along with Bridget were to feature considerably in Zoe’s new life, but the instant attraction Zoe felt for Quinn was something she could do without. She was sworn off men anyway – no problems; right? As she settled into her new job, the magnificent views of Turtle Reef had her gasping in awe – she was going to love working in this place, conducting important research…

Meeting the animals at the Reef Centre; discovering Josh had a deep affinity to the dolphins especially, which meant he could do anything with them – rescuing injured turtles, octopus and dolphins; Zoe was finding her delight with the surroundings, with her day to day work surreal. But when little things began to go wrong; first with her research data, then with animals dying on the reef, she knew she had to find out what was happening. And when she suddenly uncovered terrible lies and secrets, she was shocked – what could she do? She had to save the reef – the animals were her top priority; but what would it do to her own future?

I thoroughly enjoyed Turtle Reef by Aussie author Jennifer Scoullar. Although a little slow in the beginning, it didn’t take long to get into the story; I found the mystery and intrigue quite gripping and the facts I learned especially about octopus toward the end of the story quite fascinating. Great characters too – I particularly liked Josh and his devotion to the animals. I have no hesitation in recommending Turtle Reef highly.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy to read and review.
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Feb 06, 2015 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it really liked it

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

Turtle Reef is Jennifer Scoullar's fifth novel, and her fourth engaging contemporary regional romance.

City girl Zoe King is thrilled when she lands her dream job at a marine park and research center in Kiawa, a small town in northern Queensland, looking forward to working with the Reef Center's impressively credentialed director, Bridget Macalister.
Though the job proves more demanding than she expected, Zoe quickly learns to embrace its challenges, impressed by Bridget's dedication to the center
Turtle Reef is Jennifer Scoullar's fifth novel, and her fourth engaging contemporary regional romance.

City girl Zoe King is thrilled when she lands her dream job at a marine park and research center in Kiawa, a small town in northern Queensland, looking forward to working with the Reef Center's impressively credentialed director, Bridget Macalister.
Though the job proves more demanding than she expected, Zoe quickly learns to embrace its challenges, impressed by Bridget's dedication to the center and delighted by the aquarium's residents, including their six rescue dolphins.
Its the findings from Zoe's first research project, monitoring the local dugong population and mapping seagrass meadows, that alerts her to a problem not only with the reef, but also the operation of the marine center.

Conservation management and environmental protection is a major theme of this novel. Set in a small sugar cane community on the Queensland coast, Scoullar writes of the risks outdated cane farming practices poses to the coastal environment, the general threats to our fragile marine ecosystem as well as the desirability of rehabilitating wild creatures for return to their natural environment.

The intrigue in the novel is a touch slow to develop but I enjoyed the measured unraveling of secrets. The suspense is fairly low key for most of the novel but the danger Zoe faces when she comes too close to working out exactly what is going on came as a surprise, raising the tension considerably.

There is an unconventional romance for Zoe in Turtle Reef. Quinn Cooper is a fifth generation local cane farmer and a caring guardian of his brain injured younger brother, Josh. Zoe is attracted to his good looks and down to earth charm from their first meeting, but as Bridget's long term boyfriend, Quinn is strictly off limits. I have to be honest, I found the relationship a little odd, though the chemistry is there, the circumstances are awkward.

The Reef Center is home to a half dozen rescue dolphins, given delightful personalities by Scoullar. I was charmed by Josh's interactions with them and saddened by the way in which they were betrayed. I was surprised to learn how intelligent octopuses can be, and fell in love with Einstein.

Scoullar's descriptions of the beauty of the reef and the ocean are highlights of the novel.
"All around them lay a tapestry....Brightly coloured parrot fish abounded and were utterly fearless. Zoe could hear the soft chomping of their beaks as the grazed on the branching coral gardens. Blue-spotted lagoon rays scooted past,... and a shovelnose shark, with its strange triangular snout."

Turtle Reef is a lovely novel from a storyteller whose fiction evokes the romance of the Australian landscape, and the heart.

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Mar 08, 2015 Sheree rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviews, own, contemporary-fiction, aussie-author, read-in-2015

I fell in love with Jennifer Scoullar's writing after inhaling Currawong Creek in 2013 and Billabong Bend in 2014, she has a beautiful way with words and her love for the natural world sings.

The beauty and diversity of the region, rainforest to reef, the sugar cane fields and hand-in-hand, the challenges of protecting our reef and marine animals from ignorance, age-old traditions, outdated and often dangerous farming practices. I'm passionate about reef protection so you might have guessed I was ...more

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Mar 18, 2015 Tien rated it liked it

Shelves: womens-lit, australian-author, australia, arc

Jennifer Scoullar’s Currawong Creek was the first Aussie rural romance I’ve ever read –it was sweet, it was heart-warming. It won me over and made me want to read lots more of the genre. Hence, my interest in Turtle Creek. Scoullar’s love for nature truly comes alive in these pages and is beautifully highlighted in this tale of romance.

It was a bit of a tough first half to read. It was slow to engage and there were a few roll-the-eyes moments for me. I just couldn’t connect with Zoe who at first ...more

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Mar 30, 2015 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, australian, aww2015

For zoologist Zoe King, it’s her dream job. Working at a Reef Centre in Kiawa near Bundaberg in Queensland Zoe not only gets to rehabilitate animals and return them to their natural habitat but she will also get to conduct exciting research and maybe even help implement changes to protect the reef. Zoe is a passionate conservationist and at first, everything about her job seems perfect. Her boss Bridget is friendly and capable, welcoming Zoe and seemingly enthusiastic about the same things as Zo For zoologist Zoe King, it’s her dream job. Working at a Reef Centre in Kiawa near Bundaberg in Queensland Zoe not only gets to rehabilitate animals and return them to their natural habitat but she will also get to conduct exciting research and maybe even help implement changes to protect the reef. Zoe is a passionate conservationist and at first, everything about her job seems perfect. Her boss Bridget is friendly and capable, welcoming Zoe and seemingly enthusiastic about the same things as Zoe. Zoe is also given the guest quarters on the large cane farm of Bridget’s fiance Quinn Cooper and she begins to embrace a more outdoor life, learning to ride and working with horses.

But there are some complications. Zoe didn’t count on feeling an immediate and powerful attraction to Quinn, despite the fact that she knows he’s off limits. He belongs to Bridget and although she makes the decision to ignore her feelings, she can’t ignore when things begin to not add up at the Reef Centre. Conflicting stories and some strange behaviour make her begin to question exactly what the goal of the centre is. And when Zoe’s research shows that animals on the reef are dying in numbers, she finds herself faced with an answer that could possibly drive a wedge between her and the man she has come to love. Zoe will have to decide if the future and health of the reef are more important than her own future happiness.

Jennifer Scoullar’s fourth novel takes readers to the ‘Gateway to the Barrier Reef’ in a small town close to Bundaberg in Queensland. Zoologist Zoe King has moved from Sydney to Kiawa to take up her dream job working at the local Reef Centre, a place that rehabilitates marine life and also houses those that are not fit to be returned to their native habitat. There are dolphins, turtles, sharks and an array of others such as fish, octopus. The centre also operates as a tourist attraction with the resident dolphins performing in shows, which helps keep the bills paid. For Zoe, it is a quick immersion from the theory of her recently completed degree to a much more practical aspect as she will be feeding and working with a variety of different animals as well as being able to map the reef and conduct extensive research.

Zoe is a wonderfully passionate conservationist who has some really strong ideas about her career and what she wants to be able to achieve. Her focus is on rehabilitating the sick and injured animals that come in and getting them returned to the ocean as soon as possible. Early on she notices several dolphins that look good candidates for a release only to be quickly informed that they are ‘lifers’ who won’t be able to be released. Zoe faces the challenge of being new and therefore not really having much say and she’s also inexperienced in the field, intimidated by Bridget’s qualifications. I liked and admired Zoe as a character, her enthusiasm and her determination is wonderful to read and I enjoyed learning about her job a lot. I wanted to study marine biology briefly as a teen until I realised that well, science and I were not entirely friends. Also I can’t really swim. But anyway, reading this book reminded me of that and how beautiful these creatures are and how important it is to do everything possible to protect them and their habitats. I found myself moved by the most unlikeliest of things – I must congratulate Jen Scoullar because I’m pretty sure I would’ve thought before reading this book it would be impossible to cry over an octopus!

I have to admit, I didn’t particularly find the romance aspect of this book much to my liking. Part of that perhaps had something to do with the fact that Quinn was engaged to Bridget but mostly I think it was just Quinn himself. He was far too arrogant and bossy for me – “sit here, do that, get in, don’t drink Coke it’s bad for you, here’s an iced tea instead”. If a man asked me what I’d like at a pub/cafe and I ordered a Coke and he came back with an iced tea, I’d dump it on his head. I loathe iced tea. I don’t like people that feel as though they have the right to make decisions for others. Zoe is a big girl, if she wants a diet Coke, get her a darn diet Coke! This was something that tended to carry through the book and most of the time I found him overly defensive and aggressive. At times he’s pretty horrible to Zoe, even though she came off a bit nosy when she was trying to do the right thing. I liked Quinn a little more right at the end of the book, perhaps Zoe will be a good influence on him – well I’m sure she will be actually because his attitudes really do change. Quinn learns to stand on his own two feet and have his own opinions and not just do things because that’s the way his father did them. I did like Quinn’s relationship with his brother Josh (who is a wonderful character and a huge part of this book). Even though it’s laced with mistakes and frustration you can tell that he loves Josh and he really does want the best for him and to keep him safe. And when Quinn realises that he is making mistakes, he does do his utmost best to fix them. It’s a slowish sort of process but I can understand his fear in letting the reins go a little and letting Josh begin to make decisions again for himself and do things which might potentially put him in danger again. But they’re things Josh not only loves but also needs in order to live his life.

I really enjoyed this – I love how Jennifer Scoullar manages to incorporate strong themes of conservation and protection into her stories without making it seem like a lecture. Bundaberg is further north than I’ve ever been and I have to admit it and its surrounds haven’t really come up on my radar as places to visit before. But I feel as though up there might be a part of the world I need to see. ...more

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