April's Rainbow in Aussie Readers

Feb 09, 2016 Bree T rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, australian, romance, aww2016, rural-lit, novella

Australian rural romance author Cathryn Hein has carved a strong following with her love stories that explore the highs and lows of life and this novella, which Hein has chosen to publish solo is no different. I read April’s Rainbow a couple of years ago in draft form and since then it’s been polished and professionally packaged with a beautiful cover and flawless finish.

For anyone who has wanted to read a romance novel from the male point of view, this one is for you because Tristan is our narr Australian rural romance author Cathryn Hein has carved a strong following with her love stories that explore the highs and lows of life and this novella, which Hein has chosen to publish solo is no different. I read April’s Rainbow a couple of years ago in draft form and since then it’s been polished and professionally packaged with a beautiful cover and flawless finish.

For anyone who has wanted to read a romance novel from the male point of view, this one is for you because Tristan is our narrator throughout which is an interesting spin on the traditional formula. Tristan lives for the land and farming – he’s very passionate about it but as the fourth son he realises that he’s going to have to work hard to be able to achieve his dream of having his own property. The chance to manage a beautiful local property known as Rainbow comes with some strange stipulations but Tristan doesn’t care. This is the sort of gig he’s dreamed of and for the first part, Tristan is alone preparing the property and sourcing livestock. Then the owner, artist April Tremayne arrives and Tristan is immediately enamoured.

April is beautiful, damaged and eccentric with strange ideas that she requires Tristan to help with. And he does, although he can see that they feed a mania in April, something deep and dark spurred on by a tragic loss that he cannot really understand. And as he falls more in love with her, he tries to get her to see that love doesn’t always need to equal pain, that he won’t cause her any more hurt. Words of course that will come back to haunt him when he must make a choice for April’s wellbeing.

I found it too distressing to try and put myself in April’s position and in that experience, I kind of felt that it would be pretty easy to go down the same path that she does….frantically searching for a sign, for a sense of presence. Rainbow is where she feels that she might be able to heal but it’s not actually that easy and the installations she works frantically on only serve to temporarily lift her up before their inevitable end brings her crashing back down. The installations were such amazing ideas, I loved picturing them and could imagine the sort of stir they might cause in a country farming town!

Tristan’s struggle is a strong part of the novel. He’s incredibly quiet and shy (as a redhead I sympathise with his blushing) and April is someone he really does come to really care about deeply in a short amount of time. He wants to be able to help her in all ways but in order to really help her he must make a very difficult decision, one that he’s well aware may cost him everything. He tries to protect April for a long time, from the other local people, even from his well-meaning family but eventually he cannot ignore the fact that April needs more than she’s finding at Rainbow, that it’s not helping her.

April’s Rainbow is a really beautiful story exploring terrible grief but from a very interesting perspective which sets it apart. It’s heartbreak and love, despair and fragile hope that packs an emotional punch that will stay with you. ...more

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Feb 12, 2016 Helen rated it really liked it

This is one of those stories that will bring you to tears and make you smile a very moving heart-warming story. Tristan Blake is a quiet and shy hero he has lived in this town all of his life and when he takes on the role of manager at the local property Rainbow his life will be turned upside down and changed forever as he meets the owner April Tremayne who has been hurt so much and needs so much love and understanding and maybe it is fate who has bought Tristan and April together. Because Trist ...more

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Jan 11, 2016 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: aussie-authors, rural, romance, read-on-kindle, own-read, novella, 2016-release

Tristan Blake was a quiet, shy farmer who had long wished for his own farm to run. When he was given the job of manager on the beautiful Rainbow property, with conditions in his contract that were a little different to say the least, Tristan was over the moon. With his dog Holly by his side, he worked diligently and enthusiastically for six weeks before the new owner arrived. Tristan lived in a little cottage on the property, but the main homestead was a beautiful old bluestone building with a v ...more

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Apr 17, 2016 Rosie rated it liked it

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