A Chance Of Stormy Weather (Wood Dell Book 1) in Aussie Readers

Dec 15, 2016 Brenda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: aussie-authors, sent-by-publisher, rural, romance, reviewing-by-request, own-read, 2016-release

After a rushed three days in Sydney for their honeymoon, Paula and her new husband Dan Woodcroft headed for his family farm in rural South Australia. Dan had been raised by his Aunt Rowena after both his parents had died when he was young – the home Dan brought Paula to was the old farmhouse his grandparents had previously lived in and it had been uninhabited for a long time. Paula was aware it needed renovations and was happy Dan had had their bedroom prepared before their arrival.

Dan’s hours o ...more

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Jan 02, 2023 Catsalive rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: aww, 2023

A pleasant, easy-reading tale about a city girl having trouble coming to terms with life as a farmer's wife.

I have to say that Paula Woodcroft didn't strike me as terribly self-reliant, as the blurb would have it, she came across as quite pathetic most of the time. Naturally, such change wouldn't be easy, you'd hardly expect her to cope with such a massive upheaval without difficulty, but you'd think someone with her supposed business nous would be able to work things out or ask for help. Instea ...more

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Dec 02, 2016 Bree T rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: australian, arc, romance, rural-lit, aww2017

It was very interesting to start a book just after the wedding of the main character. City girl Paula and farmer Dan married after a very whirlwind romance and now Paula is moving away from Sydney to Dan’s property in South Australia. She doesn’t know anything about running a farm (or a homestead) and Dan seems to feel that she has a very traditional role to fill of doing up the house and providing food for himself and any workers that there may be coming to do jobs. This isn’t something that Pa It was very interesting to start a book just after the wedding of the main character. City girl Paula and farmer Dan married after a very whirlwind romance and now Paula is moving away from Sydney to Dan’s property in South Australia. She doesn’t know anything about running a farm (or a homestead) and Dan seems to feel that she has a very traditional role to fill of doing up the house and providing food for himself and any workers that there may be coming to do jobs. This isn’t something that Paula is experienced in and her setting and the temperamental oven make it even more difficult.

I could be Paula, if I’d married a farmer. I don’t have any real experience with a rural lifestyle. I’ve lived in a semi-rural area and I’ve read a lot of books. But when it comes to the practicalities of it, I’m in the dark. I’d be exactly like Paula – struggling to cook hearty meals for men who expect a good feed, freaking out at the mice. When we moved into the home we live in now, we had some mice. Our house then was brand new, build in a new estate from land that had been market gardens. For the first 6 months we had mice constantly. I hated it. There was nothing worse than waking up in the middle of the night to one scratching its way along the wall behind the bedhead. As annoying and disgusting as it was, we only ever had a few at a time. The mice numbers that Paula describes would probably have me fleeing.

Paula also feels left out of some of the farming – despite her qualifications in a relevant field, Dan’s Aunt Rowena won’t let her take a look at the farm’s books, which makes her feel useless and unwanted. It seems that the things she could help in she’s not allowed to, instead she has to focus on things that don’t really involve her particular skillset. Paula does make a big effort to involve herself and takes a part time job in the nearby town as well to do something for herself as well as earn some money. Most people are welcoming but there is one woman that puts her on edge, who seems to have some sort of history with Dan which makes Paula nervous.

A big thing in this book is the lack of communication between Paula and Dan. I think it’s a great show of realism because marriage isn’t the end of conflict between couples, nor are all couples suddenly able to share every single thought or concern they have with their partner for reasonable discussion. I know there are things that my husband does that annoy me greatly but sometimes I don’t tell him because a) I don’t want a fight or b) it’s petty on my behalf or c) to be honest I don’t want to know the answer to the question the discussion may involve/bring up/etc. There are also things that I’m feeling or thinking that I might stew on for a while. There are still plenty of opportunities for conflict and when Dan is away working long hours on the farm and Paula is at home either helping prepare meals for shearing or whatever with Aunt Rowena or fixing up rooms in the house, she probably has a lot of time to think on things. And when Dan gets home, probably the last thing he wants to do is have difficult discussions, so things have plenty of time to escalate and what could’ve been solved with a few minutes of honesty and discussion suddenly becomes a much bigger deal.

Dan was certainly keeping some secrets, things that seemed suspicious to Paula (and the reader) simply because everyone was so secretive so Paula had no real choice but to assume what was being hidden was negative. I think that Dan did have some good reasons for not perhaps confessing to Paula but it sure would’ve made things simpler if he had! But humans make flawed decisions all of the time and this was a well written example of how secrets can drive a wedge between a couple, no matter how new the relationship and how high the devotion.

I really enjoyed this new perspective on a rural. ...more

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Dec 01, 2016 Lauredhel rated it liked it

Shelves: romance, australian-women-writers-challenge, rural-setting, australian, aww2016

3.5 stars

This was pretty good, though I didn't love it as much as some of Stringer's other books. I liked that it was about the romance after the marriage - sorting through the adjustments and issues of newly married life, when you've had to move to a completely environment and don't have a handle on all of the unspoken expectations.

What I disliked about this book was the "just TALK to each other!" side of things. Virtually all of the issues in the book could have been readily dealt with if onl ...more

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Apr 20, 2022 Janine rated it really liked it · review of another edition

There’s something about Tricia Stringers writing that just gets you in! A superb rural romance set in sheep country in south Australia. As well as the romance she described what life can be like living in a small community with limited resources around the house and the problems with weather and mice!

I’ve not read a book by Tricia that I haven’t enjoyed immensely - a wonderful writer.

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