True Blue (Daughters of the Outback, #2) in Aussie Readers

May 15, 2018 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, aussie-authors, sent-by-publisher, reviewing-by-request, 5000-books, 2018-release, arc, romance, own-read

When Freya (Free) Paterson was stopped on the way to the hen’s night by the local police, she wasn’t sure what she’d done wrong – as it turned out, it was nothing; but she met Constable Finn Kelly for the first time and she liked what she saw.

Free was an artist and landing a job at the local high school in Mount Clair teaching the year eleven students art was a dream come true. The only unwelcome intrusion at her new workplace was a colleague who gave Free the creeps. Ignoring him was easy. Her ...more

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Apr 22, 2019 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: aww2019, australian, series, romance, rural-lit

This is the 2nd in the Paterson sister trilogy, revolving around a family brought up on a cattle farm in the Kimberley. The first book featured middle sister Willow (aka Banjo) and this is youngest sister Freya’s turn. Freya is an artist who has travelled the world, working odd jobs here and there to fund her travel to the next location.

But for now, Freya is back where she grew up having accepted a position at the local art school as a kind of artist in residence, helping them with a major prote This is the 2nd in the Paterson sister trilogy, revolving around a family brought up on a cattle farm in the Kimberley. The first book featured middle sister Willow (aka Banjo) and this is youngest sister Freya’s turn. Freya is an artist who has travelled the world, working odd jobs here and there to fund her travel to the next location.

But for now, Freya is back where she grew up having accepted a position at the local art school as a kind of artist in residence, helping them with a major protect and doing some supervised teaching. It’s something that Freya takes to immediately – she is able to connect with her students and foster their enthusiasm for the subject. They get right into the project with suggestions and ideas and Freya is delighted with them. The only issue is a colleague employed to do the same thing as Freya, who is making advances and also questioning her knowledge. Freya tries to keep the peace, because the last thing she wants is to be on difficult terms with someone she has to work with on a large project but it gets more difficult the further into it they get.

Freya is incredibly happy when her neighbour turns out to be handsome Finn Kelly, a local constable with a bit of the Irish lilt still in his voice. The two have hit it off immediately and Freya feels his interest, yet when she pushes things a bit, looking for that next level, Finn keeps retreating and saying it’s good that they’re friends. Freya is very confused by the mixed messages and also, Finn’s lack of understanding about local protests. It’s possible that these two issues could ruin what she’s been slowly working towards.

I really enjoyed the first novel in this trilogy Dear Banjo and I was glad that I had purchased these together because I read them quite close together as well. I found that I liked the family a great deal and the local community. I feel as though this book gives a bit more of a glimpse into that, as Freya lives in town close to the school in government supplied housing that comes with the job, rather than out on the family farm. Freya spends more time in town, socialising with her colleagues at the local pub, visiting local businesses and galleries with her students in a way to improve their learning and so that they can experience art in various forms. Freya is very knowledgable about supplies as well and she is eager to help people access them in a better and cheaper way. It doesn’t even occur to her that she should be taking a small cut for herself, for her time doing the sourcing and ordering etc, until people keep suggesting to her and even then, she’s very reluctant. Freya has lived on a shoestring for probably a long time, just picking up casual jobs here and there to fund the next portion of her trips and she’s not at all motivated by money or making it. I really enjoyed the way Freya threw herself into her job, she made it all about the kids she was working with and teaching. Even though she’s not actually a teacher as such, she puts a lot of time and effort into her lesson prep and ways to make it enjoyable as well as covering the curriculum. She’s a natural at it and she goes above and beyond as well, giving the kids a space to work on weekends and a support system as well as someone to believe in them.

There are two kind of ‘conflicts’ that prevent Freya and Finn from really getting their act together. The first one is pretty amusing – I can see how it happened and I thought that it was actually mapped out very well so that it was believable for how it came about and also maintained that sort of light-hearted amused feel reading it. The second one was for me, more serious and involved Freya being a bit of a pill, but perhaps it was just her very idealistic nature coming into play. There’s an issue that the locals are protesting and as protests go, people often turn up for the simple fact of causing trouble, rather than being into the cause. Freya sort of doesn’t really believe that this is possible and she finds it ridiculous that Finn isn’t “on their side” and that as a police officer, he has to uphold the law, regardless of his personal feelings on the issue. It takes quite a while for Freya to reconcile herself with Finn’s job and what that actually means, in terms of things he has to do that she doesn’t agree with. Freya was definitely hard on poor Finn here and Finn does his best to show her that while he might have to do things she doesn’t like, it doesn’t mean that he can’t still help sometimes too.

I really enjoyed this. Loved the little glimpses into Willow’s life now too, that can be one of my favourite things when reading the next in a series. I am really looking forward to Beth’s book (which is out super soon!).
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Jun 30, 2018 Rachel (The Rest Is Still Unwritten) rated it really liked it

Shelves: publisher-sent, i-own, for-review, penguin, read-in-2018

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Thank you to Penguin Randomhouse Australia for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Find this review and more on my blog The Rest Is Still Unwritten!

True Blue is the second novel in Sasha Walsey’s Paterson Sisters series is another passionate and riveting rural fiction tale brimming with romance and personal development.

Freya “Free” Paterson is known for her wandering heart and her flighty nature, but after all her travelling she has finally returned to her home Thank you to Penguin Randomhouse Australia for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Find this review and more on my blog The Rest Is Still Unwritten!

True Blue is the second novel in Sasha Walsey’s Paterson Sisters series is another passionate and riveting rural fiction tale brimming with romance and personal development.

Freya “Free” Paterson is known for her wandering heart and her flighty nature, but after all her travelling she has finally returned to her home town of Mount Clair after landing a job working on an art project for the local high school. Working with the kids is easier than Free thought and as she finds herself inspired by their passion and desire to learn, Free begins flourishing in her new job. It also doesn’t hurt that she seems to have met the man of her dreams in Irish expat Constable Finn Kelly. If only he would give into the desire that simmers between them instead of holding her at arm’s length. As Free throws herself into work and the recent redevelopment plans for the local dam, fighting against her feelings for Finn becomes near impossible. Sometimes love finds you where you least expect and when it’s real, overcoming your differences can have the power to make or break your relationship. Will Free convince Finn to take a chance on them? Or will the level headed but kind policeman decide Free’s spirit too much to handle?

After falling in love with Willow and Paterson Downs in the first novel, Dear Banjo, I was so excited to visit the characters once more. Introducing readers to Free Paterson, the younger sister of previous main character Willow, True Blue is perfect for those wanting to get to know Willow’s sister, but can also be easily read as a stand lone novel. Sasha Wasley once again draws readers into a lush country town and fills it with vibrant personalities full of colour and kindness.

As expected, there’s a lot to love within True Blue. Encompassing so much beauty about the Australian outback and Aussie spirit, True Blue is captivating with its poise and integrity. Through Free, Wasley explores important themes including the effects of land development on agriculture and finding ones own version of happiness and mixes them with romance, friendship and humour against a quintessential Australian backdrop.

Free is very much the passionate individual and her way of seeing the world is unlike many others. Though she has travelled abroad quite a bit, Free is still somewhat naive about the nature of man and tends to see the best in things. Her kindness and inability to understand peoples motives gets her in trouble throughout True Blue as does her flighty and harebrained, often forgetful, nature. There are moments whilst reading you will find yourself shaking your head at Free but she honestly is just a good person and she expects everyone to be the same.

In True Blue Free finds a friend and then lover in the form of Finn. Admittedly Finn was less “Irish” than I expected after reading the books description, but I enjoyed the genuine, down to earth individual he was. Free and Finn’s relationship begins with a series of funny misunderstandings that make for a laugh and I especially enjoyed seeing how they ended up “sharing” Max—that made me laugh.

Fun, light but beautifully written and instilled with just enough Australian heritage and heart, True Blue is another authentic tasting rural fiction story and leaves me highly excited to see what Sasha Wasley has up her sleeve where the final Paterson Sister, Beth, is concerned. I have no doubt it will be as bewitching as its predecessors! ...more

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Oct 26, 2018 Cate rated it liked it

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