The Summer of Secrets in Aussie Readers

Jul 22, 2018 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mystery, aussie-authors, sent-by-publisher, 5000-books, romantic-suspense, reviewing-by-request, 2018-release, historical-fiction, arc, own-read

When Chloe Brown’s boyfriend of seven and a half years told her in no uncertain terms what he thought of having children, Chloe was shattered. After all their time together, and her continually mentioning her love of children, he must have known her thoughts. How dare he not tell her earlier in their relationship! Chloe left Sydney after applying for and being accepted as a journalist at a small country town newspaper, Burralea Bugle, in far north Queensland. Chloe needed to re-think her life.

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Jul 23, 2018 Helen rated it it was amazing

Going back to Burralea was like going home on a visit with family and friends, and MS Hannay knows how to write a story rich in emotions, with characters that are strong and so very lovable, people who have normal problems, people who jump in and help and share their strength with each other and show love, this is another story that drew me in from page one and left me sighing with such happiness at the end.

Chloe Brown works for a woman’s magazine in Sydney, she has been living very happily with Going back to Burralea was like going home on a visit with family and friends, and MS Hannay knows how to write a story rich in emotions, with characters that are strong and so very lovable, people who have normal problems, people who jump in and help and share their strength with each other and show love, this is another story that drew me in from page one and left me sighing with such happiness at the end.

Chloe Brown works for a woman’s magazine in Sydney, she has been living very happily with her partner for seven years, but knows that her biological clock is ticking away and Chloe desperately wants to be a mother, but in the blink of any eye that changes and Chloe moves on and away to far North Queensland, she takes a job in a small country newspaper with plans to do IVF and become a single mum, it doesn’t take long before Chloe has made lots of friends and feels so very at home in Burralea and feels a definite pull towards her boss Finn Latimer, things are going to change for Chloe.

Finn Latimer is a former foreign correspondent, but after a dreadful tragedy Finn has made a life for himself at the Burralea Bugle as editor, it is a quiet life just what he needs while still grieving, but when the paper’s owner hires a woman journalist from Sydney, Finn looks like he may start to live again.

This story takes in the lives of many of the town folk Emily the owner of the paper and her husband Alex are also going through tough times, then there is newcomer Jess and her daughter Willow and with Ben the fabulous baker of the town missing after a run and his girlfriend Tammy the hairdresser trying to cope and of course there is Izzy in the nursing home, and MS Hannay has bought all of these people together in an amazing story filled with heart-felt emotion, yes there were tears but there were lots of smiles and again tears of pure joy at the ending of this story, thank you MS Hannay for another awesome story, one that filled me with such pleasure. The people of Burralea have become family and such a beautiful dedication. This is a story that I highly recommend.
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Nov 21, 2018 Bree T rated it it was amazing

Shelves: australian, suspense, romance, rural-lit

Chloe is 37 and after devoting the past 7 years of her life to a man who is never going to be on the same page as her, she finds herself leaving Sydney and her job at a girl’s magazine for a post in far North Queensland at a rural newspaper. Before Chloe arrived there was basically a staff of one – former foreign correspondent Finn Latimer, who is used to doing things his way and not having anyone else around. He’s a Serious Journalist and not particularly interested in having someone that he th Chloe is 37 and after devoting the past 7 years of her life to a man who is never going to be on the same page as her, she finds herself leaving Sydney and her job at a girl’s magazine for a post in far North Queensland at a rural newspaper. Before Chloe arrived there was basically a staff of one – former foreign correspondent Finn Latimer, who is used to doing things his way and not having anyone else around. He’s a Serious Journalist and not particularly interested in having someone that he thinks probably wrote quizzes for Dolly magazine helping him out.

Chloe finds herself settling into the small town almost immediately, which is preoccupied by the disappearance of the young man who owns the local bakery. Ben went out for a jog one morning and never came home and the fear is that he stumbled on a meth lab. There’s not much to go on and Chloe befriends his girlfriend Tammy as she gets to know the locals for a series of articles she’s preparing for the local paper. She finds herself accepted into this community, enjoying the change of pace and beauty of the local area. It’s a far cry from inner Sydney and it’s growing on her. As is Finn himself.

I loved the small town feel. I’ve never been to far North Queensland so I appreciated the descriptions of the local farms and the forests, as well as the brightness of the stars at night and even a little cameo by some of the (perhaps not so palatable) wildlife. Chloe is at that stage of her life where she has to make a decision – she’s already late-30s, which is considered advanced maternal age, especially for someone who will be undertaking having their first child, even though more and more women are having children later. She has recently ended a long-term relationship and if she wants to have a baby before she’s 40, she’s probably going to have to go it alone. I think being somewhere small and quiet gives her time to think, reassess and gain some clarity. It will also give her more freedom to be a working mother as well. However…..now there’s also Finn in her life and the two of them definitely have a lot of chemistry and I really enjoyed the way she and Finn interacted – it was a bit of a rocky start, with Finn not really buying into her credentials, but Chloe brings a breath of fresh air and colour to the local paper and Finn doesn’t take long to see that she’s really quite valuable. And very helpful when they get a strange clue about Ben, the vanished baker, that leaves Finn free to pursue that line of enquiry. A future together requires both of them taking a strong leap of faith and for Finn, letting go of the past and his guilt over it.

There’s a few other local characters populating this story. Emily is the owner of the paper, who took over from her mother a very formidable woman who is almost 100 and still going strong. Emily and her husband are going through something quite traumatic and they’re both dealing with it in different ways – or trying to. Jess, a young woman Chloe met in the airport after her flight landed, was also leaving to find a new life and I really enjoyed the way her story played out. It was nicely done – I only really started to suspect her true reasons for being in the area shortly before it was revealed. I also liked the inclusion of Emily’s mother’s early life as a pilot in WWII for Britain. This also made me realise that somewhere along the way I’ve missed a book from Barbara Hannay so I’m definitely going to have to rectify that.

Also? I’d kind of like to see Hawk in a future book…. ...more

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Oct 30, 2018 Janine rated it liked it

I have adored every Barbara Hannay book I have read, and although I didn't not like this one, it fell a little flat for me.

Chloe flees from an unsuitable relationship that was going nowhere and decides to take up a position in a country town out of Cairns at a small newspaper. There she meets Finn, who is the senior editor of the newspaper. After a rocky start their relationship grows. The town is in the midst of the disappearance of one of their own, plus a long standing family discovers some s ...more

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Sep 30, 2018 Tanya rated it liked it

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Dec 22, 2022 Catsalive marked it as to-read

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