Undara in Aussie Readers

Oct 07, 2019 PattyMacDotComma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-netgalley-done, australian-author, fiction, kindle, aa

3.5~4★
“’The Troopie had two flat tyres. We’ve only just changed them.
. . . they both had a slow leak. There was a pebble in two of the valves. . .
Someone’s put them there to cause a slow leak.’”

The Troopie is the fond nickname Aussies use for the popular 4wd Toyota Troop Carrier, a go-almost-anywhere vehicle that with its stablemate, the 4wd Landcruiser truck, has helped Aussies get around the country for many years.

Emlyn is a scientist, staying at a cattle station in FNQ, (Far North Queensland ...more

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Jul 13, 2019 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mystery, read-on-kindle, 2019-release, net-galley, contemporary-fiction, adventure, suspense, aussie-authors, own-read, arc

The long journey from Townsville was almost over for entomologist Emlyn Rees and when she arrived at Hidden Valley she was exhausted. The owner of the cattle property she and her team were about to conduct research on, Travis Carlyle, was a grumpy and unwelcoming man, but Emlyn wasn’t too worried. She needed peace and quiet after the past twelve months or so with all that had happened to her, and before the rest of her team arrived, so to just clean the dongas and rest was her plan.

The lava tub ...more

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Sep 13, 2024 Catsalive rated it liked it

Shelves: 2024, aww

A good read: the setting at Undara was particularly interesting, & the romance trajectories were quite different to my early expectations. The contemporary storyline was full of strange events & sabotage, & the historical line was very sad. I do think Travis should have been more aware of what was going on in his personal life, his complete ignorance felt a bit unlikely but it did make for an interesting denouement, even if it did resolve a trifle smoothly. Not very mysterious, but an entertaini ...more

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Sep 15, 2019 Bree T rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, australian, kindle-version, netgalley, aww2019

Wow, so this was a heck of a read!

Firstly, I didn’t know anything about lava tubes before I read this, so this was also an opportunity to learn about that as well. The book is packed full of information about them but in a way that services the story. Emlyn is an entomologist about to undertake a research project, leaving her ex-husband behind. It’s pretty clear that Emlyn has had a really rough time lately, she’s definitely recovering from some serious injuries and her marriage has broken down, Wow, so this was a heck of a read!

Firstly, I didn’t know anything about lava tubes before I read this, so this was also an opportunity to learn about that as well. The book is packed full of information about them but in a way that services the story. Emlyn is an entomologist about to undertake a research project, leaving her ex-husband behind. It’s pretty clear that Emlyn has had a really rough time lately, she’s definitely recovering from some serious injuries and her marriage has broken down, for reasons that are not exactly clear. Her ex husband is worried about her state of mind and about her being alone in such an isolated place before the rest of the team arrive. Although she is alone, the man whose property she’ll be conducting the research on, Travis Carlyle, is not too far away and he’s struggling in similar ways to Emlyn.

For Travis, the family farm has been everything. Times have been hard lately, but Travis is determined to keep going for the sake of his twin teenage sons. They live with their mother now, since she left, along with their two year old daughter and Travis’ life hasn’t been the same since. He resents the intrusion of Emlyn and her research team but he desperately needs the injection of cash they will give him for the inconvenience. It’s that or the gold mining company sniffing around and Travis is determined that the farm won’t be degraded by mining. Although stand offish around Emlyn at first, the two come to have a sort of understanding, especially when Emlyn thinks she might’ve stumbled on the perfect answer to Travis’ money issues, as well as a way for her to heal herself. The only thing is, there’s someone determined to sabotage everything.

This story has so much in it – Emlyn is clearly grieving, she’s determined to leave her marriage behind as well despite the fact that it seems like she doesn’t really want to. Travis is in the same predicament, his wife having left him a year ago with barely an explanation. I appreciated the way this book took my expectations and turned them upside down. It made me realise how much I’ve become conditioned to expect something when reading now and at first I wasn’t sure if I was going to like having my expectations thwarted but as the book moved on, I realised just how right this path was.

I’ve never been to far north QLD or western QLD so the descriptions of the land were really interesting and provided a great grounding in the setting for me. It’s almost 3000km from where I am to where this book is set – 31hrs without stopping, google maps tells me! It’d probably take 4-5 days to drive that distance and it’d be interesting to see just how many different types of landscape you would go through on that journey. Travis’ life farming in this place isn’t easy, so much relies on the weather and he’s been struggling even more since export methods and laws changed. But he’s so passionate about it, about keeping it within his family for his boys, both of whom are interested in and enjoy working the land but also have different ambitions and thoughts about what they want for their future.

Throughout this book is a sinister sort of side plot which really steps up and takes over about 3/4 of the way through and the way that Annie Seaton built the tension was honestly remarkable. I was actually getting anxiety just reading it and it’s the sort of thing where you just want to keep reading as fast as you can so you can find out how it is all going to play out. It was really expertly done, the usage of the isolation as well as the unusual landscape (the tubes and caves) was really perfect. And the mystery from the past played into the present nicely as well.

I really enjoyed this for the clever story and also for the way it made me think about my expectations and how I think when starting a new book. ...more

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Aug 27, 2019 Helen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Annie Seaton, what a story my goodness this one is a page turner, so much happening, fabulous characters and the setting is awesome. I loved getting to know Travis and Emlyn and learning about their lives and what bought Emlyn to this part of the world and the history of Hidden Valley which meant so much to Travis. This is a book that I highly recommend.

Emlyn Rees is an entomologist and has been through a terrible tragedy, separated from her husband David she has decided it is time to get on wit ...more

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Aug 18, 2019 Nicki Markus rated it liked it

Shelves: read-thrillers-mysteries

I received a review copy of Undara out of the blue. It's not something I would naturally gravitate towards, but I decided to give it a go, and mostly I found it enjoyable. The prose was well written and easy reading, and the story had an interesting premise. I found some of the emotional side of things a tad overblown, but the story had a decent amount of tension and a pleasing ending and I am sure it will appeal to fans of this genre as it ticks all the boxes/tropes. For me, this was a 3.5-star ...more

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