Birds of a Feather in Aussie Readers

Sep 23, 2021 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: aussie-authors, 2021-release, net-galley, 5000-2021, contemporary-fiction, arc, read-on-kindle, own-read

Lucy, Alec and their two children Noah and Poppy hadn’t been in Wallaby Bay long but having Alec’s parents nearby was helpful for Lucy when Alec was away with his FIFO position. She was very protective of her children and felt uncomfortable leaving them with Alec’s parents. When Alec was home for a two week break, the opportunity came up for Lucy to once again use her nursing skills. The elderly Eve, one of the town’s matriarchs and long time partner in the Wallaby Bay fishing fleet, had injured Lucy, Alec and their two children Noah and Poppy hadn’t been in Wallaby Bay long but having Alec’s parents nearby was helpful for Lucy when Alec was away with his FIFO position. She was very protective of her children and felt uncomfortable leaving them with Alec’s parents. When Alec was home for a two week break, the opportunity came up for Lucy to once again use her nursing skills. The elderly Eve, one of the town’s matriarchs and long time partner in the Wallaby Bay fishing fleet, had injured her shoulder and as she lived alone, was struggling – although she didn’t like to admit it. When Lucy took Eve to Adelaide to see the specialist, he confirmed she would need surgery on her shoulder, so Lucy’s care was timely.

Julia had just completed her research project in Melbourne and was without a job, so decided a holiday with her beloved Eve, her godmother, in Wallaby Bay would be perfect. She hadn’t seen Eve for awhile and decided to surprise her with her visit. Eve was shocked to see Julia, and both Lucy and Julia didn’t hit it off at the beginning. Eve was grumpy because of her pain, Julia because of her problems and Lucy because of her worries. Would things settle between the three women? Then when Lucy took Eve to Adelaide for the surgery, Julia was put out…

Eve was feeling low; her pain wouldn’t leave her; she couldn’t do anything – she felt old and useless. Julia was at a crossroads in her life and couldn’t make any decisions while Lucy missed Alec and worried for their future. What would be the outcome for these three very different women who had become firm friends, while Noah and Poppy delighted Eve, giving her joy…

Birds of a Feather is another exceptional novel from Aussie author Tricia Stringer and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the feisty Eve, felt her heartache over events when she was in her mid-thirties, could associate with her loss of independence. Family is important to most people, but Birds of a Feather makes it easy to see that family doesn’t always have to be blood related. The cementing of friendships into the closeness of family is special – we’d all love to have friends of this nature. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.
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Oct 07, 2021 Helen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: review-copy-from-netgalley

Oh there were lots of happy tears from me when I got to the end of this fabulous story, this one had me turning the pages as I got to know three women, who are similar in many ways, they are strong, independent and very capable of making their own decisions and not impressed when others try to help, but they are bought together by unusual circumstances and Eve, Julia and Lucy find that spending time together opens up a new bond that brings happiness to them all. I do hope you come along to the s Oh there were lots of happy tears from me when I got to the end of this fabulous story, this one had me turning the pages as I got to know three women, who are similar in many ways, they are strong, independent and very capable of making their own decisions and not impressed when others try to help, but they are bought together by unusual circumstances and Eve, Julia and Lucy find that spending time together opens up a new bond that brings happiness to them all. I do hope you come along to the small coastal fishing town of Wallaby Bay in South Australia and meet these true lovely ladies.

Eve is seventy now and has lived in Wallaby Bay seems forever she is widowed and her grown-up sons don’t live close, she has been a huge part of the prawning fleet and the town always but times are changing and gossip has kept her away from the committees and spending time alone at her beautiful home. When she is injured and needs surgery she also needs help at home, not easy to accept for Eve.

Lucy is a nurse and a young married mother of two children her husband Alec works as a FIFO and so she spends a lot of time as a single mother and her past makes her very protective of her children and relying on other people is not easy for Lucy even her in-laws who live in the Bay, but when she is asked to help Eve with her recovery she steps up to help not realizing how her life will change.

Julia forty five is a research scientist, Eve’s goddaughter and lives in Melbourne things have suddenly changed for Julia and decisions need to be made for her, in her work life and personal life and a trip back to Wallaby Bay might be just what she needs to make these decisions and she is looking forward to surprising Eve, only when she gets there she finds Lucy helping Eve and this for some reason doesn’t sit well with her.

Tricia Stringer has bought these woman together in such a beautiful way, all three had secrets and pasts that really needed to be talked about and bought out in the open before any of them could honestly look to the future and see the happiness that could be there and like birds of a feather they came together, opened up and found the bond of love and friendship, together through ups and downs they battled the past demons and became even stronger and so much happier.

I loved this one from start to finish and cannot highly recommend it enough, this is one for the keeper shelf and Eve, Lucy, Julia and the many other wonderful characters of Wallaby Bay will stay with me for a long time to come.

My thanks to Harlequin AU for my copy to read and review.
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Oct 19, 2021 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: aussie-author, arc-are, netgalley-reviews

Three independent women of three different generations are at the centre of Tricia Stringer’s 14th novel, Birds of a Feather.

Septuagenarian Eve Monk is not at all pleased when a shoulder injury requiring surgery threatens her highly prized independence, and it’s with great reluctance that she hires registered nurse Lucy Ryan as home help. With her partner, a FIFO worker, often absent, young mother of two, Lucy, is uncomfortable with juggling work and childcare, and isn’t sure working for Eve is Three independent women of three different generations are at the centre of Tricia Stringer’s 14th novel, Birds of a Feather.

Septuagenarian Eve Monk is not at all pleased when a shoulder injury requiring surgery threatens her highly prized independence, and it’s with great reluctance that she hires registered nurse Lucy Ryan as home help. With her partner, a FIFO worker, often absent, young mother of two, Lucy, is uncomfortable with juggling work and childcare, and isn’t sure working for Eve is good idea. Nevertheless, the two slowly warm to each other, much to the annoyance of Eve’s goddaughter, Julia, who arrives unannounced after finding herself at a professional and personal crossroad.

Exploring the themes of independence, friendship, careers and family, among others, each woman, though at different stages in their lives, struggle with similar issues in Birds of a Feather. This is a character driven story as Eve, Lucy and Julia confront the spectres of their pasts and find the courage to determine new futures.

To be honest it took me a while to warm to all three characters. I initially thought Eve to be brusque and demanding, Lucy overly anxious, and Julia rude and selfish. As the story progresses however each becomes more nuanced and I came to admire their many strengths. The development of their friendship is gratifying, and I was cheered by the supportive bond they formed, and drew strength from.

Set in mid 2021 Stringer doesn’t overlook the impact of the CoVid-19 pandemic, which has affected both Lucy and Julia, but it doesn’t have an active presence in the story per se. Most of the novel takes place in a small coastal town, named Wallaby Bay, on the Spencer Gulf in South Australia. I liked the depiction of the community, whose main industries include tourism and prawn-trawling, and the minor conflicts of its residents add colour and interest to the story.

Warm, sincere and thoughtful, Birds of a Feather is an engaging contemporary novel sure to delight readers, new and old. ...more

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Oct 03, 2021 Bree T rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, women-s-fiction, australian, aww2021

I thought this was a really nice story, showcasing a small town and giving a good example of how sometimes you build your own family and that some of the closest people to us are not necessarily the ones we are related to.

It revolves around three women who are all at quite different phases in life – Eve is 70, long ago widowed and her two grown sons live far away. For many years Eve has been partner in a very profitable prawn trawler fleet but now her business partner wants to sell and travel. F I thought this was a really nice story, showcasing a small town and giving a good example of how sometimes you build your own family and that some of the closest people to us are not necessarily the ones we are related to.

It revolves around three women who are all at quite different phases in life – Eve is 70, long ago widowed and her two grown sons live far away. For many years Eve has been partner in a very profitable prawn trawler fleet but now her business partner wants to sell and travel. For Eve, the role she plays in the business is her lifeline, especially seeing as of late, she’s become somewhat ostracised from the community. When she injures her shoulder, someone recommends Lucy, new to town but with nursing qualifications, to be her daily help.

Lucy and her partner Alec have moved back to Wallaby Bay, where Alec grew up. They have a plan where Alec works FIFO and they’re saving as much money as possible to start their own business. Lucy is often alone with the kids and she’s reluctant to call on Alec’s parents for help, not wanting to be a burden. Lucy is good natured and isn’t offended by Eve’s brusque manner and sometimes churlishness, knowing that people aren’t at their best when injured. It isn’t long before the two of them build a good rapport, upset somewhat by the arrival of Julia.

Julia is the daughter of Eve’s longtime best friend and she’s at a crossroads. Her funding for her work has dried up, she’s feeling disconnected in her relationship and she feels that a trip back to Wallaby Bay might help. She’s not impressed at finding Lucy helping Eve and the two take a while to find some common ground but eventually the three women form a strong bond and before long they each become confidants to the other and help them through difficult times.

I really enjoyed the way the women built a relationship – Eve and Julia are close obviously as Julia’s mother (now deceased) was Eve’s best friend and Eve has seen Julia as like a daughter to her almost her whole life. Their contact has been a little sporadic lately, with Julia’s work and the general busyness of life. Lucy is new to the area and she and Eve had only crossed paths once before someone suggests she might be able to help Eve after her injury. Lucy has some complex feelings revolving around nursing again which is hinted at being rooted in the tragedy of 2020 but it takes a while for the whole story to be revealed.

I think when the author wrote this, it was probably expected that at this stage, the pandemic would be over but it hasn’t panned out that way. Life in the novel is back to ‘normal’ but you can tell that for Lucy, the stress and guilt and horror of it all, what she experienced, has not faded. It showcases what it might’ve been like, just a snapshot of life for frontline workers that they experienced last year and are unfortunately still continuing to experience, with the Delta variant and the new wave of cases. I really enjoyed Lucy’s story and how it unfolded, as well as her relationship with Alec, her feelings about her in-laws as well as her parental guilt. I think it’s important to see that most of us have guilt about something in regards to our kids!

It took me longer to warm to Julia, I felt like the way she was towards Lucy in the beginning was quite unfair but once Julia warmed up a bit and kind of relaxed, I felt like I got a better showing of her personality. Her work was interesting and it does make you think what might happen to funding that was allocated in 2020 but I was less interested in her relationship woes and felt that ended up being overly dramatic for little reason and resolved very easily with one conversation they perhaps should’ve had months prior.

What I really appreciated was the way the three women band together (especially once circumstances mean they’re all sharing Eve’s quite large house) and build something. There’s strength in all of them together and they really do find confidence and a kind of clarity in sharing their troubles and getting feedback and supporting one another.

Very enjoyable.

***A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for the purpose of an honest review*** ...more

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Nov 12, 2021 Catsalive rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: aww, 2021

4.5* rounded up.
I really enjoyed this story about Eve, Julia & Lucy, three different generations of women, strong, independent & sometimes prickly, living in a small coastal town in Australia. I loved the way they came together, at first wary, then becoming more comfortable together and supportive of each other. These characters are well-developed, as is the setting that provides an ideal atmosphere. Uplifting and believable.

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Nov 04, 2021 Tien rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: australia, australian-author, womens-lit

Birds of a Feather is October's BOTM from The Book Stack. I'm not sure if I would have pick this one up at all if left to my own devices and as it is, I read this in beginning of November! October was one crazy month for me. While cover & description weren't particularly intriguing to me, I do like the symmetry & colours of the cover and I have previously read a romance book by this author so I jumped in with a certain expectation. There isn't much romance in this book but what there is, is cert ...more

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Oct 18, 2021 Janine rated it really liked it

Shelves: for-review

Another wonderful novel from Tricia! Imagine what it would be like to have been an independent woman and suddenly that is taken away from you. That is the position Eve finds herself in when a severe injury leads to surgery and she is needing assistance to do the most basic things. Enter Lucy who is a young mum with two littlies and a FIFO husband, and also Julia who is Eve's god-daughter and finds herself suddenly without a job and decides to return to help Eve. Of course there are clashes galor ...more

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Oct 08, 2021 Nikki Sims-Chilton rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was my first Tricia Stringer book and it won’t be my last! I really enjoyed Birds of a Feather – the story of Eve, Julia and Lucy. Three very different women who all come together under unusual circumstances.
Eve is a 70-year-old widow who has lived in Wallaby Bay forever and worked in the prawn industry for most of her life. Julia is Eve’s god daughter and a research scientist who has lost her job and her way. Lucy is a registered nurse, a cleaner and a mother of two whose husband is a FIFO ...more

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