A captivating love story about community and second chances by bestselling author Alissa Callen. Country-girl Cressida Knight fills her days with her farm, a mischievous pet bull called Reggie and her volunteer emergency services work. The busier she keeps, the less she thinks about the cowboy who left her behind. She's convinced the small-town Woodlea grapevine that she's moved on, but now it's time to move on for real. Champion bull rider Denham Rigby shares Cressy's deep love for the land and all he's ever wanted was to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Cressy through life. But three years ago a dark family secret left him no choice but to run. Now family duty gives him no choice but to return to the bush. What Denham hasn't come home to do is to hurt Cressy by rekindling their relationship. He's nothing but a liability and the beautiful, self-reliant cowgirl has to stay off limits. But when faced with Cressy's desperation to save her drought-stricken farm, he can't keep his distance. He joins her out droving on the long paddock. Then when Woodlea is hit by more than just rodeo fever, they are further thrown together and Denham loses the battle to lock down his emotions. But has he left it too late to stop running? And will the woman he's always loved be prepared to risk her heart for a second time? 'Alissa brings romance and country together in just the right balance.' TRICIA STRINGER, BESTSELLING AUTHOR
A woman's journey of self-discovery meets Bundilla's small-town charm and an intriguing post-World War II mystery in this captivating romance from bestselling Australian author Alissa Callen.
The greatest risk of all is love ...
Interior stylist Grace Davenport has come to the mountains for solitude and a place to heal after her parents' death. Returning to their beloved town of Bundilla, she plans to restore a local bluestone mansion in honour of their memory. She'll just be there for the summer, until she figures out her next step.
Rowan Parker never used to think twice about taking risks until his love for a woman blinded him to all common sense. Now, between his cattle farm in the high country and his work as a stonemason, there's no room in his life for further mistakes. But when he meets the beautiful but reserved new owner of the historic mansion he's been hired to rebuild, he realises his best-laid plans have run aground.
Together, Grace and Rowan work to bring the mansion back to life. But when they uncover a hidden trove of post-WWII secrets about the house's former inhabitants, their quest to find answers draws them ever closer. And just when the stone rubble around them begins to resemble a home, a landslide threatens all that Rowan and Grace have rebuilt. With their futures as unstable as the mountainside, each must fight for what they really want, even if it means losing everything...
PRAISE FOR ALISSA CALLEN:
'It was great to pick up this new series by Alissa Callen, even though it's a new town with new people to get to know, I instantly felt like they were old friends.' - Claire's Reads & Reviews
'A free-roaming kelpie, a second chance at love and a dying man's confession make Snowy Mountains Daughter a story that will have your emotions reeling.' - Goodreads review
'A consuming story of past hurts, new beginnings, a long buried mystery and community ties, Alissa Callen's new rural treat will draw in fans old and new.' - Mrs B's Book Reviews
'A moving story with a touching romance weaving its way around and through the many issues facing a rural community.' - The Burgeoning Bookshelf
'Warm-hearted and unforgettable' - Queensland Times
Romance in rural Australia, three captivating Woodlea novellas from bestselling author Alissa Callen
THE PURPLE HILLS
When Sibylla Elliott's father has a stroke she returns to small-town Woodlea planning to stay just until he recovers and before her stepmother can wedge herself any further between them. Single-dad Hugh Mason's entire world is his freckle-faced son, Riley. When Hugh suffers a head injury, he has no Plan B, until Riley fetches Sibylla who, relieved to escape the tensions in her family home, moves to the next-door farm to help out. But when close quarters magnify the attraction between Sibylla and Hugh and refreshes past heartbreak, there is a price to pay. Will the wish of a motherless five-year-old as he stares at the night sky be enough to make Sibylla's plans permanent?
THE SILVER CREEK
Country girl Bethany Galloway has a single prerequisite when choosing a man. He must be someone her mother, Edna, small town Woodlea's notorious matchmaker, disapproves of. Mac Barton ticks such a box. Farmer Mac Barton has always known intriguing and beautiful Bethany has been off limits. Their families have been long locked in a feud over a cattle trophy. Then at the first of the autumn bonfires he breaks with family loyalty. A conversation with Bethany leads to the start of something more. For Bethany, what she feels for Mac is real. Mac too has no doubts that Bethany is who he's been searching for. But when Edna, and Mac's father, unexpectedly approve of the clandestine relationship, trouble hits with the force of a winter storm. Can a woman desperate to be her own person, and a man who refuses to be manipulated, find their way back to each other?
UNDER THE CHRISTMAS STARS
Small-town teacher Freya George is determined for make up for last year's disastrous Christmas. This year she will stop at nothing to ensure that she and the Woodlea community have the best holiday season ever. But from the moment Freya meets cattleman Drew Macgregor, her plans unravel faster than red Christmas ribbon...
Welcome to Bundilla. A new close-knit community where romance can blossom. An award-winning story of homecoming and family secrets from bestselling Australian author Alissa Callen.
ARRA Winner of Favourite Australian-set romance 2021
The road home isn't for the faint-hearted...
Peony flower farmer Clancy Parker was born and bred in the Australian high country. Small-town Bundilla is the only place she will ever truly belong, even if staying means remaining alone. The man she'd loved is long gone and single men are as rare as a summer snowfall.
As soon as he could, street artist Heath MacBride escaped his complicated family and traded mountain peaks for city concrete. Now a commission to paint a mural on Bundilla's water tower brings him home. It doesn't matter how long he's been away, the animosity of his cattleman father hasn't waned. As soon as the water tower is painted, he will be gone.
But between steadfast Clancy, who'd once been his muse, a free-spirited kelpie who becomes his shadow and a corrosive family secret, his best laid plans disintegrate. When life again backs him into a corner, will he have no choice but to leave or will he and Clancy have the second chance they'd each thought would forever remain out of reach?
A heartfelt story about finding where you belong by bestselling Australian author Alissa Callen.
For only child Neve Fitzpatrick, family is everything. When she loses her mother, she heads to the bush to rent a farmhouse near her grandmother's family home. To keep herself busy and her grief at bay, she offers to look after two little redheaded cowgirls and adopts a sassy pony and shaggy donkey in need of a refuge.
Drover and horse trainer Tanner Callahan may have just found his mother, but he's resolved never to let anyone too close. Abandonment has cursed him all his life, and he won't let it happen again. Only two things unnerve him: children and small-town matchmaking. Then he meets occupational therapist Neve. Warm-hearted and unforgettable, she represents all that Tanner feels will forever remain out of reach.
But when an old iron key unlocks family secrets from the Second World War, Neve needs help only Tanner can give. As the threads of the past unravel, and locusts threaten to suffocate the land, Neve and Tanner must make a choice. Will fear keep them running or is the home each yearns for already within grasp?
Will facing the past bring them together?
After losing a patient, Dr Fliss Knight returns to small town Woodlea and buys a rundown farm, her confidence and city career in tatters. She intends to live a solitary life and hopes that the slow country pace will help her heal.
Pickup rider Hewitt Sinclair is no stranger to how hairy things can get in a rodeo arena. But when he can't save the life of his twin brother, he hangs up his spurs. Determined to provide for his brother's widow and young family, he gives himself no time to grieve. But when a motorbike accident proves he needs to also look out for himself, he accepts an old friend's invitation to stay at an isolated property while his body heals.
When Fliss meets the cowboy living in the bluestone stables across the garden, all her hopes for a quiet and peaceful life fade. Despite his reserve, Hewitt is impossible to ignore. As they work together to care for an abandoned dog and her puppies they find themselves drawn to each other.
But as a family secret threatens every truth Fliss has ever known, and the heavy spring rain continues to fall, both Fliss and Hewitt must face their deepest fears. Will love be enough to guarantee happiness or will the past refuse to relinquish its dark hold?
"Another fantastic Australian author." BEAUTY & LACE on The Long Paddock
Kree Garrett's younger brother Seth is all the family she has left, so when he goes missing while working in the Australian outback, she races from America to join in the search. To everyone's relief, Seth is rescued just in time by local volunteers and Kree finds, in an abandoned historic Cobb & Co. coach house, the opportunity to thank the community she's fallen in love with. But it isn't only the town she's fallen for... Ewan Mackenzie has given up everything for his late brother's family, but he can never give enough to assuage his guilt at what happened one dark night, years ago. Ewan knows he doesn't deserve happiness; however, with Kree he finds it hard to keep his distance. Can Kree and Ewan leave the tragedies of their pasts behind long enough to find a future together?
Paige Quinn will let nothing and no one distract her from caring for her wheelchair-bound father Connor, or fighting for her remote draught-stricken property Banora Downs – least of all a surprise farm-stay guest named Tait Cavanaugh, whose smooth words are as lethal as his movie-star smile. Expecting him to be trouble, Paige is anything but welcoming toward their visitor – except she can't help noticing that, for a city boy, Tait seems unexpectedly at home on the land. And he asks a lot of questions… But no matter how much he helps out or how much laughter he brings into her life, Paige soon comes to suspect that Tait is harbouring a big secret. What is the real reason he's found his way to Banora Downs – and just what does his past have to do with it?
