Cirrus@Austlit

'Six years ago

'Megan waits at the school gates for her six-year-old son, Daniel. As the playground empties, panic bubbles inside her. Daniel is nowhere to be found. Her darling son is missing.

'Six years later

'After years of sleepless nights, and endless days of missing her son, Megan finally gets the call she has been dreaming about. Daniel has walked into a police station in a remote town just a few miles away.

'Megan is overjoyed – her son is finally coming home. She has kept Daniel’s room, with his Cookie Monster poster on the wall and a stack of Lego under the bed, in perfect shape to welcome him back. But when he returns, there is something different about Daniel…

'According to the police, Daniel was kidnapped by his father. After his dad died in a fire, Daniel was finally able to escape. Desperate to find out the truth, Megan tries to talk to her little boy – but he barely answers her questions. Longing to help him heal, Megan tries everything – his favourite chocolate milkshake, a reunion with his best friend, a present for every birthday missed – but still, Daniel is distant.

'And as they struggle to connect, Megan begins to suspect that there is more to the story. Soon, she fears that her son is hiding a secret. A secret that could destroy her family…'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Suspenseful, pace-filled and packed with romance, Second Chance Town is a gorgeous new novel from the bestselling Karly Lane, about a single mother doing her best to support her teenage daughter.

'The town of Bundah is dying, with many of its young people fleeing for jobs in the city. A desperate plan to revive Bundah's fortunes - with generous incentives to attract new businesses - results in a flood of people coming to the town to set up shop.

'As Bundah begins to come to life with the new arrivals a spate of teenage drug overdoses starts to divide the locals. Many are convinced the narcotics trade has been brought to town by one of the newcomers. It doesn't help that the mysterious new owner of one of the local pubs has a dark past.

'Lucy Parker is a single mother doing her best to support her teenage daughter, Belle, through her last year of high school. It's long been Belle's dream to go to university, so when she starts to turn wayward, hanging out with the wrong kids and experimenting with alcohol and possibly drugs, her mother is deeply troubled.

'The very last thing Lucy needs is for a man like Hugh Thompson to mess with her heart and disrupt her life. However, it seems fate has other ideas...' (Publication summary)

'It had been two long years since Lincoln Callahan had found himself in front of the gates to Stringybark Creek. He was in the army then—a lifetime ago. Linc had always been the unsettled Callahan, looking for danger, the one who couldn't wait to leave the family farm. This time he was back for his little sister, Hadley's, wedding. From far and wide, the Callahan relatives were streaming toward Stringybark Creek.

'Linc's little brother, Griffin, was the steady son, the one who stayed at home, the one who did the right things. And now, the one who had feelings for city-girl, Cash Sullivan. For Cash, the offer to manage her best friend's luxury beauty spa tucked away in the country had come at the right time. She knew she needed to make smarter choices in her life, starting with the men she dated, and an enforced break in the country seemed the right way to consider her options. When Linc sets eyes on Cash at a family dinner, their swift attraction floors him. But Cash is his brother's girlfriend . . . what was he thinking? As Linc, Griff and Cash form an uneasy triangle, each of them have personal demons to face before they can open their hearts.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.