Cirrus@Austlit

'After the break-up of her 26-year marriage, high-flying property manager Rosie Begg returns to Chalk Hill to start over. Rosie doesn't like surprises, and when she's nominated to represent her new employer in the Christmas Kindness Project, she struggles in the competition spotlight. Then enigmatic real estate valuer, Fletcher Graham (a nice surprise) takes an interest in Rosie's ideas for solving the rental housing crisis. If it's not a hot flush, maybe Rosie's love life is finally heating up?' (Publication summary)

'No one in the small town of Chalk Hill would know that the new vet in town is actually a famous country music star. Jolene has spent most of her life trying to outrun scandal, but if she keeps running this Christmas, will she lose her chance for love?' (Publication summary)

'One irrepressible city girl plus a by-the-numbers accountant = a tricky equation...

'For city vet Isabella Passmore, the opportunity to pet-sit in the country knocks at the perfect time. Bring on that fresh air! But after three days of holiday bliss, Izzy is bored silly. If the air gets any cleaner, she'll start slinging mud. Then she gets offered work in the second-hand shop. Saved!

'Maybe.

'It's been years since Elliot Field's parents rolled out the red carpet, but Elliot only needs one day to learn that this welcome mat comes with strings. His parents' new business is sinking, and they expect him to fix their financial problems.

'To prepare for the week from hell, he'll need a mug that's not steeped in bad memories, but nothing could prepare him for the employee he encounters at the second-hand shop.

'For Izzy, pursuing Elliot is a most welcome diversion from walking another lap of town with the dog. For Elliot, their random encounters add up to the sum of much bigger things.

'He's always been a numbers man and he's kept his heart locked away, but in irrepressible Izzy, is Elliot's number finally up?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'When a backyard dare to discover the source of a fabled waterhole uncovers human bones, small town detective, Marley West, leaps at the chance to kickstart his stalled career. But it's more than two decades since developers filled the Cowaramup creek. The woman who owned the land-the Ross family matriarch-has passed away. Relations between her sons, Jack and Bill, are colder than the case.

'Then the Ross family learn Marley is the grandson of notorious police sergeant, Alan West, the corrupt cop who once ruled the town with an iron fist. 

'To solve the case, Marley must gain the trust of three people with no reason to trust each other and less reason to trust him: Bill, who left the love of his life to fight in Vietnam; charismatic Jack, who could always catch the eye of a pretty girl; and city school teacher, Annette, whose move to Cowaramup in 1966 would change the Ross brothers' lives forever.

'As he navigates a tangled web of lies and betrayals, jealousies and murder, Marley has to ask himself: are these bones better left buried?' (Publication summary)

'For Jaydah Tully, the country town of Chalk Hill has never felt like home. Home is a place to feel loved. Home is a place to feel safe. Jaydah's home life is dark in ways the close-knit community could never imagine.

'Jaydah knows that the man she loves has never understood her need for secrets. Brix is a Honeychurch, she's a Tully - her family are Chalk Hill's black sheep. It's better for everyone if Brix stays away.

'But Brix is a one-woman man, and when he returns to his home town to help his brother, the first person he sees is Jaydah. Independent. Private. Proud. When things are good between them they are really really good but all too soon they're back in the old patterns, caught in the same argument: Her father. Her family. Her life that doesn't include him.

'Underneath her tough exterior, Jaydah is drowning. She has one chance to change everything. Is she brave enough to take the risk and let Brix in? Or will her father keep them apart forever?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Child psychologist Taylor Woods needs a man. Flashy restaurateur Abel Honeychurch to be specific. Abe can help her get justice for her brother, Will. Taylor knows Abe, too, was scammed by the same woman who broke her brother's heart and stole everything in his pockets.

'But bringing a lying, cheating scammer to justice isn't easy when all Abe wants to do is forget the whole sorry saga. He's returned to his home town of Chalk Hill to lick his wounds and repay his debts, renovating his nanna's house and opening the Chalk 'n' Cheese cafe.

'He's miserable. And it would be easier to stay miserable if everyone else around him wasn't so darn cheerful. It's wildflower season in Chalk Hill with a cafe full of upbeat bushwalkers, and it's all Abe can do to remember to put sugar, not salt, in his customers' cappuccinos. He definitely has no time for the mysterious red–headed guest who admires his cheesecake and adores his flat white.

'Taylor's mission to help her brother seems doomed – how will she gain the trust of a man whose every instinct tells him never to trust a woman again?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Ella Davenport hasn't been in a swimming pool since a bad decision ruined her chance of Olympic gold. So when Ella decides on a new career selling property, she chooses Chalk Hill. The country town is a long way from the water, with no pool in sight. Perfect!

'Jake Honeychurch doesn't want to sell his nanna's house, but circumstances force his hand. Listing the property with the rookie real estate agent in town and asking a hefty price means it shouldn't find a buyer. Perfect!

'But determination and persistence are traits Jake admires, and Ella has them in spades. After all, no one ever made an Olympic team by being a quitter.

'When news breaks of a proposed waterski park, a local developer starts sniffing around Honeychurch House. Ella's first sale is so close she can taste it, until a sharp-eyed local recognises her. Between sale negotiations with Jake that keep getting sidetracked, and a swimming pool committee hellbent on making a splash, Ella has more to contend with than kisses and chlorine.

'Can she throw off the failures of the past and take the chance of a new start? Or will her dreams of a new life be washed away?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'When she cut her viticulture degree short and moved home, Remy wasn’t thinking about anything more than making the next dollar for her pocket. Working two jobs to keep food on the table and a loan shark from the door, Remy and her mother slowly build a new life together. Then a freak storm tears through the Margaret River Wine Festival — and Seth Lasrey tears through Remy’s life.

'Seth is old money. She is no money. He’s the boss. She’s his employee. He is society connections and expectations. She is threats and bad decisions and lost dreams. They seem to be so wrong they can only be right — until a costly mistake and a timely deception drives them apart. Remy picks up the pieces of her life and begins anew. The last thing she expects is Seth to show up in her small town in South Australia, bringing with him memories that she can’t escape and a damaged heart that she’s not sure she can resist.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'When Jennifer Gates drives to Sea Breeze Golf Club to kick off date-night with her boyfriend, the last thing she expects is to find Golf Pro Jack giving one of his lady students a private—and very personal—lesson in bunker-play.

'Lucky for Jenn, her best friend gives her the keys to the Culhane family’s beach shack on the white-pepper shores of Western Australia’s Geographe Bay. Jenn hopes a weekend on the coast with her young son will give her the space she needs to rebuild her confidence after Jack’s betrayal.

'But she’s not the only person seeking sanctuary by the sea. Brayden Culhane is there too, and Jenn can’t look at Brayden without remembering the tequila-flavoured kiss they shared on the shack steps years ago.

'As long-buried feelings are rekindled, and a friendship is renewed, Jenn knows it is more than lazy summer days bringing her mojo back. Romantic sunsets, ice-cold beers and the odd round of golf can only go so far, because this time trusting Brayden with her heart won’t be enough. Jenn has to learn to trust her body, too.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'When she cut her viticulture degree short and moved home, Remy wasn’t thinking about anything more than making the next dollar for her pocket. Working two jobs to keep food on the table and a loan shark from the door, Remy and her mother slowly build a new life together. Then a freak storm tears through the Margaret River Wine Festival — and Seth Lasrey tears through Remy’s life.

'Seth is old money. She is no money. He’s the boss. She’s his employee. He is society connections and expectations. She is threats and bad decisions and lost dreams. They seem to be so wrong they can only be right — until a costly mistake and a timely deception drives them apart. Remy picks up the pieces of her life and begins anew. The last thing she expects is Seth to show up in her small town in South Australia, bringing with him memories that she can’t escape and a damaged heart that she’s not sure she can resist.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Olivia Murphy is a woman on a mission. The Ducati motorbike that once belonged to her brother has come up for re-sale. Liv wants to buy the precious bike, and she wants the ink dry on the paperwork before the approaching holiday weekend, when visitors with fat wallets will descend on her tourist-mecca hometown.

'Only one person stands in her way.

'Owen Carson likes rare and beautiful things and he has the Ducati in his sights. Then he meets Liv, and finds his heart captured by beauty of a far different kind. How far will Liv go to make the motorbike hers, and is the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend, long enough for Owen to convince Liv he wants more than a holiday fling?'

Source: Publisher's blurb (2013 edition).

'When marketing strategist Tate Newell first meets wine executive Christina Clay, he has one goal in mind: tell Christina he won’t design the new brand for Clay Wines. Tell her thanks, but no thanks. So long, good night.

'But Tate is a sucker for a damsel in distress and when a diary mix-up leaves Christina in his debt, Tate gets more than he bargained for.

'What does a resourceful girl do when the best marketing brain in the business won’t play ball? She bluffs. She cheats. And she ups the ante. But when the stakes get too high, does anybody win?

'Falling in love was never part of this branding brief.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.