AustLit

'Healing doesn't just take time, it takes courage...

'The scars country vet Ella Quinlivan hides are not solely on the outside. Men are off-limits. She fills her world with her friends, work and the colourful community of small town Woodlea. She also becomes custodian of a sandstone cottage of an elderly friend whose teenage daughter went missing two decades ago.

'With a broken marriage behind him, Saul Armstrong is determined to recapture his dreams by bringing American bison to the Australian bush. He intends to stick to his side of the high wire fence that divides his farm from his distracting new neighbour, Ella.

'When Saul calls out Ella for a bison emergency she isn't just thrown out of her comfort zone by dealing with an unfamiliar animal. Slow-smiling and guarded Saul stirs emotions she'd long ago discarded.

'When the summer heat parches the landscape and dust obscures the sun, hidden secrets come to light. Not only will Ella and Saul be tested, the connection forged between them will be threatened. Will love be enough to guarantee their freedom or will fear continue to dictate the direction their lives will take?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'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?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.