You Me Everything


Catherine Isaac - 2018
    Comfy chair, check. Box of tissues, check. You Me Everything is everything you need for a moving, funny, heartbreaking, and ultimately joyous read." --Susan Wiggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Map of the HeartSet in the French countryside on an idyllic summer vacation, a delicious, tender novel about finding joy and love even in the most unexpected places.Jess and her ten-year-old son William set off to spend the summer at Ch�teau de Roussignol, deep in the rich, sunlit hills of the Dordogne. There, Jess's ex-boyfriend--and William's father--Adam, runs a beautiful hotel in a restored castle. Lush gardens, a gorgeous pool, delectable French food, and a seemingly never-ending wine list--what's not to like? Jess is bowled over by what Adam has accomplished, but she's in France for a much more urgent reason: to make Adam fall in love with his own son.But Adam has other ideas, and another girlfriend--and he doesn't seem inclined to change the habits of a lifetime just because Jess and William have appeared on the scene. Jess isn't surprised, but William--who has quickly come to idolize his father--wants nothing more than to spend time with him. But Jess can't allow Adam to let their son down--because she is tormented by a secret of her own, one that nobody--especially William--must discover.By turns heartwrenching and hopeful, You Me Everything is a novel about one woman's fierce determination to grab hold of the family she has and never let go, and a romantic story as heady as a crisp Sancerre on a summer day.

Write My Name Across the Sky


Barbara O'Neal - 2021
    Knowing her own involvement in his misdeeds decades earlier, Gloria realizes she could be the next arrest and must flee. But first, she needs to make sure her nieces are protected from any fallout.The sisters, though in their thirties, are still constantly at odds with each other. Willow, struggling to live up to their mother’s fame as a singer-songwriter, is recovering from a failed album and yet another heartbreak, while Sam is desperate to revive her floundering video game company.When circumstances out of their control bring the three women back together, they will each have to reckon with and reconcile their interwoven traumas, past loves, and the looming consequences that could either destroy their futures or bring them closer than ever.

New England Rocks


Christina Courtenay - 2013
    Not only is she forced to move to New England, USA, she's also sent to the local high school as a punishment.Rain makes it her mission to dislike everything about Northbrooke High, but what she doesn't bank on is meeting Jesse Devlin ...Jesse is the hottest guy Rain's ever seen and he plays guitar in an awesome rock band!There's just one small problem ... Jesse already has a girlfriend, little miss perfect Amber Lawrence, who looks set to cause trouble as Rain and Jesse grow closer.But, what does it matter? New England sucks anyway, and Rain doesn't plan on sticking around ... Does she?Christina's Highland Storms won the 2012 Historical Romantic Novel of the year awardHer novel The Scarlet Kimono won the Big Red Reads Best Historical Fiction Award and was short listed for the Festival of Romance Best Historical Read Award 2011.

Looking for Alibrandi


Melina Marchetta - 1992
    Now it’s her final year at a wealthy Catholic high school. The nuns couldn’t be any stricter—but that doesn’t seem to stop all kinds of men from coming into her life.Caught between the old-world values of her Italian grandmother, the nononsense wisdom of her mom, and the boys who continue to mystify her, Josephine is on the ride of her life. This will be the year she falls in love, the year she discovers the secrets of her family’s past—and the year she sets herself free.Told with unmatched depth and humor, this novel—which swept the pool of Australian literary awards and became a major motion picture—is one to laugh through and cry with, to cherish and remember.

Lucy in the Sky


Paige Toon - 2007
    Trapped above the Pacific, she questions everything about their relationship, but when she finally calls him, James reassures her that it was only his friend playing a joke. James is gorgeous and successful and Lucy adores him, yet at her best friend Molly’s wedding in Sydney, she finds herself having doubts and is keeping an eye on Molly's brother-in-law Nathan. Nathan is a happy-go-lucky surfer boy with no prospects, no place to live, and an almost-girlfriend in tow. Suddenly, Lucy finds herself caught between two distant continents and two very different men.

The Survival Kit


Donna Freitas - 2011
    Inside the bag, Rose finds an iPod, with a to-be-determined playlist; a picture of peonies, for growing; a crystal heart, for loving; a paper star, for making a wish; and a paper kite, for letting go.As Rose ponders the meaning of each item, she finds herself returning again and again to an unexpected source of comfort. Will is her family’s gardener, the school hockey star, and the only person who really understands what she’s going through. Can loss lead to love?

Life in Outer Space


Melissa Keil - 2013
    But when the super-cool Camilla moves to town, she surprises everyone by choosing to spend time with Sam's group. Suddenly they go from geek to chic, and find that not everything boils down to us and them. With their social lives in flux, Sam and Camilla spend more and more time together. They become the best of friends, and Sam finds that he's happier and more comfortable in his own skin than ever before. But eventually Sam must admit to himself that he's fallen in love. If he confesses his true feelings to Camilla, will everything change again?

Freefall


Mindi Scott - 2010
    It was just another night, just another party, just another time where Isaac drank too much and passed out on the lawn. Only this time, Isaac didn’t wake up.Convinced that his own actions led to his friend’s death, Seth is torn between turning his life around . . . or losing himself completely.Then he meets Rosetta: so beautiful and so different from everything and everyone he’s ever known. But Rosetta has secrets of her own, and Seth will soon realize he isn’t the only one who needs saving . . .

Man Drought


Rachael Johns - 2013
    Tired of being haunted by the painful memories of her old life, Imogen set her last remaining hopes on the little town and, in particular, pouring her heart and savings into restoring The Majestic Hotel to its former glory. But while the female-starved town might be glad to see a young woman move in, not everyone is happy about Imogen’s arrival. Sheep and crop farmer Gibson Black once dreamed of having the kind of family his grandfather reminisces about, but he’s learnt not to dream anymore. Living in the mostly male town suits Gibson down to the ground...and he won’t have anyone — least of all a hot redhead from the city — change a thing.Imogen has never been one to back down from a challenge, especially when it concerns her last chance at happiness. She’s determined to rebuild the pub and create a future for the little town. But can she create a future for Gibson and herself, too?

Raw Blue


Kirsty Eagar - 2009
    Surfing is the one thing she loves doing... and the only thing that helps her stop thinking about what happened two years ago at schoolies week.And then Carly meets Ryan, a local at the break, fresh out of jail. When Ryan learns the truth, Carly has to decide. Will she let the past bury her? Or can she let go of her anger and shame, and find the courage to be happy?

Hate Mates


Mickey Miller - 2020
    Or the one about his father, the head football coach. Or even the one about his special talent between the sheets.I’m talking about the one where he has a female roommate in an all-male dorm.I can’t speak to the first three, but that fourth one is true. I know because that girl in his room is me.Because of an error by the college, I’m placed with Mr. Campus Celebrity in the traditionally male dorm.Is he panty-meltingly handsome with an attitude to match? Sure.Do I accidentally fanaticize about him one (okay, maybe two) times? Fine, I’m honest enough to admit it.None of that matters, because we’re opposites in all the ways that are important for getting along as college roommates:He comes from a perfect life and old money. I come from a broken home and bowls of ramen.He’s at Greene State to party. I’m here to study.He’s a popular jock. I wouldn’t be caught dead playing sports.To say we get off to a rocky start would be an understatement.Ironically, that’s what causes our sizzling attraction to boil over one night. But even that comes at a price.Because our story has a twist neither of us could see coming.One that changes both of our lives, ‘till death do us part.

Hot Little Hands


Abigail Ulman - 2015
    This exceptional collection of stories is about young women of different ages, from their early teens to their late twenties, coming to terms with what it means to desire, and be desired, with funny, surprising and sometimes confronting results.Ulman first made her mark with the story Chagall's Wife in Meanjin; this collection shows that she's a young Australian writer to put alongside Ceridwen Dovey, Nam Le and Fiona McFarlane.

Love Unlisted


Stephanie Haddad - 2011
    Lists of her favorite Jackie Chan movies. Lists of her boyfriend's Pros and Cons. Lists about her favorite places to get a pizza. To Grace, each one is a very serious matter. And that's why no one ever reads the lists. Well, no one except for a few people who got a hold of them by accident... 1. Her best friend Bernsie, who understands the lists might be the only thing keeping Grace out of an asylum; 2. A child psychologist she was forced to see after her father passed away and the listing become more than just a hobby; 3. A very-nearly-almost fiance who left Grace because of the lists. Now, as Grace struggles to deal with a career that's getting away from her and the frustration of living with her brother George, the lists are all she can do to cope. Enter Colin Kilbourne, a free-spirited musician with a knack for ruffling Grace's pristine feathers. And spilling coffee on her favorite work clothes. Immediately drawn to his carefree, stress-free attitude, Grace knows they'd be mismatched in every possible way. But that mischievous charm is hard to resist. What's a girl to do when the lists tell you to do one thing and your hearts tells you another?

The Town


Shaun Prescott - 2017
    This is Australia, an unnamed, dead-end town in the heart of the outback--a desolate place of gas stations, fast-food franchises, and labyrinthine streets: flat and nearly abandoned. When a young writer arrives to research just such depressing middles-of-nowhere as they are choked into oblivion, he finds something more sinister than economic depression: the ghost towns of Australia appear to be literally disappearing. An epidemic of mysterious holes is threatening his new home's very existence, and this discovery plunges the researcher into an abyss of weirdness from which he may never escape.Dark, slippery and unsettling, Shaun Prescott's debut resurrects the existential novel for the age of sprawl and blight, excavates a nation's buried history of colonial genocide, and tells a love story that asks if outsiders can ever truly belong anywhere. The result is a disquieting classic that vibrates with an occult power.

Inhale


Kendall Grey - 2012
    Zoe Morgan is working her dream job: director of a whale tagging research project. She’s in her dream location: the beautiful beaches of Australia. But her sleep is plagued by nightmares—fiery hellscapes, hideous monsters, strange people … and the gorgeous man who rescues her from them. He might be a figment of her imagination, but he sure feels real.What Zoe doesn’t know is that he’s not a fantasy. He’s a Sentinel charged with protecting humans from Fire Elementals, using his own blend of elemental magic. In the Dreaming, anyway. In the real world, he’s Gavin Cassidy, a sexy rock star who indulges in all the excesses that money and fame can buy. Gavin hasn’t been summoned to help anyone since his partner’s death, and he likes it that way—until he meets Zoe in her dreams. With Zoe, it’s impossible to stay detached, impossible to say no.But Dr. Morgan is more than just his muse—she’s the key to restoring order in the Dreaming. Gavin never believed he could fall for someone like Zoe, nor does he realize he may have to sacrifice the woman he loves to save his country.