Review: Best Enjoyed with some Velvety South Australian Red
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 26, 2013
It's the Queen's Birthday long weekend in Hahndorf, Adelaide Hills, South Australia and Olivia Murphy's finally managed to scrape together a deposit for something close to her heart - the Duke which once belonged to her brother.  Cash in hand, she makes her way to the seller's house to exercise her first right of refusal but, as luck would have it, someone else, in the form of Owen Carson, arrives and "steals" the show (or motorbike in this case)!First impressions of Owen abound in Liv's mind, but after the deal is done and, sensing her disappointment, he seeks her out and makes a proposition.What follows is a comedy of errors from mistaken first impressions to an embarrassing fall, some sexy guitar playing to an ignition of passion and then extreme panic when she discovers that perhaps Owen has taken what he wants with no regard to her feelings.The Goodbye Ride provided me with some much needed escapism from the "heavy" psychological literature to which I usually subject myself and, without having read her first novel, His Brand of Beautiful released by Escape Publishing in March 2013 (and which has already landed on my burgeoning TBR shelf), I can honestly say that I have found another Aussie author who has earned a place on my bookshelf.Olivia and Owen are very well-developed and this enabled me to connect emotionally with them as they drew me into their lives and I felt that some of the scenes just sizzled right off the page - particularly the motorbike scene which evoked in me memories of another bike scene from one of my favourite movies, Top Gun - hubba hubba!Fast-paced, light and extremely entertaining with some very saucy romance, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this for a dreary winter's day with a blanket tucked over your feet (yes, you know who you are) and a glass or two of velvety South Australian red. (For the full review please go to [...]