Review: Beneath Outback skies
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 21, 2013
Paige Quinn and her father occasionally take farm-stay guests on their outback station, but the prolonged drought has left them short of everything from money to water. Tait Cavanaugh, business owner, arrives looking for quiet and somewhere to park his laptop, and against her better judgement Paige agrees to host him. With her father using a wheelchair after a tractor accident she has to do the physical work herself.The land is parched red-brown, cattle suffering, wheat failing; farmers have given up the struggle and the nearest town is quieter each year. But the station owners have their pride, and Tait can't help but offend Paige as he offers to pay for all the groceries. Tait has a secret commission from the girl's father to draw up a station management plan, and he's not sure why a lovely young woman would commit herself to life miles from anywhere. When he asks about drought proofing and ventures into emus, alpacas and olives, Paige gets suspicious that he knows too much for a city boy.Details fill every page showing us Aussie life, from Akubra felt hats to red heeler cattle dogs, ute vehicles and esky cold boxes for food. School is taken in front of a screen at home, casualties are flown to hospital, shower water is poured over pots of herbs. To assist positive mental health, each month a district drought relief worker provides meat, bread and beer to bring families to socialise over a barbecue.Alissa Callen writes with conviction and introduces us to her world, a contrast to busy Sydney, and makes us care about her characters. Tait has secrets which draw him to the desolate abandoned homesteads. Paige usually wears old jeans and dust, scented with diesel instead of perfume. A billabong attracts birds and snakes, kangaroos and feral dogs - but it's irresistible for a swim. Under the spell of the water Tait predictably kisses Paige, and she promptly tells him she's not a one-roll-in-a-swag girl. Got to love that girl! I enjoyed every page as will any fans of sincere romance tales in well-described settings.