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Love in Australia #1
Outback Bride
"Are you going to marry me—yes or no?"
Matthew Standish—or Mal to his friends—arrived back into Copper's life with a marriage proposal that sounded just about as romantic as sheepshearing! But then, the situation required practical solutions: Mal needed a mother for his young daughter and a housekeeper for Birraminda. So what was Cooper's answer to be?
Copper hadn't ever been able to forget Mal, but she wasn't the same girl he'd known seven years ago. In fact, she had a very practical business proposition of her own….
Matthew Standish—or Mal to his friends—arrived back into Copper's life with a marriage proposal that sounded just about as romantic as sheepshearing! But then, the situation required practical solutions: Mal needed a mother for his young daughter and a housekeeper for Birraminda. So what was Cooper's answer to be?
Copper hadn't ever been able to forget Mal, but she wasn't the same girl he'd known seven years ago. In fact, she had a very practical business proposition of her own….
176 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 1999
4 people are currently reading
50 people want to read
About the author
Jessica Hart
485 books136 followersAfter a haphazard career spent working and travelling around the world, I stumbled into romance writing as a way to fund a PhD. My first book, A Sweeter Prejudice, came out in 1991, and since then I've written a further 59 books, some of which have won awards in the US and the UK.
I live in York, a historic city in the north of England, and waste the best part of my days planning trips away or on Facebook and Twitter, both of which mean that I end up writing late into the night. As well as romance, I write 'time slips' as Pamela Hartshorne, and am a freelance project editor and occasional writing tutor.
In May 2013 I will publishing the Jessica Hart Vintage Collection of five of my early books from the 90s.
For news of forthcoming books and exclusive offers, do sign up for my newsletter: email jessica@jessicahart.co.uk or come and find me on Facebook.
I live in York, a historic city in the north of England, and waste the best part of my days planning trips away or on Facebook and Twitter, both of which mean that I end up writing late into the night. As well as romance, I write 'time slips' as Pamela Hartshorne, and am a freelance project editor and occasional writing tutor.
In May 2013 I will publishing the Jessica Hart Vintage Collection of five of my early books from the 90s.
For news of forthcoming books and exclusive offers, do sign up for my newsletter: email jessica@jessicahart.co.uk or come and find me on Facebook.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 26, 2016
Definitely one of my favorites by this author.
December 20, 2018
The book starts with the 27 year old h coming to the 35 year old H’s outback ranch to talk about her fathers company doing holiday camping trips on his land. It turns out the H is a man she had a 3 night stand with on a holiday trip. He doesn't seem to recognize her. She is shocked to discover that he has daughter but then thinks that, why shouldn't he have a family? It has been 7 years after all, and it isn’t as if she herself have been single for the past seven years.
(This made me disappointed. The h is suppose to remain celibate and pining for the H during the years of separation! Its the HPlandia way god damn it!)
She has just left a (I think) long time relationship a month ago. It was apparently a serious relationship since they lived together. He broke up with her because he thought she worked to much (plus he had a relationship with her best friend, who’s married no less) but don’t worry they are all still good friends.
This sounds interesting and a chance for drama but the author didn’t take that opportunity and it is kind of just mentioned in passing.
After some misunderstandings the H asks the h to stay as a housekeeper while he considers the proposed camping site.
The h befriends the 4 year old daughter and after some weeks (?) the H comes with a counter proposal. It is an actual proposal. He needs someone to take care of the house and his kid. If she agrees he in turn will agree to the camping site. After some fuming and thinking she says yes. When she asks about the “sleeping arrangements” he says they might as well have sex since they have done it before. So he does remember her after all. He says that if she wants it to be a MOC that’s fine but he wont mind if they make it a real marriage. Somewhere along the way she falls in love with him and they consummate the marriage and blah blah blah.
I found it strange that, after living with someone for years, a month later she falls in love with a man she spent 3 days with seven years ago!
Maybe if there had been some flashbacks about when they met and what happened seven years ago, in would feel more believable. But as it is I had a hard time believing there love.
This review may contain some errors due to the fact that I skimmed and sped read the book at the same time.
(This made me disappointed. The h is suppose to remain celibate and pining for the H during the years of separation! Its the HPlandia way god damn it!)
She has just left a (I think) long time relationship a month ago. It was apparently a serious relationship since they lived together. He broke up with her because he thought she worked to much (plus he had a relationship with her best friend, who’s married no less) but don’t worry they are all still good friends.
This sounds interesting and a chance for drama but the author didn’t take that opportunity and it is kind of just mentioned in passing.
After some misunderstandings the H asks the h to stay as a housekeeper while he considers the proposed camping site.
The h befriends the 4 year old daughter and after some weeks (?) the H comes with a counter proposal. It is an actual proposal. He needs someone to take care of the house and his kid. If she agrees he in turn will agree to the camping site. After some fuming and thinking she says yes. When she asks about the “sleeping arrangements” he says they might as well have sex since they have done it before. So he does remember her after all. He says that if she wants it to be a MOC that’s fine but he wont mind if they make it a real marriage. Somewhere along the way she falls in love with him and they consummate the marriage and blah blah blah.
I found it strange that, after living with someone for years, a month later she falls in love with a man she spent 3 days with seven years ago!
Maybe if there had been some flashbacks about when they met and what happened seven years ago, in would feel more believable. But as it is I had a hard time believing there love.
This review may contain some errors due to the fact that I skimmed and sped read the book at the same time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 27, 2020
They had 3 days of sex on the beach 7 years ago.
They meet each other again. He has been married and he now has a child with that other woman. She has just come out of a long term relationship.
I don’t buy the ‘they loved each other and missed each other all those years’ stuff. They both moved on. They didn’t pine away or try to find each other.
After the 3 days of sex 7 years ago, he only tried to call her two times. Both times she wasn’t there to talk to him. He then gives up.
I mean, really? Those 3 days of so-called mesmerizing sex are not worth more than 2 phone calls to that woman you had sex with?
This H is so nothing what I like in a H. The anti-H.
I like a besotted, persistent, alpha male H who relentlessly pursues the h. This H is just boring.
There are a lot of ‘other people’ in the book. I don’t see why his goodlooking brother has to play such a major part in this book. Or that the writer thought it would be a good idea to let the H have a daughter. It doesn’t add anything to the romance. Contrary to that.
In other HP novels the H has spent years trying to find the h. They have spent time, money, energy to find a h who doesn’t want to be found. They hire detectives, visit the h’s family members, they’d do anything to meet the h again.
This boring H does know how to find the h, but the h was only worth two phone calls. Then he moved on and married another woman.
This should teach a woman to stay home sitting by the phone in case he calls. Otherwise he’ll just move on. Djeezz.
This book is a miss.
They meet each other again. He has been married and he now has a child with that other woman. She has just come out of a long term relationship.
I don’t buy the ‘they loved each other and missed each other all those years’ stuff. They both moved on. They didn’t pine away or try to find each other.
After the 3 days of sex 7 years ago, he only tried to call her two times. Both times she wasn’t there to talk to him. He then gives up.
I mean, really? Those 3 days of so-called mesmerizing sex are not worth more than 2 phone calls to that woman you had sex with?
This H is so nothing what I like in a H. The anti-H.
I like a besotted, persistent, alpha male H who relentlessly pursues the h. This H is just boring.
There are a lot of ‘other people’ in the book. I don’t see why his goodlooking brother has to play such a major part in this book. Or that the writer thought it would be a good idea to let the H have a daughter. It doesn’t add anything to the romance. Contrary to that.
In other HP novels the H has spent years trying to find the h. They have spent time, money, energy to find a h who doesn’t want to be found. They hire detectives, visit the h’s family members, they’d do anything to meet the h again.
This boring H does know how to find the h, but the h was only worth two phone calls. Then he moved on and married another woman.
This should teach a woman to stay home sitting by the phone in case he calls. Otherwise he’ll just move on. Djeezz.
This book is a miss.
September 18, 2018
I think I read this before or something very similar. But the hero and heroine were childhood friends. Well these poor characters were kind of stuck in a loop of bickering dialogue that they couldn't get past until the really big fight. Why didn't the heroine get the message a long time ago? Or a letter? I get that life got in the way but neither seemed to try to make their beach romance last. I don't believe the hero in the end because he acted so stiff and down right mean to his wife who is raising his kid, keeping the house up, and trying to start a buisness to make you money! Chill a bit. The author was trying to say 'he couldn't help loving her'....well that subtext was BURIED so deep I couldn't see it. The heroine loved the hero nonstop and got treated like crap by him. And what he said to her in their last fight....nah, I get she had to leave but that would have sucked all the love I had from a person who said that to me. And then mashed back togther for a forced ending. Skip, and try to find that other one that was exactly like this one, but better I think.
June 23, 2025
Reviewed for THC Reviews
Outback Bride is the first book in Jessica Hart’s Love in Australia (aka Outback Brides) series. Representing the travel business that she runs with her father, Copper arrives at a remote cattle station in the Australian outback, hoping to cut a deal to use Birraminda as a home base to run luxury outback camping trips. She’s shocked to discover that the owner of the property is none other than Mal, a man with whom she’d shared a steamy weekend in Turkey during a Mediterranean holiday seven years ago. Mal doesn’t seem to recognize Copper and thinks that she’s a new housekeeper sent from the agency in Brisbane. When she sets him straight, he tries to brush her off, insulting the whole luxury camp plan as a crackpot idea. Not wanting to let her father down, Copper cuts Mal a deal: She’ll stay on, keeping house for him and looking after his four-year-old daughter until the real housekeeper arrives in exchange for an hour of his time to listen to her proposal. After she sets his household to rights, Mal realizes that his daughter needs more stability than the housekeepers who only stay for a short time, either because they can’t hack life in the outback or because his flirtatious younger brother seduces them, then breaks their hearts, driving them away. He makes Copper a deal of his own: If she’ll marry him and stay for at least three years, she can use his property all she wants for her camping trips. Still harboring feelings for Mal from their long-ago tryst, Copper reluctantly agrees, thinking that she’ll get the business deal she needs and that maybe in three years time, Mal will come to love her back. But things don’t go smoothly for the newlyweds when Mal’s experiences with his first wife start to cloud their relationship and he comes to resent Copper’s focus on her business.
Copper was recently involved with someone, but he broke it off in favor of dating another woman in their friends group. It was an amicable split, so Copper wasn’t too broken up about it, realizing that they were probably better off as just friends. Since then, she’s poured all her energy into the travel business she runs with her father, but after her father’s recent heart attack, it’s up to her to step up and complete the deal with Birraminda for their luxury outback camping expeditions. She’s shocked to discover that the cattle station’s owner is none other than Mal, the guy she’s never quite forgotten from their holiday affair. When he doesn’t seem to recognize her, she decides not to say anything, but deep down she’s rather hurt, feeling that perhaps that weekend didn’t mean as much to him as it did to her. Instead, Copper focuses on the deal and is willing to do almost anything she has to, to secure it for her father. However, cleaning house and childcare are one thing, but when Mal proposes marriage, she’s a little surprised, especially since he’s practically blackmailing her. Still, she doesn’t want to disappoint her recovering father, and she does have feelings for Mal, so she agrees. She’d hoped that things might one day be like they were between them so long ago, so she isn’t quite prepared for feeling unappreciated by Mal who seems to think that she’s too focused on her business. Copper was an okay heroine. I like that she was a businesswoman determined to see her idea come to fruition, and I like how sweet and accepting she is toward Mal’s daughter. But I felt like she put up with Mal’s jerk behavior a little too long before taking action. I also wasn’t thrilled about her not being honest regarding her feelings for him.
Mal is a single father who’s dedicated to running the outback cattle station passed down to him by his father. Mal does have fond memories of his weekend with Copper, and although circumstances kind of conspired to keep them apart, I think perhaps he could have fought a little harder to find her again. In any case, he met someone else and they got married and had a child. His wife was a businesswoman and a city girl, though, who wasn’t cut out for outback life and paid more attention to her business than she did to him. She eventually left him, taking his daughter with her. Then she died, leaving him a single dad to a child who barely knew him. He’s been getting along okay for the past two years, but most of the housekeepers the agency sends out don’t last long, and Mal wishes he could provide his daughter with a more stable life. He thinks the only way to do that is to marry, but after being burned by his ex, he has no interest in falling in love again. He sees Copper as a perfect candidate, someone he likes and who needs something in return, so he makes his proposal. But once they’re wed, the specter of his wife’s focus on business raises it’s ugly head, making Mal think that Copper is just like her. I really didn’t care much for Mal as the hero. Not only does he also withhold his feelings and the knowledge that he remembers Copper, but after they’re married, he says some pretty hurtful things to her that made him come off as a jerk and a chauvinist. I’ll admit that he was nice to her sometimes and he does give her a heartfelt apology during the final chapter, which improved my opinion of him somewhat. Still, I just never fell for Mal the way I like to fall for my romance heroes. Nearly the entire story is told from Copper’s POV, though, so I’m not sure if I’d have felt differently if I’d had his perspective, too.
I pretty much had an up and down relationship with Outback Bride. It starts off very slow-paced, with virtually no romance during the first half of the book. Both Copper and Mal refuse to say that they recognize one another and still harbor feelings from their long-ago weekend together. So that part is mostly taken up by Copper doing free labor for Mal in order to persuade him to look more closely at her business proposal and her trying to get him on board with it. Once they both admit to knowing one another, things took a slightly more romantic turn, but both are still afraid to admit that they’re in love. Then after they’re married, Mal constantly blows hot and cold. One minute, he’s sweet and loving, the next he’s being a jealous ass over Copper sharing some things in common with his brother, or riding her hard about spending so much time on her business like she’s not doing anything for him when she’s working her butt off. The last bit made me want to jump into the story and smack him. After that, Copper decided she’d finally had enough, and a part of me was kind of cheering “good riddance” to Mal. But of course, he does eventually realize his mistake and come after her, offering up a nice apology, leading to an HEA. Some of the things he’d previously said to her, though, were so mean-spirited that I wasn’t 100% convinced that he’d changed and it would actually work for the long-haul. Because of that, Outback Bride was merely an okay read. I’m giving it three stars for the parts that were romantic and for Copper’s interactions with Mal’s daughter, which were nice. Even though this one wasn’t a winner, there are still four more books in the series, one of which is on my TBR pile, so at some point, I’ll probably give the author another chance to wow me. I’m not sure, though, what, if any, connections there are between the books besides all of them taking place in the Australian outback, because none of the main characters in the remaining books were introduced in this one.
Outback Bride is the first book in Jessica Hart’s Love in Australia (aka Outback Brides) series. Representing the travel business that she runs with her father, Copper arrives at a remote cattle station in the Australian outback, hoping to cut a deal to use Birraminda as a home base to run luxury outback camping trips. She’s shocked to discover that the owner of the property is none other than Mal, a man with whom she’d shared a steamy weekend in Turkey during a Mediterranean holiday seven years ago. Mal doesn’t seem to recognize Copper and thinks that she’s a new housekeeper sent from the agency in Brisbane. When she sets him straight, he tries to brush her off, insulting the whole luxury camp plan as a crackpot idea. Not wanting to let her father down, Copper cuts Mal a deal: She’ll stay on, keeping house for him and looking after his four-year-old daughter until the real housekeeper arrives in exchange for an hour of his time to listen to her proposal. After she sets his household to rights, Mal realizes that his daughter needs more stability than the housekeepers who only stay for a short time, either because they can’t hack life in the outback or because his flirtatious younger brother seduces them, then breaks their hearts, driving them away. He makes Copper a deal of his own: If she’ll marry him and stay for at least three years, she can use his property all she wants for her camping trips. Still harboring feelings for Mal from their long-ago tryst, Copper reluctantly agrees, thinking that she’ll get the business deal she needs and that maybe in three years time, Mal will come to love her back. But things don’t go smoothly for the newlyweds when Mal’s experiences with his first wife start to cloud their relationship and he comes to resent Copper’s focus on her business.
Copper was recently involved with someone, but he broke it off in favor of dating another woman in their friends group. It was an amicable split, so Copper wasn’t too broken up about it, realizing that they were probably better off as just friends. Since then, she’s poured all her energy into the travel business she runs with her father, but after her father’s recent heart attack, it’s up to her to step up and complete the deal with Birraminda for their luxury outback camping expeditions. She’s shocked to discover that the cattle station’s owner is none other than Mal, the guy she’s never quite forgotten from their holiday affair. When he doesn’t seem to recognize her, she decides not to say anything, but deep down she’s rather hurt, feeling that perhaps that weekend didn’t mean as much to him as it did to her. Instead, Copper focuses on the deal and is willing to do almost anything she has to, to secure it for her father. However, cleaning house and childcare are one thing, but when Mal proposes marriage, she’s a little surprised, especially since he’s practically blackmailing her. Still, she doesn’t want to disappoint her recovering father, and she does have feelings for Mal, so she agrees. She’d hoped that things might one day be like they were between them so long ago, so she isn’t quite prepared for feeling unappreciated by Mal who seems to think that she’s too focused on her business. Copper was an okay heroine. I like that she was a businesswoman determined to see her idea come to fruition, and I like how sweet and accepting she is toward Mal’s daughter. But I felt like she put up with Mal’s jerk behavior a little too long before taking action. I also wasn’t thrilled about her not being honest regarding her feelings for him.
Mal is a single father who’s dedicated to running the outback cattle station passed down to him by his father. Mal does have fond memories of his weekend with Copper, and although circumstances kind of conspired to keep them apart, I think perhaps he could have fought a little harder to find her again. In any case, he met someone else and they got married and had a child. His wife was a businesswoman and a city girl, though, who wasn’t cut out for outback life and paid more attention to her business than she did to him. She eventually left him, taking his daughter with her. Then she died, leaving him a single dad to a child who barely knew him. He’s been getting along okay for the past two years, but most of the housekeepers the agency sends out don’t last long, and Mal wishes he could provide his daughter with a more stable life. He thinks the only way to do that is to marry, but after being burned by his ex, he has no interest in falling in love again. He sees Copper as a perfect candidate, someone he likes and who needs something in return, so he makes his proposal. But once they’re wed, the specter of his wife’s focus on business raises it’s ugly head, making Mal think that Copper is just like her. I really didn’t care much for Mal as the hero. Not only does he also withhold his feelings and the knowledge that he remembers Copper, but after they’re married, he says some pretty hurtful things to her that made him come off as a jerk and a chauvinist. I’ll admit that he was nice to her sometimes and he does give her a heartfelt apology during the final chapter, which improved my opinion of him somewhat. Still, I just never fell for Mal the way I like to fall for my romance heroes. Nearly the entire story is told from Copper’s POV, though, so I’m not sure if I’d have felt differently if I’d had his perspective, too.
I pretty much had an up and down relationship with Outback Bride. It starts off very slow-paced, with virtually no romance during the first half of the book. Both Copper and Mal refuse to say that they recognize one another and still harbor feelings from their long-ago weekend together. So that part is mostly taken up by Copper doing free labor for Mal in order to persuade him to look more closely at her business proposal and her trying to get him on board with it. Once they both admit to knowing one another, things took a slightly more romantic turn, but both are still afraid to admit that they’re in love. Then after they’re married, Mal constantly blows hot and cold. One minute, he’s sweet and loving, the next he’s being a jealous ass over Copper sharing some things in common with his brother, or riding her hard about spending so much time on her business like she’s not doing anything for him when she’s working her butt off. The last bit made me want to jump into the story and smack him. After that, Copper decided she’d finally had enough, and a part of me was kind of cheering “good riddance” to Mal. But of course, he does eventually realize his mistake and come after her, offering up a nice apology, leading to an HEA. Some of the things he’d previously said to her, though, were so mean-spirited that I wasn’t 100% convinced that he’d changed and it would actually work for the long-haul. Because of that, Outback Bride was merely an okay read. I’m giving it three stars for the parts that were romantic and for Copper’s interactions with Mal’s daughter, which were nice. Even though this one wasn’t a winner, there are still four more books in the series, one of which is on my TBR pile, so at some point, I’ll probably give the author another chance to wow me. I’m not sure, though, what, if any, connections there are between the books besides all of them taking place in the Australian outback, because none of the main characters in the remaining books were introduced in this one.
November 1, 2019
@DNF I could not like it, she was pinning for this guy after 7 years no less in exchanged of 3 days of hot sex I supposed his c&ck was made of gold, BUT anyway I applaud that she had another relationship
September 10, 2025
Hero was so cold. He pretended he didn't know heroine when they met again after 7 years. Heroine blew hot and cold. Her pride and other defensive mechanisms turned her into a shrew.
Poor hero's daughter was caught in the middle of these two very immature people. Hopefully they'll grow up. An epilogue would have made me feel better about their prospects.
Still, an interesting and memorable story. So three stars.
Poor hero's daughter was caught in the middle of these two very immature people. Hopefully they'll grow up. An epilogue would have made me feel better about their prospects.
Still, an interesting and memorable story. So three stars.
March 10, 2020
Molto carino e leggero. Un po sciocco ma come libro leggero va benissimo 😉
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews