Nowhere Else

by Fiona McCallum

On the surface, current affairs reporter Nicola Harvey has the world at her feet — she's at the top of her profession, part of Australian television's celebrity A-list, has a wealthy, successful fiancé and a beautiful warehouse conversion in Adelaide.

But appearances can be deceiving and not all is perfect in Nicola's world. So when her boss offers to send her on an extended research trip to investigate the effects of the drought, she jumps at the chance to indulge in some country-style relaxation.

When Nicola arrives in the little town of Nowhere Else, nothing is as she expected: there's no spa in town, the locals are tight-lipped, and she senses it's not just the drought that is making the town nervous. So why has her boss sent her out here?

The deeper Nicola digs into the town's history, the more she realises coming to Nowhere Else wasn't a mistake after all. In fact, it may just unlock the mystery of her own past. And hold the key to her future happiness...

Genres: Chick Lit, Audiobook, Contemporary, Australia, Romance, Fiction, Contemporary Romance

376 pages, Trade Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

** Please be aware Fiona is not active on this site. She can be best found on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/fionamccallu... **

Fiona McCallum spent her childhood years on the family cereal and wool farm outside the small town of Cleve on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.

Fiona now lives in Adelaide and works full-time as a novelist. She writes "heart-warming journey of self-discovery stories" - often with a rural setting, sometimes with a romantic thread and sometimes without. Her tales tie together her love of animals and fascination with the journey people go on to find what really makes their heart sing and then follow their true passions to find happiness, even if it means taking risks and facing seemingly impossible obstacles. It's a storyline very close to Fiona's heart because it reflects her own life.

Fiona now has nine Australian bestsellers to her name: 'Paycheque', 'Nowhere Else', 'Wattle Creek', 'Saving Grace' (Book one of The Button Jar series), 'Time Will Tell' (Book two of The Button Jar series) and 'Meant To Be' (Book three (and at this stage final) in The Button Jar series), 'Leap of Faith', 'Standing Strong' (a sequel to Wattle Creek), and 'Finding Hannah'. Her tenth book, 'Making Peace' has just been released (late March 2018).

Fiona is proof dreams can come true...

Please note, Fiona isn't active here. She only signed up to try and get books by authors of the same name removed from her listing. (Note, this Fiona McCallum is not the clairvoyant and author of "Dear Fiona". Nor is she the Scottish academic who writes about Christianity in the Middle East.) She's too busy writing to be on multiple social media platforms and only does Facebook. She can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/fionamccallu...

Reviews

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anyone who knows current affairs reporter Nicola Harvey's would believe she possesses the perfect life as she has a successful career and a wealthy fiancé, but not all is as it seems. So when the opportunity comes along for her to head to a country town to investigate the effects of the drought, Nicola doesn't hesitate to say yes.

Once she has arrived in the small town of Nowhere Else, Nicola feels very out of place even though the town has that country feel. It doesn't take long before, Nicola realizes that getting information out of the locals was going to be harder than she first imagined. But exactly why were the locals being so quiet and not giving anything away. Was there more going on than just the effects of the drought and if so, just how was, Nicola going to get any of them to speak to her?

A very enjoyable read by Aussie author Fiona McCallum which I have no hesitation in recommending.

[Jessica Zimmer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really love Fiona McCallum's books (Paycheque, Wattle Creek, Standing Strong), she's brilliant when it comes to creating a great balance of charm, humor, romance and depth. Her previous books have been engaging, delicious treats that I happily devoured.

Which made Nowhere Else (aka Australian Secrets) such a disappointment. It's her weakest offering yet, even though it starts out (fairly) strong. My biggest issues were way too many "plot twists", and once I hit the incestany romance between Alex and Nicola hit a dead stop, never to recover.

That's just *not* a topic one can drop in the middle of a blooming romance, and have it end in HEA or HFN. At least not if you want to do justice to the characters and subject matter. I genuinely don't understand why that had to be a plot/subplot at all.

Have them be from rival farming families, Alex being to Nicola as Claire was to Tess in the first season of McCloud's Daughters (ie: they both have a claim to the legacy, Alex wants to stay, Nicola wants to sell). Plopping incest in the middle of a Mills and Boone - which this was republished under, with hideous cover remodel and all - is like chucking a raw animal carcass on the Thanksgiving table.

Sure, you can do it. But it's generally considered to be in bad taste.

Ultimately, I feel like this book tried to be too many things. Forbidden romance, rural romance, family saga, coming of age, adoption story ... it was like the Thorn Birds shoved into less than 350 pages. While this wasn't as endlessly, pointlessly agonizing as Thorn Birds, it wasn't nearly what I expect from McCallum either.

I love Aussie Rural Romance, and I still love Fiona McCallum, but do yourself a favor. Skip this one. Her best (so far) has been Paycheque, followed very closely by Wattle Creek and it's sequel Standing Strong. Those are top-notch enjoyable reads.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The night that current affairs reporter Nicola Harvey won a highly coveted award for her investigation into a plane crash which had taken the lives of both her parents was an extremely poignant one for her. A sad reminder of all Nicola had lost, but a kind of closing for her as well. It was a shame though that her fiancé Scott didn’t seem to be as excited as she was. But he was a busy man, plus their relationship was such that having been together for eight years, she supposed it didn’t matter much to him.

When Nicola’s boss, Bill asked her to travel to a little outback town called Nowhere Else to do a story on the long drawn out drought, and how it was affecting the farmers, she didn’t hesitate. Thinking some time away from Scott, indulging herself in non-stop lattes and spas while being paid to stay in a posh hotel would work a treat, she only realized her mistake when she arrived in Nowhere Else. With the beat-up old motel attached to the only pub in town; the fact that there were no cafes or spas – whatever was she thinking? Why did Bill send her here?

As Nicola began to investigate the town’s people, she realized there were unexplained tensions, secrets and lies surrounding Nowhere Else. But there was something else there too – was she about to solve some mysteries from her own past?

This was a quick, easy read; light and entertaining. It was a little clichéd and predictable though, meaning I worked out what was going on early in the piece. A couple of the characters were also pretty shallow. Nowhere Else is Aussie author Fiona McCallum’s second book and as I have read her latest two and thoroughly enjoyed them, I know I’ll be reading more of her work!

[MJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Decent idea, but I found myself skimming early... and a lot. 

Extremely predictable, even without the enormous neon flashing comments/hints. Lots of bits just tied up in a bow as soon as convenient instead of finishing their thread. And even just opportunities ignored or missed throughout. 

... Most of all was the end. We all knew what was going to happen, and then it did. And that was it... All done... Seriously, I went looking for the rest because obviously the author had 'a moment' and accidentally published one of the drafts that hadn't been finished!  There was no way this was a conscious choice... surely! But apparently it was. 

I'd be screaming if I'd wasted money on it... since it was free, I'll just have to accept the wasted time I'll never get back!

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being from the land myself, i sometimes avoid the 'rural reads' but the publisher's guarantee on the front pulled me in. And from the very first chapter i was hooked. Page after page kept me interested, and although sometimes i could guess the way the story was heading, i still found it so well written and the characters so loveable, that i was interested to see how it did unfold. I do really recommend this one.....

[Lindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started off enjoying the book but the more I read the more frustrated I became. It felt like in the beginning the author enjoyed writing the book but then half way through she lost her way and just rushed to finish it. And boy what a disappointing ending. I thought I had pages missing! It has honestly made me not want to read her other novels. The whole book just didn't tie together very well in the end.

[Wizzfizz · Rating 1 out of 5]

The main character Nicola was a stuck up city princess. I was constantly wishing the worst for her. Besides Jerry the dog and maybe Tiff the barmaid, the other characters were unlikeable, pointless or both. Predictable and disappointing.

[Jenni · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you are after a book to read that's based in Australia, there are a number of other authors that do the job better. Predictable and struggled to continue reading after about 50 pages. Made it through with a feeling of disappointment by the end.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nowhere Else
by
Fiona McCallum


Fiona McCallum’s Nowhere Else was inspired by a plane crash in the waters of South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. However, apart from using that crash as inspiration all else is a work of fiction.

Nowhere Else tells the story of Gold Walkley Award Winner, Nicola Harvey as she sorts out her life in the afterglow of her award-winning accomplishments, namely her Walkley and Gold Walkley for her story about the aforementioned plane crash that killed her adoptive parents.

Shortly after her win, her boss sends her to Nowhere Else, a small inland town, in South Australia to write a story about the ongoing drought. The negatives of Nowhere Else are poor mobile phone and internet service and no five-star accommodations. While the positives are friendly people and most all know Nicola’s name on her first day thanks to the bush telegraph.
While in Nowhere Else Nicola takes stock of Adelaide her love life and accidentally finds new love in Nowhere Else.

A letter arrives advising her who her biological parents are and that they were once Nowhere Else residents. Could they still live in or around Nowhere Else?

I listened to the audio version of Nowhere Else and found it thoroughly enjoyable. It was a well-paced story that took no effort to identify the main characters, so as usual, kudos must be awarded to the narrator, Jennifer Vuletic, for an excellent narration of Nowhere Else.

I rated Nowhere Else as a Four Star audiobook.

At the time of writing my review other Goodreads readers had awarded Nowhere Else
an average of 3.72 stars, from 493 ratings and 55 reviews.
***

[Shirley · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's nice to have a book set in an area where you live and can recognise but the story doesn't seem plausible overall. A "Walkley" recipient journalist being sent to a rural town to find a story on the drought. She already has, what the world thinks a lot of women seem to want, a successful fiance, big diamond ring and lovely home. She's adopted and her parents have been killed in a plane crash. In "Nowhere Else" she discovers her birth father, who dies and turns out to be her uncle, her birth mother who had an affair with her father and left the marriage with her uncle. She slept with what she initially thought was her first cousin, who briefly became her brother and then (as it turns out) had been the result of an affair his mother had with an Italian lad...... and just to tie it all up nicely the death of her aunt meant her parents could rekindle their adolescent love.....Let's not even go to the dream....

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am aware this is Ms McCallum's second book, and I suspect she tried to emulate her first successful book, however, this was a bit tedious to read. I found it rather 'scripted' as if for one of those Hallmark 'made for tv/Netflix' movies. It certainly felt like it ought to be!
I am aware that in real life many people have multiple tragedies, yet this just kept putting the pressure on the reader to believe any of this story being believable.
From overly descriptive of Nicola's wardrobe, home she shares with her fiancee, her thoughts on life in a nowhere town, to be damped down of Nicola's suddenly appreciative life seemed a little too far fetched for me. Imagine: Sex in the City meets Amish town. (Yes, I am aware of the Tim Allen, Kirstie Alley movie)
I found it a little tedious and long winded in many of the scenes, some made no sense to the story at all!
It was ok. A good summer read if you like this sort of story.

[Eliza Bull · Rating 3 out of 5]

🌟🌟🌟 3.5 Stars

This book had many ups and downs for me taking me along time to get into the book. There were many unexpected twists and turns, ups and downs leading me to think the book had “revealed its secrets” too early making the book hard to put down! Well wasn’t I wrong!! When I got to this part I couldn’t put the book down, I had my prediction but couldn’t work out how, Graeme, and Alex fitted in until I was reading it, it was so cleverly written and disguised by the other elements of Nicolas’ life going on in that moment ie. her failing relationship with Scott

Overall it took a while to get to the end, but it was worth it!!

[Tim Arundell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fiona McCallum held my attention throughout the story. It started with prize winning journalist Nicola being sent to a country town called Nowhere Else to write an article about the drought affecting many farmers and locals. It was interesting as she met local people to enquire about the effect of drought but the story really came alive when her personal connection to some locals became apparent across the story.

[Eden High · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nowhere Else was a slow starter.

It really should have rated at 3.75 stars but as is my usual grumble, you can't do even a half star on here.

However, as the story progressed it developed more depth and showed McCallum's good writing technique.

It's not an intense read, it's light with just a moderate amount of depth to it.

A book to read when you're travelling, distracted etc;

[Gemma · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. The writing was easy enough to read, but the story couldn't seem to make up its mind about what it wanted to be. This, coupled with the abrupt ending and lack of any kind of conclusion, was pretty disappointing.

[Sue Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a top journalist Nicola Harvey is a very weak character. This book is nothing more than a romance novel with not much story except everyone having affairs with everyone else. It was very predicable and not very exciting.

[Janettef · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this book as part of our Bookclub Kris Krings. I was a bit iffy to start with but it was actually very engaging and easy to read - perfect end of year reading to just escape this bushfire/covid horror of a year!

[Elizabeth Nesbit-comer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am not ok with a main character cheating on her fiance multiple times, not telling him, and still running to him when she needs someone to listen to her biological family drama.
Once the sex with cousin issue came up, I just could not finish

[Sherryle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting. Hope there's a 2nd book after this one. Pretty please Fiona x

[Annie Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

lOVE AUSTRALIAN RURAL ROMANCE.

[Maddy Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

eh, not her best.

[Aileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicola sure did find her own story when she went to Nowhere Else. Thanks Fiona for a great story about self discovery and accepting the unexpected.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to read. Very predictable from the get go. I knew what was going to happen every time. Still enjoyable.

[Karen Neale]

Slow to start with but got better.

[Robyn Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as enthralling as the other to Fiona books I read this holiday.
I think she finished with perhaps another book to be written on the story of Nicola and Alex.

[Beth Lusk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love an Australian author

[Lisa Mcmaugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first I have read of Fiona’s books and I enjoyed it. I do wish there was one more chapter just to finish it off...

[Susan Abbey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fast-paced story of Nicola Harvey, from the pinnacle of accolades, to the very depths of despair, in love, life and family - this being a tangled web of secrets and deceptions....to be overcome

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book. Loved the story and the characters and the intrigue.

[Wendy Kendall · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable & entertaining read though somewhat predictable.

I give this book 3.75 🌟. A nice easy read,