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Bellaroo Creek #3
Patchwork Family in the Outback
The final piece of his family puzzle?
Arriving in Bellaroo Creek, teacher Poppy Carter isn't quite prepared for the hard task ahead of her. But a school under threat and a class of unruly children is a breeze compared to single father Harrison Black, who's proving more of a challenge than she could ever have anticipated!
Since his wife abandoned him and their children, Harrison has learned the art of keeping his distance and new teacher Poppy doesn't seem to understand boundaries. But when a storm traps them both together, Harrison begins to wonder whether Poppy just might make the perfect addition to their little family.
Arriving in Bellaroo Creek, teacher Poppy Carter isn't quite prepared for the hard task ahead of her. But a school under threat and a class of unruly children is a breeze compared to single father Harrison Black, who's proving more of a challenge than she could ever have anticipated!
Since his wife abandoned him and their children, Harrison has learned the art of keeping his distance and new teacher Poppy doesn't seem to understand boundaries. But when a storm traps them both together, Harrison begins to wonder whether Poppy just might make the perfect addition to their little family.
252 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
9 people are currently reading
292 people want to read
About the author
Soraya M. Lane
136 books2,199 followersSoraya M. Lane is the Amazon Charts & Kindle #1 bestselling author of THE SECRET MIDWIFE and THE ITALIAN DAUGHTER.
Soraya is the author of The Lost Daughters series, as well as best-selling historical women's fiction.
As a child, Soraya dreamed of becoming an author. Fast forward more than a few years, and Soraya is now living her dream! Soraya describes being an author as "the best career in the world", and she hopes to be writing romance and women's fiction for many years to come.
Soraya loves spending her days thinking up characters for books, and her home is a constant source of inspiration. She lives with her own real life hero and two sons on a small farm in New Zealand, surrounded by animals and with an office overlooking a field where their horses graze.
Add Soraya's latest novel, THE LAST DAUGHTER, and her next WWII novel, THE UNDERGROUND SISTERS, to your Goodreads shelf today!
For more information about Soraya, her books and her writing life, visit sorayalane.com or www.facebook.com/SorayaLaneAuthor, or follow her on Instagram @SorayaLaneAuthor. She would love to hear from you.
Soraya is the author of The Lost Daughters series, as well as best-selling historical women's fiction.
As a child, Soraya dreamed of becoming an author. Fast forward more than a few years, and Soraya is now living her dream! Soraya describes being an author as "the best career in the world", and she hopes to be writing romance and women's fiction for many years to come.
Soraya loves spending her days thinking up characters for books, and her home is a constant source of inspiration. She lives with her own real life hero and two sons on a small farm in New Zealand, surrounded by animals and with an office overlooking a field where their horses graze.
Add Soraya's latest novel, THE LAST DAUGHTER, and her next WWII novel, THE UNDERGROUND SISTERS, to your Goodreads shelf today!
For more information about Soraya, her books and her writing life, visit sorayalane.com or www.facebook.com/SorayaLaneAuthor, or follow her on Instagram @SorayaLaneAuthor. She would love to hear from you.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 17 reviews
December 8, 2021
A delightful, romantic story set in the Aussie outback. Love it when books feature adorable kids, a likeable heroine, a handsome hero and of course, pets and farm animals and this book had it all.
July 11, 2014
Delightful story, set in the Australian Outback. This book is about second chances for two scarred individuals, burned by betrayal. It's inspiring and heartwarming.
December 2, 2013
Poppy took a job at the outback after she divorced her husband. It is a complete change of environment for her. Being the only teacher in the school, she carries a huge responsibility. That is also the reason Harrison is sceptical with her intention and her commitment towards the children. When they met for the first time at the school, Harrison has showed his prejudice towards Poppy and she is not happy about it. But he came to realisation soon when the achildren seem to be taken by her so is his two children. Both of them have been betrayed by their respective partners. They do not have the intention to be attracted by each other but when they do, hell broke free.
I like Poppy for her caring self towards the children. It showed in her action by trying to decorate the classroom till late at night. She is a determined woman despite the obstacles in life that she encountered. Overall, this book is very well written and is a sweet read for me. ;)
I like Poppy for her caring self towards the children. It showed in her action by trying to decorate the classroom till late at night. She is a determined woman despite the obstacles in life that she encountered. Overall, this book is very well written and is a sweet read for me. ;)
October 30, 2013
Novel received courtesy of Goodreads.com giveaway
I enjoyed the feel-good read of a romance that didn't require thinking, just knowing that everything would turn out all right in the end. We all need to get lost in such a romance once in a while!
"Patchwork Family in the Outback" was set in Australia and I enjoyed the Australian culture and geography that the author included. As a teacher, I was interested in the idea of rural Australian schools and how they operate.
I don't read very many pure romance novels because they all have the same "feel" to them. This novel kept my attention and I wanted to get to the end to see how the relationship would work out.
I enjoyed the feel-good read of a romance that didn't require thinking, just knowing that everything would turn out all right in the end. We all need to get lost in such a romance once in a while!
"Patchwork Family in the Outback" was set in Australia and I enjoyed the Australian culture and geography that the author included. As a teacher, I was interested in the idea of rural Australian schools and how they operate.
I don't read very many pure romance novels because they all have the same "feel" to them. This novel kept my attention and I wanted to get to the end to see how the relationship would work out.
September 13, 2013
Very good book. Poppy has left everything she knows behind to come teach at a one room school in rural Australia. It's a whole different life but one she's ready to embrace. Her initial meeting with Harrison, the single father of two of her students, didn't go so well. He accused her of not being the type of person who could stick it out in such a remote place. He is still bitter about the way that his wife deserted him and their children and doesn't trust any women. There is an attraction between them but neither one feels ready to jump back into the relationship pool.
I really liked Poppy. She had lost everything - her marriage to a cheating husband, her home and savings to his gambling, and a much wanted baby to miscarriage. She was determined to make a fresh start and felt that she could make the biggest difference at Bellaroo Creek. I loved her optimistic outlook, which was obvious from the beginning as she got her classroom ready for the first day of school. Harrison's judgmental attitude toward her infuriated her. I loved the way that she told him off. I also enjoyed her immediate connection with his two kids. Her attraction to him worried her, especially when she found out he was single - she didn't trust her judgment of men any longer. She couldn't resist helping him when he had an emergency and found herself daydreaming of a future with him and his kids. There was so much about him that she came to care about. She was frustrated by his hot and cold attitude and the way that he kept judging her by his ex-wife's actions.
Harrison was a little harder to like at first. The way he just assumed that Poppy wouldn't stay was one of those things that was sure to make her mad. I liked the fact that he knew he'd been rude and that he should apologize but not that he still didn't change his mind about her. I loved his relationship with his kids and how much they obviously loved each other. Harrison was really fighting his attraction to Poppy but couldn't fight his need to be around her. Things would appear to be going well between them and then he would go back into his old habit of judging and drive her away. I loved it when she finally had enough and told him "You have to stop looking at everyone like a potential threat. Be careful, Harrison, but don't isolate your family so much that you find yourself completely alone. Because by then it will be too late."
I really liked Poppy. She had lost everything - her marriage to a cheating husband, her home and savings to his gambling, and a much wanted baby to miscarriage. She was determined to make a fresh start and felt that she could make the biggest difference at Bellaroo Creek. I loved her optimistic outlook, which was obvious from the beginning as she got her classroom ready for the first day of school. Harrison's judgmental attitude toward her infuriated her. I loved the way that she told him off. I also enjoyed her immediate connection with his two kids. Her attraction to him worried her, especially when she found out he was single - she didn't trust her judgment of men any longer. She couldn't resist helping him when he had an emergency and found herself daydreaming of a future with him and his kids. There was so much about him that she came to care about. She was frustrated by his hot and cold attitude and the way that he kept judging her by his ex-wife's actions.
Harrison was a little harder to like at first. The way he just assumed that Poppy wouldn't stay was one of those things that was sure to make her mad. I liked the fact that he knew he'd been rude and that he should apologize but not that he still didn't change his mind about her. I loved his relationship with his kids and how much they obviously loved each other. Harrison was really fighting his attraction to Poppy but couldn't fight his need to be around her. Things would appear to be going well between them and then he would go back into his old habit of judging and drive her away. I loved it when she finally had enough and told him "You have to stop looking at everyone like a potential threat. Be careful, Harrison, but don't isolate your family so much that you find yourself completely alone. Because by then it will be too late."
July 10, 2013
4 STARS
I liked Poppy and how she cared about the kids she would teach even before she met them. Poppy Carter is making lots of major changes in her life. She is moving from the city to teaching in the outback as the only teacher. Poppy's life had fallen apart with finding her husband in bed with someone else.
Harrison is a single father with two cute kids. Harrison is bitter with women as his ex-wife left him and his two little kids. Harrison lives on the family ranch that has been in the family for generations. But if they could not hire a teacher than their town would die. He would move so his kids would not have to go to boarding school for elementary school.
He decides he will do anything to help Poppy fit in and feel like she could stay. But he does not plan to date her.
Poppy plans to stay away from all men but then she finds herself making excuses to see Harrison.
Their was one love scene that I skipped over. easy fast read. Gives you a look at life in smalltown in Australia outback. I liked it.
and would read another book by Soraya Lane in the future.
I was given this ebook to read and asked in return to give honest review of it by Netgalley and Harlequin
Pub Date Sep 3 2013 Harlequin Romance 256 pages ISBN: 0373742584
November 22, 2015
I'm not a big fan of contemporary romance but occasionally one catches my eye. I might have given this book 3 stars for story but I had to subtract one because it could have been set anywhere. Why set a book in the Outback and give us no glimpse at all of what it's like there?(Might as well set a book in Paris and making it sound like any ordinary city.) Since I picked the book for the setting, I was very disappointed.
The plot was fine. A young woman comes to teach in a one-room schoolhouse after her marriage has fallen apart. She and the single father in the area fall in love. (I hope no one considers that a spoiler.) There were a few nicely done complications, but as I said the story could as well have been set in Kansas. Or Canada, or... Also we got only the most minimal information on her marriage. Hard to believe she didn't think about it more than it came up, since it was so recent. Given it was supposed to have been so awful she got over it much too quickly.
Sine they didn't bother to give me any details of the setting I don't imagine I'll read any more of this series. If, however, you're looking for contemporary romance that fades to black on the sex, you might like these. Just don't expect to be transported to Australia when you read.
The plot was fine. A young woman comes to teach in a one-room schoolhouse after her marriage has fallen apart. She and the single father in the area fall in love. (I hope no one considers that a spoiler.) There were a few nicely done complications, but as I said the story could as well have been set in Kansas. Or Canada, or... Also we got only the most minimal information on her marriage. Hard to believe she didn't think about it more than it came up, since it was so recent. Given it was supposed to have been so awful she got over it much too quickly.
Sine they didn't bother to give me any details of the setting I don't imagine I'll read any more of this series. If, however, you're looking for contemporary romance that fades to black on the sex, you might like these. Just don't expect to be transported to Australia when you read.
September 6, 2013
3 1/2 stars
Poppy leaves the city and heads to a teaching position in the outback, hoping for a fresh start after her husband did her wrong. Harrison loves the land he was raised on and is determined to raise his own children there - despite his wife leaving the family for a more exciting city life.
This novella is very well-written, and the small cast of characters is nicely developed. There's a meet-cute, the push and pull of new and unexpected chemistry, and a convenient storm that gives Poppy and Harrison a final push toward each other.
I loved the relationship between Harrison's children and Poppy. I thought it was pretty realistic for a teacher to want to care for mother-less children. I also liked that Harrison was so rough and tough, but had a soft spot for his children.
I enjoyed reading about this Patchwork Family, and wished it was a full-length novel. For an hour or two I was transported to rural Aussie ranch country, and fell in love with Harrison's family just like Poppy did.
Poppy leaves the city and heads to a teaching position in the outback, hoping for a fresh start after her husband did her wrong. Harrison loves the land he was raised on and is determined to raise his own children there - despite his wife leaving the family for a more exciting city life.
This novella is very well-written, and the small cast of characters is nicely developed. There's a meet-cute, the push and pull of new and unexpected chemistry, and a convenient storm that gives Poppy and Harrison a final push toward each other.
I loved the relationship between Harrison's children and Poppy. I thought it was pretty realistic for a teacher to want to care for mother-less children. I also liked that Harrison was so rough and tough, but had a soft spot for his children.
I enjoyed reading about this Patchwork Family, and wished it was a full-length novel. For an hour or two I was transported to rural Aussie ranch country, and fell in love with Harrison's family just like Poppy did.
February 4, 2014
A lovely romance in the Aussie outback. This novella is a very well-written and enjoyable quick read.
Poppy Carter is a soon to be divorced teacher has taken a job in a one teacher school in the outback hoping the change will help her get over her ex’s betrayal.
Harrison Black is a local farmer who is the single father of two children who attend the school that Poppy will be teaching at. Harrison has also been betrayed by his ex-wife when she up and left him and their children. He doesn’t believe that Poppy will stay in the small town keeping the school open and thus his children at home with him. After all his wife couldn’t hack the remote lifestyle the outback brings with it so why would a city girl like Poppy stay.
Neither of them want to enter into a relationship but sparks fly when Poppy is stranded at the farm during a storm and blackout. There is also a lovely relationship that develops between Harrison’s two children, Katie and Alex, and Poppy.
I rate this book as 4 out of 5.
Poppy Carter is a soon to be divorced teacher has taken a job in a one teacher school in the outback hoping the change will help her get over her ex’s betrayal.
Harrison Black is a local farmer who is the single father of two children who attend the school that Poppy will be teaching at. Harrison has also been betrayed by his ex-wife when she up and left him and their children. He doesn’t believe that Poppy will stay in the small town keeping the school open and thus his children at home with him. After all his wife couldn’t hack the remote lifestyle the outback brings with it so why would a city girl like Poppy stay.
Neither of them want to enter into a relationship but sparks fly when Poppy is stranded at the farm during a storm and blackout. There is also a lovely relationship that develops between Harrison’s two children, Katie and Alex, and Poppy.
I rate this book as 4 out of 5.
August 17, 2013
Patchwork Family in the Outback is a quick, sweet romance. In the story, Poppy moves to the outback to teach and start her life over after her marriage fall apart. Some of the first people she meets are Harrison and his two kids. The kids quickly take to Poppy, but Harrison is a little wary of her because she’s from the city, and he doesn’t quite trust women since his wife left him. Poppy has issues trusting men because her husband cheated on her. Neither of them are looking for a relationship or even trying to date, but they are always drawn into situations together and are clearly attracted to each other.
This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and I really enjoyed it. Harrison and Poppy were both great characters who were learning how to trust again, and the kids were written well as children longing for a mother.
*I received my copy from Netgalley and Harlequin in exchange for an honest review.
This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and I really enjoyed it. Harrison and Poppy were both great characters who were learning how to trust again, and the kids were written well as children longing for a mother.
*I received my copy from Netgalley and Harlequin in exchange for an honest review.
September 3, 2013
This book is part of a series, but stands well alone. That being said, I will be searching out the other books as soon as possible. Soraya Lane has created a world set in a small town I would love to live in, peopled by characters I think could become my friends. This was a sweet, gentle, fast read, but it was chock full of quirky characters and witty dialogue. It's not easy to have a town be a character in a book, but Ms. Lane has more than met the challenge. She also has given us a lead couple we can emotionally connect to, and a happily ever after that is well plotted and satisfying. I so enjoyed the story of Harrison and Poppy and their second chance at love.
*I received my copy from NetGalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
*I received my copy from NetGalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
September 29, 2013
After some serious reading and a couple of disappointments I was in need of a quick. light story. "Patchwork Family in the Outback" satisfied with a romance set in small town Australia. Neither single father rancher, Harrison Black nor broken hearted teacher, Poppy Carter, are looking for a romanic relationship. Both have deep issues of mistrust and disappointment from past marriages that have to be overcome. However, attraction and romance quickly develop when the new teacher arrives to start the school year and meets Katie and Alex, Harrison's two children who have his complete devotion.
It would be hard not to admire the character traits and fortitude of Poppy and Harrison in this pleasurable romance by Soraya Lane. No disappointment in this feel good read.
It would be hard not to admire the character traits and fortitude of Poppy and Harrison in this pleasurable romance by Soraya Lane. No disappointment in this feel good read.
September 23, 2013
A light romance in an Aussie town, part of linked books by different authors. There are surprisingly few characters and while we're told there is an Aboriginal couple who work on the ranch, we only meet the wife and baby in an epilogue. I did not get much feeling of community for this reason. The American 'Main Street' series is similar but reads better. This one is suitable for readers from teen to adult.
August 5, 2013
This is another great storiy in this series Harrison and Poppy so deserved each other and a fantastic life as a family. The town is growing and the characters make this a story you won't want to put down.
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December 29, 2014Miniseries: Bellaroo Creek!
Category: Home and Family
Category: Home and Family
November 9, 2013
DNF. . just not for me...too much internal dialogue that didn't ring true for me.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 17 reviews