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Merindah Park #1
Merindah Park
A brand new rural romance series about an emerging racehorse stud and the family desperately trying to make their racing dreams come true.
'Money lost, nothing lost. Courage lost, everything lost.' Can two people take the ultimate gamble and fall in love?
They say one good horse can change your address and farm manager John Bassett has found that horse. Since the death of his gambling-addicted father, John has lifted his family farm out of a financial hole, but now it is time to take Merindah Park back to the top. When last year's Japanese Derby winner Tsuyoi Red comes on the market, John knows this horse is the perfect stallion to relaunch Merindah Park. A visit to Japan to inspect the horse results in a meeting that will lead to John gambling his heart too.
Veterinarian Toshiko Sato uses her superior mathematical ability to secretly, and successfully, bet on racehorses. Her family wants her to marry the neighbour, so the two farms can be joined together, but when a handsome straight-talking Australian arrives at the farm to buy a horse, she takes the chance to travel with him before deciding. When her secret is revealed, she risks losing her future, her family, and her heart.
'Money lost, nothing lost. Courage lost, everything lost.' Can two people take the ultimate gamble and fall in love?
They say one good horse can change your address and farm manager John Bassett has found that horse. Since the death of his gambling-addicted father, John has lifted his family farm out of a financial hole, but now it is time to take Merindah Park back to the top. When last year's Japanese Derby winner Tsuyoi Red comes on the market, John knows this horse is the perfect stallion to relaunch Merindah Park. A visit to Japan to inspect the horse results in a meeting that will lead to John gambling his heart too.
Veterinarian Toshiko Sato uses her superior mathematical ability to secretly, and successfully, bet on racehorses. Her family wants her to marry the neighbour, so the two farms can be joined together, but when a handsome straight-talking Australian arrives at the farm to buy a horse, she takes the chance to travel with him before deciding. When her secret is revealed, she risks losing her future, her family, and her heart.
380 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2019
7 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Renée Dahlia
74 books74 followersRenée Dahlia is an unabashed romance reader who loves feisty women and strong, clever men. Her books reflect this, with a side-note of awkward humour. Renée has a science degree in physics. When not distracted by the characters fighting for attention in her brain, she works in the horse racing industry doing data analysis. When she isn’t reading or writing, Renée spends time with her partner, four children, and volunteers on the local cricket club committee.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 21, 2019
This is a rural romance set in Victoria Australia and in Japan, Merindah Park is a race horse stud run by John Bassett and his siblings a brother and two sisters, this is John’s story his journey to a HEA with a beautiful Japanese Veterinarian is a sensual and moving story that is sure to keep you turning the pages.
John has set off to Japan to buy a new race horse for the stud Tsuyoi Red, he worries that it is the right thing to do as for the last five years he truly has struggled to keep the park going and make ends meet, but this should be a chance to really help. When he arrives he meets his old friend and his sister Toshiko and there is an instant pull between the two, she is the vet at their stud and beautiful and soon they are conversing like old friends and getting closer.
Toshiko is bound by honour as is the custom in Japan, she has done everything to please her family, she become a good vet and the family stud was left to her younger brother and now she must honour her parents wishes and become a bride to a neighbor, but first she will travel to Australia with John and the horses he has purchased and here in Australia she learns to be more open and stand up for herself and fall in love.
MS Dahlia knows her horse racing information this is a very well written story, there are many emotions flying from the pages and when John discovers Toshiko’s other happiness besides being a vet and horses it threatens to pull them apart, but love prevails and they have the best HEA. I really did thoroughly enjoy this story I learnt lots of interesting things about horse racing and of course there was the beautiful romance and I do look forward to seeing the Bassett siblings get their HEA.
John has set off to Japan to buy a new race horse for the stud Tsuyoi Red, he worries that it is the right thing to do as for the last five years he truly has struggled to keep the park going and make ends meet, but this should be a chance to really help. When he arrives he meets his old friend and his sister Toshiko and there is an instant pull between the two, she is the vet at their stud and beautiful and soon they are conversing like old friends and getting closer.
Toshiko is bound by honour as is the custom in Japan, she has done everything to please her family, she become a good vet and the family stud was left to her younger brother and now she must honour her parents wishes and become a bride to a neighbor, but first she will travel to Australia with John and the horses he has purchased and here in Australia she learns to be more open and stand up for herself and fall in love.
MS Dahlia knows her horse racing information this is a very well written story, there are many emotions flying from the pages and when John discovers Toshiko’s other happiness besides being a vet and horses it threatens to pull them apart, but love prevails and they have the best HEA. I really did thoroughly enjoy this story I learnt lots of interesting things about horse racing and of course there was the beautiful romance and I do look forward to seeing the Bassett siblings get their HEA.
April 22, 2019
The first book in a new series, Merindah Park was an enjoyable romance and a great introduction to the siblings who will feature in the next books.
This story focuses on John and Toshiko and is set in Japan, where they meet while John is buying a horse from her brother, and in Australia on John's horse property Merindah Park, where Toshiko, a vet, travels with John and the horses. I enjoyed the chemistry between the two characters, which was evident from the start of the novel. The cultural differences between the two and how they had to deal with them to move forward in a relationship at times made things between them difficult. It was especially difficult for Toshiko as she had been born into a culture where women defer to the men, especially the father in their wishes, family is more important than the individual's desires. Toshiko is running from a family expectation and the chemistry between John and Toshiko makes the dilemma she is running from clearer and more complicated. Will secrets stop and expectations stop these two being together?
The horseracing industry isn't one I know too much about or horses in general for that matter. Renee Dahlia's love of horses and knowledge of the industry certainly comes through in this story.
Johns siblings were great characters and I enjoyed the rapport that they all had between each other as a family. I look forward to reading their stories.
This story focuses on John and Toshiko and is set in Japan, where they meet while John is buying a horse from her brother, and in Australia on John's horse property Merindah Park, where Toshiko, a vet, travels with John and the horses. I enjoyed the chemistry between the two characters, which was evident from the start of the novel. The cultural differences between the two and how they had to deal with them to move forward in a relationship at times made things between them difficult. It was especially difficult for Toshiko as she had been born into a culture where women defer to the men, especially the father in their wishes, family is more important than the individual's desires. Toshiko is running from a family expectation and the chemistry between John and Toshiko makes the dilemma she is running from clearer and more complicated. Will secrets stop and expectations stop these two being together?
The horseracing industry isn't one I know too much about or horses in general for that matter. Renee Dahlia's love of horses and knowledge of the industry certainly comes through in this story.
Johns siblings were great characters and I enjoyed the rapport that they all had between each other as a family. I look forward to reading their stories.
April 29, 2019
Merindah Park is the second of Renee Dahlia’s books that I’ve read and this one really shows how she has developed as an author. This is an Australian contemporary rural romance with a strong horse racing theme and it is clear from the opening pages just how well the author understands horses and the racing industry. Her comfortable familiarity with this setting means that those parts of the story associated with racing, horse training and horse husbandry really flow well.
The plot centres around a romance between Australian horse property owner John and Toshiko, a Japanese horse veterinarian. The romance side of the story leans towards the sexy, with a fair few scenes devoted to graphic descriptions of who did what to whom. For me, it was a bit too clinical. I far prefer to know what a character is feeling and I didn’t really get a sense of that building sexual arousal and emotional pull during those scenes.
The pacing was also a little bit lacklustre and at times I really didn’t find myself bursting to get to the next page. Having said that, I did enjoy the story, though mostly because of the interesting things I learned about horses and racing.
The plot centres around a romance between Australian horse property owner John and Toshiko, a Japanese horse veterinarian. The romance side of the story leans towards the sexy, with a fair few scenes devoted to graphic descriptions of who did what to whom. For me, it was a bit too clinical. I far prefer to know what a character is feeling and I didn’t really get a sense of that building sexual arousal and emotional pull during those scenes.
The pacing was also a little bit lacklustre and at times I really didn’t find myself bursting to get to the next page. Having said that, I did enjoy the story, though mostly because of the interesting things I learned about horses and racing.
April 26, 2019
Japanese breeding farms and Australian stud ranches form the fresh, unusual setting for this contemporary sports romance. An opposites-attract pairing and great family relationships make Merindah Park shine--I'm certainly looking forward to further entries in the series! More thoughts here: https://tinyletter.com/ReadersUp/lett...
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews