Book Review: Fool Me Once by Karly Lane

Fool Me Once

by

Karly Lane

Publisher: Allen & Unwin Aust 
Publication date: 28th April 2020
Genre: Rural Romance
Pages: 318
RRP: $29.99
Format read: Paperback
Source: Courtesy of the publisher

Farmer, Georgie Henderson manages a cattle farm in the New England region of NSW, but her dream has always been to buy back her family property, Tamban. Her every waking hour for years, has revolved around planning to make this dream become a reality.

When an unlikely meeting with Michael Delacourt at a rowdy B&S Ball sends them on a whirlwind romance, Georgie can't believe it's possible for life to be this good and her dream of buying back Tamban has, for the first time, taken a backseat to happiness.

But her world shatters when she discovers the shocking secret Michael has been trying to keep from her.

Any book by Karly Lane is a must read for me. I was in a bit of a reading slump and I was sure Karly’s latest offering would get me out of it. I wasn’t wrong! I devoured this book in two days!

Georgie is strong, independent woman. She is currently the manager of Stoney Creek, a cattle property, but her goal is to buy back her family’s property that had been sold to a large corporation.

Georgie meets Michael at a B & S ball. They both feel totally out of place there and they hit it off immediately.

It was love at first sight and a whirlwind romance but it is not all plain sailing for Georgie and Michael.

The storyline is predicable. Boy meets girl, they fall in love then some insurmountable problem tears them apart and we read on broken heartedly hoping they will reunite. I would have been terribly disappointed if it didn’t pan out that way. It’s what rural romance readers want!

However Karly Lane’s stories aren’t simple angsty romance. They have great depth when it comes to issues faced by a rural community and in this case farmers inparticular.

This is a story that reflects on the effects of a drought, rising debts, suicide, women in farming and the need for diversification.

Karly Lane’s affinity for the land shines through in her stories.

Georgie is easy to warm to. A character full of sass and determination. Fool Me Once is a feel-good story not to be missed.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ plus an extra ⭐ because one of the characters was named Veronica. 💖

 

Karly Lane lives on the mid north coast of New South Wales. Proud mum to four children and wife to one very patient mechanic, she is luck enough to spend her day doing the two things she loves most – being a mum and writing stories set in beautiful rural Australia.

 


This review is part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie author challenge

and Australian Women Writers challenge