Book Review: The River Gum Cottage by Leonie Kelsall

 The River Gum Cottage

by

Leonie Kelsall

 

Bestselling author of The Farm at Peppertree Crossing

 

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

 

Publication date: 5th July 2022

 

Genre: Rural Romance

 

Pages: 448

 

RRP: $29.99AUD

 

Format read: Paperback

 

Source: Beauty and Lace Book Club

 

My review of The River Gum Cottage

 

Lucie returns home after a four year estrangement, devastated that her father's sudden death means the rift between them will now, never be healed. But on returning she may also lose the thing she holds most dear; her daughter.

 

Jack is concerned that he will lose all he has worked for now his business partner has died.

 

I've thoroughly enjoyed Leonie's previous books and The River Gum Cottage was no exception. It reads well as a standalone but I loved that familiar characters from previous books came in and out of the story.

The story kept me fully immersed with jaw-dropping twists that had me turning the pages eagerly hoping that Jack and Lucie would be able to forget the past and look to the future.

The characters were all endearing and their problems realistic. The story put a permanent smile on my face. Kelsall's writing is engaging with vivid descriptions of the scenery, the plants and the animals.

Leonie Kelsall, through The River Gum Cottage, reminds us just how beautiful the Australian environment is. I loved Lucie's use of natural therapies and crystals and Jack's sustainable, eco-friendly farming methods that were also environmentally conscious.

 

Leonie has delivered another book that was an absolute pleasure to read.

 

My rating 5 / 5  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

About the author

 

Raised initially in a tiny, no-horse town on South Australia's Fleurieu coast, then in the slightly more populated wheat and sheep farming land at Pallamana, Léonie is a country girl through and through. Growing up without a television, she developed a love of reading before she reached primary school, swiftly followed by a desire to write. Pity the poor teachers who received chapters of creative writing instead of a single page!

Léonie entertained a brief fantasy of moving to the big city (well, Adelaide), but within months the lure of the open spaces and big sky country summoned her home. Now she splits her time between the stark, arid beauty of the family farm at Pallamana and her home and counselling practice in the lush Adelaide Hills.