Author: Rachael Johns
ISBN: 9781489226532
RRP: $29.99
Talk of the Town is the latest release by the talented Rachael Johns, her tenth print book for Harlequin; a return to small town rural roots that are what made me fall in love with her work.
Meg is running from her past and looking for a fresh start, far away from anyone that may recognise her. She took on a place in the deserted town of Rose Hill, thinking that she was the only resident. It seemed like a perfect place to regroup and there were enough jobs to be done around the house to keep her busy.
Lawson Cooper-Jones is a young widow whose two great loves in life are the family dairy farm and his eight-year old son Ned. He has been trudging through life with the support of his sister, the love of his son and the support of their small town community. His heart still well and truly captured by his late wife.
A flat tyre stops Lawson and Ned in Rose Hill where an entertaining (for me anyway) and unexpected first meeting creates a shift for both Lawson and Meg.
Alternating chapters follow Lawson and Meg in their everyday lives and allow us an insight into their thoughts, and the people around them… well around Lawson anyway, Meg is quite isolated.
One of the minor plotlines had me intrigued, and unfortunately left me wanting a little more. The first thing Meg is told in her impromptu meeting with Ned and Lawson is about her house being haunted. Of course the adults scoff at the thought, and then Meg starts sensing things in the house.
Meg spends some time researching the history of the house to try and discover it’s secrets. This element fascinated me and I loved the discoveries they made, I just wish there had been a little more closure of this part of the story.
Johns has addressed some very topical issues in this one; from the dairy crisis to the drug problem this one is going to touch the hearts of many. It’s a story of fresh starts, forgiveness and the long road back from addiction.
The lead characters are interesting and multi-faceted, they made me want the best for them and by a third of the way through I was formulating theories, and scared stiff about what would come of them. The deeper into the story we traveled, the more I worried.
The secondary characters were also something special and I would love to see where they end up. Lawson was supported through his grief by his younger sister Tab, a positive and endearing character with challenges of her own. She has suffered hardship in her life and refuses to let it define her, she took the cards she was dealt and made the most of it and I couldn’t help but admire her strength.
Adeline on the other hand is a secondary character that inspired animosity but when I think about her now, after finishing the book and spending the day thinking on it, she reminds me of Lauren from Hope Junction a little and I think she could be redeemed.
Talk of the Town brings together the best and the worst of small town life, the gossip and the meddling but also the support and sense of coming home.
This is another stellar read which I unreservedly loved and my only issue is the lack of closure on the historical aspect of the house. I would love to come back to these characters and explore their future a little better. I would love to see Tab get her happy ever after and check in on some of the other residents of Walsh, actually I would also be interested to see if they can bring some life back to neighbouring Rose Hill. A fabulous read that will tug the heartstrings and have you falling in love with a precocious young man, and a fluffy pup.
Talk of the Town is book #17 for the Australian Women Writer’s Challenge 2017.
Rachael Johns can be found on Twitter, Facebook and her Website.
Thanks to Harlequin Mira 20 of our Beauty and Lace Club members will be reading Talk of the Town so please be aware there may be spoilers in the comments below. I look forward to hearing what they think.
Talk of the Town is published by Harlequin Mira and is available from April 24 through Angus & Robertson Bookworld, Booktopia and where all good books are sold.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Beauty and Lace and Harlequin – I just LOVED Talk of the Town by Rachael Johns. It was a gorgeous, thoughtful and beautifully written novel by an Australian woman and I finished it feeling uplifted. Nothing was overwritten, nothing over simplified, all of it completely real. The Australian countryside and Lawson and Tabitha’s farm came to life as did the ghost town of Rose Hill and the haunted house. The characters were human! I especially loved the way Lawson’s son was portrayed. It would have been easy to make him less “normal” but Rachael Johns didn’t do that. The blend of characters and the way they reacted to and with the other characters was so beautifully written,
Michelle has, as always, beautifully summed up the book and I agree with her completely that another book expanding some of the characters and places, especially the haunted house Megan bought and Lawson’s sister, Tab, would be wonderful. A widow with a son who was so young when his mother was killed that he barely remembered her, could have been soppy but there was nothing soppy or bitter about Lawson Cooper-Johns. He was wonderful in his relationship with his young son, protective but not smothering. Lawson’s sister, Tabatha is inspiring and beautifully portrayed. Even the animal characters were real and wonderful as was the less than lovely Adeline.
The treatment of drug addiction and Megan’s recovery was incredibly real. Obviously Rachael Johns research is thorough. You couldn’t help wanting to reach out and hug Meg and want to keep her safe. I loved the way Eliza, the ghost, was introduced and portrayed. The social issues binding the towns and people were also sensitively handled and felt quite real.
This is one of the most satisfying and beautiful books I’ve read for a while. PLEASE can we have a sequel Rachael? Thank you so much for this wonderful novel.
I found this an unusual story in that the main centrepiece lives and wants to live in a town with hardly anyone else, now that is readlly getting away “to lick your wounds” as they say, isolation has its good and bad points, you can think too much, or not enough… I enjoyed the story and did wonder where it was actually supposed to be as I lived in waroona for quite awhile, and went back and forwards to Bunbury… Mind you this was written before Yarloop burnt down last year. I find all books are very interesting, especiallly how the author/ress plots the stories that go in them… Farming anywhere has a lot of problems, and todays world with milk at its lowest ebb, a lot are walking away from the cows, and going into growing other items like corn, and even hemp for materials. The haunted part got me, and I took quite awhile registering that even branches against a roof keep moving, or on windows. look forward to other books by the same person, and I shall get in touch with her web to see where up in our hills area generally she lives.
Talk of the Town by Rachael Johns is a delightful, satisfying and heart felt story.
I loved the way it unfolded as we meet each character.
Meg has moved to the deserted town of Rose Hill in Western Australia, where she has bought a run down property which she plans to renovate and live in. She has relocated from Victoria, and we learn that she is trying to escape a past she wants to forget. She meets Lawson and his young son Ned, and despite her determination to be alone, finds that the warmth these two show her to be pleasant.
Ned tells her that the house she has brought is haunted. This doesn’t upset Meg: in fact she seems intrigued by it, and she tracks down historical records of Rose Hill in its hey Day to find out why the ghost is still in her house. This is well written, and I enjoyed learning about how and why the ghost was there.
Meg discovers that there is another resident in the ghost town of Rose Hill, and the locals call him Crazy Archie.. but he befriends Meg, and she slowly lets another person in to her solo world..
Lawson’s sister Tabitha meets Meg, and the two of them hit it off. Tabitha is a wonderful character. She has overcome some battles of her own, so she takes the solitary Meg under her wing and introduces her to other people in the nearby town of Walsh. Meg still wants to hide and be alone, but she discovers that she begins to enjoy interacting with the townsfolk.
The area is a Dairy Farming district, and the story follows some of the recent issues in the industry where the milk factories reduce the farmers milk contracts or cancel them altogether. I would have liked to see this fact expanded on a little more, but the story finishes before we know what happened with the milk contracts and in fact that is where we are at the moment in Victoria, so the book is really current.
The romance between Meg and Lawson grows, even though Meg feels unworthy of being close to anyone. She has a huge secret that she is terrified of anyone finding out, but if she wants Lawson and his son in her life, she must reveal her past to them. Archie offers suggestions as to how she could do this, but it remains a difficult task.
I love love loved this book, and would be thrilled if Rachael Johns wrote a follow up, with perhaps Tabitha’s story and the rest of the characters from this one that seem so real.
Thank you Rachael for a fantastic read, and to Harlequin books, and Beauty and Lace for allowing me to read this wonderful story
Thankyou Beautyandlace and Harlequin and of course Rachael Johns for the opportunity to review such a super read.
The characters were all believeable and interesting.
This book’s central character is Megan (Meg) Mc Cormick who has moved to Rose Hill an almost deserted rural town in Western Australia.. Meg has moved there to escape her past, having lost family members tragically, plus other issues, and she is wanting to live a reclusive life away from a big city.
Through circumstances she meets Lawson and his eight year old son Ned. Lawson lost his wife four years ago and is a dairy farmer with a sister Tabitha (Tab) and together with hired help they run the farm.
She befriends Archie an older man and an artist also living in Rose Hill the only other resident there.
She finds him to be a good and reliable friend and confidant.
The building she has bought and is living in has been the general store and she believes it to be haunted.
It turns out a woman, Adeline from nearby Walsh has her sights on Lawson, and she is not happy about the friendship developing between Meg and Lawson.
This was such a good book, it had absolutely everything in the storyline, there was gripping mystery, intrigue and romance. It also had sad parts but still ended on a high note.
A great read absolutely loved it!
I absolutely loved ‘Talk of the Town’! It was an easy read and just such a nice story. As some other people have mentioned the book was really well written – it didn’t get bogged down in detail that I feel is sometimes there just fill up page space, nor did it skip over things too lightly – it was just right!
After I finished reading it, I felt happy and cheerful and in a really good mood and it was nice to have a book that made me feel that way. My only issue was that I wished it went on for longer. Other reviews have mentioned another book about Tabitha’s story (and surely she’ll see Ethan for the great, fun, loving guy that he really is), but I’d also love to know more about what happened to Eliza. Did she just disappear after the tea rooms were opened and the truth about her death was known? I hope she didn’t (well if it’s OK for ghosts to stay around and be happy). Also, what happened to Archie’s estate? Did they ever get in contact with his son? I’d love to think that he changed his will and left all his stuff to Meg and that there was some buried treasure in there somewhere that could help Meg/Lawson/Tabitha, or even Rose Hill itself.
Once again, thank you so much for a wonderful read. I hope part 2 does come out – I’ll be watching out for it Rachael Johns! >:o)
Talk of The Town is one of those books you just don’t want to put down. I enjoyed it from start to finish.
The story revolves around 25 yr old Meg who moves to Rose Hill to start her life over…Lawson and his son Ned stumble across her and then comes the country romance … however Meg isn’t exactly who she seems to be .. but I don’t want to give anything away.
I loved the characters and Meg was a great lead that I liked straight away. Her haunted house was a great add in too.
This wasn’t the typical country romance I usually read, it had that extra oomph to keep me guessing.
I’ve now added Rachael Jones to my favourite authors list and look forward to hunting down her previous novels.
5/5 stars from me!
Thanks so much Beauty & Lace, Rachael Jones and Harlequin Books for this fab read 🙂
Oh and I agree with the others ^^^ a part 2 please !!!
Thank you to Beauty & Lace books for providing me with a review copy of Rachael’s new book Talk of the Town. Without giving too much away this book involves a widower and his son, his sister, a reformed and troubled woman and a ghost!
Meg moved to Rose Hill to recover from a traumatic life which involved loss, drugs and a prison sentence. She bought the old general store with a small inheritance that she received and chose this town which hardly anyone lives in as a way to lose herself and try to regain a life that had been lost in the past. She meets Lawson & his son Ned and is immediately attracted to them both, but she doesn’t want anyone to find out about her past.
She also encounters Archie – her neighbour – and a recluse who helps her immensely and gives her a reason to go on. As well, she discovers that her new home houses a resident ghost, who is trying to cross the bridge but has unfinished business that she wants Meg to help her get resolved.
There are lots of elements to this book and I eventually reached the point where I could not stop turning pages until the end. Even though this is set in the country, the issues within could easily be brought into a contemporary time frame as well. I almost could call this a transition book between rural and life-lit.
I adore Rachael’s books and this is no exception. Eagerly looking forward to her next book, and I must try to get her back catalogue read at some stage. 5 Stars from me.
This is the first time I have read a ‘romance’ novel in a very long time, and a definite first in ‘rural romance’. I always find that romance novels are very preditable. You know that straight away when you pick up the book that the first chapter involves a young woman, usually with a troubled and challenging past, who meets a man, perhaps with challenges of his own, and ending in the last chapter, that love conquers all. However, what happens in between determines whether or not the book is a good or bad read.
It is between these two chapters where Rachel Johns excels as a story teller. Each of her characters had a story to tell and had a legitimate reason for being in the story, adding colour and intrigue. Everyone loves a villain and the meddling Adeline was no exception, although I was waiting to her be a bit more nasty so I could cheer Megan on.
I liked how the author dealt with current issues regarding milk contracts, drug addiction, murder, being in prison and the bullying episode with Ned, but felt some were only token ideas. Perhaps there was too much going on and I would have liked more information to make them more interesting and thought provoking, and would of liked them to be dealt with in more depth, in fact I felt a bit ‘short changed’ in many themes such as what happened to Archie’s house after he died and what happened with the spirit of Eliza – who actually was her lover and how did it impact on Adeline?
I also felt that the resolution between Meg and Lawson was resolved too quickly…..I love a bit of drama and would of liked it to be more drawn out, but, as I said at the beginning of this review, we all knew what the outcome would be.
Overall, I did enjoy this story. It had romance, mystery, intrigue, and had me wanting to find out more about the characters and their stories. I am hoping that there will be a second book so I can find out more.
Escaping from her past Megan finds herself in a deserted country town in Western Australia, living in the old general store come home with her radio as her friend. But fear is brought into her heart when someone stops at her house to change a tyre and finds that she is there, not a ghost but a blood pumping, eating, breathing live person.
Lawson and his son are returning from the in-laws/grandparents down south only to get a flat shortly before home in Rose Hill. He certainly did not expect his son’s imagination of a ghost in the old general store would transform into a living, breathing, HOT woman.
Neither was looking for the other, in fact Megan was hiding from her past but meeting Lawson was to be the new link to life she needed.
Megan learns about her house history, the “ghost’s” identity and finds herself making plans for the future, all the while making friends with the town’s only other resident, Archie (caretaker for the petrol station) and Lawson, her link to the world outside.
Despite all her efforts, Adrienne, the town busy body and promoter of Walsh, cannot weasel her way into Lawson’s heart, even though his wife has been dead a number of years. She thinks selling him one of her pedigree bundles of love (puppy) will help the situation and give her an “in” into his life. Sadly she is so far wrong as the puppy makes his way to Megan in Rose Hill to keep her company.
Follow as the pieces of the pasts of Megan, Archie and Lawson are slowly, very slowly delivered to the reader. It has you asking questions and wondering, unable to put the book down till you find out why. Its nice to see things going the way you hope and then go oh so wrong.
I did giggle at a typo where the author tries to suggest a guy will look at any woman, except they’ve used “XY” (male) rather than “XX” (female), oops.
Rachael does know how to tease the reader with little glimpses of information and keep them reading. A good book with some good Aussie hospitality and a bit of intrigue and controversy. Well worth the read!!
Thanks for the opportunity to review Talk of the Town by Rachael Johns, who is fast becoming a favorite author of mine.
Meg moves to a deserted town to escape her past. For some time the reader is unaware of what she is escaping. Johns description of Meg’s reaction to someone knocking on her door was brilliant. I could feel her fear and panic.
She meets Lawson and his delightful son Ned, who informs her the house is haunted and her only neighbour is crazy.
The author weaves a wonderful story of life in a country town and all the different personalities involved. The very real treat of the milk crisis and the difficulties facing farmers is well explained.
I love the friendship that was formed between Meg and her neighbour Archie, two lost souls trying to escape from the prying and judgements of the town folk.. The town busy body, who is trying to snare Lawson, decides to bring Meg undone. She discovers her secret and make sure the whole town knows it. Megs resolve to start anew and overcome her past comes to the fore and she withstands Adeline’s onslaught. Eventually there is a truce between them.
Secondary to the blooming romance between Lawson and Meg is the intriguing story of her haunted house. Normally I would not read ‘ghost’ stories. But John’s brilliantly weaves this ‘cheeky’ ghost into an integral part of the story .
I have recently read ‘Patterson Girls’ by the same author. In both stories she writes excellent stories involving relationships, conflict, romance and, as always, rural Australia. Her stories are well worth a read.