Author: Karly Lane
ISBN: 978-1-76029-676-6
RRP: $29.99
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Copy: Courtesy of the Publisher
Karly Lane is an Australian author I quite enjoy. There are gaps in my reading of her work but they are certainly books that are on my radar to catch up on one day when I have some time.
Six Ways to Sunday is a book that stands out, to me, in that it is a single timeline story with only one narrator. No dual perspective and no story of the past catching up with events in the present. There is nothing wrong with that but it stood out as different because what I can remember of Karly’s work off the top of my head is that a lot of her stories combine a tale of the past with the present, but maybe it was just the last one.
Rilee is our unlikely heroine, a city girl with big dreams and an even bigger determination to see them through. She didn’t factor Dan Kincaid into her plans and when the two meet there are big changes afoot. A whirlwind, largely long distance, relationship follows and the next thing Rilee knows she’s living in the small town of Pallaburra on the Kincaid property with her new husband… and in-laws.
Things definitely aren’t how she imagined them but Rilee is determined to make her dream of opening a naturopathy practice a reality, it may not be in Sydney but even small town folk need healing; that’s the theory anyway.
Rilee finds herself way out of her league in Pallaburra, she knew it wasn’t Sydney but it certainly isn’t what she expected. It seems that there is a lot in Pallaburra that hasn’t quite kept up with the times. Naturopathy is yet to be embraced and there’s still a pretty distinct class hierarchy in place, which comes as a massive surprise to Rilee.
Dan and Rilee are head over heels in love with each other but they weren’t expecting the honeymoon to be over quite so soon. Rilee is not what the Kincaids had in mind for a daughter-in-law and they aren’t shy about letting her know it, and a large part of the town seem to agree.
Rilee is strong willed, outspoken and determined so when she sees an issue that needs to be addressed in the small rural town she isn’t about to back down until something is done about it, even if it sees her get even further off-side with everyone she is trying to gain acceptance from.
Pallaburra is a small town filled with conservative Christians doing charitable work, for places far away from their very own small town. Some people are quite stand offish or wary of Rilee now that she’s a Kincaid but there are also friendly faces, and an awful lot of gossip.
Six Ways To Sunday is an entertaining tale of a young woman in love determined to do what she can to make a change for the vulnerable teens in a small town, regardless of how much it adds to her difficulty fitting in. She is passionate about her dreams, natural remedies and helping people; even when everyone around her is telling her to let things lie. She can’t sit by and watch if she knows there is something she can do.
Small town life might be a whole new world and a naturopathy clinic may take a little more work than envisaged to get started but maybe Pallaburra and Rilee just need a little bit of time to get to know one another; and realise they are a perfect match.
As always Karly’s characters are vivid and relatable, even the nasty ones are redeemable and her narrative offers a cheeky giggle on more than one occasion. Her newlyweds love the honeymoon phase and sneaky lunches at home but never with graphic and over the top description. The friendships are enviable and the relationships relatable.
This was a story that engaged me early and I didn’t want to put down. I loved the way Lane highlighted the plight of teens in the small town and tried to illustrate that there are still options available and it is important for even small towns to have access to comprehensive medical, nursing and government assistance. The fact that the closest doctor is over an hour away makes appointment prohibitive for hard-working farmers but also for the infirm and the unlicensed, it is important that they can still access important agencies and there are ways, with some legwork and determination, to get those services to town regularly.
Six Ways to Sunday reminds me why I love the writing of Karly Lane and leaves me waiting semi-patiently for her next release.
Six Ways To Sunday is book #54 for the Australian Women Writer’s Challenge 2017.
Karly Lane loves to hear from her readers, you can find her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and her Website.
Six Ways To Sunday is published by Allen & Unwin and available now from Angus & Robertson Bookworld, Booktopia and where all good books are sold.
Thanks to Allen & Unwin 10 of our Beauty and Lace Club members are reading Six Ways To Sunday so please be aware there may be spoilers in the comments below.
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!
Oh I loved this book!
Took me one day to read it, as I couldn’t put it down.
Six ways to Sunday is another one of Karly Lanes fantastic novels.
I have read all her books and thoroughly enjoyed this one.
Six ways to Sunday is a little different compared to Karly Lanes other novels.
Majority of her other novels comprise of some sort of war story and someone finding love.
This novel takes a complete new approach to love stories.
Yes it’s a love story, but it doesn’t take the whole novel to get to a romance.
The book focuses more on the issues related to marrying a farmer, the expectations and moving far away from the city to a small town.
I loved it and I’m sure everyone else will too.
Thank you beauty and lace for giving me the chance to read this fantastic book.
I love Karly’s books! This was fantastic!! I couldn’t put it down!
Six Ways to Sunday is an engaging book.
Rilee is a city girl, nearly qualified as a Natropath and is working towards her dream of opening her own practice.
She has worked as a Barmaid/Waitress while studying for her Degree.
Dan Kincaid steps in one night to rescue Rilee from advances of a drunken Buck on his Bucks Night.
He is a Farmer from a small town. So different from everything Rilee is use too.
They fall deeply in love and Rilee agrees to marry Dan and move to his farm just outside the small town of Pallaburra.
Pallaburra is a small town full of Christian Ideals and has very old fashioned practices.
Rilee is a strong willed and very outspoken young lady and is not afraid to stand up to what she thinks is right. She decides she wants to help the younger members of the community, especially young teenage girls and their options to reduce the chance of teenage pregnancies.
Rilee had no idea the Pillaburrians would be so against her ideas.
Karly Lane has explored contoversial topics and has woven them into a beautiful love story that is not overwhelming or taken to extremes.
Six Ways to Sunday is an easy book to read and I loved it,
growing up in a small country town, I can relate to alot of Karly’s writing.
I am a huge fan of Karly Lane and was looking forward to reading “Six Ways to Sunday” and it did not disappoint. Australian Rural fiction is one of my favourite genre, as I love reading about the outback, the characters and the challenges of life on the land.
Sometimes you can’t help who you meet and fall in love with and that is what happens to Rilee Summers a city girl with her life all planned out ready to open a Natural Therapies practice in the City. Dan Kincaid walked into her life and swept her off her feet all the way to a small rural community after a whirlwind romance and elopement. Country ways can be hard to adapt to and Rilee makes unintentional waves with Dan’s family and the town as she tries to settle in and open her Naturopathy practice. She stands by her convictions and is not very popular when she takes on teenage pregnancy and the lack of services for the young.
I found the novel easy to read and felt I could easily keep going as Rilee continues to find her feet in Pallaburra. I feel Karly weaved a tale of romance but painted a realistic picture of life in a small town- the isolation and lack of services You felt for Rilee as the city girl trying to make friends and introduce herself to people who if she did not share the same opinion as them would have the door slammed in her face. Dan is torn between his parents and Rilee and this causes tension for the newly weds and is a great part of the plot as Rilee tries to feel part of the family.
Rilee is a strong lead character and very likeable as is Dan and throughout the novel you are introduced to many characters that you feel you get to know including the formidable Ellen and Jacob Kincaid, Dan’s parents.
Great summer reading especially during the holiday period as you won’t want to put it down.
I absolutely loved reading ” Six Ways To Sunday” by Karly Lane.
Having read Karly’s books before I was looking forward to reading this one and it certainly didnt disappoint .
If you love the Australian rural fiction genre you will love this novel and if you havent read one definitely give it a go as its an enjoyable novel whatever the genre.
The story is about city girl Rilee who is swept off her feet by country boy Dan and a whirlwind romance and elopement follows.
Rilee finds in hard to fit into small town ways as she opens her own Naturopathy practice and makes waves in the local community with her ideas and practices.
Dan finds himself stuck between Rilee and his parents on many issues which causes tension in their newly wedded bliss.
A book I would recommend to anyone .Especially for a great Summer read that you just want to keep turning the pages on.
Thankyou Beauty and Lace and Allen and Unwin for allowing me to read and review this novel .
Six Ways to Sunday by Karly Lane an Australian Author was a great read, and a hard novel to put down once I started reading.
When Dan Kincaid visits the city, he meets Sydney girl Rilee Summers a naturopath who is working in a bar. A whirlwind romance follows and soon after Rilee and Dan elope. Rilee moves to Dan’s family property out in rural Pullaburra. Rilee has many adjustments to make, not only living in the country community, but also adjusting to Dan’s family. The harder Rilee tries to fit in with both Dan’s family and the community the further she seems to dig herself into a hole as they do not appreciate her outspoken views.
Her dream has been to set up a naturopathy practice, but Pallaburra is not Sydney and the towns people are not exactly welcoming to the idea. When Rilee takes up the issue of teen pregnancies in the country town she finds she has really hit a sour viewpoint of the local community. Not only does she have to convince the community but worn down by the lack of support from Dan Rilee leaves the country to go to see her parents and rethink her future. What happens next changes all their lives forever.
Six Ways to Sunday is a relaxing read and everyone should enjoy!
Six Ways to Sunday. By Karly Lane
Rilee has put herself through Uni by working in bars to qualify as a Naturopath, and dreams of setting up her own practice. Outback farmer Dan walks into the bar she is working at, and a whirlwind romance sees the couple married within months.
Rilee returns to the farm with Dan as his wife, and meets his parents for the first time. Dans mother Ellen is very controlling of the family, and had already had a wife picked out for Dan, so she is very cool towards Rilee.
As Rilee sets her sights on establishing her Naturopathy business in the outback town of Pallaburra, NSW. she discovers that country folk are not too keen on change, and her ideas are met with opposition from every direction.
Can she succeed in winning over the locals, or to follow her chosen career, must Rilee return to the city.? And will Dan support her decision?
I have enjoyed author Karly Lane’s other books of Australian Rural romances, but this one wasn’t to my taste. I found the main character Rilee to be smug and arrogant and I could not warm to her, which for me made enjoying the story difficult.
Thank you to Beauty & Lace book club, and to Allen & Unwin Books for the chance to read this book.
I’ve loved all of Karly Lane’s books and Six Ways to Sunday didn’t disappoint. I read this book in one day it was such an easy, captivating read.
City girl Rilee falls for farmer Dan. She is a qualified naturopath and has a busy practice in Sydney. Rilee is unsure if she can leave all that she has worked for behind. She has had her heart broken before and vowed never to be that naive again. A friend convinces her to take a chance on love as she can move her work anywhere and start afresh. So Rilee goes with her heart and marries Dan.
Now living in Pallaburra, Rilee soon learns that finding acceptance isn’t as easy as she imagined. Whilst she handles the many challenges of her new lifestyle Rilee does make a few heart warming friendships and also quite a few enemies amongst the townsfolk.
Lane touches on some very important topics during the book such as bringing healthcare and health education into isolated country areas, contraception and information for teenagers, men’s health issues, insecticides versus natural eradication of pests. All of these issues centre round Rilee and Dan getting to know each other as husband and wife during moments of great family disharmony.
Being a city girl myself and married to a farm boy I felt real empathy for Rilee and I loved that she was outspoken and confident, not letting anyone pull her down.
I loved Rilee’s parents, carefree and accepting of others, they were very confident with who they were and added a note of light-heartedness to the story.
Despite all their differences when tragedy strikes the family bands together.
“It was true what they said: times of crisis really did make people realise what was important in life.”
Highly recommended for all rural romance readers.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book from cover to cover. It’s one of those books where I hope Karly does a follow on novel with the same characters as I’d like to know what happens next. As usual, Karly’s books are quick to get into and hard to put down. I’ve read most of her books and I think this one is my favourite so far. It makes a great weekend or holiday read, as there’s not too much to think about, just a nice paced plot with endearing and likeable characters.