Title: Country Roads
Author: Nicole Hurley-Moore
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Allen and Unwin
Published: 25th January 2017
Format: Paperback
Pages: 303
Price: $29.99
Synopsis: Rebecca Duprey is working day and night to keep the family sheep station, Bluestone Ridge, afloat. But Bec’s father, who’s been in a wheelchair since a farming mishap, keeps second-guessing her decisions. Now, to add Bec’s woes, her unfaithful ex-boyfriend has started lurking around, and the adjoining farm she’d hoped to buy has been snapped up by a guy from the city called Matt Harvey.

After leaving his job in advertising, Matt became a bestselling novelist. But since the death of his fiancee in a car accident, he’s had severe writer’s block and is desperately hoping his move to the country will help him deal with his grief and allow him to focus on completing his next book. Problem is, he seems to have started off on the wrong foot with his new neighbour, Bec Duprey.

Bec isn’t quite sure when she started feeling attracted to Matt, but she’s determined not to succumb to his charms. And Matt isn’t sure when his feelings changed about Bec; all he knows is he can’t get her out of his mind. Can Bec and Matt overcome their fear of loss to find love and happiness with each other…?

~*~

Rural romances like Country Roads aren’t really novels that I enjoy. In Country Roads, we meet Matt Harvey, an author nursing physical and emotional injuries from a car accident, and Rebecca Duprey, his neighbour. Not surprisingly, they get off to a rocky start, and this is the initial spark that has the book playing ping-pong between the characters and the drive towards their relationship. To make things more complicated, perhaps not surprising for a romance, is the dogged determination of Rebecca’s ex, Zane from the neighbouring farm, and the conflict between their fathers, and what Zane’s father, and the larger community, once expected of Rebecca and Zane. There are conflicts but the stubbornness of each character, and the same arguments rehashed a few times because some people didn’t want to relinquish control, accept no for an answer, or believe their own bull-headed thoughts over the truth worked for a while. Conflict between characters is always good, but I felt that a little variation on how these conflicts played out and what drove them could have made the story more interesting.

The one character, Nathan Langtree was sort of just there – perhaps to help Matt, or for Matt to identify with, but a few mentions and appearances had me forget who he was until he next appeared. His history and character being given more page time could also have made things more interesting. The interactions between Rebecca and Matt were written well, though, but like any characters in books, did and said things that made were frustrating – yet they fit the scene and character for the most part.

One thing I didn’t really like was how obvious I felt the author made it as to who to like and who not to like. Indeed, in some books, it can be quite clear who is good, bad and in-between – however, in this case, I felt like I was being guided into having to like certain characters – and these characters felt a little too perfect at times. I would have liked to see other sides to these characters, to give a little depth to them – depth that comes out in their backgrounds and in the few instances this is discussed, yet a little more might have changed the dynamics a little, and given the promising plot a little more oomph.

The interesting scenes for character development, like farming, writing, hanging out at the pub or the movies – were a little too much tell. It was these scenes that could have really moved the story and characters, but felt a little rushed, as though they weren’t really important.

At the base though, there was an interesting story and the characters did eventually open up and talk, and provide a little character development that gave them deeper needs and desires behind the facade of the girl next door and the mysterious, wounded out of town guy, mixed in with the various gossiping characters. Even though this wasn’t a book I enjoyed or would read again, it is a good book for a lazy beach day, or for readers who enjoy romance and stories like this.