Title: The Last McAdam
Author: Holly Ford
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Allen and Unwin
Published: 22nd February, 2017
Format: Paperback
Pages: 300
Price: $29.99
Synopsis: This romantic, irresistibly entertaining novel tells the story of Tess Drummond, who’s been sent to turn around the fortunes of a remote sheep and cattle station her employer has taken over. What Tess hasn’t counted on is coming up against the station’s handsome and charismatic head stockman, Nate McAdam, whose family owned the property for generations…
Passed down through the same family for over a century, the remote sheep and cattle station of Broken Creek has recently been taken over by global agribusiness company Carnarvon Holdings. Now Carnarvon has sent its best troubleshooting manager, Tess Drummond, to turn the property’s failing fortunes around – fast.
When Tess arrives to take the reins of Broken Creek she’s faced with a couple of nasty surprises. For starters, her head stockman, Nate McAdam, happens to be the same gorgeous stranger she hooked up with – and ran out on – a few weeks before.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Nate was supposed to inherit Broken Creek until his stepfather ran it into the ground. Now the last McAdam on the station leads a team of men whose bonds have been forged through hell and high water and whose mission is to see off Carnarvon and Tess so he can take his rightful place.
A genius with farm work – and women – but a disaster in the office, Nate is everything Tess believes a farmer shouldn’t be. Determined not to give in to her growing attraction to him, Tess sets out to do her job, but she soon finds herself caught up in the battle of her career.
This irresistibly entertaining novel combines romance, suspense and an unforgettable cast of characters.
~*~
A rural romance isn’t my first choice when looking for new reading material – it’s never really been a genre I enjoy. So when I started this novel, I didn’t think it would be what it turned out to be. I may never read it again, but it will have an audience out there.
Tess Drummond works for a company – Carnarvon – that takes over farms that are in trouble and replaces the staff where necessary. It is a job where she has to move around a lot in New Zealand, and at the beginning, has no real ties to a place or that many people, something that preoccupies the thoughts of her mother and friends. Tess brushes these off – it is a side affect of moving around all the time for work, and is merely one aspect to her character – albeit one revealed quite early on as to what she feels others expect of her. The story opens with Tess at a wedding for friends, where she hooks up with someone, and then never sees him again. Until she arrives at his farm – Broken Creek. Nate McAdam is struggling with the impending loss of the farm, and his friends, and at first, Tess and her cold, business-like nature alienate Nate, Mitch and Harry at first, until she proves to them that she is trying to help – and a relationship with Nate slowly develops – starting with mutual respect.
Tess must balance the needs of the farm with the demands of her company, and what they are expecting from her. This conflict results in a few arguments that add to the tension they are all feeling. However, the action is a little slow to pick up, and it’s only towards the end of the novel that two accidents start to bring them closer together as a team, and for Tess to reconsider her role and place at Broken Creek.
I felt that the resulting romance wasn’t necessarily needed, because I quite liked Nate and Tess as friends who would end up working the farm together. However, it was a nice, fluffy conclusion. The characters had flaws, and at least the idea of who should be liked and not liked wasn’t forced – as there were times when I wasn’t sure what a character’s true motives were.
I’m still not a convert to romance or rural romance novels, but this one showed me that it can be done well and everything can be given the attention it deserves to give the story a well-rounded and complex plot. A good book for people who enjoy romance, friendship, and farming, it’s not too detail heavy, and a nice light read.
