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The Landowner's Secret (Brindabella Secrets, #1) Kindle Edition
Sonya Heaney (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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$49.12
New South Wales, 1885
When Alice Ryan wakes to find thugs surrounding her cottage, on the hunt for her no-good brother, she escapes into the surrounding bush.
It is wealthy landowner Robert Farrer who finds her the next morning, dishevelled, injured, and utterly unwilling to share what she knows. With criminals on the loose and rumours that reckless bushrangers have returned to the area, Robert is determined to keep Alice out of danger, and insists on taking her into his home-despite the scandal it may cause. Convincing her to stay on with him for her own safety, however, is going to take some work.
What Robert doesn't expect is his growing attraction to the forthright, unruly woman staying in his home. Before either of them can settle into their odd new situation, their home and wellbeing come under threat and they will need to trust each other to survive. But they are both keeping secrets, secrets that have the potential to ruin their burgeoning love, their livelihood ... and their lives.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherEscape Publishing
- Publication date1 September 2019
- File size589 KB
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Product details
- ASIN : B07SBG5FFR
- Publisher : Escape Publishing (1 September 2019)
- Language : English
- File size : 589 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 226 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: 2,988 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
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Top reviews from Australia
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Alice runs for her life, the next morning Robert Farrer finds her curled up in the bush, and he takes her home to Endmoor. Alice has a fever and his housekeeper Mrs. Adamson thinks she may have been bitten by a spider and she calls for the doctor. Alice slowly recuperates, Robert isn’t keen for her to return to her cottage, and it’s not safe for her to live on her own. With Mrs. Adamson and his sister Elizabeth as chaperones it’s perfectly respectable and then people in Barracks Flat start talking.
Robert does the honorable thing, he and Alice are married. Alice worries that she’s not good enough for her husband, too common and he’s married below his social status. Robert runs merino sheep on his land, he and his friend John Stanford are considering starting a vineyard and making Riesling. The Southern Tablelands in New South Wales have the perfect soil and climate to grow grapes and all they need is financial backing.
Alice and Robert both have secrets, Alice does reveal hers to Robert, and she stumbles across his and it make her feel insecure. When a Cobb & Co Coach is robbed and two people are shot, Alice is worried, surely Ian wouldn't join a gang of bushrangers and what will Robert think!
The Landowner’s Secret by Sonya Heaney is a historical romance set in Australia in 1885, it’s about Alice and Robert slowly falling in love and facing life's challenges together. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series, The Artist’s Secret and three and a half stars from me.
After what I thought was an excellent start, with high stakes and a whole lot of intrigue and drama, I found things slowed to the point where I'd almost decided this one wasn't for me.
But what kept me reading (and I'm glad I kept reading) was a real love of this spunky little heroine, Alice. She is just a classic character - the scrapes she got into - her audacity and courage - Alice really appealed to me.
I also particularly liked her honesty, and that spread through all areas of this book. It felt natural to me that Alice and Robert would forge a marriage of convenience. I liked how those two, and the secondary characters such as John and Elizabeth and Martha, they all tended to try to talk out their feelings and problems and find solutions rather than stir up angst and drama through having 'big secrets/misunderstandings'.
Alice and Robert in bed together were lovely... and I felt very invested in the early days of their married life.
In the end, I rated the story a solid 4 stars. It's very well written, in an engaging way, and while I can't comment on the accuracy of historical detail (I'm no expert), the Australia in this book felt authentic and real.
It felt just a little long for me, but that said, I could have read about Alice for days and days. She really is delightful.
Looking forward to more from this author.
Top reviews from other countries


I confess I didn’t know what to expect from this book, it was my first time reading a romance set in Australia, if I forgot some books by Colleen McCullough 2/3 decades back and it was no historical.
I just loved it, I was unable to put it down until I turned the last page.
Mrs Sonya Heaney brought her characters to life with her vivid and colorful descriptions of the flora and fauna in these newly inhabited lands. The wildlife is much part of the story as are the personages in this lovely tale which took me on a journey in the wild of the New South Wales, with two persons from different standings trying to figure out a common ground when circumstances push them on the same road.
Alice is no lady nor damsel-in-distress, she is made of bones of steel, she uses her brain and acts. Sure her stubbornness might cause her more wrong than good but she is also able to accept when she is a path. She has no big dreams but some hope for her future if she can leave her actual place but everything is derailed when her home is ambushed.
After being rescued, she still seek for a better tomorrow. So Robert comes as a surprise, with not an once of romanticism but she is pragmatic and after warning him so no well-bred girl, she accepts his proposal.
I smiled at her outlook of her wedding night, it was very refreshing, no steam nor hot sex, just the wonders and interrogations of a young woman learning the meaning of the marriage bed.
Robert is a nice sort man, he respects people and refuses to let Alice go back home when he fears for her security. But his work is his first concern, after his sister’s wellbeing. Even if he cares for Alice, when tricked he used her for his gain. And when she comes clean with all her “secrets” on their mariage day, he still hold back some details of his past life that might hurt her if she get to know it.
I adored Alice forthrightness, at time she does not always knows how to ask or tell but she always finds a way. When she is open, Robert is closed with his feelings and he struggles to express them.
It is these kinds of flaws that bring blood and flesh to paper characters, their inner conflicts, their inability to speak plainly or too bluntly and that not everyone get its right reward.
It is not a sizzling romance, it is more on the long run side as it is daily life and tiny details here and there that brought them to see another on a different light, and slowly they will come to love another.
5 stars for this lively tale.
I was granted through Netgalley by the publisher Escape Publishing an advance copy, and I purchased my own too. Here is my true and unbiased opinion.


