Cherry Season (Trish Morey, Macmillan)

Trish Morey is the bestselling author of over 30 titles for Mills & Boon. I mention this first as her latest book does bear similarities to this particular brand of mass-market romantic fiction—not that there is anything wrong with that! Set on a bucolic cherry, apple and pear farm in the Adelaide Hills, Cherry Season is a story of opposites attracting. Dan is a stoic and hardworking orchardist with fixed opinions on what he is looking for in a wife. Lucy Mariano is a free-spirited backpacker looking for fruit-picking work. Sparks fly and chaos ensues as, despite their differences, the two are drawn together. The appeal of this book is in its setting and the recognisable ancillary characters: Dan’s bossy but loving sisters, his grumpy salt-of-the-earth grandfather and Sienna, his cheeky but lovable niece. However, it is let down by major plot points that are too heavily sign-posted.

Rachel Wilson is a media academic and former bookseller

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Category: Reviews