CW: some homophobia, drug references, mebtion of an overdose.

Welcome to Badara, the small town in the middle of nowhere, South Australia, where everyone knows each other's business. A town where one puts on a front and keeps up the appearance of a perfect life, despite the challenges simmering under the surface.

Things come to a head one Tuesday morning at fitness club - organised by retired principal Marion - with the discovery of a time capsule buried 50 years previously. Marion knows what she added to the capsule as a teen and will do almost anything to stop it being revealed.

Meanwhile her sister in law, Briony, is no longer an empty-nester, with her children coming home in turmoil. They all have secrets they've hidden from her until now, and Briony is terrified of the truth becoming public.

The third key player in this story of appearances and facades is single mother, Paige, who has moved to Badara from Melbourne. Juggling three children on her own, Paige is desperate not to be judged or seen as a charity case. But her own secrets could tear her family apart.

The rumour mill runs non stop in a small town like Badara.

This was a wonderful domestic drama of rural life, of relationships, of truths, lies and acceptance. It's a tale of the hurt that's caused when secrets are kept too long, of judgement both real and imagined, and generational trauma. While dealing with the day-to-day minutia of the lives of the three women, it also encompasses tackles wider topics infidelity, homophobia, drug use, single parenthood, bullying and so on.

A major subplot revolves around a character coming out as gay, and the journey those around him go through to accept it.

The characters were all believable everyday people you'd find in any small country town. We all know people like Briony or Marion or Jean or Paige. There is a fledgeling romance, but nothing more than a kiss - this book is all about character development first and foremost.

I would have liked some more chapters between the end of the book and the epilogue, showing how the characters ended up where they did. I hope the author brings us back to Badara one day.

(It did take me a while to read this, because this was my in-the-car book.)

~ Many thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ~

Note - I also listened to the audio book of this, narrated by Rebecca Macauley. The audio version was fabulous, and Macauley's embodiment of the characters was excellent, from 89 year old Jean to 4 year old Levi, and everyone in between.

Tricia Stringer is a best-selling author with loads of loyal fans. Her novels are usually set in rural and regional parts of Australia and centre around the challenges of life and relationships. This one is no exception. The women of Badara are central to the storylines and the issues that they face tell the story of life in a small, rural town.

Unfortunately, this story didn't grab me and I found it difficult to finish it. The relationships seem a bit simplistic and Stringer writes with a "tell me" style that didn't draw me in. I found a couple of the characters frustratingly unable to stick up for themselves and it was hard to keep track of them all, especially as 80% of them seem to be related to each other!

There wasn't a lot of depth to the story and all the ends were tied up nicely. If you're after a story you don't have to think about much, and which you know will have a 100% happy ending, then this might be for you. It wasn't for me and I don't think I'll be readying any more of Stringer's work.

Keeping Up Appearances was yet another of Tricia Stringer's must reads.

Small towns always have more going on in the background than meets the eye and Badara is no exception. Family dilemma's and hidden secrets are hidden everywhere. Some can be kept hidden, others manage to show up when least expected.

Admittadly not my usual reader genre, I was attracted to "Keeping Up Appearances" by Tricia Stringer because it reminded me of a TV show. But then the Australian small town setting caught my attention.
With a large cast of characters, all interconnected by time or blood, as you find in a small town, we mainly follow Paige who is a young mum newly arrived and Briony and Marion, both who grew up in the area and are now of retirement age.
Paige especially could be my next door neighbour....a vivid picture of life with 3 kids on your own in a new town and trying to put to bed ghosts of the past.
Briony and Marion are coping more with life style changes and how the lives of their grownup children upset the applecart. Briony especially struggles....with an old fashioned small town attitude of keeping secrets and having to keep up appearances. It's quite exhausting having to constantly hide things and even lie to keep up the charade. She is yet to learn honesty is the best policy....for everyone's sake.
Although finding a time capsule with some very honest writings in it, does test this theory!
A nice story on how people cope or process and the benefits and downfalls of living a rural life.
Thanks to NetGalley, Tricia Stringer and Harlequin Australia for my copy.

I relished in this beauty by Tricia Stringer and I now can see why she is my favourite Australian Author. Her books are just that little bit extra. This one proudly portrays small town communities and the friendships of the women. The women have there own family drama and everyday life tribulations but they also have support in each other. A five star read.

There are many characters, but the families of three ladies, Paige, Briony, and Marion, are where most of the action takes place.

Since most of the characters are hiding information that they believe will make them appear less than they would like to be, the title says it all. The worst case scenario is probably Briony, who is not only disappointed with her three grown children but also ashamed of them. Of course, in a small town especially, secrets have a way of getting out.
The characters' stupid decisions constantly infuriated me, but by the conclusion of the novel I was totally invested and eager to learn how each woman would handle her problems.

Tricia Stringer never disappoints with her books. Keeping Up Appearances is another great story written by author Tricia Stringer.
Review copy received from Harlequin MIRA via Netgalley

Everyone knows everyone's business in the small town of Badara, South Australia and secrets and gossip are rife.

Single mum, Paige, is a new member of the community, seeking refuge for herself and her kids from the city hoping the town doesn't ask too many questions. Here she makes friends with Marion and Briony who are too busy dealing with their own dreams to worry about Paige’s. But sometimes secrets have a way of getting out.

This was my first Tricia Stringer book and I really enjoyed it.

This is the first book I have read by Australian author Tricia Stringer, and it won’t be the last. From the first chapter I was living in the little country town of Badara and part of the community.

Tricia Stringer has developed characters you get to know and like and clearly depicts the town of Badara, a typical rural Australian town with a larger coastal town not far away. Tricia’s style has you hearing, seeing, smelling and even tasting everything about the town.

The main character, Paige, is a single mother of three children moves to Badara to escape her past. She struggles with fitting in and is reluctant to mix with the locals for fear of them pushing her to reveal her secrets..

What she doesn’t realise is most of the other women in town also have their own secrets about their past or family members.

The women have different personalities, struggles and flaws, but, in true country fashion they are friendly and supportive in welcoming Paige and trying to help her.

However, Paige feels their generous gestures of welcome are interfering gestures of charity. She joins the local exercise class and as she gets to know the other women and their stores, she relaxes and becomes more involved with town activities.

She specially becomes involved in the planning and organisation of the Back to Baraba event to raise funds to repair the dilapidated hall where the classes are held.

But, it is not just Paige’s story. It is also the story of the residents and the town itself. The interaction between the characters is as important as those involving Paige.

The characters are believable and likeable even with their faults and secrets. I have lived in small rural towns and related to all the characters– I am sure I have met many of them.

Ms Stringer does not hold back on discussing sensitive issues in her book. Subjects such as

Single mothers, drugs, infidelity, homosexuality, and drugs are dealt with sensitively and with empathy and dignity.

Overall, the story flows smoothly and was a most enjoyable read. While the story line is exceptional I felt it took second place to the characters and that’s not a criticism.

I was sorry when it finished, I felt I had got to know the characters and wanted to spend more time with them.

Thanks to Netgalley, Tricia Stringer and Harlequin Australia for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own

Tricia Springer without fail always writes a strong story with characters who you feel could be living just next door. It is not hard to immediately feel connected to Paige as she works to find her way in her new home in Badara.. All the women in this book had journeys they were taking that made you constantly view them as flawed but likeable. Well worth a weekend read.
Thank you Harlequin Australia and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this Arc..

This was an enjoyable domestic drama. It's not normally a genre a read, therefore my rating is probably more about me than the book. While the writing itself is strong and the storyline kept my interest, I felt there were too many characters and a little too lengthy. I would definitely recommend this to those that like a small town domestic drama.
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy.

A domestic drama set in rural South Australia. Like many country towns, everyone knows everyone, they know everyones business and they love a bit of gossip. Briony is a character that has three grown children all going through their own issues and she wants to keep it all hush hush - keeping up appearances. However, she's not the only one who has secrets, especially after a time capsule from 50 years ago reveals several bits of information that may or may not be true.
Lots of characters (a tad hard to keep up with initially) with laughs, love, tears, tantrums, revelations and homemade sausage rolls. A lovely read.
P.S. the author really loves the word 'evidently'.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Keeping Up Appearances by Tricia Stringer is an amazing unputdownable story. I was sucked into the story from the very first page and did not stop until I reached the very last page.

Bandara is a typical small country town in Australia. Everyone knows each others business and families have known each other for generations. There are also secrets which are held close to their keepers.

It is into this community that a single mum, Paige, arrives seeking refuge from the city. At first she keeps herself aloof, worried that she will be judged for being a single mum. But she quickly gets swept into friendship and acceptance when she starts going to the Tuesday exercise class. The other characters are too worried about their own family dramas to worry about condemning Paige. She has to learn to ask for help, and that she is worthy of having friends - and love. Watching her come out of her shell and gain confidence was an amazing storyline.

Briony is a farmer’s wife and she is so obsessed with perfection she refuses to see she is driving her family away. Her drive for perfection is rattled though when first her daughter returns home having left her husband, and second her son returns from London with news that is going to shatter her world. Briony is determined that no one is going to find out the truth about her children because it will revealed she is not perfect and she couldn’t bare that.

Her sister-in-law, Marion, has issues as well. The decision to celebrate a ‘Back to Badara’ weekend reveals the plan to open a time capsule that was buried decades ago when she was a teenager. She wrote some nasty gossip on her page which she has since regretted and doesn’t want her shameful act to be revealed. Marion’s letter is found and read out in exercise class and feelings are hurt and friendships broken. Marion has to make amends and slowly work on restoring the bonds.

Keeping up appearances is a great name for this novel because that is what each of the main characters are doing, although Briony takes it to the Nth degree. I actually wanted to reach into the book and slap her for her attitude but it became obvious she was stuck in her attitude and desperately wanted not to be. She just didn’t know how.

There are so many really great themes - but the overarching one is that women are often harder on themselves than they need to be.

With thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin Australia for my copy to review

3.5★
“Marion had to go it alone, but one thing was for sure: revealing what they’d put into the capsule would cause so much hurt to the small community she now thought so fondly of. She couldn’t let it happen.”

Badara is a little town that needs to attract visitors, and someone suggests recreating a past festival from more than 50 years ago.

“ ‘The Country Courier 24 November 1970’
There was a spectacular turnout for the Back to Badara celebrations last weekend when more than five hundred past and present residents attended a variety of events over three days.”

Into this small, rural town in South Australia comes young widow Paige with her three children (by different fathers – so, judge her already. It’s what she expects). She’s on the run from Melton, Victoria, hoping to dodge her in-laws who want custody of her late husband’s little one, Levi.

Paige has moved into what was once the old bakery, so she is pretty much assaulted by all of the town’s matrons who grew up with varying memories of the building. Welcome to other people’s pasts. She is sort of aggressively adopted, but at least she feels welcome.

These are the women trying to rev up the town’s reputation and organise a fund-raiser at the same time. Studying the photo in the old newspaper article, they reminisce about the day when they were teens. Some of their rivalries have changed, and not all of their group are still alive.

“ ‘The time capsule!’ she blurted.

‘We could dig it up and bury another one,’ Jean said. ‘People always love that kind of thing.’

‘No!’

Both Briony and jean were startled.

‘Not for a fundraiser anyway,’ Marion said quickly.

‘It’d be the perfect thing.’ Briony frowned at her. ‘People could pay to put something in the next one.’

Jean clapped her hands. ‘Another way to raise money.’

‘No.’ Marion shook her head quickly. ‘It’s not quite right for an event like this. We need something grand to get people putting their hands in their pockets. Time capsules have been done to death.’

She knew she was blathering but she had to put a stop to the time capsule reveal… Fifty years into the future had seemed beyond them.”

You get the idea. Meanwhile, the women are anxious to have Paige join their fitness group because their trainer says she won’t come to Badara for so few people. So Paige is drawn further and further into the group.

Badara’s secrets, jealousies, loyalties, and particularly prejudices are given a good airing, and I’m sure the author’s fans will eat this up. The phrase “keeping up appearances” occurs many times, referring to why particular subjects have never been discussed or even alluded to, and why people still refuse to talk about them. Eventually, the stress of pretending gets too much.

The topics are obvious, with few surprises, so I ended up skimming, but Stringer writes real people, and I'm sure her following won’t be disappointed. It’s just not my thing.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin for a copy for review.

Single mother of three, Paige, is hiding from extended family and is hoping to fly under the radar in the small town of Badara.

Marion has been busy trying to build community spirit with exercise classes and a Celebrate Badara festival but the planned opening of a time capsule could destroy everything when long buried secrets work their way to the top.

Briony Hensley's grown children all have their lives together and Briony is smug with her perfect family. There would be no gossip around town about the Hensleys! Small towns do tend to gossip and for many keeping up appearances is imperative.

I do love Tricia Stringer's writing style however I felt the subject explored in Keeping Up Appearances was a little outdated. I wondered if people really do think like that in this day and age!
I loved the town of Badara, wonderfully drawn and filled with caring people who looked out for each other. The little spats between the townsfolk came across as real. There are lots of fun moments in Keeping Up Appearances such as the exercise class Marion is trying to promote, the family picnic for the sports club, the Op shop ball organised for the Celebrate Badara Festival and I can't forget the opening of the time capsule which was really quite funny but devastating for poor Marion.

Keeping Up Appearances has strong themes of kindness, forgiveness and acceptance. It is a story that will leave you contented and is garnering a multitude of five star reviews.
Even though I thought all the problems were wrapped up a bit too quickly and nicely at the end it is a feel good story and Tricia Stringer did deliver the feels.

Keeping Up Appearances is an engaging contemporary rural fiction drama from bestselling Australian author, Trish Stringer.

In the small South Australian town of Badara the suggestion to raise money to repair the community hall. Home to several local groups, including a new fitness class, the decision is made to stage a ‘Celebrate Badara’ event to include a fair, local tours, a formal dinner and the opening of a time capsule buried fifty years before.

Life-long resident and retired schoolteacher Marion Addicot is happy to take charge of the event, until the memory of the spiteful contribution she and her best friend made to the time capsule as sixteen year olds comes back to her.

Though she wouldn’t dream of refusing to help, Marion’s wealthy sister-in-law, Briony Hensley is exhausted at the thought of taking on yet another responsibility, but that concern is eclipsed when her adult children return home with revelations that threaten her well ordered world.

Town newcomer and single mother of three, Paige Radcliffe, isn’t at all interested in the celebration, or the women involved, whom she fears will judge her, but when the fitness class needs a space during the renovations to the hall, and the old store premises attached to her rented home are commandeered, Paige realises she may have misjudged them.

Each woman grapples with their own personal issues over the course of a few months, though there is a common thread, all are desperate to keep up appearances to protect themselves, and others, from real and imagined consequences. But the truth has a way of coming out. Stringer thoughtfully explores their worries and fears and the ways in which they handle the aftermath. Marion, Briony and Paige all exhibit personal growth

Stringer is excellent at creating authentic communities for her main characters to inhabit. I enjoyed the small town setting which is populated with ordinary people at different ages and stages of life, all of whom are well-drawn, and further enrich the story.

An engaging novel about secrets, charades and community, Keeping Up Appearances is a warm-hearted, satisfying read.

This is a book about a rural Australian community and how they cope with ideas that have been already normalised in more urban settings, such as interracial relationships and LGBTQ issues. Small-town family drama at its best.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this,

This story is based in a small town in Australia, following the lives, relationships, and secrets of three main women (Paige, Briony, and Marion).

Single mother, Paige relocates to a small in South Australia, with her three children, wanting to make a fresh start, but also to escape from the danger she feels for her family from one of her child's grandparents. This fear extends to making sure that her children don't appear on social media so that they would not be traced to their new home).

Briony and Marion are sisters-in-law. Briony has an obsession with keeping up appearances, and when each of her children returns, where her eldest daughter (Chelsea) is having marital problems, her son (Blake) coming out, and her youngest daughter (Maddie) is in a relationship with a divorced man, with children. Briony's idea of a perfect family crumbles, pushing her children further away, as she is unable to accept the choices her daughters have made and believes that Blake coming out is just a phase, determining that he needs to keep his sexuality a secret from the world.

Marion, on the other hand, is more accepting of Blake and her place becomes a sort of refuge for Blake during certain times. She herself has her own secrets, and her main story is mainly based on a gossip article she wrote with her friend when they were sixteen years old, which puts a strain on the relationship between her and others.

I really enjoyed this story, and there were characters at the beginning I really disliked, which was part of how they were written but as the character grew, I grew to like them more.

Keeping Up Appearances is a set in rural South Australia, but could just as well be set in rural New Zealand where I live. This is the story of the lives of Briony, Marion and Paige. These three ladies are doing their best to keep their own family business to themselves in a small town that thrives on gossip. Each of the women has their own secrets and does their absolute best to keep them to themselves, but sometimes it is better that the truth comes out rather than letting other people dream up their version. I enjoyed this book, although I did find it a bit hard to get into at first. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

In Keeping Up Appearances author Tricia Stringer has delivered yet another compelling story, one that sucked me in from the start and held me till the last page. Set in the fictitious South Australian town of Badara, the story has three main protagonists.
Paige, the single mother of three, has moved to Badara to raise her children away from the grasping influence of her son Jayden’s grandparents. She is very insular at the start of the story and I loved watching her slowly open up and trust those around her.
Briony is in her sixties and has three adult children. She is determined to always give the best impression not only of herself but also of her family, something that she is clearly struggling with. I think Tricia Stringer really enjoyed coming up with things about her children that would really push Briony’s boundaries and force her to reassess her approach to life.
Marion, who is around the same age as Briony, was a brat in her teens and when the townspeople put together a time capsule in 1970, she and her friend Claire wrote some very hurtful comments about people Marion has since become friends with. She’s terrified that what she wrote will be revealed if the time capsule is opened as part of the Back to Badara Festival that is being organised. As each woman is forced to confront their secrets, they grow within themselves. With themes including acceptance, love, inclusivity and protection, this story is beautifully written and has been a marvellous read.