This book filled my heart, I am such a fan of Alison Stuart’s Maiden’s Creek series and the third book was so worth the wait.

From the moment I picked it up I squealed with joy as I was reunited with the fictional town and its locals and not to mention that Charlie was all grown up and taking a staring role.

As the title suggests this story is about a homecoming and is told from Charlie and Danny’s points of view. Neither of them have seen each other in years and by chance they end up back in Maiden’s Creek at the same time.

This story has the perfect mix of drama, romance and mystery.

It had a perfect ending and I couldn’t have loved this book more. I highly recommend it!

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Always so nice to catch up with much loved characters from earlier books...along with new characters to bring the book to life! Loved seeing Netti and Amos as well as, briefly, Adelaide and Caleb. Having visited Walhalla, it is easy to pick the inspiration. Highly recommend!

This is the third book in the Maiden Creek series, it could be read as a standalone but I think it would be better to read the whole series in order. While I have already read book 2 I haven't read book 1 and it felt a little frustrating that I didn't know the full back story.
The book is set in what is a fictional town of Maiden Creek, based on the actual township of Walhalla, a small town if regional Eastern Victoria in the late 1800's. Charlie (Charlotte) O'Reilly is returning to Maiden Creek to take up a temporary posting of matron at the small hospital there. Charlie spent a childhood in Maiden Creek as the 'rogue' child of a woman that everyone referred to as 'Mad Annie'. Can Charlie shake her past and move on in her home town, or will the locals always consider her 'tainted'.
At the same time Danny Hunt is returning to Maiden Creek to see if he can put the demons of his biological, violent father behind him and find some peace. When he and Charlie cross paths the whole town of Maiden Creek may feel their impact.
Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin Australia for the opportunity to read this digital ARC.

This is the third book set in the rural town of Maiden's Creek. The main characters, Charlotte and Daniel were children in the previous books, but both of them moved away and have now returned to their hometown.

Charlotte is now the Matron of the local hospital. Daniel is just visiting, looking up old friends, investigating a little about his past and checking that the gold mine, now closed, has been safely secured. When they meet they recognise an immediate attraction but Charlotte fights it due to a bad experience in her past.

The story is set during a major flood which washes away parts of the town and kills a number of residents. It was interesting to discover at the end that the author based this on an actual incident which occurred in Walhalla, the town on which Maiden Creek is based. In fact there is a lot of interesting historical detail throughout the story.

I always enjoy reading Alison Stuart's books and am already looking forward to the next one.

It was 1892 and Charlie O'Reilly was returning to Maiden's Creek, the town she'd lived as a child, with fear and bullying her constant companions. Now, twenty years later, Charlie was a highly qualified, respected nurse and midwife, and would be Matron at the Maiden's Creek hospital while the current Matron was on leave. She was looking forward to the job with great pride.

Danny Hunt had also grown up in Maiden's Creek; now a lawyer held in high esteem in Melbourne. After a difficult case, and threats from a family who blamed Danny for the result, he decided to get out of Melbourne for awhile, accompanying his friend Robert Cameron, to Maiden's Creek, where his sister was a nurse at the local hospital. When Danny and Charlie met at the hospital after Robert was injured, events moved quickly and when a nurse was murdered, and a friend was jailed for her murder, both Danny and Charlie were determined to prove his innocence. But could they prove what they knew? Danger followed both Danny and Charlie and when a vicious storm hit, flooding Maiden's Creek and the surrounding areas, they couldn't see a way forward...

The Homecoming is the 3rd in the Maiden's Creek series by Aussie author Alison Stuart and it was - in a word - outstanding! Catching up with characters from the first two in the series, albeit twenty years after the last book, was wonderful. Charlie and Danny are great characters, and imagining living back in the 1890s is daunting. While Maiden's Creek is fictional, it's modelled on the small town of Walhalla in Victoria's goldfields, so anyone who has visited can look at parallels. The Author's Notes at the end are interesting as well. I have no hesitation in recommending The Homecoming highly, but suggest reading books #1 and #2 first.

With thanks to HQ Fiction AU via NetGalley for my ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

Third in Alison Stuart’s Maiden’s Creek series, The Homecoming introduces as adults two characters that appeared in earlier books as children, and what a difference twenty years makes!. Charlotte (Charlie) O’Reilly and Daniel Hunt have come a long way from their less than auspicious starts. She’s achieved her place in society as a nurse, thanks to financial assistance from her benefactress Eliza McLeod. As the story opens, Charlie is about to return to Maiden’s Creek to take up a temporary position as matron of the local hospital. She’s extremely competent, dedicated to giving her patients the best of care and also both feisty and strong-willed, which has her clashing with the town’s doctors before very long. Danny has also made a name for himself in Melbourne, where he is independently wealthy and works pro-bono as a lawyer defending those less fortunate. He’s a good man with a shadow hanging over him thanks to his birth father, who took advantage of his mother before The Postmistress, book one in this series, begn. This story is skilfully woven, blending intrigue, murder, prejudice and love to provide a balanced plot that kept me on my toes and guessing. As with the other Maiden’s Creek stories, this one has earned a place on my keeper shelf.

I have loved my first two visits to Maiden’s Creek and when I heard there would be a third trip I was over the moon and I loved this book, I loved Danny and Charlie when meeting them as children and Alison Stuart has taken both of them back to the place that holds so many memories for them twenty years later and written a page turner of a story that you will not want to put down.

Charlie O’Reilly’s childhood growing up in Maiden’s Creek was not one that you would wish on anyone but twenty years later Charlie is returning a very different person she is now a nurse and is taking up the opportunity to be matron at the local hospital, she has her reasons for getting away but she never thinks that this stay in Maiden’s Creek will open up the emotions and bring with it danger but can it also bring love and happiness?

Danny Hunt is a criminal lawyer in Melbourne known as Saint Jude for his need to save people but Danny has a restless soul that he feels he needs to find some truths from the past and put them to rest and when Danny is threatened after a court case and a mate asks him to take a trip with him Danny jumps at the chance to return to the place he spent many of his childhood years maybe he will work through his past never realising what this visits holds.

As children they never met while living in Maiden’s Creek but both knew of each other and had met briefly in Melbourne one time that neither forgot but when danger arrives in the small town with murder and attempted murder they are thrown together to get to the bottom of it all, add to that a dreadful storm that sees the town almost totally washed away their time together sees their feelings grow for each other.

This is a beautifully written story, it is filled with adventure, mystery and so much more, I fell into it from the start and savoured every word meeting up with Amos and Netty who were so important to them both, the emotions flowing through the pages, everything came to life, Danny and Charlie I think were meant to be together, I loved them both, Charlie’s strength and caring nature and Danny what a hero, the best but there are secrets that Charlie holds and they must let go of the past to move forward.

I loved this one so very much, I loved the ending and I do highly recommend it make sure you have nothing planned when you pick it up, MS Stuart thank you for such a brilliant story.

My thanks to Harlequin AU for my copy to read and review and Netgalley.

This is the third book in this series and even though it is good to have read the books before it can be read as a stand alone. This was a real adventure with so much going on you have no time to put it down. There was mystery, murder, pasts that won’t stay in the past, secrets, disasters, and of course romance. All the characters where so well written that you can relate to each of them. The setting is very well-written and made easy to imagine. It is wonderful to read a historical read set in Australia. It was just an all-round wonderful read. I received this as an ARC and freely give my review.

This is an historical romance with a bit of depth to it which I like as I am not a huge fan of romance novels.
Set in 1892 this is a story in two parts, that of Charlie O'Reilly and her return to Maiden Creek along with Danny Hunt a lawyer who also returns to Maiden Creek.

They are both trying to sort out the past by visiting the place of their past. Although this is apparently the third installment of this series, I have not read the first two books in this series but must see if I can find them as I enjoyed this one.

It is a great Australian read and there is a bit going on in this story so you have to keep reading and keep up so you don't miss anything. The story has murder, mystery, romance, revenge, family, relationships and much more. It is an entertaining read that kept my interest by providing some twists and turns and was not all together predictable which was good.

A great book and recommend to lovers of historical and/or romance.

‘Sometimes the past really doesn’t want to be disturbed.’

1892, Maiden’s Creek, Victoria. Charlie O’Reilly returns to Maiden’s Creek almost twenty years after she left. While Maiden’s Creek holds bad memories for Charlie, she returns as the acting matron of the local hospital and is determined to prove her worth. Charlie is also trying to move on after a disastrous relationship which has left her in a difficult situation.

Danny Hunt is independently wealthy and has a busy criminal law practice. Danny also has ties to Maiden’s Creek. When a court case leads to threats against Danny’s life, he takes the opportunity to accompany his friend Robert to Maiden’s Creek. Robert is visiting his sister, a nurse at the hospital.
Danny is looking for some answers about his past, while also undertaking some investigations on behalf of his stepfather into a now defunct mine. He is also aware that Robert may have some involvement in the theft of the Speaker’s Mace from the Victorian Parliament.

Charlie settles into her duties as acting matron, managing the hospital and attending to various crises. Robert is injured and admitted to the hospital, which delays his return to Melbourne. Danny stays on as well. A nurse is murdered at the hospital, and suspicion falls on her fiancé. Both Danny and Charlie are certain that he did not murder her, but can they prove it? And while they are attracted to each other, Charlie is determined to maintain a distance.

Well, Ms Stuart certainly kept me turning the pages. Yes, I wanted to know who killed the nurse (and why). I also was worried for a couple of lovely characters when Maiden’s Creek was hit by a disastrous flood. But most of all, I really wanted Danny and Charlie to negotiate the pitfalls of the past and find happiness. There are a few twists in the tale, and I finished it wanting more.

While this story is complete, I confess that I would be very happy to see this trilogy become a quartet.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Australia for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book
for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

What another excellent Australian Historical Romance by Alison Stuart! I really enjoyed The Homecoming which is the third instalment of the Maiden’s Creek series. There is a lot packed into this novel set in 1892: floods, the missing mace, romance, mystery, murder, class and family/relationship issues. It is also a story about sacrifice and the difficulties women faced in an era when wanting to have a career and possibly a marriage, too, was highly unacceptable. The plot demonstrates the damage that can result from revenge, jealousy, deception and keeping secrets, too. But the rewards that can be reaped through honesty are still very real. There are some unexpected twists in the story that you might not see coming: good and bad outcomes that are appropriate to the crimes, actions and times.

The Homecoming is told through two individuals. Their viewpoints: a woman name Charlie and a man named Danny give us a well-rounded take on attitudes and events. We also get to hear their thoughts on each other and others which prove quite useful in drawing empathy out of the reader. It is easy to care about Danny and Charlie as they possess qualities of goodness that we can admire. They truly care about others and want the best for them and their kind acts prove the contents of their hearts.

Danny Hunt is a wealthy criminal lawyer who lives in Melbourne but is troubled by memories of his childhood years in Maiden's Creek. He wants to know more about his father but his mother has tried to protect him from the truth. When a court case infringes on his safety, he decides to flee Melbourne for a while in hopes things might die down in his absence. But will the threat follow him? An opportunity arises to attend to a matter in Maiden’s Creek with his friend, Robert. He jumps at the chance to go. But his visit to his old hometown carries more than one purpose. Including an opportunity to see a woman who once turned down his only marriage proposal years ago. She is sister to his friend, Robert, and also a nurse at the local hospital. But what does he hope to achieve by seeing her again? His life takes on quite a few surprises, twists and turns at Maiden’s Creek, including bumping into another woman he met and connected with when he was younger.

Charlie O’Reilly becomes acting nurse matron of Maiden’s Creek hospital. She is from this town as well and returned recently after living away for a number of years. This place holds some negative memories, too, but the painful experience she is fleeing is far worse. She has been deceived and treated badly in a relationship and it has left her in an uncomfortable position. Yet she is an exceptional midwife and nurse who has wanted to become a doctor but without the financial means or cultural support. Thanks to the Florence Nightingale’s influence, professional training and accreditation for nurses was on the rise. But the first pioneer of Australian women doctors to enrol in university for medicine was Dr. Dagmar Berne. She trained at the University of Sydney in 1895. So, Charlie probably would not have been accepted before this time, even though she is bright and energetic and receives recognition for her abilities. She has also made waves for working sometimes outside the accepted system. Even though she always achieves positive results, this straying from protocol has created strikes against her. So, does the ends justify the means? This thinking will be heavily tested when she comes together with Danny to solve a crime.

I loved the ending with all the current threads of chaos tied up and issues resolved – or enough to make you satisfied to wait and see if any of these characters might be telling future stories. Although it may be the final book of what is currently a trilogy, I felt the door was left open a wee crack for a potential offshoot but we will have to see if the muse agrees. Regardless, I have loved this series and The Homecoming is a worthy addition. 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Many thanks to Mira (HarperCollins Au) for a review copy.