In A Home Among the Snow Gums we get to learn more about Hannahs story which I was thrilled about. The outback settings and life is still prominent with some gorgeous animals.

This was another completely immersive rural romance by Australian author Stella Quinn. Following on from her previous novel The Vet from Snowy River, this time it is Hannah time to shine.

I absolutely loved being back in Hanrahan, such a beautiful setting, it’s the kind of country town I’d love to live in. It was also great reuniting with characters I’d adored in the previous novel.

This book is full of charm, it’s heartwarming and it’s guaranteed to leave you feeling all the warm and fuzzies.

This book takes us back to Hanrahan where we move onto the story of Josh’s sister Hannah.
The storyline jumps into some heavy issues, mental health, injury and bullying. The main characters are likeable, both trying to cope with their own traumatic life experiences.
There’s lots of secrets that are holding both Hannah and Tom back in their lives. It’s an emotional and challenging journey, not wanting to reveal too much of themselves.
Hannah struggles with lack of confidence and is traumatised by an experience at college, her friends and family are her constant supporters. Tom returns home to care for his ill father, Hannah is confused by his lack of honesty, they are both damaged and suffering.
Tom and Hannah are facing tough decisions, choices need to be made, a shared love of horses becomes therapeutic for them at their most difficult moments.
I love the community feel and courage shown to overcome fear. A great read.

Thanks to Harlequin Australia, Netgalley and the author for the opportunity to read this book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Stella Quinn is a relative new author for this reader. Interesting characters and story for A Home Among the Snow Gums.
Review copy received from the Publisher via Netgalley

Enjoyable story about overcoming trauma and finding love. I loved the tension between the main characters.

I loved this one so much, I laughed, I cried and smiled so much through this heart-warming and beautiful story, I loved being back in Hanrahan and the Billy Button Café and catching up with all of the wonderful residents, and now we get to see Hannah and Tom find their way to the best HEA, there is a lot they need to go through to get there and you will want to be there cheering them on.

Hannah Cody was such a happy person she lived for fun and laughter and science, she worked hard and got into medical school in Sydney and then her world was turned upside down by a terrible prank, a change was needed and she moved to Wagga Wagga to study Veterinary Science, then back to Hanrahan to open up her Vet Clinic and here she has stayed for ten long years, is she hiding even though she feels happy?

Tom Krauss left Hanrahan many years ago after a disagreement with his father Bruno, he left the cattle station and horse stud that his father had built up and joined the navy but with his father’s bad health and the health problems Tom is facing it is time to come home. Meeting up with Hannah after all of these years sets his pulse racing he has always loved her but now there is no chance of any kind of romance with the time bomb he has ticking in his body.

Hannah has set a few new year’s resolutions for herself and needing Tom’s help will go a big way to help her with one of them after all he is her brother’s best friend and they have known each other since they were kids he should be happy to help a friend, when love is not involved. The happy towns folk step in with an intervention to push things along with Hannah and soon there is lots of tension building between Tom and Hannah, can they see what is there all along and find the love and happiness they deserve?

I do highly recommend this one Stella Quinn is a fabulous story teller, this one is so very emotional, there are so many feelings running throughout, it is a must read and I can’t wait for her next book.

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

This story has been a joy to read. Stella Quinn has the same easy style as Alissa Callen and A Home Among the Snow Gums had me feeling at home right away. I loved the characters and I loved that campdrafting, a uniquely Australian country sport, was central to the story. It really helped to put me right in the scene, but there was plenty else to love about this book. It follows on from The Vet From Snowy River, which I alsi loved, and if you’ve read that book, you’ll know at least some of the characters in this one, but if you haven’t, don’t worry as tou’ll feel right at home in this story anyway.

Right from the first page I felt really at home among the snow gums in this story. Stella Quinn has not only depicted a great setting in this book, but also a real community of people. Not just the main characters Hannah and Tom, but the rest of the town too.

It's not all happy families either. There's some big topics discussed in this book, including cyberbullying, mental health, serious physical health issues and plenty of URST. (You'll have to read it!!)

I laughed, I cried, and I turned the page with a very satisfied sigh.

There's something about Australian rural romance that I really enjoy. Maybe that it's a touch of nostalgia for me, now a city dweller who grew up in rural towns just like the ones in these stories. A special delight in this book was the mention of two towns I have lived in, a surprise given one is in Victoria, another in Queensland. Even more of a delight was the mention of a campdraft I had actually been to.

This is another warm romance from Stella Quinn. Although it has a touch less of the humor that I so enjoyed in her earlier novels, there’s still sufficient to help generate a feel good aura for this story.

“A Home Among The Snowgums” is set in Hanrahan, the small Australian town that was also the setting for Quinn’s novel “The Vet from Snowy River”. As a result, multiple characters reappear. For continuing readers this will add some extra depth and enjoyment, as in some cases this lets us see more of their stories. However, for new readers you get all the information you need for this story.

In particular, Hannah is the vet for Hanrahan – partners in the practice with her brother Josh (who was a main character in “The Vet from Snowy River”). This means we see a fair bit of Josh, so his story is extended. However, the focus here is Hannah. After a supposed prank in university went horribly wrong, she’s retreated to Hanrahan, and over the years has become more and more reluctant to leave the town. However, she’s now realising that this has limited her life far more than she’d like. She’s very lonely.

So Hannah makes new year’s resolutions designed to change her life. One is to learn the sport of campdrafting. Getting good at that will require her to compete in different towns, which will involve travelling and new people. Another is to find a way of generating a personal life for herself.

Tom is Josh’s best friend, so Hannah’s known him as long as she can remember. For years she was the annoying younger sister that Tom and Josh were constantly teasing, tormenting, and ditching. Not, mind you, that Hannah didn’t give some of that back. But now he’s looking at her in a whole new way. Hannah’s looking back, but for some reason Tom is holding back.

I find that Quinn’s novels really stand out for me in the rural romance genre. They’re exceptionally warm, with a vein of humor that’s unusual, and feel very grounded. It’s not always easy to find a credible reason to keep two people apart, but the problems Quinn hands her characters are topical and believable. They often tap into issues that are very current.

The humor is the aspect that I really enjoy. It’s everyday sort of humor, found for example in the interactions between the vets and some of their patients – or more precisely, their owners. It’s warm and real and rarely if ever holding someone up to ridicule.

The relationships between people feel real. Not just the romantic relationships, but the friendships and more casual acquaintanceships that you find in small towns. Quinn has a good ear for dialogue, and people speak to each other in ways that feel real.

Although this is primarily a romance, readers looking for something closer to a general novel will also likely enjoy this. While the developing relationship between Hannah and Tom is a big focus, the novel is also concerned with them individually sorting out their personal issues, and brings in a pretty broad cast of characters to deal with a range of other things. I enjoyed that there’s more to this than just a romance – it’s a novel with quite a lot of depth.

It should be obvious by now that I thoroughly enjoyed this. It’s not a tough read, but I felt there was a lot to it. For me, it was just the right mix of romance, humor, and a broader story. It is warm and engaging with interesting, vivid characters.

Review links to follow - scheduled to publish Week beginning 15 May.

Tom and Hannah knew each other back in their school days but had gone their separate ways. Tom to the Navy as an officer in training, and Hannah to study medicine at university. Hannah was the victim of cyber bullying that was so intense is scarred her emotionally and had her leave her medicine studies and change course to veterinary science to become a vet. She feels much safer working with animals than humans. She now runs a veterinary practice in the Snowy Mountains with her brother. After ten years she is still suffering from the after effects of her trauma and doesn’t socialise much outside her family and close friends. They want her to start spreading her wings and stop isolating herself. They suggest she take up campdrafting as a sport.

Meanwhile Tom has left the navy returned due to his fathers failing health. What he isn’t telling anyone is that he has been discharged from the Navy due to an injury in the line of action - he has a piece of shrapnel lodged near his spinal cord and if it moves he could be totally paralysed. He is considering very risky surgery to remove it, but that could also result in paralysis. In the meantime he is very limits in what he can do physically. His father is a campdrafting champion but can no longer ride, everyone expects Tom to take over and don’t understand his reluctance for the hard physical work.

Tom and Hannah reunite as she starts to learn campdrafting and while they are both attracted to each other but she is too scared to trust someone outside her social circle and he doesn’t want to tie any woman down to a potentially fully paralysed husband.

I really enjoyed their love story and watch them overcome their issues. Their lack of communication hindered their relationship progress but I enjoyed how the author worked around the problems. Our two MCs were supported by some great friends and quirky locals who had Tom and Hannah’s best interests at heart - even if their antics weren’t appreciated at the time.

I had never heard of campdrafting before reading this book. It is where a horse and it’s rider cuts out one beast from a herd in the fastest time, you have to be skilled to be a winner!

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

Hannah, a 32 year old Veterinarian in her hometown of Hanrahan in the Snowy Mountains, knows she needs a change. As a University student, her life was irrevocably altered after a 'prank' that led to severe depression. She now has agoraphobia, and the thought of leaving her safety zone terrifies her. But it's NYE and her resolution this year means she will need to learn to travel; she wants to have a baby.

Tom is back in Hanrahan after enlisting in the Navy at 18. If it was his choice he'd still be there, but he was served a medical discharge after shrapnel was lodged against his spine on a secret mission. Unable to do any physical labour, but refusing to share the truth of his injury with the town, he's stuck in feelings of inadequacy and grieving the life he planned.

Together, will they work through their biggest fears and forge towards a new life? Or will the weight of their pasts hold them back?

Thank you to @stella.quinn.author @harlequinaus & @netgalley for providing me with this ARC. All opinions shared are my own. Look out for publication on the 3rd May 2023 🥳

I enjoy reading Australian outback romances but honestly feel that this was much more a story about the growth of Hannah and Tom as individuals, than a romantic read. Hannah and Tom have both experienced extremely traumatic events that have shaped them and the Author did a really good job at laying out the reasoning behind their actions.

Where I struggled was with Hannah. I empathise with her experiences, but I felt the push to class her as all science, no emotional intelligence was too much. I wasn't surprised Tom reacted the way that he did. Ultimately, I did still enjoy the book and would recommend it if you're interested in reading about mental health and big life changes.

Another sweet country romance by Stella Quinn. This story is about Hannah and Tom. Hannah has been hiding away from the world by keeping busy running the vet clinic with her brother and staying in their home town. She had a traumatic event when away at Uni and hasn't managed to completely move past it. But a new years resolution sees her needing to change those behaviours and she ropes Tom, her brothers lifelong best friend, in to help her.
Tom has returned from the Navy with secrets and trauma of his own and is stuck in limbo awaiting medical results. He also harbour's a lifelong crush for Hannah and is having trouble keeping things platonic once she ropes him into her plans.

A thoroughly enjoyably story that was easy to lose myself in. I'd love to hear Katie's story next!!

4.5★s

Hannah Cody had been by her brother Josh's side in the vet clinic they called "Cody & Cody" in Hanrahan for around ten years now, and Hannah had no desire to leave the township. A shocking prank which changed the course of Hannah's life had seen her bury herself in Hanrahan, fearing to venture away, and fearing company and people she didn't know. But was that all about to change?

Tom Krauss had retired from the Navy after being away from Ironbark Station and his brooding, angry father, for twenty years. Now his father's health was deteriorating and Tom had a serious injury which he was telling no one. He didn't want sympathy or pity, he didn't want to be a burden. So his feelings for Hannah Cody were something he wouldn't consider. But Hannah had different thoughts, as her feelings for Tom grew. But the hurt she felt at being pushed away had her deciding Tom just wasn't worth it. What would be the outcome for these two stubborn people?

A Home Among the Snow Gums is a follow on from Aussie author Stella Quinn's debut - The Vet from Snowy River - and I really enjoyed it. Set in the shadow of NSW's Snowy Mountains, among the gum trees and bush, with the animals - horses, dogs, pigs, etc - as a prominent feature, the winter storms and snow making me shiver, I once again felt I was there in the fictional town of Hanrahan. The locals had each other's backs (as well as knowing everything that was happening) and I'm looking forward to Ms Quinn's next title. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

Hannah Cody grew up sunny, carefree and loved in the Snowy Mountains town of Hanrahan, but a vicious prank at university in Sydney changed that. Instead of studying medicine, she moved to a small regional centre, switched to veterinary science and swore off romance for life. Ten quiet years later, she's settled. She's safe. And yeah, she hasn't left Hanrahan in years, but that's not agoraphobia, is it? It's not hiding if you're happy.

After many years abroad as a naval analyst, Tom Krauss is drawn home by his estranged father's deteriorating health and his own secret injury. But as soon as he sets eyes on Hannah again, he realises that he's never forgotten the engaging little sister of his best friend. He loved her when he was a teenager, and now he knows he never stopped. Problem: romance is a no-go. There's a piece of shrapnel wedged against his spine, and the countdown is on for him to make a surgical decision that could free him from pain ... or paralyse him.

But the Hanrahan townsfolk have other ideas: it's time for Hannah to work out that living with your heart wide open is worth the risk, and it's time for Tom to learn that love is messy and wonderful and necessary. Change is afoot in this small town, and these two will have to work out if they can be brave enough to make changes too.

Set in a small town, it was nice to see some Australian elements woven in, although not an accurate depiction of small-town life in Australia, it was obvious that the author had done some research, which was nice.

The pacing of this book was slower than I am used to, but it seems to be a common thing for women’s fiction books that have romantic elements, so perhaps that is a personal preference.

I finished this easy, light read in single sitting.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in return for my honest review.

Rural Romance fiction is a smaller part of my library but I do have a few favourite authors in the genre. I had never read any of Ms Quinn’s work before so was not sure what to expect. It did not take long once entering the story, to really enjoy the journey. The two main characters certainly are likeable—even with their flaws. Also, the author’s descriptions are both direct and subtle and quite appealing with many clever analogies. But what impressed me the most was how she addressed some heavy topics such as cyberbullying and its long term effects on everyday life and relationships.

Hannah Cody is the victim of a cruel prank experienced in her college years. It has deeply scarred this woman and smashed her confidence. She leaves her medical studies in Sydney and moves to a small regional area and switches to veterinary science to become a vet. She feels safer working with animals. And she is good with them as well. Over the next ten years she remains in Hanrahan, never leaving it. Her shrunk down protected life, though, gets challenged when Tom Krauss, a naval analyst, arrives back home to care for his ill father. He is a long-time friend of her brother and she grew up around him and his harmless antics. His childhood nickname for her ‘brat’ seems to have carried over to her adult years. Once meeting up with Tom, Hannah begins to feel something unexpected. And her steadfast motto to ‘not do feelings’ or ‘romance’ turns on its head. Soon she is faced with changing her thinking.

But Tom has his own issues. His return home is two-fold. Not only has he come back to care for his very ill father but he is dealing with a dangerous injury. Yet he keeps this secret to himself and it dictates all his actions. It even challenges his true feelings for Hannah. This emotional battle causes havoc in his life but he must appear uncaring to discourage Hannah’s interest in him. He wants her to obtain everything she desires from a relationship. And he knows he cannot provide those things. Time is ticking for him and he must make some difficult decisions. One being whether to have a surgery that could free or destroy him.

The author addresses health and injury issues exceptionally well, through Tom and his father but also bullying and agoraphobia through Hannah. These characters face realistic challenges and I believe MS Quinn provides a solid delivery.

One of the lessons in this story is the importance of honesty in a relationship. The initial lack of it created as much pain for Hannah as the cyber-attack. Of course, this obstacle gets stumbled over constantly. Until resolved, neither of them (Hannah or Tom) can move forward. A crisis must happen and it does before the struggle can end.

The two main characters who provide their viewpoints are two damaged humans, in different ways. Hannah is afraid to make a move relationship-wise for it could cause a major emotional meltdown. Tom is afraid to make a choice concerning surgery. There is fear that the worst could happen. In the end, the risk is high for both. But there is one healing force or saving grace for each of them: love. Love that does not judge. Love that is patient, kind and supportive through thick and thin.

I must add I found Hannah and her Skyjack horse relationship beautiful. Having had one of these gorgeous animals myself in the past, I know how special the connection between horse and rider can be. I also enjoyed learning more about campdrafting: a unique Australia sport where horse and rider must ‘cut out’ one beast from the cattle in the yard or camp. A competition that certainly takes some skill and teamwork!

The Snowy Mountain region setting is perfect for this story and I know a number of the spots mentioned. There are lots of good features in A Home Among The Snow Gums. It is an enjoyable read that held my interest to the last page. The ending is a positive one and that in itself is rewarding. After watching Hannah and Tom deal with their traumas and finally achieve what they both desire—left me feeling uplifted. I certainly recommend it. 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to HQ Australia and Netgalley for my review copy.

Hannah Cody and her brother Josh run a veterinary practice in their home town of Hanrahan together, in the Snowy Mountains and she refuses to travel far. Hannah was a victim of cyberbullying while she was studying medicine in Sydney and she had to change courses, Hannah finds it hard to trust people and she’s not interested in dating. Hannah has her close circle of friends in Hanrahan, a mixture of people and personalities, and they want Hannah to spread her wings. All of them mean well, including her bestie Kylie, Vera her soon to be sister-in-law, Kevin and Marigold and Graeme the manager of local café.

Tom Krauss has been an officer in the Royal Australian Navy for seventeen years, he returns home to Hanrahan due to his father's declining health, Tom's been discharged from the Navy as he’s no longer medically fit and he's keeping it a secret. Tom always had a soft spot for Hannah, he had feelings for her as a teenager and it didn’t seem right dating his best friends little sister. Tom has a piece of shrapnel lodged near his spinal cord, he has to be very careful what he does physically and he’s considering having surgery and it’s exceptionally risky. Bruno Krauss owns Ironbark Station, he breeds stock horses, he's won prizes in campdraft tournaments and golden belt buckles. Bruno can no longer ride, everyone thinks Tom should take over from his father, they don't know he can’t ride, or lift anything heavy and he's in pain.

When Kevin suggests Hannah start competing in campdraft tournaments, she begins practicing to stop everyone nagging her and Hannah's horse Skippy is happy to get out of the stable. Hannah has a decided to try and get over her fear of leaving Hanrahan, she realises her biological clock is ticking, she wants to have a baby and the only man that makes her heart flutter is Tom, and Hannah and Tom end up very confused by each other’s odd behavior.

I received a copy of A home Among the Snow Gums by Stella Quinn from NetGalley and Harlequin Australia in exchange for an honest review. A page turning Australian rural fiction story, it’s full of funny local characters, their antics and conversations made me laugh. I had never heard of campdrafting before, to win a rider works a cow out of a heard, while skilfully controlling their horse and in the fastest time. Cyberbullying is a serious problem, I’m glad Ms. Quinn explores this topic in her book and emphasizes the damage it does to the victims self-esteem, the humiliation and embarrassment is causes and physiological issues. I love reading books set in the picturesque Snowy Mountains, the road to romance isn’t an easy one for Hannah and Tom, both have to overcome a series of major obstacles. Five stars from me and I'm keen to read Ms. Quinn's previous novel, The Vet From Snowy River.