A touching story of how people move forward from tragedy.

Samantha suffered a huge loss when a teenager and she left her town. She married, started a business in London. However, what she thought of her future life needs reassessing.

Connor also had tragedy occur that same night as Samantha. But he has also had to deal with health issues too.

Sammie and Connor meet again for their best friends wedding. Between their chemistry the earth moves for them. But they both need to find themselves first. But love has its own way of happiness.

A beautiful story that makes people realise what they could and can have.

Thanks to #netgalley for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.

After a tragedy Samantha has moved on from the country life and into the city. When her best friend Shea asks Samantha to be her maid of honour, Samantha says yes of course but that means returning to the place where what happened continues to haunt her. Connor is still there and the quiet country life suits him. Will they be able to overcome there pasts? Mandy Magro has done it again and written a brilliant page turner! I couldn't get enough of this story of facing your fears and letting go of what can't be changed. I loved all the characters and the settings. The romance is so outback and I loved every minute. I would love a book with Shea and Jack's story next.

Another fabulous rural romance from Mandy Magro, she has a wonderful knack of writing characters and scenarios that are so believable that I can’t help when reading her stories becoming quite emotionally invested.

I couldn’t help but be rocked when I read what happened in the main character’s past, and finding out the turn of events that led up to it. Man I don’t know if I could have survived that personally and it had me looking back at my late teenage years and all the things that could have gone wrong in a sliding doors moment.

Like all rural romances it’s safe to say you sort of know how things are going to end up, but it’s always the journey to the end that makes or breaks the story, and for me this was a great journey.

I really loved this book after a bit of a reading slump. Sammie left Gum Tree Kelly after a nasty accident killed her boyfriend and parents, leaving her the sole survivor. Much to the dismay of her best friend and Connor, who always had feelings for her, she went to London where she met married (and now divorced) a guy who was never good enough for her. When her best friend asks her to be her Maid of Honour, Sammie has little choice but to face the ghosts of her past and return to Gum Tree Gully. Luckily Connor never left and is keen to see her again. Will Sammie be able to find comfort in her home town or will the ghosts chase her away again?

Loved this book , love this author , can't wait to read more of her books. recommend to everyone. Looking forward to her next book.

I do love a good rural romance and this one is so good, Mandy Magro does them so well and this one packed with so many emotions, filled with heartbreak, it is also very heartwarming, when Sammie ran away to England eleven years ago to start a new life, she never thought that she would return home after all these years and find that friendships are still strong, but how will her life turn out now after everything that has happened?

Samantha Evans is a totally different person than the one who fled tragedy and heartbreak when saying goodbye to the people she loved, she is now a business woman and just about divorced after more heartbreak, but when her bestie Shea wants her to return to Gum Tree Valley and be her maid of honour she cannot refuse.

It is not long before she is falling into her old self but meeting up with Connor Gunn sets her heart pounding, he is even more handsome than when she left and there is a spark but there is also a lot of water under the bridge between them, could there be a future for them?

Connor has never forgotten the love of his life Sammie, a lot was left untold when she ran all those years ago and there are some things that Sammie needs to know about the past and things that may affect the future, but he wants her so badly will they be able to overcome the past for the future?

This is a beautifully told story, it is very emotional and there is a lot to work out between Sammie and Connor before they get to their HEA, I loved the setting there is nothing like being on a rural property and besides Sammie and Connor the other characters in this story add so much. I do highly recommend this one, there were sad and happy tears from me 

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

Set in far north Queensland, Gum Tree Gully exudes that sense of the tropics for which author Mandy Magro is so well known. As you read you can almost feel the sweat dripping down your back and smell the sweet scent of mangoes in the air.
Samantha Evans, a London risk analyst, left Gum Tree Gully eleven years earlier after the car her drunken boyfriend Angus was driving crashed head-on into her father’s car, killing both her parents and Angus, while injuring Samantha. She’s back in town for her best friend’s wedding and is fighting the ghosts of the past as well as her inconvenient attraction for Angus’s twin brother Connor.
Connor Gunn hs always secretly loved Samantha though his brother asked her out first. He’s hoping that seeing her again will give him the chance to show that he’s her perfect match despite a secret he’s held since the night of the crash.
These two are both damaged characters in different ways and each has built fences to protect their secrets. Despite this, they’re strong and very likeable characters and I couldn’t help cheering them on, though I did get a little exasperated with Samantha’s determination to return to London given the disaster of her life over there.
This story is packed with emotion ranging from guilt and loss to heartache, friendship and love. While it’s very much written for the Australian market and is packed with lingo and brands that may not be familiar to foreign readers, it is nonetheless an entertaining and engaging read.

EXCERPT: Once upon a time, in another time, another place, Samantha Evans had believed in happily-ever-afters. Untroubled by what might lie ahead of her, she'd roamed and ridden the endless stretches of sun-baked land beneath a wide Aussie outback sky, her soul as wild as her chaotic hair, and her spirit as free as the wind. But in the blink of an eye, her entire world had been flipped on its head.

ABOUT 'GUM TREE GULLY': Would you give up everything for love? Samantha Evans may have been born and bred in the country, but over the years she has adapted to, and loves, her big-city life in London. She's reached heights of success in her business that she'd never dreamed of achieving back in Australia. When her best friend's wedding forces her to return to her beautiful Queensland hometown of Gum Tree Gully, fate reminds Sammie about everything, and everyone, she left behind, including her childhood sweetheart, Connor Stone. Now a handsome and kind cattle farmer, he harbours a tragic secret he can't share with anyone. That is, until Sammie comes back to town. Samantha soon learns her country blood runs much deeper than she allowed herself to believe, so too do the intense feelings she's carried for Connor all these years. But her life is overseas now, while his is in Gum Tree Gully. Living on opposite sides of the world, with oceans and long-held secrets standing between them, is there any hope for their love to prevail?

MY THOUGHTS: This is my first read of Mandy Magro, and WOW! I loved the setting, rural North Queensland, and the characters. Sammie, Shea, Jack and Connor were childhood friends until a tragedy sent Sammie running for the hills (or in this case, London). Now Shea and Jack have their lovely little daughter Amaya - she is the one who made me tear up! - and are getting married. Sammie reluctantly returns for her bestie's wedding and is forced to face her fears and lay to rest her ghosts.

The story is told from the points of view of both Sammie and Connor and makes the most of the magnificent setting. North Queensland cowboys - gotta love them. I have fond memories of Gracemere saleyards, just out of Rockhampton, on sale day. Before they built the indoor yards, I really appreciated the view of the cowboys lined up, leaning on the railings in their tight Levis, R&M Williams boots and Akubras. I regret not taking a photo, because it's another thing gone in the name of progress. Anyway, back to the book . . .

There's a fair bit of drama, a lot of heartache, thwarted love, and crossed wires to keep the story interesting before we arrive at the inevitable HEA.

An enjoyable read.

🌟🌟🌟🌟

#GumTreeGully #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: Mandy Magro lives in Cairns, Far North Queensland, with her daughter, Chloe Rose. With pristine aqua-blue coastline in one direction, and sweeping rural landscapes in the other, she describes her home as heaven on earth. A passionate woman, and a romantic at heart, she loves writing about soul-deep love, the Australian rural way of life, and all the wonderful characters that live there.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Harlequin Australia, HQ & MIRA, via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of Gum Tree Gully by Mandy Magro for review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own personal opinions.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Australia for the chance to read this book.

If you have read Mandy Magro's previous work then this story will feel familiar as she has a certain style that seems to flow through all of her rural romance novels.

Samantha and Connor's tale is full of heartache, drama, buried desires and the predictable happy ending you expect in a romance novel, all set in the beauty of the Australian outback.

It was an enjoyable book to read but at the same time it didn't really grip me because of the predictability. Although at times I do search out books where I know everything will wrap up nicely so the lack of interest at times was most likely on my part rather than the authors.

Samantha Evans returns home to Gum Tree Valley after eleven years, her best friends Shea and Jack are finally getting married and she’s the matron of honour. Samantha has been living in London, her business is doing well and something she would have never achieved living in Queensland.

Returning to Gum Tree Valley is rather bitter sweet, it takes Samantha back to growing up on a farm, riding horses, hanging out with her group of friends, the huge crush she had on Connor, a care free time and until one night it all tragically changed.

Connor runs an Angus cattle farm, he works hard, feeding stock and repairing fences and has the muscles to prove it. Connor is harboring two tragic secrets, and one is about his recent health scare and the others about the last night of high school.

Samantha soon realizes how much she’s missed Australia, Gum Tree Gully, her friends and Connor. With the lead up to the wedding, Samantha and Connor help with the last minute plans, and they attend the hens and bucks nights. Samantha is being pulled in different directions, she knows she needs to return to London, her heart is telling her to stay and she doesn’t know what to do?

I received a digital copy of Gum Tree Gully by Mandy Magro from Harlequin Australia and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The narrative is full of wonderful characters like Samantha, Shea, Connor, Jack, Judith, Oyster and cute little Amaya. It’s about living in North Queensland and working hard, they sure like their food and a cold beer, the Aussie sayings make me laugh out loud and Connor using them, the music playlist was full of familiar songs and you can't have a wedding in Australia without doing the nutbush.

A story about coming home, importance of friendship, facing your fears, being vulnerable and grateful for what you have, reconnecting with a lost love and dealing with the pain of the past. I couldn't swipe the pages of the book on my kindle fast enough, Mandy Magro nails it once again and five stars from me.

Gum Tree Gully by Mandy Margo is an intriguing story with some potentially gripping topics.

There were many topics, however, each were brief in the story and left lacking in some moments.

The characters of Connor and Samantha had some shining moments.

Overall some of the story elements seemed to float in the background - what seemed as heavy topics became mere mentions. The story needed more time to dig deeper in the thematic elements.

I liked what the story was trying to convey and the thematic elements were interesting, however the story fell short in depicting the true depth required in order to portray such heavy story arcs.
Review copy received from Harlequin Australia via Netgalley

I found this to be an easy light read although a little predictable. A good holiday beach read.
I did find the dialogue a bit cringe worthy at times with the Aussie outback slang.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advance copy of this book.