The One That Got Away is a delightful rural romance by one of my absolute favourite authors of this genre, Karly Lane, she can do no wrong in my eyes, with her books being my most anticipated reads of the year.

This novel had a slightly different vibes than her previous novels, there was a more somber tone to the story, but there was still the humour I’ve come to love from her books poking through.

The main character Alex Kelly has her future nearly sorted, a dream job in London but there’s just one last thing to sort out and that’s the family home that her father left her.

Returning to the little seaside town stirs up a world of emotions for Alex, after trying to forget, events of the past rear their ugly head and Alex has to face them head on if she wants to move forward.

Throw in the fact her ex boyfriend, her childhood sweet heart, is still living in their home town, it makes for the perfect story with the classic trope of the one that got away.

I have no hesitation in recommending this one. I just know you are going to love it!

For Once In My Life is the twenty-second stand-alone novel by Australian author, Karly Lane. At fifty, as resident nurse practitioner at the multi-purpose hospital, mother of three adult children and grandmother of one very sweet two-year-old, Jenny Hayward is quite satisfied with her life in the small NSW rural town of Barkley. She knows everyone, and everyone knows her.

But, at two years divorced from unfaithful Austin (and well rid of him!), her best friend Beth and her daughters tell her “We’ve waited patiently for you to take the first step back out into life again, and you haven’t done it. We can’t sit by any longer and watch you wither away”. They have decided she’s too young to be an old, lonely woman, and have taken action.

They’ve set her up on a dating app, and the attention garnered isn’t a surprise to them: Jenny is attractive and the interests they have listed on her profile appeal to many. She finds herself very reluctantly going on three blind dates.

After nineteen years in the army, thirty-eight-year-old Nick Mason is finally doing something he has wanted for a long time. He’s taken over The Coach House, renovated it with sensitivity for its origins, and turned it into a gastro-pub. His deal with a local beef farmer means paddock-to-plate control and, coupled with a world class (if temperamental) chef, the meals are a big draw card. The only fly in the ointment is that he could only buy the business with his career-driven, corporate, imperious older sister, Susie as his (not-so-silent) partner.

He watches as the lovely divorcee endures her three terrible blind dates and wonders why such a desirable woman is bothering with these no-hopers. He can’t help flirting and, when The Coach House hosts a Hayward family party, leaves Jenny’s ex in doubt that she is attractive to younger men. But Jenny takes a lot of convincing that his intentions are genuine, and that the age difference isn’t an issue.

Jenny succumbs to his attentions but, wary of criticism, is hesitant to make their relationship public. Her daughters, though, welcome it, and Nick “If he’s brave enough to enter the temple of oestrogen and put up with all of us, then I say he’s already proving he’s a keeper”. The course of true love doesn’t run smooth, though, and they need to overcome a few challenges before they can relax.

This is a delightful rural romance that touches on some topical issues before the happy-ever-after ending. Lane’s plot is entirely believable, her characters are appealing, and her nursing references are spot on. Very enjoyable.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Allen & Unwin.

A country book that has a big heart is how I describe this book. It melted my heart and it was refreshing watching a older lady dating.

I’m constantly searching for a great romance read featuring mature characters. This one was not perfect, but it was far from awful.

The book started with much promise. I sped through the first half, where Jenny, a divorcee who now works as a nurse, is set up on an internet dating site by her three [adult] daughters. The dates and the way her girls manipulate her dating profile are quite amusing. Also amused is Nick, the new barman at the local pub, who starts to share some banter with Jenny whilst she is reluctantly out to dinner with these men.

I think Lane lost me a little by jumping around and going off track with her plotline. The initial dating experience, coupled with the painful ex-husband and interfering daughters could have been enough to see the book through. However, Lane added in a You Got Mail type subplot which has Jenny messaging another man on the dating site, and a family secret of Nick’s sister which was straight out of an 80s Mills and Boon. Neither of these worked for me.

Lane also focused on Jenny’s reservations about her and Nick’s age gap. Jenny is 50 and Nick only 38. As a woman over 50, I can’t imagine going out with anyone that young. Instead of focusing on the issues a woman that age would face with a younger man, Lane just glossed over them with cliched adages such as ‘age is just a number’. Disappointingly, Lane kept the entire thing ‘closed door’ and never included any problems I would imagine with this age difference in the bedroom. Apparently they had fabulous sex constantly as Jenny is still fit as a fiddle and is not having any menopausal symptoms at all… Okay, then.

For most of the time, though, I enjoyed this book and will definitely be reading more by Lane.

3 ½ out of 5

I absolutely loved this story: Karly Lane never fails to disappoint!
Jenny is a 50 year old single mum of three adult daughters. At this point in her life, she is comfortable with where and who she is and enjoys relaxing at home after a long day. However, her daughters and best friend feel she needs male companionship so sign her up to an online dating app without her knowledge and arrange a string of disastrous dates for her. The only reliable male seems to be the bartender at the rebranded pub she goes to. Little does she know, Nick will become one of the most important people in her life. But will their relationship be able to survive the secrets of Nick's childhood?
Very easy to read, a great story.

For an emotionally engaging and relateable story, you can’t go past For Once In My Life. Karley Lane has created a wonderfuland admirable heroine in Jenny Hayward, a divorced 50 year-old with three adult daughters living at home, She’s content with her life and not at all impressed when they and her best friend Beth set her up on a dating app. The three dates they arrange for her are disasters in every possible way, but enter handsome publican Nick Mason. who’s twelve years younger than her—something that worries her—but otherwise her perfect match. I confess to drooling a little over Nick. He’s caring and compassionate, while thoroughly enjoying lightly poking fun at Jenny over her dreadful dates. Set in country NSW, this book had it all for me. The townspeople were just curious enough about Jenny’s love life, yet cared about her welfare. I loved that Jenny was an older heroine. I want to see more of them in the books that I read. She’s got life exoerience under her belt and it shows in the way her character has been developed. I loved this book and will definitely be putting it on my keeper shelf.

For Once In My Life by Aussie author Karly Lane is another wonderfully written rural romance that I thoroughly enjoyed from beginning to end. I know when I pick up a book by this author that it’s going to be not only enjoyable, but the story will allow me to escape into another world and forget about everything else around me and that is exactly what this book did.

Another delightful read by one of my favourite authors who never disappoints her readers. Highly recommended.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my digital copy to read review.

3 1/2 stars
Karly Lane is one of my favourite authors but I seriously dithered about what rating to give this book. Jenny has hit 50 yrs, her adult daughters including a grandchild have moved back home and they and her best friend decide after 2 yrs in no man’s land of singledom, it’s time for Jenny to date. But unfortunately out in a country town, there is not much of a pool of men, let alone a pond.
Each date takes place in the newly renovated pub and she catches the eye and attention of the new bartender Nick. What business is it of his who she dates?
Ok, so I loved Jenny and Nick, especially the early interactions but I think I was initially offended by Jenny’s daughters and friend assuming that she must get out and have a life and they ‘forgot’ to delete the dating app on her request.
Anyway, maybe it’s my head space atm as I usually power through Karly Lane’s books but I put down and picked up this book so often that it became a disjointed read.
So the the uptake is maybe it’s me, not the book!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to read.

Jenny Hayward is a divorced mother of three adult daughters, a nanna and she cannot believe she's fifty years old and the time has flown. It only seems like yesterday she was packing school lunches, yelling at her kids to do their homework and thinking about returning to the workforce. Jenny's best friend Beth encouraged her and looked after the girls, so Jenny could study nursing, follow her dreams and her ex-husband certainly didn't. She works at the small community hospital in Barkley, where she has a multipurpose role and she loves her job.

Her husband of twenty seven years left her two years ago for a younger woman, Jenny’s transformed the master bedroom into her own space and she’s quite happy being single. Jenny has no idea her daughters and Beth have secretly created a profile on a dating app for her and she's thrust unexpectedly into the world of online dating and she’s not happy about it. Jenny dates are not what she’s expecting, she discovers men lie on their profiles, she gets tired of getting hit on by the sleazy ones and she's disillusioned by the whole experience.

The barman at the newly renovated Coach House hotel witnesses her disastrous dates and humiliation, it quickly gets around Barkley Jenny’s finally dating and she feels embarrassed. The only man she’s attracted to is Nick behind the bar, Jenny’s sure she’s more than a decade older than him and she doesn’t want to be seen as a cougar.

Like many women in their fifties, Jenny doesn’t think she’s attractive, she’s had three babies and she lacks confidence. Her daughters and Beth notice that Nick is certainly keen, why it is OK for men to date much younger women, if it’s the other way around the woman is judged and Jenny needs to throw caution to the wind and live a little.

I received a digital copy of For Once in My Life by Karly Lane from NetGalley and Allen & Unwin in exchange for an honest review. This is the first book I have read by Ms. Lane, it certainly won’t be my last and the author is known for writing small town Australian country fiction and she does it superbly.

The narrative covers important topics such as having to deal with your ex, grown up children who still live at home and being a working mother, it doesn’t matter how old your children are you still worry about them and it’s hard to keep a secret in a small town and let alone two!

How many single older women no longer feel attractive and they find dating daunting, the negative thoughts and feelings that are caused by what a women sees in the mirror and they worry about their bodies no longer being perfect, I blame society for this and five stars from me.

Two years after Adrian had left her for a younger model, fifty year old Jenny was happy doing what she loved best - working as a nurse in the local hospital, and being surrounded by her adult kids and granddaughter. But it was when her best friend Beth, and Jenny's three children, decided to set Jenny up on a dating site that things came crashing down. The first one they picked for her was a complete disaster, and the other two followed suit. She wasn't looking for a man; she was happy without. The only person who'd taken her eye over the past three disastrous days was the barman at the pub. And Nick was much younger than she was.

Nick decided to end the speculation from the gossipy townsfolk and asked Jenny out himself. But Jenny was fixated on the age gap. She couldn't see a way past it. Could Nick make her see reason? Could Beth and her daughters?

For Once In My Life is another very enjoyable rural romance by Aussie author Karly Lane that I read easily, keen to see where Jenny's life was going. Ms Lane always writes extremely readable books, and I've yet to read one I didn't enjoy. Highly recommended.

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

For Once In My Life by Karla Lane is a delightful and enjoyable read.

Jenny Hayward finds herself turning fifty with adult children back home, a grandmother and an ex-husband who walked out on her for a much younger woman. Her children and her best friend decide she needs to move forward with her life so set her up on a dating app for her to meet eligible men. While she isn’t impressed with this, she does go on several dates. While going to the local hotel for these dates, the barman, Nick, takes note of her and her sequence of dates. Nick is over ten years younger than Jenny but he takes an interest in her.

A very entertaining and mostly lighthearted story with some interesting issues such as dating online or via apps, adult children returning home and while for men it has always been okay for an older man to be with a much younger woman - what about if this situation is reversed?

As I said, a very enjoyable read.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from Allen & Unwin Publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#ForOnceInMyLife #NetGalley

Every time I pick up a Karly Lane book I know I am going feel the story, make friends with the characters and be swept away in a wonderful story, I loved what MS Lane has written just before chapter one it is the best.

Jenny Hayward is fifty, divorced, a mother of three daughters and grandmother to one, she loves her job as a nurse and now that it is two yours since her husband left for a younger woman she feels she has her life on track, her home the way she wants it, but apparently her children and her best friend think that it is time she had more fun and by this they mean set her up on a dating app and low and behold Jenny finds herself on three dates in three days, how on earth did they ever think that she was suited to any of these men.

The dates might have been a disaster but the venue, the pub in town that has been renovated has a very good looking barman who Jenny gets talking to over the three days and Nick is one good looking guy and easy to talk to but a bit young for her, although as time goes by Nick doesn’t see any problem with the age difference, will Nick be the one to win her heart or will Jenny stumble at the age difference.

I loved this story so much, it is witty and fun but also moving and such a wonderful romance as we see Jenny and Nick navigate a rocky path to find love, a few obstacles are thrown in the way with small town gossip and the arrival of Nick’s sister. There are so many fabulous characters in this one Jenny’s daughters who play a big part in the story and Beth a fabulous best friend. Truly I laughed and smiled throughout this story as I cheered them on.

I do highly recommend this one, it was very hard to put down.

My thanks to Allen & Unwin and Netgalley for my digital copy to read and review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for the opportunity to read this book.

Karly Lane is an engaging storyteller who has a knack for roping you into the story quickly and endearing the characters to you early on.
Jenny and Nick are both pretty down to earth people who are drawn together and have some hurdles to overcome if they want a relationship.
The dramas within the story are fairly predictable but not in a boring way. I really enjoyed the whole book, and it was quick and easy to finish.