A fun contemporary fiction story about a woman trying to rebuild her life and find what she's looking for. Not really a romance (the main romantic love interest - while introduced and part of the story - is not really the romantic lead for the majority of the book, though there is a HFN), but still an interesting story that explores what it means to be an independent and successful First Nations woman in Australia.

Red Dust Running by Anita Heiss

Recently, I've been adding some chick lit to my crime, mystery and thrillers intake. So when I saw a new romance by Anita Heiss come up for review on NetGalley, I immediately requested it. Red Dust Running is a lot lighter than the previous book I read by Anita Heiss, which was Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray (River of Dreams), which I liked a lot. I've also got Dirrayawadha (Rise Up) on my TBR pile.

Red Dust Running is the classic romance trope of girl overlooks solid, dependable (but still hot) boy next door for a sexy, bad-boy rodeo rider until girls gang of tiddas work their magic.

I love that most (all?) of the central characters are Aboriginal, and the way that First Nations language and culture is dropped into the narrative, alongside the characters and their experiences. As someone who didn't grow up in Australia, I'm aware that I have many gaps in my knowledge in this aspect. I loved the banter, respect and friendship of the tiddas.

If you like fun, feel-good chick lit or rom-coms that are fun and easy to read, you'll like this one. Thanks to Net Galley and Simon and Schuster Australia for giving me a copy of Red Dust Running for review.

Thumbs up 👍

Go read a book!

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This was an easy light read although I was a bit put off by some of the political elements. I enjoyed other books by this author more.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I was a kid, I used to read romances all the time! But then personal experiences happened and I stopped reading romances completely. Lately I’ve been only reading romance as a sub-genre and have been enjoyed getting into it. So technically, this book was my first proper one! And I really liked it! The author has really combined certain issues of Australia with the modern cultural aspects creating this really cute outback cowboy-inspired romance.
Annabelle like all of us ran back to the comfort of her home town after she ran into some serious trouble in her artistic career. Then to celebrate her besties birthday she goes to a rodeo and meets this handsome cowboy. Alternatively she also has a hot neighbour who just would be her perfect partner. What happens next?
This was a really cosy romance with fun characters.
My only criticism would be, I would have loved for the last romance (iykyk) to have developed a little bit more as that would have just sealed the deal! Would recommend!
Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Au for providing me with an ARC copy of this cute book!

I’ve read some of Anita’s books before and have thoroughly enjoyed them and this was no different. Focusing on the character of Annabelle who has moved back to Brisbane and is living near her friends again this story follows her building up a neighbourly relationship with Michael who I loved as a character. Then there’s brothers Dusty and Daniel, who are polar opposites except in their looks. I didn’t mind those two characters, but the whole way through I kept waiting for Annabelle to open her eyes and realise what is in front of her, or more accurately who is in front of her.

This is the first romance I’ve read from Anita Heiss and won’t be the last! I loved the characters and the insights into Indigenous culture. A quick, fun read that I’ll definitely be recommending.

This is the story of Annabelle, who moves to Magandjin (Brisbane) to curate a new First Nations gallery.

Written in first person single POV, it is very much focussed on Annabelle’s relationships with her friend group as well as rodeo rider, Dusty, and neighbour, Michael.

I would not call this a romance. I would also have appreciated more descriptive text. The locations and landscape are so gorgeous and could have really added to the story.

I really enjoyed that this book totally centered on the First Nations characters and their life experiences.