Before the Storm

Another beautiful book from Di Morrissey.

This is the first book Ive physically read by Di, I have brought a bunch from audible and was worried I would not get as sucked in to the story (the narrators do such an amazing job with her books) but surprisingly I did.
I was really invested with Ellie's character and will definitely be rereading/listening to this when it's released in the auido format

Having read all of Di Morrissey’s books, I obviously enjoy her writing. Her latest novel, Before The Storm, did not disappoint me!

I loved the location - a coastal town four hours drive from Melbourne, Victoria in Australia with a fictitious name of Storm Harbour. The small tourist town with fresh seafood, local community issues and dramatic seaside landscapes.

A captivating story about Ellie who leaves her IT job in Melbourne having been undermined by a female colleague and decides to visit her grandfather Patrick in Storm Harbour while she thinks and feels through her options for the future. As Ellie’s grandfather runs The Storm Harbour Chronicle she becomes heavily involved in the newspaper, local events, people and issues.
The town is a safe haven but an undercurrent of tensions and rumours creates drama in the usually sleepy town!

A very enjoyable read!

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher Pan MacMillan Australia for a copy to read and review.

Ellie Conlan lives in Melbourne, she’s a career woman and very good at her job. Suddenly out of the blue her boss decides to give Sophia a fellow work college her job as project manager, Ellie gathers her things from her desk and quits. After she leaves work she releases how stressed she is, to the point of having panic attacks and she decides to visit her grandfather in Storm Harbour a quiet little beach town and have a much needed break from living in the city. Ellie’s grandfather Patrick is thrilled to see her and he’s 80 and still works as the editor of the local newspaper called The Storm Harbour Chronicle. Ellie decides to take an extended holiday, she has no reason to return to Melbourne, do some volunteer work at the newspaper office and they certainly need some up to date IT help.

Storm Harbour is a beautiful little coastal town, everyone loves the amazing botanic gardens and the caravan park is situated close by. Ellie meets some interesting people, a real mixture of personalities and they all have one common wish and that’s for Storm Harbour to stay the same. Ellie is drawn into a new story and someone is trying to develop a large area of land in Storm Harbour and it’s all very secretive. The area in question is owned by the rich O’Neill family, their matriarch Kathryn is in her 90’s, she’s very attached to the gardens, she created them, why would she want them destroyed and it makes no sense?

Before the Storm looks at life in a small town, the people who live in it, they have all moved there for a reason and some have secret pasts. The atmosphere in town soon gets very tense; this makes Ellie feel very uncomfortable, she had a bad experience as a teenager in Storm Harbour, she never told anyone, and years later it still affects her. Ellie finally understands dealing with what happened to her will set her free, she needs to tackle her past front on, it wasn’t her fault; the same applies to finding out who’s behind the development, initiating the very low and nasty behavior and it needs to be stopped!
I enjoyed reading Before the Storm, I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review and I gave it four stars.

Ellie Conlan headed for Storm Harbour along the Victorian coastline from Melbourne, to the safety and sanctuary of her grandfather’s home. Ellie had been betrayed in the job she loved and once she’d left, her thoughts were in turmoil. When Ellie’s grandfather, Patrick, invited Ellie to write a piece for his local paper, The Storm Harbour Chronicle, which he’d owned and run for many years, she was uncertain but excited. Ellie found new friends and a couple of old friends from when she was at school in Storm Harbour, but when rumours hit about a new development in the area, Patrick and Ellie were determined to find the truth about something that would potentially affect the locals badly.

With trolls doing their best to derail Ellie’s work, and the Mayor receiving threatening messages, it was time to still the voices. While Ellie worked her hardest on her feature article, the time was fast approaching when it would be too late. Could Ellie face her demons? And could they halt those who were only in it for the money, before it was too late? On the night of the party, and before the storm hit, they only had three days…

Before the Storm by Aussie author Di Morrissey is an absolute stunner of a novel. I loved it, didn’t want to put it down, and the author’s beautiful descriptions of the country, the seaside, Storm Harbour itself, had me there with Ellie and Sam, the aging Labrador; with Patrick and the team at the Chronicle; with Roly, Ben, Cassie and Steve at the caravan park – an absolutely delightful, engrossing story which left me a little sad to be finished. Highly recommended.

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

I absolutely enjoyed my time in the Victorian beachside town of Storm Harbour as Di Morrissey’s writing had me instantly drawn into the surrounds.

The story centres around Ellie who had spent time in Storm Harbour as a teen during which time she attend the local high school, then years later, following a blindside at work she quits her job and takes some time out, leaving Melbourne to stay with her Grandfather in Storm Harbour. Her grandfather runs the local newspaper, The Storm Harbour Chronicle, and he ropes Ellie in to help out with the paper, she quickly fits in within the small community.

Ellie is drawn into a story about a development which could split the coastal community, it involves the influential O'Neill family, but you get the sense that there is something else to the story, not only regarding the development but also involving Ellie and a member of the O’Neill Family.

I just adored the characters, some you are meant to dislike 😆 but for the most part the community is full of amazing people all with interesting backgrounds as you will discover throughout the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan MacMillan for kindly gifting me a copy to read and review.

‘I bet everyone in this town has a story of one kind or another.’

A Di Morrissey book is always a guaranteed engaging read. On offer this time around is a well rounded tale about a rural community with all the family and friendships in small community living. A key and interesting theme Di gives to this tale is one of the importance of the media, particularly when it comes to shining the light on both freedom of speech and keeping those in power accountable.

‘Enough!’ bellowed Patrick. ‘I run this paper. Council runs the town. Let’s stick to what we do, whether or not we agree on the ways in which we do it. I don’t try to run the council, so don’t you try to tell me how to run my newspaper’

Before the Storm also tells the tale of Ellie who is searching for the life that fits her best - whether it be in the corporate city world or living with her grandfather in the rural community of Storm Bay assisting him with the publication of the local paper. So it is clear that there is much on offer here to entice the reader with a variety of themes and stories - personal development, lifestyle, family secrets, small community living and of course, the importance of the media.

‘... you’re not happy here, in your apartment, in the city. A minute ago you sounded so flat and worried. Now you’ve come alive with energy and passion. Ellie, you don’t want to be here, that’s all it is.’

I did enjoy this book, not so much as Di’s previous tale on ‘The Last Paradise’ but still a solid and engaging read. It goes a little slow in places and some of the characters and dialogue was stereotypical at times. Overall, however, this is another engaging and thoughtful story to lose yourself in for a few hours.

‘I believe one sees a place, no matter how well you think you know it, through the prism of past and present sensibilities, don’t you think?’ ... ‘Memories so often dictate emotions.’






This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.