When Jacarandas Bloom

Who do we have here? We have Stephanie, 25, who was in an abused relationship for 12 months, she decided to set herself free from the torture and the situation, and take the car and not much else and drive far away to another place, hopefully to start another life. On her way to goodness knows where, but just far enough away to feel safe, she decided to have some refreshments from an off the beaton track tearooms, with a broken down sign. She meets the owner, a friendly lady, Lynette. Both get on like a house on fire, this all started in the small village of Maleny, Queensland, where there is mountain air, friendly people, friendly faces (well almost), apart from Andrew that is.
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Andrew has had problems of his own, so Lynette says. Small town, words whirl around. Andrew owns an antique place which is pretty handy as it sells second hand books, all of which are familiar to us readers. So this is quite interesting, why is Andrew acting in not a friendly manner? Where is all this leading to with Stephanie? Is she going to settle down in Maleny? and we are all thinking has Stepanie got rid of the abused boyfriend? A mystery is lurking with Lynette, I feel we are going to learn more about this mystery woman with the decrepit exterior tea rooms.
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I loved Stephanie for her get up and go attitude, it takes some doing to fly caution to the wind and to just dive and drive right into another an unknown life. I noticed though she was being very cautious to who she was befriending.
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Ellen's writing flows so well, that reading is not an effort at all. This time we are in the picturesque, idyllic villages of Maleny and Montville in Queensland's Sunshine Coast Hinterland. Ellen has taken a subject that can be taboo, physical and emotional abuse, a very hard subject to breach and has turned it into the most beautiful prose. Known for her mystery writing Ellen adds her style to this story as she feeds us a mystery surrounding Lynette. If you think Stephanie is something, wait till you read about Lynette!! Top notch job as always with Ellen's skills here and sometimes I wonder how she is going to pull it off with the next one she will write, but she does and always delivering to us a polished full proof book with plots that are so tight you wouldn't be able to prise them apart and we are always left guessing the outcome. This is definitely a gripping novella that will have you reading into the wee small hours of the morning. Lastly what an ending!! It sent chills down my spine.
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I congratulate Ellen on designing the book cover, which I thought striking with the white background. Kudos also goes to Platform House Publishing, (Becky Wright) for formatting the interior for both the paperback and the ebook. The Jacaranda Tree placed at each beginning of each chapter and breaks in the story gave it a feel that you were reading underneath it with the blooms a mass of purple and the purple carpet of petals beneath them.
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Five Star Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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Recommendation
The genres are - Womens Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, romance, feel-good, new beginnings. Also, this is definitely a Christmas time read.