Daughter of Mine, by Fiona Lowe

It was a family to be proud of, and throughout the one hundred and seventy-five years since the Mannering brothers had crossed the Moorabool River, there’d always been at least one branch of the family living in Billaware. It gave Harriet a reassuring sense of tradition and a great deal of family pride.

Harriet Chirnwell’s life is perfect – which is how she always planned it to be. Descended from the Mannering family, who pioneered the farming district,  with a successful career as a surgeon, an equally successful husband and a daughter who will follow in her footsteps, life could hardly be better. Her sister Xara  has a more chaotic life, married to a farmer, and with a severely disabled daughter and twin sons. A third sister, Georgie, lives in Melbourne, where her busy teaching job leaves her little time to mourn the loss of her still born baby.

But life for all three gets a whole lot more complicated when their mother, a year after their father’s sudden death, turns up to a birthday party with a strange man on her arm. Edwina has always been reserved and very very proper. Now she is glowing with happiness, and happy to cause scandal. But soon, her scandal is overshadowed by an even bigger one.  the lives of the Chirnwell sisters are thrown into turmoil as revelation after revelation shakes their lives.

Daughter of Mine  is a story of family secrets, mothers, daughters and sisters set in rural Victoria and crossing generations.  With complex issues explored, there are many highs and lows, but ultimately this a moving story of the bonds between sisters.

Daughter of Mine , by Fiona Lowe
Harlequin, 2017
ISBN 9781489220349

The Boomerang Bride, by Fiona Lowe

“Why didn’t he meet your plane?”
Her moment of spunk faded and an aura of fragility hovered around her making her seem smaller than her five feet four inches. “Because, like I said, I’m a surprise.” She plucked at the folds of satin. “You know, the girl jumping out of the cake, only I’m the bride jumping in holding the cake.”
He tried to keep his disbelief out of his voice just in case he’d missed a vital piece of information. “You’re arriving unannounced to get married?”
She shrugged. “It seemed like a good idea last week when I was at home in Narranbool.”

Matilda Geoffrey has been swept off her feet. Her Nana told her she would have a romantic adventure, and this is it. Meeting Barry online, falling in love, then dashing across the world to surprise him by arriving unannounced in her wedding dress, is everything she’s ever dreamed of. But there’s one problem. When she arrives in Hobin she finds herself alone on Main Street, in front of an abandoned building. Not only is there no sign of Barry – it turns out that no one has ever heard of him. Could it be that she’s been conned?

Marc Olsen has never met anyone like Matilda – especially given that when he meets her she’s dressed in an antique wedding gown, clutching a wedding cake and staring at an abandoned shopfront. He’s got bigger things to worry about than another man’s abandoned bride, but somehow circumstances keep throwing them together.

The Boomerang Bride is a warm hearted tale featuring an Australian/American romance which makes lotsof false starts. Matilda has been jilted by a con man, and also has issues with her distant parents and the loss of her much-loved Nana. Marc, too, has lost someone – his father, whose early death left Marc the mainstay of his grieving family. Now he is supporting his sister through a cancer battle, and he has no time for romance, and no intention of ever risking the kind of loss he saw his mother experience. Before they can find love with each other, they must get over their past hurts and their individual misconceptions.

Readers will enjoy following their individual journeys in a tale that combines humour, pathos and, of course, romance.

The Boomerang Bride

The Boomerang Bride, by Fiona Lowe
Mira (Harlequin), 2012
ISBN 978192179556

Available from good bookstores or online.