Rural Australia meets You’ve Got Mail in this romantic comedy about online dating, second chances and following your heart.
Small-town sweetheart Annalisa Cappelli has returned to Wongilly to take over her family’s hardware shop while she heals from the tragic loss of her partner Ben. The business was hit hard by the pandemic, and now a Carpenter’s Warehouse hardware superstore is opening in the district. There’s no way Annalisa is going to let two hundred years of history go down the drain, but she’s going to need to fight to keep her family’s legacy alive.
The one simple thing in her life is her no names, no complications, easy-breezy online relationship with GardenerGuy94. For now, their online flirtation is the only kind of romance Annalisa needs. Until she meets Ed Carpenter. Sexy as hell, he’d be the perfect man … if he wasn’t trying to destroy her business.
Ed Carpenter is in Wongilly to offer the owner of a small hardware shop a payout to pave the way for his family’s next superstore. What he doesn’t expect is for the owner to be the woman he’s been talking to online. Annalisa is beautiful and passionate, and he’s sure she’s the one for him. But how can he reveal the truth without losing her?
If you ask me, a fresh and fun rural romance like Meet Me in Bendigo is the perfect antidote to the trying times we all still find ourselves in. What’s more, this novel is set just after the pandemic, as a small fictional Victorian town, Wongilly, returns to life and businesses struggle to recover. I must say, it’s nice to get briefly lost in this post-pandemic world.
The historic small town in the Victorian Goldfields is vividly imagined, alongside its neighbouring town of Bendigo. The history of Annalisa’s Italian family in the region is explored through the inclusion of newspaper articles from the Goldfields Gazette, and the small-town community and spirit are charmingly portrayed.
As for the romance, it’s the kind of rollercoaster ride that will keep you hooked till the end. It’s feisty, frustrating and complicated, as the world of online dating collides with real life. It’s at times romantic and at times downright messy. The novel jumps between the perspectives of Annalisa and Ed, as well as the text message correspondence between their online personas – cue a lot of flirtatious banter and the pulling of emotional heartstrings.
This isn’t Eva Scott’s first rural romance, and it’s clear that she’s well attuned to the genre. She blends the will they/won’t they romance, the drama, and the rural spirit into an entertaining story. Meet Me in Bendigo is an ideal weekend read to get caught up in.
Congratulations Eva.
How refreshing to read a book where the story flows beautifully.
I have read many books and get somewhat frustrated when each chapter goes to another character and another time.
One gets confused and after a while it becomes confusing.
I loved reading your book so much that I found it difficult to put down. Hence it was read in 2 days
Thanks a million.
Im going to read ‘Lonely in Longreach ‘ next.
Really look im ng forward to it.