Review ‘Honey Hill House’ by Lisa Ireland

Dulili is suffering a people drought. Over the years more
people have moved away than have arrived to stay in this old New South Wales
farming town, and now only a handful of young families and elderly residents
are left. The locals put a plan into action to entice newcomers: offering the
town’s empty houses to newcomers from anywhere in Australia. Who could resist
renting a beautiful homestead for a dollar a week?

Newly divorced Bea Elliot needs Honey Hill House for more than just a quaint
project – restoring a ramshackle old farm house to a successful B&B will
prove to her family – and herself – that she is strong enough to make a go of
things on her own. She doesn’t need anyone to help her, even if the guy next
door is remarkably obliging, delightfully generous, and terribly charming.

A city girl won’t last six months in the country, but Callum ‘Mitch’ Mitchell
has good manners and loves his town, so he’ll be neighbourly, but keep his
distance. Experience has taught him not to get involved with out-of-towners.
Even if this out-of-towner is surprisingly resilient, unexpectedly tough, and
unpredictably fond of local football.

Good fences make good neighbours, but in Dulili, it seems like barriers might
instead be breaking down…

Publication Date:	March 5th, 2016
Series:	A Dollar For a Dream #2
Genre:	Contemporary Romance
Pages:	121
Formats:	eBook
Available at:	Amazon, Escape Publishing

  

A little while ago I read the first book in the A Dollar
For a Dream series called ‘A Heart Stuck On Hope’ by Jennie Jones. I loved that
book. So when I saw that the series continued with ‘Honey Hill House’ by Lisa
Ireland I immediately decided I really needed to read this book too. I love
books about the country life and sweet romance stories, so this book sounded
like another perfect one.

‘Honey Hill House’ is definitely just as a feel-good book
as the first one in the series. You can definitely tell this book is written by
another author but since it’s still about the same small town, it was really
fun to read how this author and her characters viewed the town of Dulili. The
writing was just as good as in the first book, since I was immediately hooked
to the pages. But although this book takes place in the same town as the first
book did, the characters and their story are very different. And I really loved
that.

The main character in ‘Honey Hill House’ is Bea Elliot.
Bea is in her early thirties and just went through a very bad divorce. After
her life was put upside down and she was forced to move back in with her father
Bea decided it was time to take control of her own life. So when she saw the
announcement of the ‘Dollar’ project in Dulili, and saw the opportunity to
lease Honey Hill House and make it in a B&B, she soon decided to take a
chance and move to the small town. I really admired Bea. She was a strong and
kind character who really worked hard. And I especially admired how she moved
on after everything that happened to her.

The other main character is Callum ‘Mitch’ Mitchel. He
has lived in Dulili all his life. After his fiancée left him suddenly without a
word he is determined to spend his day taking care of the family farm. The last
thing he expected was to feel anything for a ‘city’ girl. But soon after Bea
arrived in Dulili, Mitch and her became closer and closer.

The romance between Bea and Mitch was very sweet. I loved
reading their story. But at times I didn’t really ‘feel’ their connection. Things
seemed to move so fast and I was just surprised about how fast Mitch changed
his mind and wanted a relationship with Bea.

But overall this was a very nice read. ‘Honey Hill House’
isn’t a long book, which makes it a perfect book to read on a cold Sunday with
some hot coco and a blanket. Although I had a minor problem with the romance at
times, it was a great read. I can’t wait to read more books in this fun country
series. 

Although born and bred in the city of Melbourne,
Australia, Lisa has always been a country girl at heart. After graduating from
university, her love of horses, cattle dogs and tumbling-down farmhouses led
her to accept a teaching position at a small school in rural Victoria. A flood,
a bushfire, and countless snakes taught her there was more to life on the land
than fluffy sheep and home baked scones! Lisa hopes her stories reflect the
deep admiration she has for rural communities. She will never forget the
hospitality she was shown as a wide-eyed city slicker, new to life in the bush.

Lisa now lives in a small coastal town and spends her
days dreaming up stories as she walks along the beach. (Don’t tell her husband
— he thinks she’s there to watch him catching waves.) When not writing, reading
or conducting conversations with characters in her head, Lisa is busy being mum
to her three boys and trying her best to train her impossible but adorable
Labrador.

For more information about Lisa Ireland please visit her
website, or visit her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.