Aussie Book Review: Rose River by Margareta Osborn

"Adapted from Margareta Osborn's bestselling ebook novella A Bush Christmas, Rose River is a gloriously funny romantic comedy set in the beautiful Australian outback.

Take one city girl - and drop her into the back of beyond ...

Housesitting in rural Burdekin's Gap, high up in the East Gippsland mountains, is not an obvious career move for a PR executive like Jaime Hanrahan. But, hey, retrenchment is a kicker. 

Plus she's determined not to spend Christmas in Melbourne with her friends, who still have company cars and six-figure salaries, or with her mother, Blanche, who has remarried too soon after her father's death.

However, it turns out that Burdekin's Gap is a little more remote than Jaime had anticipated, the house is in the middle of a cattle station, and the handsome manager, Stirling McEvoy, doesn't appreciate a new farmhand in Jimmy Choos and Sass & Bide cut-offs. 

Soon Jaime is fending off stampeding cows, town ladies wielding clipboards, sheep who think they are goats, nude sportsmen and one very neurotic cat. So why does she feel like she's falling in love . . . with the life, with the breathtaking landscape, and with one infuriating cowboy …?”

Jaime Hanrahan, high-falutin’ designer label queen and ex-PR executive finds herself in some memorable and laugh-out-loud moments after she decides to take on a house-sitting job in Burdekin’s Gap – rather that than spend Christmas with her gainfully employed friends whilst still trying to come to terms with the death of her father.

Only problem is, she didn’t realise how remote it would turn out to be!

When Stirling McEvoy discovers that Jaime is in fact the new farmhand, he is not impressed. This, of course, all begins to change when Jaime shows persistence and determination, even venturing to participate (sometimes not through any choice of her own) in the community’s activities.

However, as is usual in these stories, nothing is smooth sailing and these two characters soon find themselves having to overcome a number of hurdles before they get their happily ever after, including the re-appearance of Tiffany, Stirling’s awful ex-girlfriend and Marty, Jaime’s step-father’s nephew who just doesn’t know how to take “no” for an answer.

This novel was, for me, somewhat of a comedy of errors as Jaime finds herself in some humorous (and embarrassing) situations including being almost over-run when helping Stirling with the cattle, finding herself taking part in some nude cricket, being bucked right off a horse and trying to trick the goats (and the sheep who thinks it’s a goat) as well as the dogs out of the kitchen after they display some “naughty” behavior.

Even though I would have loved Margareta to included Stirling’s viewpoint, which would have just rounded him off that much more, this is a fresh, upbeat and light-hearted romance from our very own Voice of the Bush which I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend.

I wish to thank Random House Australia for providing me with an eGalley proof of this novel.

About the Author

Margareta Osborn is a fifth-generation farmer, and a wife, mother and lover of all things country, who has lived and worked on the land all her life. She holds a Diploma of Conservation and Land Management specialising in Community Coordination and Facilitation.

Home is a beef property overlooking a beautiful lake in the Gippsland high country, where she lives with her husband and three children. 

She is the author of the bestselling Bella's Run - a no.1 bestseller - Hope's Road and Mountain Ash.