JESS JUST READS

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REVIEW AND AUTHOR INTERVIEW: 99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne

Crush (n.): a strong and often short-lived infatuation, particularly for someone beyond your reach…

Darcy Barrett found her dream man at age eight – ever since, she’s had to learn to settle for good enough. Having conducted a global survey of men, she can categorically say that no one measures up to Tom Valeska, whose only flaw is that he’s her twin brother’s best friend – oh, and that 99 percent of the time, he hasn’t seemed interested in her.

When Darcy and Jamie inherit a tumble-down cottage from their grandmother, they’re left with strict instructions to bring it back to its former glory and sell the property. Darcy plans to be in an aisle seat halfway across the ocean as soon as the renovations start, but before she can cut and run, she finds a familiar face on her porch: house-flipper extraordinaire Tom’s arrived, he’s bearing power tools, and he’s single for the first time in almost a decade.

Suddenly Darcy’s considering sticking around – just to make sure her twin doesn’t ruin the cottage’s inherent magic with his penchant for chrome. She’s definitely not staying because of her new business partner’s tight t-shirts. But sparks start to fly – and not just because of the faulty wiring. Soon, a one percent chance with Tom is no longer enough. This time around, Darcy’s switching things up. She’s going to make Tom Valeska 99 percent hers.

99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne is a heartfelt romance novel about two friends who grew up together and who might finally have their chance to start a relationship.

The timing never quite worked out for Darcy and Tom, and so Darcy buried her feelings about Tom and learnt to never get attached to anyone or any place. Tom has been in a relationship with another woman for almost ten years and so Darcy always assumed her love for Tom was unrequited and it was never going to happen between the two of them. But when Tom comes back into Darcy’s life and is now single, there’s a chance that her and Tom can finally be together. There’s a chance he feels the same way about her too.

Darcy Barrett is an interesting protagonist, a witty, self-deprecating woman who is bold, brash and very herself. She makes no apologies for who she is, and she doesn’t let other people’s opinions of her affect how she acts. She’s quite a unique main character for a romance novel, and a breath of fresh air to the genre.

The romance in the book is a slow-burn, building tension and anticipation for the climax of the story. This book will satisfy any reader looking for a good love story.

“I haven’t seen the colours of sunrise in a long, long time. In my old life, I’d be loading my car with photography gear even earlier than this and heading off to a shoot, a slave to this buttercream light. Everyone looks beautiful in this glow. It airbrushes in a way that my software package never could. It puts a flush in everything it touches.”

Darcy, Tom and Darcy’s brother Jamie have been friends since they were all kids. When they were eight years old, Tom got locked out of his house and turned up on their doorstep. It’s been eighteen years and Darcy has had a crush on him ever since.

Darcy and Tom have a lot of sexual chemistry that leaps off the page, and Sally Thorne has nailed the dialogue between them. It’s funny but also emotional, and one of the main strengths of the book.

There are many times in the book where it feels like Darcy is playing games with Tom, toying with him and making him suffer around her. I think this shows Darcy’s character — she’s confident and outgoing, but I think this masks her inner pain and confusion around Tom, and she is playing games with Tom so she can avoid really thinking about their friendship and where it’s possibly going.

Darcy’s best friend Truly is a fun addition to the novel, bringing humour and heart into Darcy’s life. Darcy may move around a lot and she doesn’t commit to guys or relationships, but her friendship with Truly seems to be one of the more stable parts of her life.

“Truly Nicholson is the queen of a cult indie underwear label called Underswears, and no, her name is not a nickname. Well, it was initially. She was called Truly in utero when she finally made her appearance on an ultrasound screen. That little baby was truly a miracle.”

I didn’t always like Darcy and I found her a bit mean, especially to Tom. Also, Jamie’s presence in the novel felt a little underwhelming. He’s mentioned a lot, and Darcy and Tom talk about him all the time and he’s heavily involved in the remodelling of the home, but he only appears at the very end of the novel? It felt a little jarring.

I wasn’t overly interested in the remodelling storyline because I don’t really care about construction/renovating/building etc, but that doesn’t matter. That plot just forms the skeleton of the story – the real plot is the development of Darcy and Tom’s relationship and the two of them navigating their feelings for the other person.

I’d recommend this to lovers of romance and contemporary fiction, and anyone who read and loved Sally’s previous novel The Hating Game.

99 Percent Mine is available now, Hachette Book Publishers Australia, RRP $29.99.

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW WITH SALLY THORNE

How did you find writing 99 Percent Mine compared with The Hating Game?
I’ve never intentionally written a book before. The Hating Game was written as a gift for a friend’s birthday and I had no plans to publish it. However, that book wanted to get published very much, and it turned out to be a smash hit. 

Writing the second book was very hard. I’ve never experienced success before, and I haven’t had to follow anything up. The Hating Game felt like a fluke to me. I got writer’s block for a very long time. People would ask me how I was dealing with the pressure. I wasn’t dealing well at all. A successful book on sale in 25+ countries didn’t feel so great when I could barely write a single new word.

But, like anyone who’s written a book knows, you just have to ignore the voice in your head that says you’re a fraud. I nearly gave up many times, kept on going, and got out the other side. I was helped by my wonderful agent, who always told me that I’m talented and I can do it. I also had support from many established authors who sent emails to check in and helped me through it.

What’s important to your writing process?
I need a blank day on my calendar. If I have an appointment later in the day, I don’t write as well. But if I know I have all the time in the world, I can just gradually relax into that creative zone and just see what happens. It’s not a terribly practical way to get work done, but I do my best work when I have nowhere to be except my computer.

What’s not important to your writing process?
I personally don’t plot out my book beforehand, I just write the relationship between the characters and make things up spontaneously. I love the moments where my hands type out something I’ve never even thought of, and when characters just say things that seem perfect. I tried plotting once, but I got bored and never even started that book.

What do you think readers are looking for in a romance novel?


Intensity of emotion. It’s what I put the most effort into in my books. Every single moment that those two characters are together should feel electric. Readers want that delicious slow burn as the characters tease and back away, building up to something that should be beautiful and life changing when they finally give in to love. I want the reader of my book to feel like they’re in that character’s shoes, standing opposite that man, feeling every single heartbeat.

What do you like to read?


I like reading genres different to my own (rom com), so I do like reading Alice Hoffman’s beautiful magical-realism, Annie Proulx’s Wyoming short stories and also sexy intense dark romances. I can always count on Christina Lauren books to make me feel and laugh. I also have a penchant for Harlequin novels from the 1980s and 1990s. They’re great.
I should own up to the fact that in 2018 I was so stressed out writing 99 Percent Mine that I probably only read four or five books.

I read in an interview that you used to write fanfiction. How did that prepare you for writing your novels?
Fanfiction is something that I’d recommend to anyone who wants to try writing. It’s an in-built community who already likes a similar thing, and within that space you can really work on creating something with a point of difference. I was writing around 2008-9 and there’s an astonishing number of writers from that period who are now bestselling authors of original fiction. 

I think fanfiction prepared me for writing original fiction because it was uploaded like a serial, one chapter at a time. You learn to get good at ending chapters on a little cliffhanger or leave the reader wanting more- ‘Update soon’ is a very common request in reviews. You work on your pacing and heightening the will-they won’t-they aspects of romantic relationships to play your readers like a fiddle. Back then, all we wanted was reviews. We’d actually ask total strangers for feedback. How brave! Nowadays I don’t read my reviews at all.

What’s left on your bucket list?
I want to go to Korea, I would love to have the words New York Times Bestseller after my name and I’d love to sit in the cinema one day to watch The Hating Game movie.

And lastly, what are you working on next?
On the Hating Game movie front, the option was sold and is now in the development stage- David Mirkin (The Simpsons Movie, Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion) is attached to direct it, a fabulous funny screenplay was written by Christina Menghert (I had input- how fun) and I’m hoping to have some meetings when I go over to the US in April for my book tour. I also signed another two-book contract for HarperCollins in December, and am drafting my third book.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

99 Percent Mine
Sally Thorne
February 2019
Hachette Book Publishers

The Greek Escape by Karen Swan

Working at a luxury concierge company, Chloe Marston makes other people’s lives run perfectly, even if her own has ground to a halt. But a terrible accident forces her to step into a new role, up close and personal with the company’s most esteemed and powerful clients.

Charismatic Joe Lincoln is one of them and his every wish is her command, so when he asks her to find him a secluded holiday home in the Greek Islands, she sets about sourcing the perfect retreat.

But when Tom, her ex, unexpectedly shows up in Manhattan and the stability of her new life is thrown off-balance again, she jumps at the chance to help Joe inspect the holiday house; escaping to Greece will give her the time and space to decide where her future truly lies.

Tom is the man she has loved for so long but he has hurt her before – can she give him another chance? And as she draws closer to Joe, does she even want to? As magnetic as he is mysterious, there’s an undeniable chemistry between them that she can’t resist.

But whatever her heart is telling her, she’s in over her head – another client’s wife has mysteriously disappeared and seriously allegations about Joe threaten more than just her happiness. Who can she trust? And will Chloe uncover the truth in time?

The Greek Escape by Karen Swan is a thoroughly enjoyable novel — the protagonist is a young British girl who has escaped to New York in an effort to leave her toxic relationship behind. She’s there for a fresh start. But when her colleague and friend Poppy is injured in a car accident, Chloe’s life takes a dangerous turn.

There is so much inside this novel. It’s not just the romance that the cover suggests. There’s mystery, adventure, drama and plenty of sexual tension.

Chloe steps up when Poppy is hospitalised; she takes on Poppy’s five clients and keeps her focus on her work. But when a sixth client shows up wanting Chloe to find him a secluded getaway in the Greek Islands, it forces her to reevaluate her life and tackle what she really wants in a relationship.

“Didn’t Jack tell you? The CCTV shows the driver deliberately swerving.” Rosalind shook her head, as though baffled, mystified, the words not making sense. “How could anybody do that?” she whispered. “To my little girl?”

This is my favourite Karen Swan novel so far. The whole scenario felt so unique and different to fiction that I’d normally read. I really did feel like I was reading something from another world — are there people out there who actually have Chloe’s job? Is it exactly like it reads in the book?

Karen Swan has captured the sexual tension between Chloe and her client Joe incredibly well. I kept reading because I felt so invested in their connection, but I was also desperate to solve the mystery of Poppy’s accident and how that fed into the disappearance of another client’s wife. The plot is a convoluted one, but it’s also incredibly satisfying.

Chloe closed her eyes, trying to push him from her thoughts. Blah, blah, blah, the same old story. He’d been giving her this patter for the last four years and she knew only too well about Lucy’s problems.

I have to admit, I picked the twist at the end because there was a bit too much foreshadowing throughout the novel. The Greek Escape is quite long, and so by the time I got to the concluding chapters, I had a pretty confident guess about what was going to happen.

The prose is incredibly polished, the language evocative. The characters all seemed so real and relatable, that I found myself really invested in their storylines and their futures.

When she rounded the corner onto Perry Street and saw him sitting on the steps of her building, it wasn’t surprise that she felt. Deep down, she had known he would come looking for her, just as he had probably known that she wouldn’t go to the drinks. They knew each other too well.

The Greek Escape is so much more than the cover implies. The story is full of mystery and intrigue, and the characters will have you flicking through the pages desperate to get to the end. At times the pace seems to lull, but Karen manages to keep the reader’s attention all the way to the very end.

I recommend this to readers who love romance, mysteries and exotic locations — The Greek Escape is the perfect blend of all three.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Greek Escape
Karen Swan
May 2018
Pan Macmillan Publishers

The Christmas Secret by Karen Swan

They say that behind every great man, there’s a great woman, and behind London’s most powerful leaders, there stands only one—Alex Hyde, business coach par excellence. She’s the woman they turn to for advice and strategy when the pressure gets too much. So when Alex gets a call offering an unbelievable sum to discreetly manage a family member on the board of an esteemed Scottish whisky company, it’s business as usual. She can do this in her sleep. Only, she’s never met anyone like Lochlan Farqhuar before.

CEO of Kentallen Distilleries, he’s also the son and heir of the company’s founder, and a man for whom there is no “no.” He’s a maverick, and Alex needs to get inside his head before he brings the company to its knees. But as she tasks herself with finding a way in, she finds that for once, she’s not the one in control. And when she stumbles across a chance discovery that changes everything, she’s suddenly not so sure she should be.

The Christmas Secret by Karen Swan is contemporary fiction set on the beautiful island of Islay. There’s plenty of tension, romance, and whiskey for the reader to enjoy, and lots of great characters to discover.

The budding romance between Alex and Lochlan is definitely the best part of this book. Karen does a really great job of describing their actions and using relatable dialogue to really illustrate their growing feelings for each other. I could feel the chemistry on the page, and I kept reading the book just so that I could find out what was going to happen between them.

He held out a hand to help steady her as she walked deeper into the water, her fear ratcheting up another level. His grip tightened around her fingers as she gave a small gasp, her foot slipping on a loose rock. His hands were warm compared to hers and significantly bigger.
‘It’s okay,’ he murmured. ‘I’ve got you.

For all the whiskey lovers out there, you’ll love this book. It’s got a lot of detailed information about the alcohol and the production of it, and you certainly feel immersed in the distillery throughout the entire novel.

In saying that, unless the reader has some sort of interest or knowledge about whisky, there are definitely going to be parts of the book that they will skim read or glaze over. I quite like whiskey, and yet, all the description about the business and the different whiskeys and all the complicated dealings with the production just went way over my head. I actually found myself really disinterested in the actual plot of the book, and just kept reading to find out what was going to happen between Alex and Lochlan.

‘A hidden malt, huh?’ Alex asked, going over to Skye and walking alongside her. ‘It even sounds exciting. I imagine this is a blender’s dream come true, isn’t it?’
‘God yes, as Dad said, it’s the holy grail for any distillery. I’ve heard of hidden malts before, of course, but usually they’ve been deliberately hidden when a master blender hasn’t wanted them to be used in a blend, when he considered a malt to be too good for that.’

The book is really dialogue-heavy, but I think that’s a great way to emphasise characterisation. Karen has done a great job of crafting all of the scenes and even in certain chapters of the book where there are multiple characters present and speaking, I was never confused about what was happening.

I think Karen wove the past and present together really well – there are sections of the book that take place over one hundred years ago, and Karen brings the two storylines together really nicely towards the end.

I do have to admit that this book didn’t feel very Christmassy. Yes it may be set at Christmas time, and it may be snowing, but with a book that has ‘Christmas’ in the title, and a cover as gorgeous as this one, I was certainly expecting a very different atmosphere when reading it. You could’ve set this novel in a completely different season and I think it still would’ve worked.

I recommend this to fiction lovers, but also people who love whisky or the production of alcohol. You’ll find the context of the story and also the setting really gripping, as well as interesting. It’s an easy, fun read and certainly something light to read over the Christmas break.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Christmas Secret
Karen Swan
November 2017
Pan Macmillan Publishers

The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club

In 1978 the Northern Territory has begun to self-govern. Cyclone Tracy is a recent memory and telephones not yet a fixture on the cattle stations dominating the rugged outback. Life is hard and people are isolated. But they find ways to connect.

Sybil is the matriarch of Fairvale Station, run by her husband, Joe. Their eldest son, Lachlan, was Joe’s designated successor but he has left the Territory – for good. It is up to their second son, Ben, to take his brother’s place. But that doesn’t stop Sybil grieving the absence of her child.

With her oldest friend, Rita, now living in Alice Springs and working for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, and Ben’s English wife, Kate, finding it difficult to adjust to life at Fairvale, Sybil comes up with a way to give them all companionship and purpose: they all love to read, and she forms a book club.

Mother-of-three Sallyanne is invited to join them. Sallyanne dreams of a life far removed from the dusty town of Katherine where she lives with her difficult husband, Mick.

Completing the group is Della, who left Texas for Australia looking for adventure and work on the land.

The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club is a debut novel by Australian author Sophie Green, exploring the power of friendship within chaotic environments. These five women bond over their love of reading, and they help each other when they’re in need.

Set in the late 20th century in the Northern Territory of Australia, Fairvale Station has been in the Baxter family for generations. Sybil and Joe raised their eldest son Lachie to inherit the station, but he’s not interested in running the property and runs away. Most of Sybil’s character arc is her learning to accept that if her son is willing to leave, she has to let him go. For most of the novel, she’s tormented over her strained relationship with her son and is determined to fix things.

“So many times Sybil had replayed her last conversation with her eldest son; she would lie awake as Joe slept, straight as a board, beside her, letting it loop around. She didn’t know if she was hoping it would be different the next time it played or if she wanted to cling onto the sound of Lachie’s voice, trying to hear any skerrick of love in it.”

Ben returns home to Fairvale with his British wife Kate, and the two begin adjusting to life in Fairvale. Kate is desperate to get pregnant but she starts to despair when, after months, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen for them. Over the course of the novel, Kate must learn not to dwell on things she can’t control.

“Kate’s parents were thinking of selling their home and moving to Bath, which they’d always loved. This was the house that Kate had grown up in; the only other house she’d known apart from Fairvale…She supposed she should feel upset; show some sign that part of her missed England so much that the news of the impending loss of her family home would upset her. There was no such sign.”

This is written in third person, although the chapters switch POV frequently. This allows the reader to really understand each character’s concerns, fears, doubts and triumphs. We grow to love each character for their individual story. There is a strong sense of realism in the novel.

Sybil’s book club allows the women to form a close bond — a strong friendship. They all become concerned for each other’s struggles and they are there for each other. Their lives are enriched because of their love and support for each other.

There’s a definite sense of isolation throughout the book, particularly during the wet seasons when it’s too dangerous to venture far and so the women at Fairvale and in Katherine are almost confined to their homes. Green has done a wonderful job of writing the isolated, contained environments in the book — there’s a real sense of place. In most scenes, there are a large number of characters present and Green has once again expertly manoeuvred these scenes to allow the reader to easily understand what’s going on with each of the characters present.

What I loved most about this book was how authentic these characters felt; there was real depth to their characterisation and they all felt like different people to me. When you have such a large cast of characters and they are all women, it would be really important to make sure their voices are all unique, particularly considering each chapter switches POV. I think Green did a marvellous job of bringing all these women to life, crafting them all perfectly and allowing the reader to really understand them and relate to all of them.

“The day was almost too hot to be believed as Della sat with Kate on the verandah of Fairvale’s big house. They were well covered by the awning but the heat seemed to swirl up from the ground, wrapping itself around them and staying trapped.”

Despite this novel being set in the 1970s, there are definitely elements of the storyline that feel relevant in today’s society. Kate is struggling to fall pregnant, Sallyanne’s husband is constantly drunk and borderline abusive, and Sybil’s son has run off to pursue alternate careers. At times, I had to remind myself that this wasn’t set in the present!

If I had to point out something I didn’t like, it’d be the pacing and the development of Sallyanne’s story — it was a slow burner throughout the whole novel but then it seemed to solve itself at a rather fast pace in the end.

At first, Sallyanne is scared of her drunken husband and she doesn’t have the courage to confront him because she is concerned her for own safety and for the safety of her children. This is incredibly realistic. However, her husband then chooses to leave her and he’s gone for most of the novel. At the end, he returns briefly and their situation wraps up positively (for Sallyanne) within one chapter. Whilst I felt pleased for Sallyanne, I couldn’t help but feel this storyline was only touched on lightly but should’ve been explored further.

I highly recommend this novel. It’s not just for fans of historical fiction, or perhaps even romance. There are so many layers to this novel that I think all readers will enjoy — it is a testament to family and friendship amongst isolated Australian outback communities.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club
Sophie Green
August 2017
Hachette Book Publishers

Leaving Ocean Road by Esther Campion

Twenty years ago, Ellen left her beloved Ireland to make a new life in Australia. Now struggling to cope with the death of her much loved husband, Nick, Ellen finds her world turned upside down when an unexpected visitor lands on her doorstep.

The arrival of Gerry Clancy, her first love from Ireland, may just be the catalyst that pulls Ellen out of her pit of grief, but it will also trigger a whole new set of complications for her and those she holds dear.

Leaving Ocean Road is a warm, funny, delightful romance novel for fans of Maeve Binchy, Cathy Kelly and Monica Mcinnerney — the story takes us across Australia, Greece and Ireland and explores a long lost love and the chance of reconnection.

Ellen Constantinopolous has been living in South Australia for twenty years, and she’s happy. Her family — her Greek husband Nick and her daughter Louise — live on a farm in a rural town in South Australia. But then Nick dies suddenly when his car veers off the road and hits a tree, and Ellen is in mourning. Louise heads off to university but calls her mother every night to check up on her. Ellen is struggling to move on with her life after her husband has died. She is still weighed down with depression and grief — she struggles to pay bills or check the mail or even get up in the morning.

But when Ellen receives a letter from Gerry Clancy, her first love back in Ireland, she is able to pull herself out of her grief. He still lives in Ireland, but is now in Adelaide visiting his son. He wants to see her. The two reconnect and with Ellen’s best friend Tracey pushing her to try to make things work, Ellen starts to resume her life and she feels like she is able to move on.

“Once inside the house, Ellen went upstairs to make the bed she’d been in too much of a rush to make that morning. It was the little things that would keep her sane, she realised. The small routines she’d let go in the height of her grief. Only suddenly and in a fit of shame at the thought of Gerry Clancy seeing the state of the place had she been spurred into action. Maybe the timing of his visit hadn’t been so bad.”

There’s a hurdle in their love story when a deep and buried secret comes out, and Gerry and Ellen must face their relationship and their future. Tension builds between Ellen and Louise, because she is still grieving the death of her father and she doesn’t feel ready to forget him. The family is fragile, and Ellen must work to save it.

“Last night both she and Jennifer had been so shocked they’d hardly said a word on the drive to Felicity’s. The crew were there when they arrived and the punch was flowing. Louise didn’t care how bad it tasted as long as it helped her forget about what happened at the Popes’.”

Ellen is a wonderful protagonist. She’s strong and determined, and also incredibly relatable and likeable. She is an anchor for the book, the entire plot revolving around her. The relationships between Ellen and Gerry and Ellen and Louise are well-developed and plausibly placed. Additionally, Tracey is a hilarious side character and I loved any scene she was in. She provided comic relief and helped break up an otherwise sombre and melancholic scene.

Leaving Ocean Road is about learning to let go of the past and embrace the possibility of a new future. There are romantic plots for both Ellen and Louise, and together they find hope and purpose amidst their grief and mourning. Esther has done a great job of capturing this and illustrating it effectively and realistically.

This book may be a romance novel, but it’s also about family and friendships and the importance of letting go of the past and embracing the future. It’s sweet, but not over the top. I recommend this to fans of romance novels.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Leaving Ocean Road
Esther Campion
August 2017
Hachette Book Publishers

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