Second Chance Town
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley May 17, 2016
Author Karly Lane
Distributor: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 9781760291815
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Release Date: May 2016
Website: http://www.allenandunwin.com
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Bundah is like many country towns, slowly dying, with many schemes to try and encourage people to return to the country. To date not many of them have worked but finally one of the many hatched by local businessman Ken Baxter, looks like it may indeed work.
When Hugh Thompson cruises into town on his bike clad in tight fitting black leathers, the town gossip cranks up a notch. For Nicole, single mother and manager of the service station, watching Hugh climb off his bike, creates a sense of change, a sense of something weird happening to her, something that has not happened in a very long time.
As she is somewhat overwhelmed by ‘Mr Sex-on-legs’ she fails to find out all about the new arrival, but when it turns out that he is to be the new owner of the derelict ‘top pub’, and going to be about town for a good while, a sense of all things changing begins to stir through the town.
Hugh is followed by Steve and Russell, coffee shop owners from Melbourne wanting to make a change, along with a number of others people wanting a fresh beginning, but all is not as it seems as along with the new arrivals, a serious drug problem in town has claimed the lives of at least one teenager and is causing serious concern within the township.
Nicole’s daughter, 17 year old Bella, normally an easy going teenager, suddenly seem to be morphing into someone her mother does not know, which raises the serious concern of who Bella is hanging out with and just what is going on in her daughter’s life.
More than a few things are beginning to change in what was once a quite country town. The new owner of the pub has a past he would rather remain silent about, Nicole is sacked from her position at the service station on a series of false accusations and local policeman Nate Pearce begins to dig onto Hugh’s past, causing a problem that may get them all killed.
Add a romance that is slowly building into something more than a casual affair, a secret kept hidden by Ken Baxter, a wonderful rich background of country town life, and you have a warm, intriguing, enjoyable story about second chances, living life and making the most of the opportunities offered when they come past your door.