Review: Right As Rain by Tricia Stringer

Title: Right As Rain

Published: Harlequin December 2013

Status: Read from December 05 to 07, 2013 — I own a copy {Courtesy the publisher}

My Thoughts:

Right As Rain is Tricia Stringers fourth novel for adults, the second to be published with Harlequin after the success of Queen Of The Road.

This engaging rural fiction is a story of love, family and farming set in South Australia. Licking her wounds after a holiday fling goes wrong, Mackenna Birch returns home a few days early to her beloved ‘Woolly Swamp’, her family’s sheep farm. Looking forward to discussing the ideas she has developed during her trip for the farm with her father, she is shocked to discover her brother, a city marketing executive, is managing the farm in the wake of her father’s heart attack and her mother seems determined to thwart Mackenna’s attempts to keep the farm on its feet. While Mackenna struggles with the changes at home, her life is further complicated when Adam, her holiday lover, follows her home and Hugh, a lifelong friend, returns.

Of major importance to the story is the tradition of succession. In this day and age it seems so archaic to insist the eldest son is the only one with the right to inherit, especially when there is another sibling far more passionate about taking on the farm. Mackenna’s mother obviously never warmed to farm life, resenting the constraints it places on time and money, and she doesn’t want her daughter to be tied to the land. Though I can respect her feelings about it, her disregard for what her children want, and her underhand manipulations, didn’t sit well with me at all. Despite Mackenna’s forays away from home, all she has ever wanted has been to work the farm, and doesn’t feel as if there is any sacrifice to make.

At times the romance element seemed to be more of a distraction than anything, with Adam and Hugh often absent from the storyline, or even close proximity to Mackenna. I would have liked Adam in particular to have a larger and more active role in the story, I felt in some ways that he was an awkward addition to the tableau rather than an integral part of the story.

There are also several secondary subplots to follow in the novel, one has to do with Hugh’s reluctance to be back in his hometown, the second involves Patrick who is keeping a secret from his family and the third relates to the suspicious behaviour of new station hand, Cam, introducing a frission of mystery and danger. Additional interest stems from Mackenna’s passion for breeding genetics and her concept of a farm to table tasting/restaurant venture.

Right As Rain is an engaging read and Tricia Stringer another talented author bringing rural Australia to life on the page. I enjoyed it and look forward to the opportunity to read Queen of the Road, and the next book.

Click here to learn more about Tricia Stringer and for your chance to win a copy of Right as Rain