New Release Book Review: Unexpected Delivery by Leanne Lovegrove

Title: Unexpected Delivery

Author: Leanne Lovegrove

Published: May 20th 2018

Publisher: Leanne Lovegrove

Pages: 266

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Australian, Rural, Romance

Rating: 4.5 stars

Life can be unexpected…

Lawyer, Vivienne Greene is pulled from her comfortable office job to a temporary position in the country performing property foreclosures. Vivienne knows she’s in trouble when her first day goes horribly wrong and she’s dragged into delivering a calf by handsome dairy farmer, Daniel Beckett.

Single father, Daniel Beckett has adopted radical, robotic milking and he’s unimpressed by the city girl who tries to take his farm away. At the same time, the attraction to her is immediate.

Will Vivienne let love win and risk her job and succumb to the handsome dairy farmer?

Can Daniel forgive Vivienne for trying to take his livelihood away?

My review:

A brand new talent has emerged on the country based rural fiction scene and I’m so glad that I became acquainted with the work of Leanne Lovegrove, thanks to her first novel, Unexpected Delivery. With the full endorsement of respected Australian author Annie Seaton backing this new voice, Leanne Lovegrove proves she is a new author to watch with her first rural romance release.

Unexpected Delivery brings us the character of Vivienne Green, a city based lawyer, who has been moved from her much loved office job, to a temporary role in the country. For Vivienne success seems to come easily, but on her first day of her new country role, things go terribly wrong. To make matters worse, she ends up becoming an unwitting vet nurse, assisting a farmer is she about to issue a foreclosure notice to, deliver a baby calf. This hardworking farmer and single dad is Daniel Beckett, a local man, who in order to save his farm has had to adjust his farming practices. When he meets Vivienne, he is   full of mixed emotions. He is attracted to this city girl, but he also is at loggerheads with her, she is the messenger sent to close his beloved farm. Daniel and Vivienne must overcome the obstacles put in front of them if they are to let love in their lives.

When I was approached by the author, Leanne Lovegrove, to review her first title I was a tad excited. Those who know me are aware of my weakness for rural romance. I think if I was to ever delve into a career in writing rural romance myself, a focus on a dairy farm operation in the country would be my first port of call. I was so pleased to see Lovegrove enter the rural romance genre with Unexpected Delivery, this is a book that brought many moments of delight to this reader.

Leanne Lovegrove is aware of the key ingredients that make a typical rural romance tick over nicely. She is able to use this tried and tested formula very well, but she goes that one step further and offers us more to enjoy. At the centre of Unexpected Delivery we have the city turned country girl scenario and the fish out of water feeling , which is witnessed by a very early scene in the novel involving the heroine assisting in the birth of a calf. However, I will say that the leading lady of the tale is no run of the mill city chick. Vivienne is determined, single minded, ambitious and really isn’t banking on falling for a handsome farmer. There is a bit of resistance on Vivienne’s part, as well as a number of interesting roadblocks for this couple to contend with along the way. I also need to mention that Vivienne does have a softer and vulnerable side, we see her let her guard down in a few instances in this book. These scenes help us to see Vivienne as a much more realistic character construction.

Accompanying Vivienne in the character stakes is Daniel, the object of her eventual affection and the hero placed in this tale. Daniel has a great back story so we are able to view him as much more than a charming dairy farmer. Daniel is loyal and hardworking. Through his interactions with the side characters in this novel, we receive a very well rounded understanding of Daniel. I also appreciated Lovegrove’s periphery character set, they all added substance to the tale.

What made this novel stand out for me was the focus on the dairy farm business. I was fascinated by Daniel’s dairy and Lovegrove provides plenty of descriptions so we get a good feel of what the day to day operations are like on a dairy farm of this magnitude. I have never stepped foot on a dairy farm before, but Lovegrove helps bridge this transition. I came away from my reading of Unexpected Delivery with an improved appreciation for farming techniques and the movement towards more technology based milking practices. I didn’t realise technology had reached this far into the dairy industry!

Lovegrove situates her first novel firmly in a rich country based and authentic Australian setting. The area in which Unexpected Delivery is based is definitely unfamiliar to me, but with the assistance of Lovegrove’s colourful setting descriptions, the reader takes a journey to the town on Rosebrooke. We learn this little country town is one and half hours north of Queensland and I have to say, I couldn’t get enough of Lovegrove’s setting based prose.

Unexpected Delivery is narrative dominated by the obstacles faced by the leading characters, Daniel and Vivienne, in reconciling their love. Along the way both these characters need to face up to their circumstances, values and choices in life. It is a heartfelt experience that I feasted upon in just two close sittings. I’m eager to see what Leanne Lovegrove serves up next, I loved this one!

Unexpected Delivery by Leanne Lovegrove was published on May 20th 2018. Details on how to purchase the book can be found here.

To learn more about the author of Unexpected Delivery, Leanne Lovegrove visit here. 

*I wish to thank the author, Leanne Lovegrove for providing me with a free copy of this book for review purposes.

Unexpected Delivery is book #67 of the Australian Women Writers Challenge

*Book ‘L’ of the a-z author challenge 2018