Australian Women Writers Challenge 2019 Complete Post

Welcome to my official wrap up of the 2019 Australian Women Writers Challenge. Over the course of the last year I continued to support the work of our talented Australian Women Writers. On a professional note, I successfully notched up another year working behind the scenes of the challenge as the romance round up editor. In 2019 I also took on an additional minor role in handling the Twitter account for the challenge. What I love about the challenge is the wonderful friendships I have cultivated via all the lovely readers, authors, reviewers, bloggers and fellow round up editors that I regularly interact with. I also love the fantastic book recommendations that I have come across through the reviews added to our database, along with our very active Facebook group, Love Reading Books by Aussie Women.

I joined #aww2019 with a goal of 100 books to read and review for the challenge. I logged in my last official review for the challenge on the 29^th December 2019. According to my records, my final stats reveal that I read and reviewed a massive total of 157 books by Australian Women Writers. I’m very pleased with this end result, as I definitely smashed my initial goal of 100 books!  In 2019 I read fairly widely across the different genre categories. I also topped the challenge as the highest contributor of the historical fiction genre, which was a very pleasing result. However, I also added reviews of books read within my own genre – romance, along with crime, general contemporary fiction, speculative fiction, literary, children’s books and history/biographies. I do hope to extended myself in 2020 and add a few more reviews of books from genres I tend to avoid, wish me luck!

I have included a list, along with review links for all the books I logged in for the 2019 Australian Women Writers Challenge, which I am happy to announce is now a wrap!

1. Lenny’s Book of Everything by Karen Foxlee
2. Half Moon Lake by Kirsten Alexander
3. A Diamond in the Dust by Frauke Bolten Boshammer
4. Home to Turtle Bay by Marion Lennox
5. The Portrait of Molly Dean by Katherine Kovacic
6. A Brahminy Sunrise by Maggie Christensen
7. The Cottage by Rosella Cove by Sandie Docker
8. The Cafe by the Bridge by Lily Malone
9. Melody Trumpet by Gabrielle Tozer
10. The Mother-In-Law by Sally Hepworth
11. The Secrets of Palmerston House by Phillipa Nefri Clark
12. The Bus on Thursday by Shirley Barrett
13. Saving You by Charlotte Nash
14. The Lost Girls by Jennifer Spence
15. Nature of the Lion by T.M. Clark
16. A Life Worth Living by Louise Guy
17. How to be Second Best by Jessica Dettman
18. 99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne
19. Two Heartbeats by Rhonda Forrest
20. The Last Days of the Romanov Dancers by Kerri Turner
21. The House of Second Chances by Esther Campion
22. Dippy’s Big Day Out by Jackie French
23. The Secret of the Youngest Rebel by Jackie French
24. Lawson’s Bend by Nicole Hurley-Moore
25. The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge by Kali Napier
26. Love Lie Repeat by Catherine Greer
27. Stone Country by Nicole Alexander
28. Beneath the Veil by Bernadette O’Connor
29. The Widow of Ballarat
30. A Body of Work by Janice Simpson
31. Home Fires by Fiona Lowe
32. The Girl From Eureka by Cheryl Adnams
33. The Dairy Farmer’s Daughter by Sarah Williams
34. Sunshine by Kim Kelly
35. The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer
36. Tilly Maguire and the Royal Wedding Mess by Emma Grey
37. Star Crossed by Minnie Darke
38. Small Blessings by Emily Brewin
39. The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan
40. All the Tears in China by Sulari Gentill
41. The Homestead on the River by Rosie Mackenzie
42. I Love My Mum Because by Petra James
43. The French Photographer by Natasha Lester
44. The Orchardist’s Daughter by Karen Viggers
45. Heart of the Grass Tree by Molly Murn
46. The Van Apfel Girls are Gone by Felicity McLean
47. Blood on the Rosary by Sue Smethurst and Margaret Harrod
48. The Gift of Life by Joesphine Moon
49. Gone by Midnight by Candice Fox
50. Losing the Plot by Elizabeth Coleman
51. The True Story of Maddie Bright by Mary-Rose MacColl
52. The Woman in the Green Dress by Tea Cooper
53. Gravity is the Thing by Jaclyn Moriarty
54. Laura the Explorer by Sarah Begg
55. What the Woods Keep Katya de Beccerra
56. Colouroos by Anna McGregor
57. Archibald the Naughtiest Elf goes to the Zoo by Skye Davidson
58. Secrets Hidden Below by Sandra Bennett
59. A Life of Her Own by Fiona McCallum
60. The Hollow Bones by Leah Kaminsky
61. A Single Woman by Maggie Christensen
62. Illegal Love by Leanne Lovegrove
63. Sixty Summers by Amanda Hampson
64. Without a Doubt by Fleur McDonald
65. Hush Hush by Candice Fox
66. Happy Birthday Wombat by Jackie French
67. The Book That Never Ends by Beck Stanton
68. What Lies Beneath Us by Kirsty Ferguson
69. The Way I See It by Lucy Marrett
70. Home at Last by Meredith Appleyard
71. Alice to Prague by Tanya Heaslip
72. Apple Island Wife by Fiona Stocker
73. Esther by Jessica North
74. The Cinema at Starlight Creek by Alli Sinclair
75. The Lost Man by Jane Harper
76. The Art of Dust by Mel A. Rowe
77. The Accusation by Wendy James
78. The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant by Kayte Nunn
79. When the Moon is a Smile by Teena Raffa-Mulligan
80. Allegra in Three Parts by Suzanne Daniel
81. The Suicide Bride by Tanya Bretherton
82. Love Song by Sasha Wasley
83. Life Before by Carmel Reilly
84. Wildflower Ridge by Maya Linnell
85. Hitch by Kathryn Hind
86. Devil’s Lair by Sarah Barrie
87. The Trouble with Choices by Trish Morey
88. Lifetime of Impossible Days by Tabitha Bird
89. The Missing Pieces of Sophie McCarthy by B.M. Carroll
90. One Summer in Santorini by Sandy Barker
91. Julia’s Story J Mary Masters
92. To Love, Honour and Betray by J Mary Masters
93. Return to Prior Park by J Mary Masters
94. Trails in the Dust by Joy Dettman
95. Love and Other Battles by Tess Woods
96. Barra Creek
97. The Boy With Blue Trousers by Carol Jones
98. In a Great Southern Land by Mary-Anne O’Connor
99. Six Minutes by Petronella McGovern
100. While You Were Reading by Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus
101. The Ex by Nicola Moriarty
102. The Quarantine Station by Michelle Montebello 
103. Fleeting Moments by Rania Battany
104. The Hidden Hours by Sara Foster
105. Four Respectable Ladies Seek the Meaning of Wife by Barbara Toner
106. The Desert Midwife by Fiona McArthur
107. I Love My Dad Because by Petra James
108. Fatal Break by Beth Prentice
109. The Memories We Hide by Jodi Gibson
110. The Blue Rose by Kate Forsyth
111. Rogue by A.J. Betts
112. The Invitation by Belinda Alexandra
113. Wolfe Island by Lucy Treloar
114. Matters of the Heart by Fiona Palmer
115. The Day the Lies Began by Kylie Kaden
116. Claire Malone Changes the World by Nadia L. King
117. Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
118. The Inn by Candice Fox
119. The Artist’s Portrait by Julie Keys
120. Heart of the Cross by Emily Madden
121. Wearing Paper Dresses by Anne Brinsden
122. The Writing on the Wall by Juliet Rieden
123. Meet Me in Venice by Barbara Hannay
124. Under the Midnight Sky by Anna Romer
125. Khaki Town by Judy Nunn
126. Paris Savages by Katherine Johnson
127. The Birdman’s Wife by Melissa Ashley
128. Cross my Heart by Pamela Cook
129. Bruny by Heather Rose
130. Shell by Kristina Olsson
131. The Girls by Chloe Higgins
132. There Was Still Love by Favel Parrett
133. You Don’t Know Me by Sara Foster
134. The Last Paradise by Di Morrissey
135. Long Way Home by Nicola Marsh
136. Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko
137. The Orange Grove by Kate Murdoch
138. The Breeding Season by Amanda Niehaus
139. The House of Brides by Jane Cockram
140. Beauty by Bri Lee
141. The Girl, the Dog and the Writer in Lucerne by Katrina Nannestad
142. Top Koala by Jackie French
143. The Roadhouse by Kerry McGinnis
144. Stillwater Creek by Alison Booth
145. A Plan Unravelled by Lia Spencer
146. The Last Voyage of Mrs Henry Parker by Joanna Nell
147. Any Ordinary Day by Leigh Sales
148. The Strangers We Know by Pip Drysdale
149. The Life She Deserves by Maggie Christensen
150. The Diamond Hunter by Fiona McIntosh
151. Darkness for Light by Emma Viskic
152. Cry of the Firebird by T.M. Clark
153. Riverstone Ridge by Mandy Magro
154. Josephine’s Garden by Stephanie Parkyn
155. The Christmas Tree Thief by Phillipa Nefri Clark
156. The Lost Summers of Driftwood by Vanessa McCausland
157. Starting From Now by Fleur McDonald

What a journey it has been, with so many stellar books penned by our talented crop of Australian Women Writers. I can’t wait to see what a new year and a new decade brings by the way of reading. I am again pledging my support of the Australian Women Writers Challenge for 2020, so stay tuned for my official sign up post!

~

Mrs B