Outback Strangers
The Happy Outback Hotel #1
Annie Seaton
Reviewed by Helen
A beautiful start to a new series, how will life turn out for three friends who meet and start on a journey towards the outback Jill who started her backpacking journey in the van she calls Vera and Amelia and Sophie who join her, backpackers from the UK come a long for an uplifting and moving story as they arrive in the small outback town of Garnet Creek.
They find a place to camp in the grounds of the once magnificent Royal Hotel long since left to crumble, sadly you can see how beautiful it was in its days opened over one hundred years ago and when another camper Alex and the girls are talking one night by the campfire they talk about how good it would be to restore the great hotel, for more than one reason the girls are feeling very at home in Garnet Creek they have found jobs and settling in to this town that feels like an English village in many ways.
When Alex steps up and decides that the restoration is something that he wants to do he calls in his builder son Jake to take a look and see if it is a viable option and suddenly everything is moving forward and some of the town are pulling together to support the restoration.
Amelia and Jake seem to have a connection as they start work and Jake is impressed with the way Amelia takes on the work and learning everything she can about building of course there are a few problems nothing runs smoothly all the time and the bumps cause more than money issues they cause complaints from residents who are doing their best to stop the building, but Jake and Amelia’s feelings are growing stronger but as boss and employee they must be strong and wait till everything is finished before they can act on their feelings.
This is a beautiful story about community and friendship that pull together for a future to rebuild this small town in the outback the characters that we meet are varied and wonderful and Jake and Amelia are so made for each other and I am really looking forward to the next book and see how things work out for Jill.
I did love this one it left me feeling really good and I highly recommend it.
They find a place to camp in the grounds of the once magnificent Royal Hotel long since left to crumble, sadly you can see how beautiful it was in its days opened over one hundred years ago and when another camper Alex and the girls are talking one night by the campfire they talk about how good it would be to restore the great hotel, for more than one reason the girls are feeling very at home in Garnet Creek they have found jobs and settling in to this town that feels like an English village in many ways.
When Alex steps up and decides that the restoration is something that he wants to do he calls in his builder son Jake to take a look and see if it is a viable option and suddenly everything is moving forward and some of the town are pulling together to support the restoration.
Amelia and Jake seem to have a connection as they start work and Jake is impressed with the way Amelia takes on the work and learning everything she can about building of course there are a few problems nothing runs smoothly all the time and the bumps cause more than money issues they cause complaints from residents who are doing their best to stop the building, but Jake and Amelia’s feelings are growing stronger but as boss and employee they must be strong and wait till everything is finished before they can act on their feelings.
This is a beautiful story about community and friendship that pull together for a future to rebuild this small town in the outback the characters that we meet are varied and wonderful and Jake and Amelia are so made for each other and I am really looking forward to the next book and see how things work out for Jill.
I did love this one it left me feeling really good and I highly recommend it.
5 stars
February 14, 2026 by ASA
