The Home Paddock
Forrest Gully #2
Laurelle Cousins
Reviewed by Helen
We are back in the best country town, Forrest Gully this time the author is telling us about town favourites Hughey Chalmers and Meg Sommers, we did get to know them in the first book and I was eagerly awaiting their story and I was not disappointed.
After Hughey lost his butcher shop in that terrible fire, the town has got behind him and Hughey has kept his business going sharing a space in Lexie’s bakery but he is now re-building a new shop but with big plans to make it a Providore and he has high hopes that the girl he has always loved, Meg Sommers, the best barista there is will join forces and move her café into the new shop, but can he get her to break down the walls she has built after all that happened with their parents and tomato sauce all those years ago?
Meg loves her café and her coffee machine and she loves this town but one thing she feels she has to do is keep Hughey at arm’s length because of the hurt his parents caused hers, with both sets of parents not residing in Forrest Gully anymore, she is happy to make coffee for Hughey and she knows how caring and helpful he is and she does know how hard it is to keep her heart safe against the feeling she truly has for this man the one who has been a part of her life since childhood, her friend but he can be no more than that.
Things are moving fast for Hughey and his Providore and Meg is determined to hold her own in her café not with Hughey but then things change for her and with parents arriving back in town the pressure is on, how will Meg make things work could she do her own tomato sauce or was that going too far, add to that the arrival of a cat never seen before but he befriends both Hughey and Meg and seems to want them to get closer, will it happen?
This is another wonderful story in this series, I loved catching up with Gus, Kate and Riley as well as the other CWA ladies and residents, and as usual from this author the food delights are amazing, I am sure I gain weight reading these books, this is a story that I highly recommend, a visit to a small country town with all of the support that abounds in these towns, don’t miss this one and as always I look forward to the next one.
My thanks to the author for my digital copy to read and review.
After Hughey lost his butcher shop in that terrible fire, the town has got behind him and Hughey has kept his business going sharing a space in Lexie’s bakery but he is now re-building a new shop but with big plans to make it a Providore and he has high hopes that the girl he has always loved, Meg Sommers, the best barista there is will join forces and move her café into the new shop, but can he get her to break down the walls she has built after all that happened with their parents and tomato sauce all those years ago?
Meg loves her café and her coffee machine and she loves this town but one thing she feels she has to do is keep Hughey at arm’s length because of the hurt his parents caused hers, with both sets of parents not residing in Forrest Gully anymore, she is happy to make coffee for Hughey and she knows how caring and helpful he is and she does know how hard it is to keep her heart safe against the feeling she truly has for this man the one who has been a part of her life since childhood, her friend but he can be no more than that.
Things are moving fast for Hughey and his Providore and Meg is determined to hold her own in her café not with Hughey but then things change for her and with parents arriving back in town the pressure is on, how will Meg make things work could she do her own tomato sauce or was that going too far, add to that the arrival of a cat never seen before but he befriends both Hughey and Meg and seems to want them to get closer, will it happen?
This is another wonderful story in this series, I loved catching up with Gus, Kate and Riley as well as the other CWA ladies and residents, and as usual from this author the food delights are amazing, I am sure I gain weight reading these books, this is a story that I highly recommend, a visit to a small country town with all of the support that abounds in these towns, don’t miss this one and as always I look forward to the next one.
My thanks to the author for my digital copy to read and review.
4 stars
May 4, 2026 by LCP
