Her Aussie Holiday

Finished January 13

Her Aussie Holiday by Stefanie London

This light romance hit the spot this week for me.  The author is originally from Australia, but now lives here in Canada. 

Cora Cabot was only too happy to offer her New York City apartment as a trade when her friend Liv from small town Australia contacted her for advice on finding a place for a month while she did an intern. Cora has been working on a novel, but recently her literary agent father's feedback set her back a bit. She wants to concentrate on writing, enjoy the balmy weather and the nearby beaches, and not have to think about her work. She works as an office manager at her father's agency, doing a variety of administrative tasks, but not really enjoying her work. Now that her narcissistic and media hungry mother and her high profile father are having a very public divorce, and coming off a recent relationship of her own, she relishes some time to distance herself from her real life. 

Liv's house is one that she bought cheaply because of the work that it needed. She has started on the upgrades, with the help of her family, including her two brothers that work in the construction field, but things are still a little rough in spots. 

When Cora, bleary from her long travel to get there, decides to wash off the grime of travel, she doesn't look around to see that some work is in progress. 

Liv's brother Trent is a man who works hard and doesn't always pay attention to everything his family is chatting about, and he considers Liv's absence an opportune time to get some work done on her place, and escape his place, which has suddenly made him even more conscious of his singlehood with his roommate's girlfriend moved in and the walls thinner than he'd like. He is the one that started work in the bathroom, but took a few shortcuts in his prep, such as not shutting off the main. 

The result is a very wet Cora, wet carpets in nearby rooms, and a complete loss of the keepsake scrapbook that Liv has spent a ton of time on in anticipation of their parent's upcoming anniversary. Neither Trent nor Cora is crafty, but they gamely tackle the project, and Trent calls in additional help to deal with the plumbing issues. 

As Trent includes Cora in his social life and family get-togethers, she finds friends and a family dynamic very unlike what she's used to. 

I liked seeing Cora blossom in this new environment, allowed to be herself in ways she hadn't been up to now, and start to trust her own instincts about her life and skills. I also loved the seaside Aussie setting, wishing I could escape there as well.