Holly’s Heart by Fiona McArthur
Series: Outback Brides #4
Subgenre: contemporary romance
Release date: 12 Jul 2018
Publisher: Tule Publishing
Format: ebook
Length: 147 pages
RRP: A$4.99
She is almost broken and burned out, but her focus is the twin boys she has become responsible for.
Dr Holly Peterson has had a rough time. Holly had built her life around being a doctor. She worked in the emergency department until the day she doubted her skill, and decided the coffee shop was a better option especially as she is the parent for her nephews after her sister’s death. She moved back to her home town to ensure that the boys would have time to grieve and also be in a familiar setting. That familiar setting is also a balm for her soul. However, she still remembers the day old Mrs Brierly told her she wasn’t good enough for her nephew, Ben. Holly took that advice and threw everything into becoming a doctor.
Dr Ben Brierly, formerly of Brierly Park has returned to Wirralong to open a general practice. He is very upbeat about this opportunity and is all set, and then he sees Holly. Holly was his childhood crush. He thought they were going to be forever but then Holly decided to focus on her future and he could never get near her again. He tries to get close to her, but he finds that she keeps him at arm’s length. He finds that the way to her heart is through her nephews.
As Ben uses the twins to reach Holly, she finds herself relying on Ben and she both doesn’t like this but also appreciates his caring. An incident on the way back from a camping trip, frees Holly of some of her burdens, as it is then that she realises that she and Ben should be together.
I quite liked this story; while there is a deep sexual chemistry between Ben and Holly, there is also a sweetness about their relationship. It is quite soothing. Ben and Holly are most suited to each other and despite the fact that some harsh words were said to Holly, they did have their HEA.
I have liked all four stories in this series. Although this is part of a series it can be read as a standalone.
Reviewed by Heather

I really enjoyed the fourth book in the Outback Brides series I think this was my favorite so far. Holly has returned Wirralong with her nephews who she is raising since their parent's death and she has no interest anymore in being a doctor and is running the coffee shop instead. Ben is back in town to open a new doctors surgery and he has been in love with Holly since he was a teenager but when he made a move she shot him down. The chemistry between them is strong but Holly does not think she can raise her nephews and be with him too will he be able to convince her to let him in.

My first book by this author and I thoroughly enjoyed it. She brought the Australian landscape to life and I wanted to dive into my book. This is a second chance for these characters after a teen romance some 10 or so years ago. Both doctors but circumstances tore one of them away from her dreams. I need to go back and see what happened in this series to the other characters. Small town, likeable characters, great story.

Holly's Heart the fourth book and so far the final one of the Outback Brides series tugged at the heart strings and made you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Fiona McAuthur combines a very relatable world and how unique a family unit can be. Whether its a single parent, a couple. She shows that you can over come your fear if you have the will and time to and how love can help heal wounds you thought couldn't be healed.

Dr. Ben Brierly has just returned to his hometown to open a general practice when he sees coming down the street the woman he's loved since high school but who didn't return his feelings. Holly has returned to Wirralong with her twin orphaned nephews to raise them for now and run her recently deceased sister's coffee shop. She's upset when she runs into Ben the first time and flees. He has to know what upset her so he googles her. He sends a big container of daisies which lifts her spirits. He comes o the park to see her and meet the twins and they make plans to get together as friends. He starts coming into the coffee shop during her slow period and they are able to get reacquainted. Ben realizes early on that he's still and always has been in love with Holly but so as not to scare her off goes slowly. Holly is also a doctor but after a very bad shortly after her sister's death she figured out she couldn't give both her job and the twins the attention both needed and picked the twins. As Ben and Holly get closer she thinks she doesn't have the headspace for a relationship as well right now. When at her friend's wedding a pregnant woman collapses and it brings that last day at work back in full force. Ben has been trying to get her to tell him why she doesn't practice anymore and when he takes her home the story comes out. They spend the night together but then they slow things down. Holly wants to take her nephews camping for their birthday so they go to a garage sale and buy equipment with Ben's help. Holly thinks she's going to have to cancel the camping trip because of an emergency but Ben steps up to fill in and Holly joins them later. They are able to reconnect. Holly is the happiest she's ever been. When one of the twins get stung by an insect she panics only to have Ben reassure her that everything is alright and she needs to look at the positive side instead of the negative side of a situation. As they're leaving the camp site they come across an accident and both Holly and Ben need to work together and save the couple. Holly realizes that she's not panicked anymore. Ben comes back after the boys are in bed and Holly has realizes she loves him. They declare their love for each other and a proposal is made and accepted with a wedding to follow. Holly goes back to being a doctor and they move out to the station that his grandmother owns to live.

More of this series PLEASE!! I have really enjoyed the Outback Brides series but was disappointed that there wasn't a book about Serenity who works with Elsa and also Isabelle's sister in law who was moving to the area.. I'd really like to see more books in the series as Wirralong grows and more people move to town and the wedding business continues to flourish. Also I'd love to hear about what might happen between the Brierly housekeeper and Al. I hope this series will continue in the future.

Last book in the Outback Brides series but I hope for more. This one by far has been my favorite Ben and Holly grab your heart immediately. The twins Tom and Pat are just the sweetest. Please keep these books coming I enjoyed them so much. I want to keep seeing the characters from the other books to and how their families are growing. Harry's sister would make an excellent book.

Holly´s Heart by Fiona McArthur is book 4 in the "Outback Brides" series. It´s a little bit different that the other 3 books in this series. It´s about two doctors and the setting is in the town and that give this story a different feel to it that the other ones. The characters are nice, and sweet and very in tune with each other. But you don´t get the same Australian heat that you got from the other books. Still a nice addition to the series.

This was a wonderful second chance story in the Outback Brides series. This story is full of emotion, fears, and love. Holly and Ben were together before and neither Ben have really gotten over the other. When they both return to Wirralong it seems, to Ben at least, that it is meant to be. Holly however is afraid if she gets too involved with Ben she won't be giving the attention to her nephews that they need. Ben is determined to show her not only could they be good together but they could also make a great family for the boys. This is a very well done book and one I definitely recommend.

I have to say this was a good book. Quick and easy read. I was disappointed not by the author but by the series that it didn’t complete the group story tell of the relationships. The Smart Ladies Club had one other original unmarried woman which was Serenity. Yet, she was not even mentioned in this book. Or if she was I don’t even remember it. She was such an in your face character it just seems odd for her not to have her own story.

With that being said, this book is about the grandson of the woman who was causing Elsa and her husband to be all that grief at the hair salon before they got married. You know the one Mrs. Briely is the one Elsa kicked out of her shop for good. Her husband was the mayor of the town and the man with all the manners and sweetness.

Yet, Mrs. Briely does cause not one bit of trouble or try to talk to Holly at all while she and her nephews were dating, doctor grandson, Ben. Who she raised after her son and daughter-in-law were killed in a car accident.

There just seemed to be a lot of open-ended questions in this book compared to the other books in the series for me. You see Holly to is an emergency room doctor. But her sister is killed in a car accident and she is left to raise two six-year-old twin nephews. Their father had died a few years prior from cancer. So, she was the only living relative.

She is stricken with guilt, mourning, and fear of how she is doing the right thing or not by them. She reopens her sister’s coffee shop. That does brisk business due to the Wirra Station Wedding Center. So, the business paid for itself actually. Since she was a barista in college it all worked out.

But when Ben noticed her back in town and confronted her, she had to apologize for her bad manners and behavior. She explained how she always considered him a great friend. She had been in a bad place and had to back away. Never telling him that his grandmother had cornered her causing her to stop talking to him. Which in turn caused her to take out her anger on him and dropping their friendship.

Which only opened the door as far as he was concerned to get himself back in her good graces. But he saw the sadness in her face and eyes. He had been secretly following her career. So, he couldn’t figure out what had happened. So, time to google. That’s when he figured out her career, her sister, and the twins were all in crisis.

He needed her and she needed him. He decided to do something if only to be her friend again. So that was his next course of action on how to make that happen. I give this: 4 stars. Provided by netgalley.com.

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Holly’s Heart is the fourth book in new multi-author Outback Brides series.

In this book we have story of Holly Peterson. Holly Peterson has moved back to Wirralong and has given up her career as a doctor, after the loss of her sister. Holly is now Mum/Aunt to her six-year-old twin nephews. She has re-opened her sister’s coffee shop. She wants the boys to go back to a school and be with their friends, to help them through the loss.

Ben Brierly has come home to Wirralong help his grandmother with the family farm Brierly Park. It is starting to be run down and he want to get it back to what it was. He hires a new farm manager and housekeeper to help. Ben is also opening Wirralong Family Doctors Surgery. He was finally going to be a general practitioner in his home town.

Holly has known Ben from growing up in Wirralong and going to school together, she has never forgot him. But she was warned off him by his grandmother back then. She left and studied Medicine and worked in Sydney as an ER Doctor. But she has now lost all faith in medicine.

Ben is surprised to see Holly back in town as the last he heard she was working in Sydney. Ben is determined to find out what happened and also to try to win her heart, she is the one that he has always wanted.

This story is so full of emotions and you will feel them on every page. You will not be able to put this book down. It is one that is going to be pulling at your heartstrings, even once you have closed the book. The chemistry between Holly and Ben is so well written. Fiona has achieved a great story with such wonderful characters.

This book and the others in this series could be read as standalone.

I would highly recommend this book.

The Outback town of Wirralong is the setting for the Tule Outback Brides series. Holly’s Heart is the last in the four book series and is just as great as the other three. In Holly’s Heart, a second chance for what could have been finds Dr. Holly Peterson and Dr. Ben Briery together in the same town after ages away. She’s a no longer practicing doctor working now to raise her deceased sister’s young boys. He’s the new GP in Wirralong, long ago smitten with his friend Holly but nothing ever came of it even though she felt the same.
Maybe, just maybe, the timing will be right for Holly and Ben.

I’ve loved the Outback Brides series andHolly’s Heart, the last of the four stories, is a fitting end. This story is a gentle one filled with kindness and hope. Both Ben and Holly started their lives in Wirralong, Ben in a well-heeled grazing family and Holly in a single parent home. Ben has loved Holly since she was a teenager, and Holly has loved him back though she’s realistic enough to understand that if she’s to make anything of herself she needs to study and do well at school and university.
Having pushed Ben away as a teenager she is pretty mortified to see him back in town and doing the job she always dreamed she’d do herself. Ben is the town’s new doctor, while Holly, also trained as a doctor, is running the Outback Brides Coffee Shop. These two are gentle and caring people. Holly has come home with her dead sister’s twin sons, whom she has adopted, and her life revolves around helping them to overcome the loss of their mother. Ben is kind and doesn’t pressure Holly despite his ongoing love for her.
This story is almost ethereal at times. I felt as though I were floating through it. The plot is gripping but with such nice people in this story the peaks and hollows are gentle. I loved the idea of such caring people having a second chance at love themselves.

I've read the whole Outback Brides Series and I loved them. The four parts are written by different authors, but the stories interact and use the same characters. All the stories take place in Wirralong, so the town and the inhabitants will grow on you!

After both her sister and brother-in-law have passed away, Holly has moved back to her childhood town Wirralong. Together with Tom and Pat, her six-year-old nephews, she tries to build a new life. An incident just prior to the death of her sister had her abandoning medicine all together. As the shopowner of Outback Brides Coffee Shop, she now makes a living. Her friends, Elsa, Maggie and Isabella help her to stay on her feet after all the devastating losses she has had.

Ben Briely also returns home, to become the general practitioner in his childhood town. This enables him to be closer to hist grandmother, who lives alone on Briely Park. So, when he comes across the love of his life: Holly, he is astonished to find she is still single. Years ago, she turned him down, and ever since, he has not been able to find another woman to match up with her.

So, here's for second chances: Ben tries to woo her and to become her knight in shining armour. Who can resist? A sugary sweet story, with a tragic lining. Wonderful written and moves you to tears. Four out of five stars from me and a special thank you to Netgalley.

The story continues the portrayal of nice characters in a narrative set amongst the backdrop of Wirralong. Holly and Ben’s story is a sweet read full of heartache memories that add layers to what is an unmissable read within the series. Holly’s Heart by author Fiona McArthur is amongst the best reads in the Outback Brides series for this reader, and one that was a nice HEA story.
Review copy received from Tule Publishing via Netgalley

What a wonderful book! I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This is the fourth book in the Outback Brides series, each written by a different author. We have not met either Holly or Ben in a previous book. Both are doctors, but Holly isn’t currently practicing. Both are from Wirralong but both had gone to university and lived elsewhere. Holly returned with her two nephews after her sister is killed in a car accident. She is running her sister’s coffee shop as she doesn’t feel she can give her nephews full attention as a doctor plus she lost a patient. Ben has returned to set up his medical practice. Ben and Holly had a friendship until Bens grandmother made her feel inferior and she avoided him without Ben ever knowing why. Ben and Holly become reacquainted and the nephews adore Ben. The story is so wonderful to read. I am hopeful more books will be added to this series. I am sad it is finished.

I will admit that I had been hoping that Serenity would get her story after reading the third book. However, the fourth book of the Outback Brides by Fiona McArthur is Holly' Heart. Not long after starting the book, I was so enchanted by Ben that I was thrilled for this to be Holly’s story. I don’t remember her being part of the women’s group in any of the other books but no matter, the story is wonderful. I also now want to go back in time and have the author give us Holly’s best friend, Jasmine’s story. I do hope each author continues the series since there is at least one supporting character in each of the four books that caught my interest.

As for Holly’s Heart, Holly and Ben both have had tragic events in their lives. While these are defining factors in their lives, they have managed to live with grace and purpose. I liked that about them. Also I like the focus that was on the twins, as well as how the Ben and Holly found such a positive balance for the four of them. The big surprise was Ben’s grandmother. Even she helped to keep this story heartwarming. I wish we could have know her husband, Ben’s grandfather. Perhaps we did a little since he must have been a lot like Ben.

An ARC of the book was given to me by the publisher through Net Galley which I voluntarily chose to read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Tule authors have done it again! They’ve created a community - Wirralong - populated it with great characters and have written entertaining romances based there, each by a different author and involving different main characters but sharing many of the secondary ones and events. Each story can be read as a standalone but this is a superb series and I highly recommend reading them all, I’ve loved escaping into this Australian Outback town, getting to know the characters, places and events whilst reading all four books.

Holly’s Heart by Fiona McArthur is the fourth book in the Outback Brides series and concerns to people who grew up in Wirralong, went to school together and were close until someone intervened and then left to study to become doctors. Now they’ve both returned to the small town but for very different reasons. Holly Peterson has returned with her twin nephews who are six years old and are living with her after the tragic deaths of their parents. She’s no longer working as a doctor but is running the Outback Brides Coffee Shop. Ben Briely is also returning but he’s opening a new GP surgery in the town. He’s always loved Holly but she totally rejected him as a teen. Will things be different now? Do they stand any chance of achieving their HEA together? This is an emotive second chance romance with a very patient hero gently cracking open the barriers to let him win his love - so moving! It is a delightful read and a great addition to his series.

I requested and was given a copy of this book, via NetGalley. This is my honest review of the book after choosing to read it.

I loved this book!!! Ben and Holly are just adorable. I love second chance romances. The character of Holly was really relatable. I love when the author uses real life scenarios and make them seem well real. This is my second book by this author as well as this series . I really enjoyed it! I can't wait to read more!

Holly’s Heart by Fiona McArthur
Doctor Ben Briely is keen to settle into life as a small town general practitioner and help his grandmother run Briely Park. The city life was never for him. He’s finally found the peace he’s longed for, until the arrival of that one woman he’s never been able to forget, threatens to shatter it all. No way is he revisiting that road of unrequited love…except Holly Peterson seems fragile and in need of saving, and Ben’s never stopped being Holly’s white knight.
Holly’s Heart by Fiona McArthur
Doctor Ben Briely is keen to settle into life as a small town general practitioner and help his grandmother run Briely Park. The city life was never for him. He’s finally found the peace he’s longed for, until the arrival of that one woman he’s never been able to forget, threatens to shatter it all. No way is he revisiting that road of unrequited love…except Holly Peterson seems fragile and in need of saving, and Ben’s never stopped being Holly’s white knight.
After losing her sister and her faith in the world of medicine, Holly Peterson moves home to Wirralong along with her two nephews. Determined to rebuild her life and create a loving home and sense of belonging, she opens the Outback Brides Coffee Shop as her new vocation. When she learns that Ben Briely, the man she said no to years ago is home to stay, Holly fears she’ll lose her heart and her focus on her nephews if she lets him in.
Will Ben be able to break through Holly’s fears and barriers or will history repeat itself and destroy him once again?
This is Holly Peterson and Ben Briely's story.
Dr Holly Peterson marvelled at the way the coffee shop’s clientele had continued to expand in the three months since she’d arrived to take over her late sister’s enterprise. Of course, she too could make the excellent coffee that Wirralong, and especially the city guests, now expected. She just hadn’t expected to be solvent while doing it.
Tonight, at the Smart Ladies’ Supper Club, she’d felt as though she’d come home, as the boisterous handful of business ladies and friends drew her back into their fold, sharing triumphs, challenges and support as they gathered behind the pulled blinds of Elsa Hargreaves’s Hair Affair salon.
The wine had been flowing more than usual, but that tended to happen on hens’ nights.
Dr Ben Brierly twirled his wide-brimmed Akubra on one finger as he surveyed the empty consulting rooms. Wirralong Family Doctors Surgery. His!
Finally.
It felt fantastic to be home. He’d never thought the town would grow enough to sustain a general practice, but here he stood about to open his own business.
Will Ben be able to break through Holly’s fears and barriers or will history repeat itself and destroy him once again?
I highly recommend reading.
"I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book."
Holly’s Heart by Fiona McArthur is a wonderful well written 4 star book.
I am looking forward to reading more books Fiona McArthur.
Holly’s Heart by Fiona McArthur
Fiona's Books with Tule:
Holly’s Heart
Outback Brides

Outback Brides
Book 1
Maggie’s Run
by Kelly Hunter
Book 2
Belle’s Secret
by Victoria Purman


Book 3
Elsa’s Stand
by Cathryn Hein


Book 4
Holly’s Heart
by Fiona McArthur

3.5☆
I enjoyed the series.
This is my first book by Fiona McArthur.

What I liked:
The writing style
The characters
Part of a series: Outback Brides
Standalone
HEA
Epilogue

I look forward to reading more from this author.

I loved Holly’s Heart by Fiona McArthur, book four in the Outback Brides series, a wonderful second chance story. Holly and Ben were sweethearts in high school until Holly was told she would never land Ben and she started avoiding him. Holly and Ben both became doctors and when Ben returns to Wirralong to open a practice, he is surprised to find Holly running the local coffee shop. After the death of her sister and gaining guardianship of her twin nephews Holly is overwhelmed. After a pregnant patient dies in her emergency room, Holly decides to take a leave of absence from medicine and return to Wirralong to raise the boys.

Ms. McArthur wrote a wonderful story of a love that never ended. Holly is stronger than she gives herself credit. I appreciated that her priority was the well being of her nephews. Ben never gave up, finding ways to help Holly with the boys and make life a little easier for her. The attraction and chemistry between these two did not end when they left for different universities.

This was a wonderful story where love overrules life. Ms. McArthur did a fantastic job creating realistic characters, keeping the story line interesting, making me forget the world around me and not letting me go until I turned the last page, wanting more. I highly recommend this book to other readers.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.