Her Time to Shine by Fiona McCallum is a contemporary fiction story about life in your late 40s, starting over and solving the mysteries of the past. The story follows Erica, a late 40s widow and mother of two, as she embarks on a new life in the country. Her Time to Shine showed how hard it is to settle into a new place and start a new job. The side characters were great; I especially liked Walter and Erica’s working relationship. Also, Bruce is the most adorable dog, and I loved how much her character brought to the story. I felt like the writing captured the setting of a small country town in South Australia and the comings and goings of country life. I liked the discussions of mental health in this book. However, I felt the story was slow-paced and dialogue-heavy, which sometimes made the book hard to get through.

Overall, if you are looking for a story about moving to a small town and finding yourself, I recommend picking up a copy of Her Time to Shine.

Thank you to Harlequin Australia and Netgalley for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Another great Fiona McCallum book, with great characters, great setting, and overall enjoyable story. Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Erica has moved to the small town of Melrose for a fresh start after a loss and some trauma. Unsure of herself, she quickly setlles into her job working with Walter who runs the local funeral home and is working through her own issues. As she starts to find her feet, Erica becomes a part of the community by making new friends and falling in love with the delightful Bruce. But will flashbacks from her past bring her undone? This was an amazing story with some beautiful characters. A fantastic read.

Any book written by Fiona McCallum will take you on an emotional journey and leave you feeling better for the experience!
The main character Erica is a complex individual, life has been a struggle, but she evolves throughout the story and finds where she belongs. This is a fabulous story to immerse yourself in and uncover some of the layers of life!
Definitely a must read!

Congratulations and thanks to Harlequin Australia, NetGalley and the wonderful Fiona McCallum for the opportunity to read this book and give an honest review.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The small South Australian country town of Melrose, 300 kilometres from Adelaide, welcomed Erica with opened arms. Living in the flat above the funeral home where she was due to start her new job, and overlooking the bakery, Erica felt content. But her stress and worries were always close by, her nerves continually waking her in the early hours. The last few months had been shattering, with her husband Stuart dying from cancer, and leaving their finances in a pickle. Not to mention the stalker who was now behind bars, thankfully.

Erica’s new boss, Walter, was a delight. Kind, caring and gentle, he made a perfect funeral director. And when Walter and Erica acquired a new dog, five-year-old Bruce, when her owner had died (yes, Bruce was a girl), Erica began to feel calmer. She was loving her job, worked well with her boss, and was making new friends, plus Bruce was perfect. Erica’s daughters Issy and Mackenzie lived in their family home in Adelaide and visited occasionally, thrilled at how happy their mother seemed. But when her new friends put a new venture into play, Erica wondered, would be able to participate? Could she overcome the fears of her long ago past?

Her Time to Shine is the latest contemporary novel by Aussie author Fiona McCallum and this is absolutely one of her best! I thoroughly enjoyed it, flying through the pages, loving Bruce’s empathy and instinctive ‘knowing’. Erica, Walter, Jimmy, Jennifer, Erica’s daughters – there were more, but they are great characters, well written and deeply involved. Her Time to Shine is a heartwarming look at finding your way again, at whatever age works for you. Highly recommended.

With thanks to HarperCollins AU via NetGalley for my ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

Fiona McCallum is an extremely talented Australian Author. This is my first read of hers, and reading this book was an absolute pleasure. She is extremely descriptive, her use of words flows beautifully and the detail in setting the scene and description of her characters and even their feelings is incredible. Some author's do not take the time to set the scene properly and tell the story. Fiona, however is a natural at this. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel, and will most definitely be adding more of her books to my TBR pile.

Erica is recently widowed, been threatened by a stalker, lost her job, and has uprooted herself in order to try and save thier home from being taken from by the banks. She is trying to adjust to life on her own in a small country town of Melrose, and has managed to secure a new job at the local funeral home. Where most people would feel uneasy about this type of career, Erica is at ease, she feels she is able to relate to the clients and is quite comfortable with them whilst they are upset and grieving.

Erica has a lovely boss (Walter), he also is recently widowed having lost his wife, whom used to work with him in the funeral home business.

Erica and her boss, Walter, are called out to a job that involves a young man and an accidental drowning. Erica is usually quite good with these aspects of their job, but for some reason this particular scene renders Erica motionless and she appears to suffer from PTSD and goes into severe shock.

This incident triggers a lot gaps in her memory for Erica, and her lack of memories from a similar incident, has encouraged Erica to do some digging into her past, with the assistance of her two daughters.

In this novel Erica goes through a journey of self discovery, she re-invents herself in the wake of a past traumatic experience, and through the help of her new friends she gains confidence in herself and her future.

This is a lovely book, that is very easy to read.

Thankyou to Netgalley, Harlequin Australia and Fiona McCallum for my advanced copy in return for my honest review.

I rate this book 4 stars - It was compelling, entertaining and easy to read. I would definitely like to read more books by this author.

This is a lovely cozy read. Smooth reading and nothing sinister, just a nice girl story about a women, recent widow, who has had a traumatic event happen, and needs a life reset in a new place. Melrose SA is just st the place for her. I reaIly enjoyed reading this one.

A great story of how grief effects different people, one woman's journey to overcome grief anxiety and crate a new life for herself
A lesson for a lot of us