Matilda Next Door

Kelly Hunter

Aug 2020 · Outback Brides Return to Wirralong Book 1 · Tule Publishing

About this ebook

When a long-anticipated holiday takes an unexpected turn...

Aussie farm girl Matilda Moore kicks off her dream trip to London by flat-sitting for her childhood friend. But London is daunting, crowded and noisy, and that's before Tilly finds a baby on the doorstep. There's a note attached: "Henry, if you’re reading this, please know the worst has happened.”

Probability expert Henry Church has finally returned home to Wirralong, Australia to see his grandparents when he gets a phone call from Tilly that breaks every statistical analysis. The probability of him being the father is marginal. Plus, he knows nothing about caring for a baby. Emotions and socializing are even bigger mysteries. He begs Tilly for help—can she cut her holiday short and bring the baby to Wirralong?

Tilly will do almost anything for her childhood best friend, but falling in love with him and his motherless baby is an emphatic no. Out of the question. Or is it?

Ratings and reviews

A romance unlike many other books I’ve read a strong, confident woman with a big heart loves the man she grew up with. He’s stoic and what people perceive as cold. But that is from outward appearances. Aren’t we like that too. Come to a conclusion about someone’s personality based on what we see without really trying to get to know the real person inside. You could certainly not know what the benefits would be if you just take the time. Tilley certainly learns this lesson and by her encouragement and love, Henry does too. Certainly learned a lot of colloquial words common to Australians in this book. Sometimes it was hard to follow along but certainly worth the time to expand my knowledge. I received an advanced reader copy from the publisher and am voluntarily leaving my review.

Matilda Moore has never been anywhere. Salt of the earth is Tilly, the sort of kind woman who batch cooks meals for her elderly neighbours and checks in on them while their only grandson is thousands of miles away in London. Henry Church left small town Australia in his wake and lives in London, until his grandmother's ill-health requires him to return to Wirralong. In return for Tilly's kindness to his grandparents he offers her his swanky London apartment to stay in when she take a holiday of a lifetime to England to learn new skills at some exclusive cookery school. Tilly and Henry were friends all through school, heck Tilly still has a major crush on him, but her life is firmly in Wirralong and his is definitely not. Then everything changes when a woman leaves a baby at Henry's door, claiming he is the father and the mother has died. There wasn't enough (any) tension in this novel for me. Whatever happened Tilly would get upset and then shrug and decide she was being over-sensitive. Not matter whether she and Henry got their HEA she still came across as a complete drudge who just wanted to clean Henry's house and look after his child and cook him dinner. She thought Henry was superior to her and I couldn't see that Henry disagreed. Also, if you set a book partly in England and have native English characters please, please, please make them use English words and not the US/Australian equivalent. We say crib/cot not bassinet, we say flat not apartment, we say nappies not diapers. Overall, a pleasant, easy romance but lacked sparks for me. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher Tule in return for an honest review.

Matilda Next Door is a fantastic read. I couldn’t put it down! Matilda and Henry’s story was unpredictable, and I enjoyed every step of the way. I especially loved their back stories and nothing like a baby to make things interesting! As always Kelly Hunter provides a very enjoyable read and I can’t wait for the next one.

About the author

Kelly Hunter is a romance writer who was born and raised in Newcastle Australia. She earned an honours degree in Rural Science and afterwards worked within the university system as a research fellow in biochemistry. From there I went to the cotton fields as an agronomist, then the Department of Primary Industries, then Australia's national science agency, the CSIRO. She began writing romance stories while she was home-schooling her children. She soon joined the Romance Writers of Australia and became registrar, secretary, vice president and then president before stepping back in 2010. She then completed a two year stint as executive editor for Tule Publishing Group's Holiday imprint which gave her a chance to help shape a new contemporary romance line and work with favourite authors across the globe. Her awards include Favourite Short Category Romance for the years 2011-2013, from the Australian Romance Readers Association and Romantic Novella of the Year nominee 2013 from the Romance Writers of Australia. In 2015 she was named a finalist for the Australian Romance Readers Awards. She won the 2017 Australian Romance Readers Awards, Favourite short or category romance, with her story, Casey.