Rachael Treasure

When I started making notes to write this review of White Horses by Rachael Treasure, I was disheartened to realise that on balance, the negatives for me outweighed the positives. This has nothing to do with the quality of writing as such, and everything to do with specific elements of the story that I personally didn’t care for.

Treasure’s passion for regenerative agriculture, and ethical animal husbandry, something she herself practices on her farm in Tasmania, is admirable and is show more clearly communicated in White Horses. It’s evident, even to a lay person, that the agricultural industry needs to embrace more sustainable, holistic methods of farming and Treasure doesn’t hesitate to drive this point this point home at every opportunity. ‘The Planet’ does sound inspirational, but there is no denying it has a cultish vibe, especially with the talk of the ‘Waking World’ vs the ‘Sleeping World’.

I really wasn’t too keen on the spiritual overtones of the story overall. While I’m all for love and light, compassion and cooperation, I personally found the endless philosophising a bit grating, and I thought the idea of the ‘ghost girl’ was cheesy.

I liked Drift (aka Melody Wood) well enough, she is smart, capable, idealistic, and feisty but also insecure and a bit naive. Her unusual upbringing, spent droving with her father, certainly seemed to have had some benefits, especially when it came to her connection with the land and the environment, but I was a little bothered that the author seemed to consider her isolation from her peers and unfamiliarity with technology somehow laudable.

The romance between Drift and ‘the stockman’ was okay, and obviously it all turns out fine. I would have preferred we had the opportunity to ‘see’ them spend more time together, instead we really only witness them at two crisis points.
*spoiler* One point I feel compelled to make is that the likelihood of ‘the stockman’ being legally allowed to re-enter the country, which leads to the HEA, would be almost nil, and it bugged me.

My biggest issue with the book however was the lack of repercussions for the men who assaulted Drift. It appeared that in both instances there were no formal charges laid against any of the men for the attacks on her (though it was hinted that they eventually faced consequences for other crimes). Perhaps I’m mistaken in my interpretation, but it seemed to me that the author implied that Drift was too ‘spiritual’ to require that the men answer for their crimes against her, and I was uncomfortable with that idea.

White Horses has received several glowing reviews from readers who were delighted with it, unfortunately I just wasn’t one of them. show less

Rachael Treasure is a well known Australian author of rural fiction and Fifty Bales of Hay is an entertaining collection of 12 sexy short stories between consenting adults on the land.

‘Lust in the dust’ says the blurb, and in Droving Done and Milking Time the dust is certainly stirred. In The Crutching and Cattle Crush familiar farming equipment is re purposed in inventive ways.

What I particularly loved about this collection is that the women and men featured range widely in age from new show more adult through to couples in mid life and beyond. I also really appreciated that generally the women take charge of their sexuality and their pleasure, from cougar Krissy in Branded to lonely long haul driver, Celia, in Truck Wash.

There is plenty of Sex in Fifty Bales of Hay – I don’t think it’s quite explicit enough to be termed erotica but for most readers I think the difference would be immaterial.
The references to EL James Fifty Shades of Grey are slyly amusing and I was glad to find there is no attempt to imitate the novel’s story or characters.

Fifty Bales of Hay is an entertaining read, provocative, amusing and even tender. My husband has been trying to convince me to let him buy a ride on mower, I might just let him now show less

If you’re thinking that the title sounds familiar to the ‘other’ Fifty-type book that blazed through 2012, you’re right – nearly. This is a steamy book, but the only ropes you’ll find will be on the back of a farm ute or down the shed. Welcome to the world of agricultural erotica – i.e. getting down and dirty in the Australian bush. This book is a collection of 12 short stories all by rural romance author, Rachael Treasure.

Below you stop reading, thinking that you’ve read show more everything there is to know on the latest hot genre, read this: the bush settings in this book are incredibly diverse, celebrating all the different types of agriculture that we can do in the Aussie country. So you might learn something about rounding up cattle, shearing, wool classing or even berry farming. Even though I have lived in rural Australia for several years, this book got me thinking about how there’s more than wheat and sheep to Aussie farming. Plus, Treasure writes the kind of story that will have you looking completely differently at road trains and ride on lawnmowers from now on!

There were several things I enjoyed about this book. One, that it’s easy to pick up and read a story and then go back to work, cook dinner or do whatever demands your attention more. Two, Treasure is efficient with plot and characterisation so that each story is more than a bonkfest! You get to know something about the main character and her motivations. Three, the country settings are diverse but all well characterised.

Treasure is also rather cheeky in mentioning on several occasions about a raunchy book that ‘everyone’ is reading, having bought it in the supermarket or elsewhere. This tribute to the infamous Fifty Shades of Grey made me laugh, as did the ladies taking the bull by the horns after reading said book to bring lust back into their lovelives. The women portrayed in this book are all ages too – from young jillaroos to widowed boss cockies. I can’t say that I’ve read erotica before where the participants are in their 50s, but hey, everyone’s entitled!

I wouldn’t pick this book up if you were after down and dirty erotica, but it’s a book that’s not too dirty (especially after the story ‘Car Wash’), light and a little steamy. It’s a light-hearted read.

Thank you to The Reading Room for providing me with this book – the antithesis to a hard week at work!

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com show less

This is a good story and it's always nice to read something set in my home state of Tasmania. The main character goes through some major, but fairly realistic, changes, which is set nicely against the events of the book.
What I didn't like was the number of similarities with the one other book of the author's I've read. It felt like deja vu a number of times, and the main character felt like the same person, especially in the beginning. This might be somewhat explained by this story show more originally being a screenplay, and therefore intended for a different medium. It certainly feels like an alternate version of the same basic idea as the other book (Jillaroo, aka River Run Deep).
Overall it's still a good book, and a good choice if you like Aussie rural tales. show less