MY REVIEW:

I hate to admit it but my literature education is woefully inadequate. Yes, I have probably read thousands of books including War and Peace and Anna Karenina, yet somehow I missed out on the Jane Austen novels. I hope to remedy that some day if I ever catch up on reading the many unread books already in my library. So I find myself unable to actually compare Persuade Me with Austen’s Persuasion. That being said, I did enjoy Persuade Me very much.

Another story about second chances, Persuade Me takes place on an Australian cattle station. A series of unexpected circumstances places Anne Elliot back in the presence of the man she once loved and has never gotten over. Neither of them welcomes the situation but attempt to make the best of it.

With its well paced plot, interesting character, dynamic events, and the always intriguing Australian setting, Persuade Me follows Anne and Fred as they renew their acquaintance. Observing Anne as she struggled to overcome the unhealthy control of her family was encouraging. I loved how she depended on her faith to guide her through her difficulties, even when she was tempted to run from them.

Persuade Me is an excellent novel with a strong message of faith and forgiveness. I highly recommend it.

I voluntarily reviewed a digital copy of this book provided by Celebrate Lit. A favorable review was not required. All views expressed are my own.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Book: Persuade Me

Author: Joanne Markey

Genre: Women’s Christian Fiction/Romance

Release date: April 5, 2022

Click here to get your copy!

One horrible misunderstanding. Two heartbroken people.

For seven long years, Anne Elliot of Kellynch Station quietly mourned the loss of her first love. Now that she’s finally over Fred for good, her sister offers the perfect escape: Uppercross.

This move, from one cattle station to another, offers new friends, new responsibilities, and now that she’s out from under her father’s domineering thumb, a whole new world of possibilities.

The sky is the limit.

Or maybe the sky is the perfect place for helicopter mustering pilot Fred Wentworth to spend his days. It took a while for him to regroup after their breakup, but now he’s back, he’s successful, and he’s put the past so far behind him he doesn’t even think about Anne more than a couple dozen times a day.

Life is good.

Or it was until he quite literally runs into the one person he hoped to never see again. After that, what’s a bloke to do other than rethink every lie he’d convinced himself was the truth?

Although they both seem willing to admit they were wrong all those years ago, when things take a bad turn, Anne is left to wonder… Is it too late for a reconciliation?

Persuade Me: Austen’s Persuasion meets the rugged Australian bush—plus dingoes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Originally from Australia, Joanne Markey now lives in Ohio with her husband and seven children. When she’s not reading or writing, you might find her wandering the property with her kids in search of whatever seasonal treasure they’re trying to find.

MORE FROM jOANNE:

Can a book be partially autobiographical without actually being an autobiography?

Probably not. Persuade Me comes close though. Not in it’s entirety, but I did draw heavily on my own life when I wrote this book. Many of the situations that occur in the book were things that happened to me back in the late ‘90s when I worked on a cattle station as station cook. I also set the book in places where we lived—stations we lived or worked on. The autobiographical part ends there though.

As a retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, the family situation in Persuade Me is patterned on the Elliot family, not my own. I was easily able to imagine a family like this living in Australia though. The family pride, boasting of being descended from free settlers, knowing how long the family has been in the country to the exact generation—were all things I ran into as a kid.

Not every Australian knows how many generations of the family have lived over there (or cares to know), but in high school there was this one girl… She knew exactly how long her family had been there, and anyone who couldn’t count as many generations of Australians as she could wasn’t as Australian as her. Other people have quite plainly offered the information that their family descended from free settlers, without a single convict in the lineage. Still others can tell the exact year their first ancestor moved to Australia. All I needed was to package all of those things into one prideful being—Mr. Elliot. He doesn’t play a huge role in the story, but his influence can be felt throughout the pages.

From there it was easy to imagine him as a grazier—a station owner—who’d run into hard times. His daughter, Anne, is the heroine who has a hidden past, a broken relationship she’d rather not remember. The hero of the story can’t exactly be a ship’s captain, but there is one occupation in the bush that does bring in a lot of money—helicopter mustering—and having gotten into that line of work his personal finances have taken a drastic change for the better. I won’t spoil the story, but the rest followed in like manner.

And then came the writing… To craft a uniquely Australian book one has to use Australian terms, phrases, and spellings. And when the author has been living outside the country for 21 years, sometimes it’s hard to remember what words go with what country! We worked it all out in the end though, and if you come across a word that looks like it’s been spelled wrong—it’s the Aussie spelling, which is correct for the setting.

I hope you enjoy this contemporary retelling of Persuasion set in the Australian bush. Happy reading!

BLOG STOPS:

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, May 4

Texas Book-aholic, May 5

Inklings and notions, May 6

Artistic Nobody, May 7
(Author Interview)

For Him and My Family, May 7

Locks, Hooks and Books, May 8

Daysong Reflections, May 9

Tell Tale Book Reviews, May 10
(Author Interview)

Miriam Jacob, May 10

deb’s Book Review, May 11

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, May 12

Gina Holder, Author and Blogger,
May 13 (Author Interview)

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, May 14

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, May 15

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, May 16

Britt Reads Fiction, May 17

GIVEAWAY:

To celebrate her tour, Joanne is giving away the grand prize package of a $25 Amazon gift card and a copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/1d729/persuade-me-celebration-tour-giveaway

4 Comments

Bea LaRocca on May 9, 2022 at 6:02 pm

Thank you for sharing your review of Persuade Me, this sounds like a wonderful story and I am looking forward to reading it myself
Eva Millien on May 9, 2022 at 7:00 pm

Persuade Me sounds like a great romance and I like the cover, thanks for sharing it with me! Thanks, Daysong Reflections, for sharing your review! Have a fantastic week!
Joanne Markey on May 10, 2022 at 11:53 am

I’m so glad you enjoyed the book! Thank you for the lovely review. ?
Caryl Kane on May 10, 2022 at 4:10 pm

Thank you for sharing your wonderful review. Joanne Markey is a new-to-me author.