The Silk Scarf by Frances Dall’Alba
Series: Australian at Heart #3
Subgenre: contemporary romance
Release date: 1 Jun 2022
Publisher: self-published
Format: ebook and print
Length: 292 pages
RRP: $5.99 (ebook); $30.30 (print)
Melita Van Der Meeliko, adopted sister of Patrick (from The Stone in the Road ) comes to Australia from Boston like her brother. She’s felt incapable of being loved all her life, especially by her parents, so why not give life a try elsewhere?
She wants to develop her personally designed swimwear with Australian designs, featuring the native birds and animals. She just knows there’ll be a fabulous market for them in the US.
To that end she purchases a derelict house on the highway between Port Douglas and the Whitsundays in Queensland. The perfect stop-off point for a teahouse, and a place to showcase her exclusive swimwear.
She hires builder Luke Harvey, Ella’s brother from Little Blue Box, to do the renovations. They have kissed in the past. Maybe hiring him will also lead to something else?
Then the bombshell drops. Luke’s grandfather casually mentions that Melita’s house is known as a previous ‘mafia house’, where people from ‘The Black Hand’ carried out their dirty work of blood, greed and crime. Hacked off ears! Murder, even! And the families of those involved in the murders (victims and perpetrators alike) still live locally and still bear long-held murderous grudges.
Luke is horrified. He has PTSD from a violent home break-in that happened to him as a little boy. The thought of being around a community where violence has occurred, let alone in the same actual house, gives him serious nightmares.
Then they uncover a heavy box in the cavities of the wall. A gorgeous red silk scarf inside is tucked over … well, I’ll let you read it yourself to find out. A big surprise! Huge! The contents of the box then set in motion the most extraordinary set of events for the rest of the book.
Back to Melita and Luke, and that little spark they had when they kissed … In the middle of the crazy drama and ensuing chaos, can they fall in love?
This book was a 2021 Finalist in the Mid-American Writers, for the Mara. Congratulations Frances Dall’Allba!
reviewed by Malvina
A review copy of this book was provided by the author.
All Rights Reserved Book Blog