Luke was only six years old when he went to live with his grandparents after his father was killed in a terrible car accident. Luke adored his grandparents and he particularly loved going fishing with his Pa. Pa taught Luke all there was to know about fishing and the pair spent as much time as they could doing something they both loved.

But sadly ten years on and his grandparents passed away, which deeply upset Luke. Life would no longer be the same without his Nan and Pa, but Luke would now have to find the strength to try and get on with his life the best way he knew how. Leaving him the shack a place they all holidayed at regularly, which was located in the Whitsunday Islands.

The shack was a place Luke could just escape to and not have a care in the world. Luke comes across things that belong to his father and amongst the items he finds old war relics. These items intrigue him and he wants to know more about their history which might lead him to learn more things about his father. When Luke comes across a beautiful girl named Lily he instantly feels a strong connection toward her, but why?

I totally enjoyed this book from start to finish. A story that leaves you wanting more is always a great book in my opinion and this was truly a great and very enjoyable read. Highly recommended.

2.5★
The good:
I enjoyed that the main character, Luke was so passionate about books and loved reading.
I liked the Queensland settings - West End, which I’m familiar with (or at least I was about 15 years ago when I worked there, although I’ve never been to the Avid Reader bookshop) and the coastal area up around Proserpine which does sound gorgeous, although it would be too hot for me most of the year!
I like the way the plot revolved around WWII, but still stayed firmly in the present - I do like dual timeline books, but there are so many of them at the moment, I feel like I’m a little bit over them so a story told solely in the present day seems like a novelty!


The not-so-good:
I’m always disappointed when the main characters in books engage in casual sex, as well as when there are unnecesssarily graphic descriptions of sex. This book had both, and it was this more than any other factor that made me dock stars.
The writing was generally good, but at times it did get a bit of a debut feel to it - it just felt as though it was a bit loose, to my way of thinking, and a bit more of an editorial red pen wouldn’t have gone astray. Some of the dialogue, especially, had some repetition to it, and dialogue needs to be written differently to how we actually talk - at times, the dialogue in here did sound a little pedestrian.
Some of the timing seemed a bit wrong - I’m not sure whether the author was going to have different time frames for things and then changed her mind but didn’t catch all the time references to change them, but there were some discrepancies in timings.
The characters were a little clichéd

- the young and naive girl, the strong, hunky and more experienced guy (granted, the book-reading is a bit of a break from the cliché), the sexy older woman who gave him an education in the ways of the world… (rolling eyes)

and one- dimensional.

In general though, it is quite a readable book, and I’d like to see how the author has developed, so I will read more of her works at some point. I already have Silkworm Secrets on hand.