Down the Track. Stella Quinn

Published: Harlequin Australia
Date: June 5th 2024
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Dr Joanne Tan is an expert in a lot of things. Love isn’t one of them.

Being thirty-something, broke, divorced and in a cold war with her ten-year-old son is a lot, but Jo’s handling it. Just. At least she is until her job at the Natural History Museum is put in jeopardy. An invitation to dig up dinosaur bones on a remote Queensland sheep station arrives at just the right time.

It’s not her first trip to Yindi Creek, but it’s not as though anyone will remember her from fifteen years ago … And by anyone, of course, she means the pilot she had that fling with. The fling that taught her she’s far safer sticking to science …

Gavin ‘Hux’ Huxtable, helicopter pilot and reluctant sheep-shearer, has turned his broken heart into a secret (and successful) writing career. But running into Jo again, all these years down the track, stirs up a lot more than outback country dust.

A missing person, a fossilised leg bone and a nosy country cop force Jo and Hux together and the sparks that start flying don’t go unnoticed by the locals ..

Set in Queensland in the outback this is the story of Joanne and her relationship with her ten year old son, and her life as a palaeontologist. She is quite focused on her job and sometimes it’s hard for her to care for human relationships.

It’s also about Gavin, who comes from a fairly large family and  is well known in the area as a helicopter pilot. Years back Joanne and Gavin had a relationship that fizzled out. Mainly this happened because Joanne left the area with hardly a goodbye. Gavin is also a very popular author. 

The story is told from both viewpoints and most of the time I preferred Gavin’s storyline. He just seemed far more likeable and interesting, although Joanne does grow and change somewhat by the end of the book.

Down the Track has a setting that feels authentic. It has some great side characters and I am thinking mainly of Maggie who runs the hotel. She dispenses wisdom where it’s often needed. There is also a bit of a mystery that threads throughout the book.

The romance between Joanne and Gavin I found a little unsatisfactory, they weren’t together that often! The story relied rather heavily on what had happened fourteen years before. However on the whole it was a satisfactory read.