Heart of the Valley – Small Town Fiction

About Summer and the Groomsman

It’s Levenham’s wedding of the year but unlucky-in-love Harry Argyle has more on his mind on than being groomsman.
After yet again nearly colliding with an escaped horse while driving home to the family farm, Harry Argyle comes face-to-face with its pretty owner, and doesn’t hold back his disapproval.
Confronted by a bad-tempered giant on a dark country road, beautician and new arrival in town, Summer Taylor, doesn’t know who to be more afraid for: herself or her darling horse Binky. It’s not her fault Binky keeps escaping. The alcoholic owner of the paddock she rents won’t fix the fence and Binky can be sneaky when it comes to filling his stomach. But no matter how big and muscled the bully, she refuses to be intimidated.
When Harry’s wedding party book a session at the day spa where Summer works, both she and Harry are horrified to be paired together. Grudgingly, they agree to make the most of it – only for the session to spiral into disaster. Realising he’s made a dill of himself in front of sweet Summer yet again, Harry vows to set things right.
Summer isn’t about to easily forgive the man who called her horse stupid, no matter how brave and kind, but with everyone on Harry’s side, even fate, resistance is hard. Can these two find love or will Summer’s wayward horse put his hoof in it again?
A sweet rural romance novella from Cathryn Hein, best-selling author of The Falls, Rocking Horse Hill, Heartland, Heart of the Valley, and Promises.

Here is a post from Mission Romance that goes back to 2012 when rural romance was hitting the shelves and gaining popularity.

Hi Juanita, and thanks for hosting me again on Mission: Romance. It’s a delight to be here.

I’ve just returned home after spending a week away on a library tour of my old stomping ground, the south east of South Australia. This is the area where I was born, brought up and love, and as I travelled around the district noting all the familiar sights and all the changes that have occurred in the twenty-five years since I lived there, I felt the tug in my heart of home. And I have to admit it surprised me. I didn’t expect to feel it, yet there it was, that pull of longing that seems to come from somewhere deep inside.

These feelings made me wonder if I’ve been fibbing in the other blog posts and interviews I’ve done to promote my latest release, Heart of the Valley. At its core, Heart of the Valley is a story about the meaning of home – is it a place or is it where your heart lies – and I’ve made a big deal about how my sense of home has changed over the years, thanks to the frequency that my partner and I move around. Home, for me, isn’t a place but wherever Jim is. Yet how to explain those pangs?

Then this morning I had to sort through a heap of photos and the pangs returned. Except this time I wasn’t looking at pictures of south-east SA. These were photos of the Hunter Valley – images of vineyards, restaurants, amazing blue skies, verdant pastures, wildlife, hills, golf courses. Memories. And they tugged, just as hard and just as strong as those I felt in South Australia, and that left me doubting myself. Perhaps it was true. Perhaps my heart did lie in these places, split between SA and NSW.

Testing the theory, I scanned some photos of our time in France and there it was again. That feeling of longing, of special times, of home.

What does this all mean? Well, I think it shows that the places where we’ve felt love gain extra significance in our memories. They stay embedded in our hearts, an integral part of us, associated forever with that most remarkable of emotions. So I stand by my statement that home is where my heart lies, but the places where I’ve lived and loved, like the Hunter Valley, will always remain special because of what I’ve experienced there. It’s also why I write about them, with intensity and passion. These places are as important to me as they are to my characters and if I can make readers feel that connection too, as I hope I’ve done in Heart of the Valley, then I’ve done my job well.