Warning: There are spoilers for “The Legacies of Brigadier Station” by Sarah Williams in this review. If you wanted to find a spoiler-free review, it’s not here.
I’m back with another book review, and this time I’m reading “The Legacies of Brigadier Station” by Sarah Williams! This book, as well as the prequels “The Brothers of Brigadier Station” and “The Sky Over Brigadier Station,” was provided to me by Voracious Readers Only in exchange for an honest review. Here’s a summary so we know what this one is about:
“Lachie McGuire is trying to make a fresh start. He’s sobered up and is making amends for all the people he has hurt and the pain he has caused. But some of his past actions have consequences. Even if he doesn’t remember them.
Needing her independence, single-mum Abbie Forsyth accepted a nursing position in the small outback town of Julia Creek and uprooted her daughter, Hannah from the only life she had ever known. Now, in the dusty, sun burned land they are creating a life together, just the two of them.
When Lachie is injured and needs medical assistance, Abbie is there for him. She’s by his side every step of the way, including letting him stay with them while he recovers from surgery. But Abbie knows how volatile life with an addict can be and she has to think about her daughter’s safety above her own growing affection for the handsome grazier.
Then tragedy strikes the small rural town and secrets begin to unravel…”
Trigger warning alert, for those interested in reading:
There is a graphically-described scene of the two main characters finding someone dead by suicide about halfway through the book. Also, given the past of the main hero as mentioned in previous books in this series, there are mentions of domestic and alcohol abuse involved. There are also a few mentions of miscarriage in the book in conversation between characters due to this being a minor sideplot, as well as mentions of pregnancy via one-night-stand that comes up in Abbie and Lachie’s backstories. If any of this makes you uncomfortable as a reader, please read with caution or don’t read this book at all.
Character development: 4 out of 5 stars
Plot development: 4 out of 5 stars
A lot of the plot devoted itself to not just the romance (which played a major role), but also to Lachie struggling to move past everything that happened in the past two books and before that. He’s working on being sober, he’s trying to live a better life, and he eventually learns that he is, in fact, the father of Abbie’s daughter Hannah. Not only does he immediately step up to try to do his best for her, but he’s determined so hard to not fall back into the partying and alcohol lifestyle that he previously did, or go down the abusive route like his dad did. It’s wonderful to see his development in this book.
I enjoyed reading Abbie as a character. I loved reading about her background, seeing her and her daughter Hannah’s interactions and we see how much Abbie really cares for Hannah (which is a lot, given that this takes priority when taking her growing relationship with Lachie into account). She learns to be more open to Lachie who was once in her life and had a one-night stand with, and learns to see that he’s really changed. No, he’s not perfect. Neither is she. But they’re working it out with each other, and it’s good to see that between them. The main pitfall is because the plot focuses so much on the two slowly working through their issues with their pasts and each other, it does drag on a little slowly in the beginning.
Romance development: 4 out of 5 stars
I mentioned a bit of their developing romance already in the previous section, but they do have a better-developed romance here than in the previous book. Yes, they’re initially attracted to each other physically, both are very attractive people, but they do also take the time to get to know each other and learn about each other’s pasts, what they like, the hardships they’ve gone through and so on. Both of them really grow to care for each other (and I mean more than just Abbie initially nursing Lachie to health).
Abbie and Lachie both also want to be good parents to their daughter, which provides a lot of the initial tension in the romance: Given that Abbie was the one raising Hannah for all her life and then, by chance, Lachie ends up back in her life, it’s no wonder Abbie does have initial doubts about whether it’s worth trying. I can also see Lachie’s side of the situation; he didn’t expect to have a daughter but did so because of his past drinking antics and all, and now he’s trying to get better but he’s not sure if he’s even fit to be a dad, given that past of his and his own dad being horrendously abusive to him and his family as well.
Again, were the sex scenes needed? Probably not. They could’ve been cut out. I did like the rest of the romance I read here, however.