REVIEWS FOR ‘TURTLE REEF’ (click on heading for full review)
‘Jennifer Scoullar has a gift; she is able to weave the most extraordinarily beautiful, inspiring stories about Australia’s natural environment, ecology, wild life and conservation into a modern romance. How unique! Ms Scoullar writes with verve and such radiant colours I could almost see myself underwater exploring the Great Barrier Reef, her images are so vivid and engaging:
‘Black fins cut the surface and a vast shadow passed underneath them…Manta Rays, five in all caught in a courtship train of magnificent grace…The larger female leading the dance was five metres across, wingtip to wingtip…The eager suitors mirrored the female’s every move, performing a series of backward rolls, looking for all the world as if they had been choreographed…they reappeared like magic, slicing back into the water many metres from where they had left it, flapping wings like giant birds as they flew away….’
Manta Rays, turtles, dolphins, the colourful fish of the Barrier Reef, even the humble octopus all burst into life on these pages. All descriptions poignant, magnificent, captivating. And by a wonderful coincidence when we went on a walk today along the banks of the Blackwood River (Augusta Western Australia) we came across a playful pod of about five dolphins, close to shore, who delighted us with a display of graceful flips and dives as they powered through the water. What beautiful wild mammals! What a special book.’
All The Books I Can Read
‘I really enjoyed this – I love how Jennifer Scoullar manages to incorporate strong themes of conservation and protection into her stories without making it seem like a lecture.
I found myself moved by the unlikeliest of things – I must congratulate Jen Scoullar because I’m pretty sure I would’ve thought before reading this book it would be impossible to cry over an octopus!’
My Written Romance
‘I’ve been on a real reading roll this weekend. 4 books, 4 winners. Turtle Reef, the latest from Jennifer Scoullar, was one of them.
Vivid, suspenseful and lush in its setting, Turtle Reef is a book I have really been keen to read, and I was so not disappointed! Zoe is a fabulous heroine – brave, intelligent, honest, passionate. Quinn’s a bit of a mystery man, but I think you’ll all like him. How things develop between them….well, I am not going to kill any fairies here, but I really like how it did.’
Write Note Reviews
‘Once again, Scoullar celebrates the Australian environment, but holds it up to scrutiny as something that must be respected if it is to remain celebrated.
Scoullar has delivered a great piece of writing about the tropic north, with descriptive prose that’s vivid, informative and thought-provoking. One to add to your to-read lists, especially if you share a passion for Australian flora and fauna and its preservation.’
The Eclectic Reader
‘Turtle Reef was a particularly special read for me, Kiawa and the Reef Centre bringing with it nostalgic memories of my visits to Bargara and Mon Repos Conservation Centre and more recently Lady Elliot Island (southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef) the highly protected “green zone” sanctuary for marine and other wildlife.
The beauty and diversity of the region, rainforest to reef, the sugar cane fields and hand-in-hand, the challenges of protecting our reef and marine animals from ignorance, age-old traditions, outdated and often dangerous farming practices. I’m passionate about reef protection so you might have guessed I was cheering Zoe on for actively driving the wheels of change. I wonder where Jennifer Scoullar is taking us next? … can’t wait!’
Book’d Out
‘Turtle Reef is Jennifer Scoullar’s fifth novel, and her fourth engaging contemporary regional romance.
Scoullar’s descriptions of the beauty of the reef and the ocean are highlights of the novel.
“All around them lay a tapestry….Brightly coloured parrot fish abounded and were utterly fearless. Zoe could hear the soft chomping of their beaks as the grazed on the branching coral gardens. Blue-spotted lagoon rays scooted past,… and a shovelnose shark, with its strange triangular snout.”
Turtle Reef is a lovely novel from a storyteller whose fiction evokes the romance of the Australian landscape, and the heart.’