Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE: Davo

AUTHOR: N.R. Walker

PUBLISHER: BlueHeart Press

LENGTH: 169 pages

RELEASE DATE: April 28, 2022

BLURB:

When Fergus Galloway takes on a research trip to a tiny mining town in the far Western Australian outback, he’s as far from Sydney as he can get.

Which is entirely the point.

He arrives in Pannalego totally unprepared for the baking heat, unprepared for the people who call it home, unprepared for the craziness and the laughs. And absolutely unprepared for the man he meets there who steals his heart.

Davo is a mining man, as rugged as he is gorgeous. Loves his found family, loves where he lives, and loves his life. He also loves the feel of soft fabric on his skin.

What was supposed to be a short field trip changes Fergus’s life. Going to a place many call uninhabitable might turn out to be the only place he wants to live.

REVIEW:

Davo is fantastic, the book and the character. I adore them both. This story is sweet, romantic, and fluffy – just like Davo’s pink tulle skirt – and will top the list of my go-to comfort reads, to be savored again and again and again. This love story is perfect – I wouldn’t change a thing.

The setting for the book is Pannalego, the most isolated mining town in Australia, 3,500 kilometers from Sidney. There are only twenty permanent residents in this town of 200 where most of the workers fly in and fly out for two weeks at a time. It’s a red dirt desert where the temperature is 113 degrees the day city boy Fergus arrives. Fergus is an anthropologist from Sidney whose chose to come to Pannalego for a four-week study of the human aspects of the mining industry.

Fergus is stunned when he meets Davo the first night he’s in town. He’s so handsome and pretty and … wearing a skirt.

“God, the skirt. He had the body of a footballer, grease-stained hands, work boots, and a pretty skirt. It was an Achilles heel I didn’t know I had, apparently.”

He’s gentle and caring and he wants Fergus badly. They are massively hot together and I’m not referring to the climate. They are like bunnies – can’t get enough of each other – and it’s sexy AF. Fergus worries that after only a few days together his heart might be in a little bit of trouble when he starts craving more than just sex – the cuddling, the conversation, just hanging out. Couples stuff. The men fall in love quickly but it feels real and in keeping with the situation and timeframe. The emotions are deep between these two.

If you like found family stories, like I do, this is one for you. Pannalego is chock full of eccentric characters – including a foul-mouthed bird – who add so much to the story. (For Red Dirt Heart fans, there’s even a guy here who made a wombat sculpture!) These are the permanent residents who provide the sense of community which is the real reason they’re all working there in what others would call adverse conditions – the oppressive heat and isolation – but they call home.  They’ve built a home of found family that makes the place so much more than just mining. Every character is kind, welcoming, and unique. Everyone is free to be themselves; there’s no judgement, all are accepted. No one cares that Fergus is gay, and no one bats at an eye at the guy wearing a skirt. Each contributes to the community to make it something Fergus didn’t know he craved.

“I wanted to be included. I wanted to contribute. It didn’t exactly make sense, but I wanted to . . . I wanted to be a part of something. Even if it was just for a few weeks. I wanted to belong.”

He finds himself reassessing his life and his priorities. The underlying message in Davo is to find beauty in the world around you, whether it’s the stunning landscape that N.R. Walker brings to life with her imagery, or the people who surround you. The sunsets, the millions of stars above, an oasis in the middle of the barren land – these are the things that feed Davo’s soul, the things he guides Fergus to see as the truly important things in life. Community, natural beauty, friendship, respect.

Davo is truly beautiful and special, and the epilogue – five years down the road – has a fun, heartwarming twist. This book left me with a sense of peace. Highly recommended.

RATING: 

BUY LINK:

Amazon