Australian Author Jessica Kate spent much of her childhood in Toowoomba.  Seven years ago she returned and has lived their ever since, finding inspiration in the landscape, community and the childhood memories they evoke, and channelling them into her novels.

Kate grew up on dairy farms on the edge of the Outback and is relieved all those hours spent milking and daydreaming about being an author have actually paid off. Best known for penning inspirational romances with wit, sass and grit, Kate’s latest novel, A Girl’s Guide to the Outback, perfectly combines love and adventure with laugh-out-loud storytelling. Kate is a screenwriting groupie, the cohost of the StoryNerds vlog and podcasts, and is obsessed with sassy romances. She loves watching sitcoms with her housemates and being a leader in a new church plant. Kate packs her novels with love, hate and everything in between. When she is not writing or discussing fiction, she is travelling, searching the world for the greatest pasta in existence. The best pasta she has found so far is the place around the corner from her corporate day job as a training developer in Toowoomba. With a love for adventure, Kate’s favourite place, apart from Mum and Dad’s back deck in the Gold Coast hinterland, is a theme park.

A Girl’s Guide to the Outback is Jessica Kate’s second book. “This was a very fun novel to write,” said Kate. “I’ve always really enjoyed exploring the intricacies of love/hate relationships, especially when it involves characters who have a long history together, and this story allowed me to do that while also channelling some incredible memories of my childhood adventures on Aussie farms. Most of the novel is set on a Queensland farm,” Kate said. “It was so much fun to combine an opposites attract romance with my real farming experiences growing up in both Queensland and New South Wales,” she said. A Girl’s Guide to the Outback follows Samuel (Sam) Payton, a youth minister who is struggling with a looming list of past failures, and his co-worker Kimberly Foster, a fiery, fearless start-up expert who despite her best efforts, clashes with Sam at every turn.

After learning that his family’s farm is on the brink of financial ruin, Sam quits the ministry and returns home to Australia to help his sister, Jules, but soon realises it is going to take professional to help ensure the farm’s long-term survival. Kimberly, now keenly aware that no one at the church can replace Sam, accepts a deal. In exchange for her business expertise, Sam will assist in finding a new pastor for the ministry. Upon arriving in Australia, Kimberly not only begins to think she has found the family she has always wanted, but is also forced to face her growing attraction to Sam. Throughout the story, each character is pushed outside of their comfort zones, and as a result, is left re-evaluating everything they thought they knew about themselves, their faith and one another.

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