Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Key to Her Heart by Shelley Cooper

Tagline: Brian didn't quite get the school's art project until a beautiful woman revealed its true meaning...

Observations: This story made me a little teary at the end, so obviously I liked it.

I enjoyed the freshness of the male POV, even if the story from the Feb 16 issue is also a male POV. It's rare enough so it's still a nice change.

I loved Brian's reaction when he sees her face.

She whirls to face me. "Oh, you startled me!" My heart's racing too, but for an entirely different reason. Man, oh, man, is she beautiful. And, I'm pretty sure she's not one of my students' parents.

I loved the backstory about her grandparents and her nephew. So creative. And the quick wrap-up is perfect too.

The only minor thing that bothered me was that, like Brian, I didn't see the purpose in the key art project. I wish that had been touched upon. Perhaps the children were reading a story about keys, or the art teacher had talked about some other art project that was contributed to by the public... I don't know. I just know that it sort of bugged me that there didn't appear to be any meaning attached to the keys on the fence, and maybe that's because I used to teach elementary school. I look forward to hearing your opinions in the comments.

February 8, 2016 issue
Photo credit: Taki Steve

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, Kate! I really loved this story, it was probably one of my all-time favorites.

You're right, I didn't get a sense of why they specifically did the key project. I've seen these installations in real life -- all of the keys together feels very symbolic for some reason, perhaps because keys represent home and family, and there are so many stories behind each one.

Anyway, thanks for the review -- I agree, it was a fantastic story!

Betsi said...

Another winner from Shelley!

Pat said...

I also loved this story. Such a different premise. Great job, Shelley.

Mary Jo said...

This is another story with an unusual concept incorporated into the "Romance." Are we seeing the new Fiction Editor's handiwork here? Go, Patricia!

Sandy Smith said...

I agree that this was a different story and I liked it. I didn't read it until after reading the review, so I don't know what I would have thought if I'd read it before, but I do think a simple explanation of the project might have been helpful. Just a few words when he is remembering it could have worked. But maybe that was edited out. It was a sweet story.