An Unexpected Gift

by Kathy Perrin from the May 3, 2010 issue

Tagline: He had welcomed his granddaughter to the world and met a lovely woman named Joy--all in one magical day...

In A Nutshell: A widower is shopping for earrings for his daughter to celebrate the birth of his first grandchild. He hits it off with the saleswoman.

Observations: Sometimes you can build a story around a life event. I did a story once about a woman whose daughter was getting married. This one revolves around the birth of a grandchild.

There is a very subtle black moment in the story, but oddly enough, it has nothing to do with the budding romance. The hero finds out that he can't get the diamond earrings he liked, but Joy has a fantastic solution for him--to get emerald earrings instead because they're the birthstone of his new granddaughter.

The story ended with a clever reference to the jewelry theme:

"...Would you be interested in getting a bite to eat?"

"I'd love to," Joy said, her eyes sparkling like diamonds.

Cute story.

Spam Alert

I sometimes find important email in my spam folder. Like today. Unfortunately, when I tried to transfer it into my inbox, it disappeared. I can't find it anywhere. So, if you emailed me and haven't heard back, that's what happened. Please resend your message!

The House Hunter

by Elaine Togneri from the April 26, 2010 issue

Tagline: Evelyn couldn't say what she loved more about the house--its vintage charm or the great neighbor...

In a Nutshell: Evelyn falls for her real estate agent.

Observations: I really enjoyed this story, but I really wish the tagline hadn't given away the ending. I think if it hadn't, I would have been guessing about how it was going to work out between Randy and Evelyn until the end.

Togneri does a great job of showing their attraction for each other.

--She'd rather have gazed at Randy's mahogany eyes...
--Randy says, "...you're wonderful." Then he goes pink and stammers something about her being a wonderful client. Right. We see through you, Randy, and so does Evelyn!
--Her heart beat faster even though she knew it was just business.
--Later, Evelyn was torn between wanting to finally find her dream home and spending her weekends with Randy.
--She felt Randy's eyes on her and turned away to hide her blush.

We were able to almost see the entire courtship, perhaps because they already had a relationship established. It felt like a longer story than it was. I mean that in a good way. :)

Love Works!

by Tracy Wilson-Burns from the April 19, 2010 issue

Tagline: Rowena didn't believe in office romances--even if she did believe that she was falling for her coworker...

In a nutshell: Rowena is attracted to the new guy at work. After two months, he finally asks her out, but she has an ironclad rule against not mixing business with pleasure, but he reveals that he's only a temp. Yay!

Observations: This story spans a longer period of time than normal--a couple of months. We see the attraction build and experience Rowena's frustration. We also see her bumbling because she's a little nervous around him. I honestly wondered how this romance was going to work out. I hoped she wasn't going to compromise her principles, and she didn't.