A Christmas Match by Tina Radcliffe

From the December 19, 2016 issue

My apologies for being so behind on the blog. I have a novella due in mid January and I'm woefully behind. I'll catch up eventually.

Tagline: Anna never thought she would meet anyone special...then a handsome cabbie drove in to her life!

Woman's World Tropes: Man to the rescue, airport, weather problems

Observations: I liked this story a lot. Come winter time you can bet you're going to get a story set in an airport, and this is the second one we've seen in a little bit. I'm okay with it though. They were different enough that I didn't sigh and think, "Oh no, not another airport story."

One of the things I liked most about this story were the two black moments. The first was very subtle and had to do with the romance. She's just been dropped off at the airport...

"Happy holidays to you as well." She paused, thinking that she wanted to say more, but that was silly, wasn't it? She hardly knew the man.

You see the heroine actively turning away from "love," and the reader worries a little bit, but not too much because we know we'll get a happy ending.

Not too soon after, we get the plot black moment of her missing wallet. I thought it was very clever to insert such anxiety here for us. Woman's World frowns on a lot of drama, like arguing or over the top emotions, but when we read about the possibility of her missing her flight to visit her sister, the new mom, we worry for her. We don't want her to miss out.

The ending was a little tiny bit drawn out, in my opinion, but it didn't hamper my enjoyment of the story.

I want to know where I can get one of those blinking Santa pins!

Photo credit: Andrew Rivett via Flickr Creative Commons License

Shall We Dance? by Elizabeth Palmer

from the December 12, 2016 issue

Tagline: Allison and David wanted adventure for the holidays..and then they realized true love was more important!

Observations: OMG. I. Loved. This. Story. I have tears in my eyes and that hasn't happened in a long time. Let me try to put into words what made this story so outstanding to me.

First, we have an established couple. If you've ever tried to write a story that is not a first meet story, you know how difficult it is. What I have found to work is to find a tiny problem that a couple might have. In the second story I published with Woman's World, it was that a new mother was feeling fat and frumpy. In another, it was the mother of the bride feeling her
empty nest something awful, like Allison in this story. Then the husband steps in and saves the day, like he did in this story, by suggesting they dance.

Allie has a small character arc in which at first, she doesn't want to wear the Santa hat, nor does she want to dance, but she overcomes that reluctance. How does she do it? With that magical flashback memory that I saw just like it was a movie.

The "out-danced" line was funny.

There is sentimentality in droves. It's Christmas. It's their 25th anniversary. And let's not forget the newlywed couple. I was already misty after reading that Madonna flashback paragraph, but when it became clear the honeymoon couple were going to get their honeymoon after all...I was a goner. And then Palmer really nailed it when she had David and Allie go home. Did anyone else get the shivers when they read that final word, "home?" That word has power, especially because they spoke it together. It was the perfect ending.

Photo credit: David Fulmer

Puppy Love! by Tina Radcliffe

From the December 5, 2016 issue

Tagline: Mandy thought love would never find her...then she found puppy love!

Woman's World Tropes: Animals, Pet Shelter

Observations: Very cute story. I liked how time passed, making us feel as if the story was bigger than it was. They met accidentally at the pet rescue shelter. She approaches him at work to ask for a reference. She talks to him again to tell him the good news, and he takes it from there, offering to pick her up when she collects her new pet.

I thought the line about the cuteness factor was great!

Good job, Tina Radcliffe!

Photo credit: Sherry Venegas via Flickr Creative Commons License