Tagline: Jessie had just moved into a new home and needed someone to help her with the painting...
Observations: I loved this story. On the surface, it was your typical "man to the rescue" story with a little "matchmaker" thrown in for good measure. I really love when stories span more than a day. This one went on for weeks as they got to know each other over several dinners. I would like to have seen a bit more about those dinners, but didn't mind the lack because the black moment was so good.If you're new to the blog, let me explain black moments to you. There comes a time in every book, movie or story that things look very bleak. In romances, you think they couple will never get their Happily Ever After.
In this story, I found the black moment to be particularly sad. It was this sentence that did it.
Two days later, she arrived home to find the papers gone and her spare house key sitting there.
What an image, right? How appropriate that the key is sitting there all by itself, just like Jessie is. I really felt her disappointment keenly. If you can make your reader feel something the way Haugh did in that black moment, then the happy ending will be that much happier.
I also liked the surprise that he wasn't actually a house painter. I had an inkling something was odd when Dwayne had said he wasn't sure he was the right guy for the job. I also thought he might end up painting a trompe-l'oeil mural directly on the wall, exposing a talent he didn't know he'd had, but the way Haugh did it was just as good.
Great story!
Photo credit: Ewen Roberts via Flickr CC license
4 comments:
I thought it was strange that she'd invite this man, whom she hardly knew, to dinner every week, and also wonder where she was for the two days the check sat on her table. I thought the missing window and the painting for her kitchen wall created a fresh approach to the new-house-don't-know-anyone theme. I agree the author allowed the reader to feel her moment of desolation when she got his note and that tiny key being all that was left -- so she thought.
This was a cute story. I agree with Tamara, though, that I don't know somebody would volunteer to cook dinner once a week for someone she had just met. What if she didn't like him at all once she got to know him! But finding out he was a different kind of painter made for a nice twist.
I loved this story also. As a person who loves to cook, I had no problem with the dinners.
Kate, I also thought it was odd when he said he didn't know if he was the man for the job. Loved that he was an artist and willing to take the job anyway.
Great story.
I just finished reading the Harlequin story in the April 16th issue. I think it was the closest story to the WW guidelines that I've read since the program started. Fun story.
You know, it's funny, because i"m usually the first person to call "implausible" on a WW story, but I thought nothing of her inviting him to dinner. LOL
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