A Gust of Good Luck

 by Tina Cambria from the March 28, 2022 issue

Tagline: When a windy day almost sends Megan's life into a tailspin, hero mail carrier Will steps in to save the day--and steals her heart in the process.

Stream of Consciousness Observations:

• What a fantastic opening line.
• Oh, I have been there, done that with the wind taking papers from me. My usual response is to stomp on them. Sure, it's got my footprint on it, but at least it's not going anywhere.
• I get babbly with handsome guys too, thought the older I get, the less I get nervous. 
• Cute joke about the rain and sleet thing. I love seeing a character with a sense of humor.
• Our heroine has priorities! Business before pleasure. Good for her. 
• Well, of course, her handsome paper-rescuer comes into her shop! 
• It occurs to me that she most likely would have had those lease papers way earlier than a week before her grand opening, but this didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story. Nice job, Ms. Cambria!

FYI, this is Vincent Van Gogh's Postman Joseph Roulin (1888). 

Photo credit: Sharon Mollerus via Flickr Creative Commons License

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Ready...Set...Go for Love

by Marla Zarrow from the March 7, 2022 issue

Tagline: After losing his wife, Matt doesn't know if he's ready to get back into dating...until a beautiful waitress shows him that the time is just right.

Stream of Consciousness Observations:

For those of you new to the blog, stream of consciousness observations are just my thoughts, as they occur to me while reading the story.

• Right off the bat I see we're about to get a matchmaker story. Nice! I love those.
• Oh, a widower too. I think we all have soft spots for a man, adrift because he's lost his partner in life. I immediately want to take care of him, maybe cook him some good food.
• Aha, another tried and true Woman's World trope--moving to a new town--with one of the best reasons--to be closer to family.
• There is a great couple of paragraphs where I really get the feeling I'm in a small town. Here's why...Zarrow mentions the town center. Once you get past a certain size, there's no real town center. There's just a sprawl. The diner (a small town requirement) is called Sandra's Breakfast Spot. This is not a hipster place where you're going to find quinoa or kale. This is just a no-frills place where you can get a good breakfast. Lastly, The people in line shifted good-naturedly as Matt 'pardoned' his way through. Where I live, he'd probably have gotten dirty looks.
• His daughter had found a good one. This shows Matt has a gratitude attitude, which I think is admirable. It's always a good idea to make your characters likeable. 
• Kinda weird that they ordered before Matt even got there.
• "Why don't I surprise you?" You already have, Matt thought. -- We want to show the reader the main character's thoughts and feelings so they can live vicariously through the story, however, we also want the story narrative to flow. I'm getting to the point where I feel the flow is being interrupted too much, especially when we've already firmly established Matt's interest in Sandy.
• I love Charlie. He's hilariously precocious. 
• On the whole, cute story.

Photo by jenn b. via Flickr Creative Commons License

The Sweetest Setup of All

 by Shelley Cooper from the February 28, 2022 issue

Tagline: Scaring guys off is police officer Serena's unwitting specialty...until a dinner meetup with an old friend completely turns her luck around.

Observations: This reminded me of a story I wrote a few years ago about a kiss, prompted by a game of Truth or Dare but foiled by the camp counselor, back when the hero and heroine were at summer camp. Fast forward many years later, they accidentally meet and eventually share that kiss. The stories even share a little epilogue paragraph describing the kiss. Great minds think alike! LOL

Cooper's humor is the star here. Here are the lines that made me laugh.

"I'm on call." And if I got lucky, I'd be called to a crime scene any second now.

"So," Max said, breaking the silence, "act in any plays lately?"

"Are you referring to what my family calls 'The Yuck Heard 'Round the World?'" - If I had been drinking a beverage when I read this, I'd have spit on my computer.

Photo by Greg Gjerdingen via Flickr Creative Commons License