A Fortunate Encounter

by B.J. Heinlein from the March 1, 2010 issue

In A Nutshell: Jenny is at a charity bazaar and visits the fortuneteller. She is told that the man of her dreams will show up soon, wearing a blue tie with green stripes and that she will soon land a big marketing account. The next day, a man wearing just such a tie brings her a new marketing account, but only because his grandmother was the fortuneteller, filling in for the real one.

Observations: When I saw the story was about a fortuneteller, I wondered if the heroine was going to believe in them or not. She didn't, and it was easy to identify with her. She was smart about pinpointing clues that the fortuneteller's talent wasn't real, so when she leaves the tent, we're confident the lady was a fake. However, when the guy shows up wearing that (must have been ugly) tie, we're surprised and read on to find out was the fortuneteller for real?

The fortuneteller was equally smart, getting Jenny's business card so she knew where to send her grandson.

Cute story.

The Matchmaker

by Tamara Shaffer from the February 22, 2010 issue

Tagline: Aunt Grace knew that all Laura and Grady needed was a little nudge in the right direction...

In A Nutshell: Grace has always wanted her niece Laura to find someone after Laura's husband died. When Laura needs someone to paint the exterior of her house, Grace suggests Grady, a friend of her husband's. They hit it off.

Observations: The matchmaker plot is nothing new to Woman's World, however, this story felt fresh. Why? I think it's because it came from the point of view of the matchmaker herself. Usually matchmaker stories are told from the point of view of one of the matchees.

Another thing that made this story a little different is that it really focused a lot on Grace's character. Sure, the hero and heroine are moving forward in their romance, but it's Grace's personality that really comes through.

She is so unapologetic about her endeavor.

Even my loving but skeptical husband, Charlie, is impressed with how neatly I managed this one.

You see more of Grace's feistiness here:

"He's available," Charlie said, giving me one of his looks, "for painting. I hope you're not trying to play Cupid again."

I went right to Laura.

Lastly:

"Grady invited me to a movie," [Laura] said, with more enthusiasm than I'd heard from her in a long time. "I can't thank Uncle Charlie enough for referring him to me."

And I couldn't wait to tell Charlie.

I Know You By Heart

by Kate Karyus Quinn from the February 8, 2010 issue

Tagline: Amanda knew that David was happy being "just friends"--but that wasn't enough for Amanda anymore...

In A Nutshell: Amanda is having dinner with her best friend, David. David cuts the evening short and Amanda is worries it's because of an offhand comment about the two of them knowing each other by heart. The next day is her birthday and she doesn't hear from him until late. A text message directs her to go to a certain restaurant. When David shows up with an engagement ring, Amanda realizes he loves her.

Observations: This was an amazing story. I loved it for so many reasons.

1. The title is probably the best WW story title I've ever seen.

2. She hooks you right off the bat with this paragraph:

"Happy Birthday, Miss Amanda May." These were the words Amanda's best friend, David, had greeted her with each birthday for the last 10 years. She was pretty sure she wouldn't hear them this year. Not after she had ruined everything.

3. Her third and fourth paragraphs pack a double whammy. They forward the plot AND give you their history.

4. The story is firmly set in the present. Sometimes these sweet stories seem like they take place in yesteryear, but David texts Amanda--very modern.

5. There was a black moment, something I always like in a WW story:

This is the part where he lets me down gently, she thought.

6. Throughout this story you find out so much about the couple. It's peppered in very skillfully--so skillfully I didn't notice one of the instances until after several reads.

There, on the lifeline she had traced during her palm-reading stage, was a ring with a sparkling emerald at its center.

7. The use of the title phrase, "I know you by heart" came up twice in the story. First, it was the phrase Amanda blamed for ruining their friendship, and later, after he'd proposed, she realizes that David knew her by heart, too. This is tight writing, building in a nice sense of closure.

In My Humble Opinion: It's only after reading this several times that I notice the text is pretty wordy.


Meet me at the bistro across the street from the Mexican restaurant with the awesome salsa, and next door to the bad dry cleaners.

If it were a real text, he probably would have named the restaurant and been done with it. However, I forgive the author this. We needed to be let in on their inside "joke." :)

The Book of Love

by Elizabeth Palmer from the February 15, 2010 issue

Tagline: Holly had noticed the handsome grad student who spent so many hours in the library. Had he really noticed her?

Observations: First person present tense is not my preference, however, I think it worked for this story. It can keep the reader in the moment, making the action feel more immediate.

This story had your typical threesome: the hero and heroine, and a friend. The friend is handy character for getting backstory across.

Secrets in stories can go two ways. One, you keep the secret from everyone and reveal it as a plot twist. Or two, you reveal it to the reader, but not to the characters in the story. "The Book of Love" took the latter route. We know Byron likes the Sylvia. Sylvia's the only dunderhead who doesn't realize, but it can be fun for a reader to feel she's in on a secret. It's like being invited to a surprise party.

My Favorite Part: When Byron "peers up, as though the answer is on the ceiling." LOL

Like Clockwork

by Ann Poland from the January 25, 2010 issue

Tagline: Michelle had to know more: Who was the good-looking guy who walked by every day--and was he single?

In A Nutshell: Michelle is curious about the man who passes her hair salon every day at the same time. One day she follows him. She loses him. She follows him two more times and fails. Finally, on her fourth try, he smoothly ambushes her and smiling, tells her he knew she was following him. When she tells him why, he admits to being a detective! He's been visiting his grandfather at the residence hotel. They have coffee together, then many brunches.

Observations: I thought this story was cute. I liked the two plot twists. The first was when Michelle herself was surprised. The second was when we found out he was a detective.

I also noticed the backstory on this story is skillfully dribbled in, instead of presented at the beginning of the story, which is a nice change of pace.

As for the ending, it's one of those WW soft happily ever after endings, where they're not quite ready for a wedding, but they're in a relationship.

Old School Friends

by Ginny Swart from the February 1, 2010 issue.

Tagline: It took a ghost from her husband's past to remind Kelly just how happy she and Scott were in their marriage.

In A Nutshell: When Kelly's husband, Scott, finds old school chums on an online social network, she feels like she doesn't measure up to one of his old girlfriends. Kelly even sarcastically suggests he look her up while on his upcoming business trip. Luckily, Scott understands that Kelly is exhausted from tending their sick child. After confessing her woes to a friend, the friend sets her straight, so when Scott returns home from a business trip, she's her confident self again. They both realize how lucky they are when the old girlfriend proves to be completely undesirable when compared to Kelly.

Observations: I happen to know that this is Ginny Swart's first sale to WW. She did a fantastic job. I love this story. The "problem" of finding old flames on the internet is contemporary and is something the modern woman can relate to.

WW likes their stories to be positive, however that doesn't mean your characters have to be problem free. I loved how Swart showed the heroine's vulnerability and self-doubt without making her seem whiny. It was clear she was overtired from her duties as a stay-at-home mom.

Another thing I loved was seeing how supportive Scott was of her. Swart shows this in three places:

1. When he notices his wife isn't herself, he says, "I'll finish cleaning up. Go watch TV."

2. After doing the dishes, he goes to her and says, "What's up? You seem unhappy lately."

3. Kelly complains, "My guess is she'll (the old girlfriend) be driving a fancy car and have a beautiful apartment. And she'll look fabulous." To which Scott replies, "Like you do when our daughter isn't keeping you up. Beth's almost over the chicken pox. When she's better, you'll feel better, too. Being a mom is hard work."

4. Scott also gives a big speech at the end of the story in which he tells Kelly that seeing the old flame made him realize how wonderful their marriage is, something Kelly had already re-discovered while he was gone.

Swart really makes the reader want a man like Scott.

In My Humble Opinion:

This transition seemed abrupt, but perhaps was necessary considering the very tight word count.

Scott gave her a squeeze. "You're forgiven. And now that your patient is better, any chance of finding a babysitter so the two of us can have dinner out?"

They'd ordered dinner and were sipping their wine when Kelly asked lightly, "So did you see Charlene?"

See that? A zero word transition. One moment they're home and discussing a date and the next the date is ending and they're talking.

Also, while I really liked this story a lot, the ending didn't flood me with a super warm feeling like some WW stories do. It was a good solid ending, but not a superb one.

Hope and Happiness

by Nell Musoff from the January 18, 2010 issue

Tagline: Zach was focused only on the challenges that lay ahead--until Betsy changed his point of view...

In A Nutshell: Zach gets laid off. This means no new car, no vacation, no starting a family yet. He agonizes over telling his wife, but finds out she already knows. She has news of her own: she's pregnant. Zach realizes they'll make it through this fine because they love each other.

Observations: This story does not have three acts. It only has two. The first act, as is often the case with WW stories, establishes the situation. Once we know what Zach's situation is, we move on to the action--when he gets home and has to break the news to his wife that he got laid off.

There was a black moment, which I always like to see in these short stories. Did you see it? I'll mention it in the comments, in case you don't have a copy of the story in front of you.

The story also had a one sentence epilogue:

And so we did.

Awww. That referred to naming their baby Hope.

Nell Musolf surprised me two times in this story, another thing I adore. I really didn't expect the wife to already know he'd been laid off. And, believe it or not, I actually didn't anticipate her being pregnant either. LMAO. When I read that, I felt like a dummy, but I still was happy for the couple.

Driven by Love

by Christine Pedersen from the January 11, 2010 issue

Tagline: If Amy's car could talk, it would have quite a love story to tell!

In a Nutshell: A car notices its owner, Amy, is interested in a young man who works in the same building. When Amy is transfered to another building, the car refuses to start at an opportune moment. The man "comes to the rescue," and the rest is history.

Observations: This is the strangest story to come out of Woman's World in a very long time because it's written in the car's point of view. However, I thought it was fun. Take the first line, for instance:

Men love me.

Cute, huh!

Still, even though it's the car telling the story, the story has the classic three act structure, and even a very unusual "epilogue" paragraph.

1. Set-up or backstory: You find out about the relationship of the car and its owner, Amy. You also find out the car's goal: find Amy a man.

2. Introduce the hero, the attraction between them: Matt works in her building. They chat. Amy calls a friend to tell her about him. They lunch.

3. Introduce the conflict,: Amy gets transferred. Car refuses to start. Matt "fixes" the car. They go to dinner. They kiss.

4. HEA: Literally this time, they live happily ever after, because the car boasts about having to wear the "Just Married" sign.

My Favorite Part: One day, she pulled into a parking spot next to a nice sedan, sparkling clean and with properly inflated tires. LMAO My only complaint is that I would have made it read like this:

One day, she pulled into a parking spot next to a nice sedan, sparkling clean.

And with properly inflated tires.

That little pause, I think, makes it a teensy bit funnier. Otherwise, I really liked this story.

Julie's Knight

by Mary Ann Joyce from the January 4, 2010 issue

Tagline: When he appeared in her life, Julie realized she'd been waiting for someone like Sam

In a Nutshell: Julie owns a clothing shop and is putting the finishing touches on her display window. There's a contest in her small town. A man compliments her window. He owns a new store and invites her to come see his window. When she finally does, she sees a message there asking her out to dinner.

Observations: This is an average story. Nothing really stood out for me to mention, except the ending was very cute. I'd sure go out with Sam.

WW Standbys: First meet, Matchmaker (sister sent Sam over)

Peach-Flavored Kisses

by Jill Lynn Anderson from the December 28th issue

Tagline: Would Kay's husband be as happy as she was about the unexpected turn of events?

In a Nutshell: Kay is waiting for the results of her home pregnancy test. She and her husband have college-aged kids and she's worried about his reaction. Turns out, he already suspected and is "more than okay" with it.

Observations: This is a change of pace for WW in that it's about an already married couple. Also, it obviously acknowledges that sex happens! I found it to be a welcome change. Note the difference in story structure.

A good half of the story is spend in Kay's head as the reader gets the backstory that she and her husband Gabe have twin girls that they just sent to college and that they planned to retire in eight years. We also find out when the baby might have been conceived.

The second half of the story deals with Gabe's arrival home. There is a brief black moment when Gabe announces that he bought a sailboat and Kay assumes it's the full sized boat they planned to retire on, but it turns out it's a bath toy. The author then shows that Gabe is happy about the news and that the couple's future looks rosy.

As much as I enjoyed the freshness of plot that didn't hinge on two people meeting, this story didn't tug my heartstrings very much.

A Purrfect Christmas

by Lisa Weaver from the December 21, 2009 issue

Tagline: For Dan and his daughter, it looked as though this Christmas would indeed be wish-come-true time.

In a Nutshell: Dan, a widower, isn't having any luck finding a kitten for his daughter for Christmas. A co-worker helps him out by giving him the name of a friend who has kittens to give away. Turns out the friend is a woman Dan helped a few months ago. She'd been having trouble coaxing a hurt stray cat out from under a car. Of course, one of the kittens is thereby earmarked for Dan's daughter, and they make a date.

Observations: I was told once that you can get away with one big lie in a story, but after that you have to tell the truth, otherwise you risk losing your readers. Often in WW stories, the one big lie you have to swallow as a reader is a coincidence. In "A Purrfect Christmas" the coincidence is that when Dan meets the kitten purveyor, she just happens to be the woman he helped a few months ago.

Luckily, Weaver doesn't push the envelope like Hickerson did in "Fairy Tale Beginning."

Also, it's worth noting that the hero in this story is a Nice Guy. In romance novels, the aggressive, virile man dominates. Often he has a lot of emotional baggage. Here, in WW stories, not so much. Dan is a good example.

1. He's a widower, but isn't beating himself up over the loss of his wife.
2. He is a great father. You see it in the snippet of dialogue he has with his daughter and how he's bending over backward to find her a kitten.
3. He helps total strangers rescue injured stray cats.

What more proof do you need that he's relationship material for any woman found between the pages of the WW magazine??? :)

I didn't have a favorite part. This story was solid, but not particularly moving for me.

Question: What did you think of the character of Abby?

Home Again

by Andi Renskoff from the December 14, 2009 issue

Tagline: Matt was happy to be back home--and running into Dana made him happier still.

In a Nutshell: Matt has moved back to his home town to take care of his aging parents. He runs into Dana at a flea market. They used to go to the same high school. After renewing their acquaintance, he admits he was afraid to ask her out, way back when. She admits she wished he had.

Observation: Stories in which the hero and heroine share a past are common in Woman's World. It's a handy way to get your reader to connect with your characters because we all have someone in our pasts that we remember with wistful fondness.

In this story, Renskoff gives Matt a very brief memory of Dana painting a tree on the lawn of the high school. In the memory, they don't even really interact, but the author paints it with a sentimental brush when she explains how that memory had "resurfaced years ago in the trenches of combat training and again during a lonely breakfast in an airport restaurant." So even though their relationship was almost non-existent, we still understand Matt's feelings about her.

There is no rising action or climax in this story, which is also common. Wait a minute. I just reread the end and see that there's a moment when Dana is paying for the toy chest when you might think they're going to say goodbye, but any worry the reader might feel that they're never going to see each other again is slight and brief.

Note: The painting shown is "Storm in Home Park" by John Walsom

Dear Santa

by April Knight from the December 7, 2009 issue.

Tagline: Tory's letter to Santa helped her discover what love is really all about...

In a Nutshell: When Tory's co-worker at the Dollar Store suggests she ask Santa for a man for Christmas, Tory writes a letter requesting a gorgeous, fantasy man, but she immediately feels wistful because that type of man would probably never be interested in her.

Then, in walks an average guy who wants gifts for kids at the school where he used to work as a teacher, but because of layoffs, is now working as a custodian.

In the course of conversation, he remarks, "I keep hoping some nice lady will put me on her wish list, but I don't think anyone would be interested in an unemployed teacher." He invites them to a holiday program his school is putting on and leaves.

Tory realizes the custodial Santa is more in line with what she really wants for Christmas.

Observations: This story follows the classic three act structure. Act One: We start out with the convo between the friends, setting up the goal: Tory wants a man for Christmas. After she determines that she wants someone rich, handsome, and strong, we get the conflict: she's feels she's undesirable (short, 20 pounds overweight, has a sucky job.) And immediately, probably every woman who reads Woman's World identifies with her.

Act Two: The hero comes in. We find out he has sparkly brown eyes. He's not married, which is always a fact that you have to establish in these "first meet" stories. He's dedicated to his (ex-)job. Through some clever conversation, Knight gets him to confess he's wanting a lady for Christmas, just like Tory is. Lastly, he leaves the flyer for the program, which acts as the plot device so that Tory can contact him/see him again.

Act Three: Tory realizes how shallow and insincere she was when she jotted that letter to Santa, hence the character grows during the course of the story. Each of her worries about her own flaws, the hero has. She's short and so is he. She's overweight and he's losing his hair. She's insecure about her job, he's a custodian. There is no real climactic moment when we fear all is lost. We only get a little devil's advocate conversation with the co-worker, but the story still works.

My Favorite Part: Even though Tory is sad when she says this, I laughed: "I wonder if some man is writing a list of things he's looking for in a woman. Do you think he'd say he wanted a short, brown-haired woman who's twenty pounds overweight and who works in an 'everything's a dollar' store?"

My Nit-Picks: Political correctness often rubs me the wrong way, especially when it's contrived. For instance, in the first Twilight movie, Bella's circle of friends was so perfectly, and implausibly, racially balanced. I fully embrace multi-culturalism but don't think it's necessary to twist a story in order to appear all-inclusive.

In "Dear Santa," Knight (or the editor) chose to list three holidays:

"I made it a tradition to give each of my kindergartners a Christmas, Chanukah, or Kwaanza gift."

*sighs* Don't get me wrong. I respect everyone's choices as to religion and/or holiday. To each his own. But wouldn't it have just been easier to say, "a holiday gift?"

Also, the ending line is "I guess I do believe in Santa after all," and I think Knight missed an excellent opportunity to make the story come full circle if she'd had Rose say she didn't believe in Santa at the beginning of the story.

Subscriptus Interruptus

Well, it appears I've let my subscription lapse. LOL. You know how they start sending those "Your subscription is going to run out!" notices like six months before your subscription really runs out? Well, apparently I misjudged when I truly had to send in the moola.

Review/analyses will resume when my magazines start coming again.

Fairy-tale Beginning

by M.L. Hickerson from the October 26, 2009 issue.

Tagline: The last person Jim expected to meet in the park was a real-life Show White!

In a nutshell: Jim is dressed as a prince for the Halloween party in the children's ward at the hospital where he works as a doctor. His car breaks down near the hospital and he's forced to walk the rest of the way across the park. On the way, he surprises a woman dressed as Snow White. When she hits her head after falling, he convinces her to come to the hospital with him. Her daycare class (the seven dwarves) join the hospital party and Jim and "Snow" make a date to see each other again.

Observations: Making the Snow White story come to life is an adorable idea for a story, but challenging. Jim has to dress as a prince because there were no other costumes left. Check. I buy that. I can believe that he has to trek into the woods of the park to get to the hospital. I can even believe he happens upon Snow White in the park, with her dwarf-like charges. However, my imagination was stretched a tad too far when I saw her name was Miss White. I'll admit to rolling my eyes a little there. Otherwise, I thought this story was very cute.

Woman's World Stand-bys: Car trouble

My Favorite Part: I laughed when I read, "...so he locked his car and took off into the woods." Oh, brother, that cracked me up. It was that classic, "What NOW?" moment for poor dressed-in-a-puffy-shirt Jim.

A Cup of Joe

by Lori Hoffman, from the October 12, 2009 issue.

Tagline: A chance encounter in a coffee shop convinced Kat it was time to put the past behind her...

In a Nutshell: Kat is divorced. Her brother convinces her to go on a blind date at a coffee shop. She drops her cup, splashes coffee on her sweater, makes a mess, is embarrassed. A kind man comes to help her out. She assumes it's her date, but it's not. She gets a call from her brother saying the friend had to cancel and didn't have her cell number. It's okay with Kat because she's having a nice time with the mystery man, Joe.

Observations: Divorce is common in WW stories. It's a handy way to make a character older than twenty-something, and yet not seem like a "loser" for not having settled down yet. It also gives a character some backstory, making them a little more sympathetic to the reader. Kat is divorced and hesitant about entering the dating world again.

This story is interesting to me because it has two climactic moments. The first is when she drops the cup and breaks it. I know that doesn't sound like much of a "big black moment" but Kat sees that as a sign that she's not ready for dating yet. The reader fears she's going to spurn love before she even gives it a chance.

Then the hero arrives!

He demonstrates caring (helping her clean up), an interest (he's been watching her and even knows how she likes her coffee now), and attractive. He also turns out to be honest, even if he's a little late in showing it.

This is when the second black moment occurs. She finds out this guy isn't Ben, her blind date. He had dodged her first attempt to identify him as her blind date deftly, but comes clean when she asks the second time, as a true hero should.

The story ends with the two of them enjoying coffee together, so it's your typical HEA, WW style, which is HOPEFULLY Ever After, not HAPPILY.

Favorite part: Hoffman made me laugh with this line: "...and I'll try to keep my coffee in my cup while I listen."

Plan for 2010!

I'm proud to announce that I'll be presenting my workshop, "The Secrets of Selling to Woman's World Magazine," via the Colorado Romance Writers in February, 2010. More details to come!

Save the Date

by Gina Vasquez from the June 15, 2009 issue

Tagline: Krissy couldn't care less about her ex-husband's upcoming wedding. In fact, she was looking forward to the day...now.

Stream of Consciousness Analysis:

As you can tell by the tagline, the ex-husband invites her to his wedding--his and Krissy's former best friend's! Wow. The gall of some people!

Krissy's sister phones to commiserate about the invitation and the tacky fridge magnet that was enclosed. Krissy, admirably, chastises her sister when she tries to bad-mouth the ex-and-soon-to-be-again hubby.

After hanging up, Krissy goes to the hardware store to look for a solution to her dilapidated fence. The author manages to get a physical description in there for Krissy.

It was cute how the boys "literally bounced off a tall man coming out of a side aisle and landed on their bottoms."

Wow! was Krissy's first thought. I wonder if he's single? This establishes the heroine's interest.

Oh, we find out the guy's a fire fighter because her sons boldly ask. YUM. Why can't my sons find me a hunky fire fighter? Maybe because I'm married. LOL

Of course the man is divorced. He invites her to attend the Firefighters Chili Cook-off, which happens to be on the day of the wedding, and smart girl that she is, Krissy opts to taste chili with the hunk rather than suffer at the wedding.

This was a well-written story. Tight, real, sweet. It follows a basic formula: set up the backstory, move into the humorous meeting, establish the fact that he's single, set up a future date.

A Kiss for Juliet

by Lauren Andreano from the June 1 issue.

Tagline: Allie had always known who the real Romeo was...

I'm liking the Stream of Consciousness method of analysis. So here we go again.

It's funny because my son was recently in a school play, but it was nothing as high-falootin' as Romeo and Juliet. It was called "Who Killed Elvis?" and was a comedy.

Two parents are dropping their daughter and the daughter's friend off at the high school. They're performing in Romeo and Juliet. The dad, Gary, launches into a oft told story of how the mom also played Juliet and how he fell in love with her back in the day. I laughed when the girls started quoting his story verbatim.

It's clever how Andreano tells the romance story through the girls retelling. I laughed when they referred to Gary as Montague #5.

The girls leave the car and Andreano lays a surprise on me that I didn't see coming. Gary whips out a present, a gold rose pin, as a token of his love.

I only have one question. Where can I get a man like that??? LOL

This was an excellent example of a story showing an already established couple rather than a first meet.

The Setup

by Anna Jo Christopher from the June 8, 2009 issue.

Tagline: Sara realized that her big brother had an ulterior motive for the dinner invitation...but she didn't mind.

This week I'm going to do that stream of consciousness analysis. I'm pressed for time these days and it's faster. :) Hopefully, it's as valuable.

It's a first person, present tense. That immediately invites your reader to be your friend. The tone is intimate, chummy.

Sara tells you a little anecdote about big brother Mark coming to her rescue when a schoolmate, Gary, scared her with a spider. Hmm. I'm immediately wondering if Gary ends up to be the love interest.

She tells about how he gave her dates the third degree. I read this with wistfulness, wishing I had had a big brother, or even a dad, who did that for me.

We move to act two of the story. Mark and his wife have invited Sara to dinner. Christopher makes me laugh when she give Sara the excuse of needing to organize her closet. It's cute when Mark gives her a guilt trip by saying her niece will be disappointed.

Sara arrives at dinner and Mark springs a surprise male guest on her. I didn't like how he put her on the spot saying, "I'm sure you remember this guy." Way to make her feel awkward if she doesn't remember!

Oh, of course, it's Gary the spider boy. Point for Kate.

Christopher has done such a good job, that in the third act when Gary walks Sara to her car, I feel like I'm intruding. LOL

Okay, the story does not end with them making a date, which is surprising. We actually go into what amounts to an epilogue in which we see they're still dating seriously after six months. Christopher brings the story full circle by ending it with Sara thinking about how lucky she is to have such a great big brother.

This is the first story in a couple of months that I really liked. I think I just have a soft spot for protective males. What did you think?