Review: Four Blissful Sweet Peas
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 17, 2012
SUMMARY: An admissions department snafu at Manhattan s prestigious Juilliard School for the Arts, pairs a lovely African American girl in the same dorm room with a blond blue eyed Frenchman. Maybe it's karma, but sparks of frustration turn into the heat of attraction and within the week the pair becomes a couple. But cruel fate steps in at Christmas vacation, when, after a second snafu, the lovebirds.MRS CONDIT'S FAVORITE QUOTE: "The tour of Ellis Island served to remind me that my ancestors brought to America in chains, had not been fortunate enough to come to America as immigrants."COMMENT PROMPT: Should college dorms allow male/female roommates?MRS CONDIT'S OPINION: Dee Dawning's FRENCH KISS packs more into 77 pages than some books pack into 377 pages. This novella drew me in from the party celebrating Cher's acceptance into Julliard School for the Arts to the end when difficult barriers have been overcome to reach a classic, heart-warming HEA.In between these bookends, Cher discovers she has a male roommate, Rene, who persuades Cher not to call admissions and get him switched with the female roommate Cher had expected. Rene and Cher tour New York City and become better acquainted, then friends, on the way to becoming lovers. Cher experiences several firsts, including her first French Kiss, from which the story gets its title.When government red tape turns a love story into a story of loss, the young couple's friends and family step up to try to give them what they really want: each other.This is a character-driven story. Cher is open-minded but cautious and I thought she epitomized everything good about today's strong young women. Cher has an opportunity to do what she has always wanted to do and she is determined to get the education required to achieve that goal. Can she overcome the distraction that Rene represents.Rene is a handsome young man who possesses an inner strength that I didn't expect. Cher takes him home for the holidays, and Rene steps up to the task of impressing her father.Ms Dawning makes the main characters and the charming secondary characters work for the HEA. Nothing worth having is easily obtained and this story proves that point. FRENCH KISS is a charming story, well written, and I recommend it to anyone interested in a good romance that is brief but long enough to entertain. There is no disappointment here.MRS CONDIT'S EVALUATION: 4 blissful sweet peas!