Review: A Luke-Warm Kiss
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 29, 2013
Jo Beverley can write outstanding short stories. My introduction to her writing was an extremely good short story that made me look up her other works and start reading them.This story, however, is not one of her best. The hero is young, reclusive and burdened with a startling physical appearance, due to a birth defect. The heroine is cunning, self-serving and desperate. Although she framed her actions as what was best for her children, she could be quite selfish and manipulative regarding the vulnerable younger man.Perhaps if this were a novel rather than a short story, the motivations and character of the hero and heroine would have been fully developed and they would be more convincing.Some of the short "filler" stories on the market are quite good. But rather than authors being inspired to write a short story, they seem to be pushed along, ready or not, to produce the shorter works. That can't be fair to either the author or readers.