Review: Another round-robin short story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 18, 2013
"Lightning Strikes" is a 24 page short story that precedes "After the Storm" and is also written in the round-robin style.  This one is written by Bonnie McCune, Kim McMahill, Carlene Havel, Trinity Hart and Josie Riviera.  Each author takes a turn at adding to the story and it's fun to see how the writing styles differ.This time Rachel Harman has gone through a bad storm that has knocked the power out in her neighborhood and she has nothing in the refrigerator to eat without having to use the stove or the microwave.  While standing at her open door she smells the delicious scent of steaks barbecueing from her upstairs neighbor's balcony, and he invites her to dinner. Rachel is very hesitant about it, but decides to eat there.  After dinner and before the next storm, Rachel and Luke take a walk around the neighborhood and hear a sound coming from the storm drain.  They investigate and it's a mother cat and her new litter of kittens down in the storm drain and if they aren't removed they will wash away.All this activity on a stormy night brings Rachel and Luke together as friends and possibly more.  The story has the elements of a good storm in the background, work deadlines without computers to finish them, a touch of romance, and a litter of sweet kittens.  There are a few tense moments, too.I really enjoyed this for light reading and learning more about Luke and Rachel.  This is the first in the series,After the Stormis the second one andA Blizzard Weddingis the third.  The authors are members of The Prism Book Group and wrote these to show their different styles of writing.An enjoyable short story to read.