Review: Charming, clever, and definitely loving!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 23, 2013
This is a charming short story with a somewhat sneaky edge to it. One of the partners hears about a "list" over the radio, one that enumerates behaviors of a cheating partner. It raised some red flags for me. Now I love shadowy, sometimes unbalancing undercurrents that could flow in all kinds of directions. However, this suspicious little list seemed almost too deliciously direct and created a natural path for conclusion jumping just as I felt the chatty radio folk called Mikey and Margie wanted to cleverly encourage from their listeners. I was so glad the author handled this list better than I suspected it would be handled.Rachel is the partner who hears this list. Within days, she is afraid her lover is exhibiting every one of the listed items. Her sense of well-being takes a major nosedive. I truly hurt along with Rachel, although I didn’t really put much faith in the value of the list. What is important is Rachel believed in it. Rachel is also extremely compassionate as shown in her work as a veterinarian for small animals, when she was called on to euthanize the pet of an elderly couple that clearly adored their cat. Rachel is just a real sweetie and it was hard to watch her get all tied up in knots.Michelle is well established in a company that provides management services to other businesses. She is supposedly working on a very large project that is demanding extra hours and sometimes needed her to be at the office on Saturday. Oh my goodness. Rachel knew that happened on occasion but after she became somewhat obsessed with THE LIST, everything looked suspicious and potentially dastardly. Even though Michelle lovingly mentions multiple times how she is really looking forward to their four-day vacation over the Valentine’s Day weekend, Rachelle is still on tenterhooks.Rachel unexpectedly catches Michelle in an untruth on two levels the day before the Valentine’s vacation and now Rachel is crestfallen. Hold on to your hats, folks, this vacation becomes truly magical and has a happier ending than even I could have imagined! So share this weekend with this wonderfully adorable couple that has been together for five years!NOTE: This book was provided by the author for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.