Sunday Story

Okay, so I know it's Monday... but I had the idea yesterday :)

I thought Sunday was a good day to do a story review - Sunday Story. Sunday Story will be about something I've read, or a story I'm working on, or something like that.

This week my best read is Dianne Blacklock's False Advertising.

In 2011 (I think) Dianne Blacklock was nominated for a RBY (Romantic Book of the Year) and I hadn't read that book - actually, I hadn't read any of her books. So the name got filed in my chaotic mind as 'an author I should check out'. Things don't surface very often in my chaotic mind but just before Christmas, the mobile library (known by my librarian as the Book Tardis) came on its fortnightly visit and would not be back for a month because of New Years Day. So my eye was after thick books (you know, in case I ran out of books - which in reality won't happen for at least a year due to the books already in my house on my TBR pile). And there was False Advertising, thick and calling to me.

When I picked it up to read, I'd immediately found a friend. Helen was cursing her husband who'd left her without milk for her coffee. I clicked with Helen (although my husband never does that) and then the police arrived and I knew her husband had died.

Then there's Gemma. She's pregnant, travelling home but her boyfriend rings to tell her he can't pick her up at the airport. When she turns up at their home, all his gear has gone. Another loss.

I was so excited to read this start. I have this story I'm working on (not erotic) which I call The Death Story (I'm no good at titles). It's the story of a woman touched by death, and new friends are going to help her cope and show her, her strengths. So, a similar story (in a thematic way), it makes the adrenalin pump.

Helen and Gemma are chalk and cheese but along with a cast of other characters - Pheobe (Gemma's sister), Cameron (Pheobe's husband), Gemma's parents, Helen's gorgeous son, Helen's in-laws, Charlie, and Myles/Myers. They are all characters to love.

And that's what The Death Story needs - lovable characters. I have the story now I need to make my people as lovable as Dianne Blacklock's. Thank you for showing me the way.