A Valentine’s Novella
STORY-LINE TWO HEARTS, ONE STONE:
Josephine Blake‘s, novella Two Hearts One Stone, is a fast-paced romance during the Valentine Season in Churchgrove. Henry Moscow’s the town grouch, never a smile’s seen on his face; he’s always seen with a frown of disapproval. Churchgrove’s decorated for Valentines Day. With pink everywhere, Henry feels sick to stomach; what an absolute waste of time! After all, Henry doesn’t believe in love or Valentine’s Day romance. Even his beautiful daughter, Giselle cannot change his mind about Valentines Day.
When the annual courtship auction begins, Giselle enters the festivities. Henry sees a line of young women, waiting for the men to bid. All are young except for the last woman in line, Miss Hadisham. A middle-aged conservatively dressed widow, Emily Hadisham, owner of the only dress shop in town. She stands in the mist of the town beauties. When no one bids for her, Henry can not allow her the humiliation; he immediately offered $50.00 for the pleasure of her company at dinner.
As a result, an adventure begins for Henry and Miss Hadisham. Come with them, as Miss Hadisham melts Henry’s hard heart and his outlook on life. My romance book reviews of Two Hearts One Stone follows.
CHARACTERS, PLOTTING, DEVELOPMENT:
Although a short novella of 62 pages, Josephine Blake included everything needed to entertain the reader. A light, quick relaxing read, I enjoyed watching Henry and Miss Havisham’s romance unfold. Novellas by their nature do not give the author time to develop the characters or plot as their parent, the novel. However, Blake did an excellent job of constructing the romance and bringing it to a successful conclusion.
With characters which were believable, plotting in line with the length of the book and a credible premise, I read Two Hearts, One Stone straight through. The pace of the story, consistent throughout the book, did not bog down or lag.