Diamonds and Toads

by K E Saxon

[Cocktails and Books]

This has two linked stories about two sisters: Delilah and Isadora.

In the first story, (Diamonds) Delilah has always lived in the mean, social climbing shadow of her stepmother and half sister. When she helps a homeless woman by offering up the chocolate bar she was eating, she suddenly finds herself in a purple mist, the homeless woman calling her Lilah and then finding a diamond in her mouth.

That weird situation had a cause. The Perrault Family Fairy. Out to prove Delilah is a diamond in the rough, the fairy encounter sets a series of events into action that Delilah (and her stepmother for that matter) never expected: Delilah comes into millions of dollars and Chas Regan, the man Delilah has secretly been in love with, proposes marriage to her.

But it's not smooth sailing for Delilah and Chas. What Delilah doesn't know is that Chas is having money problem and her suddenly windfall would certainly help him. But Chas is torn between his need for the money and his realization that Delilah is everything he's ever wanted in a woman.

Will these two make the right choice to have a happily ever after?

In the second story (Toads), Isadora ignores a woman falling, instead playing with her Blackberry. That woman happens to be the Perrault Family Fairy and curses Isadora. Now, every time Isadora opens her mouth some kind of obscenity comes out. Her mother, humiliated by her daughters mouth and the things she said in a video at her sister's engagement party, throws her out and says she's no longer going to acknowledge her.

Muddy with no money and no where to go, Isadora's ex-fiance shows up and offers to take her to a hotel. When Isadora opens her mouth she insists that Sam take her to his house. While Sam takes her to his home, he's decided he's going to use this opportunity to get revenge on Izzy for dumping him eight years before.

While Izzy's busy keeping her mouth shut to avoid the words that will come out, she discovers she still has feelings for Sam. And despite how she ended things with him eight years before, Sam still loves her. Can the two of them be honest about their feelings (hopefully breaking Izzy's curse) and find a way to get their happily ever after?

Both stories were cute, but I enjoyed the Diamond story much better than Toads. It seemed that the characters and storyline were developed more in Diamonds than Toads. That said, these are quick reads and are enjoyable if you need something to break up your day or to finish it off.