The New Year's Fantasy

by Kt Grant

[Melanie]

This was a cute short story about a woman, Jessica, who has had weight issues in her past and spent most of her life crushing on her best friend's brother. The brother had no use for her. She thinks it is all because of her weight. I'm not so sure, but either way, she is pining for a man doesn't want her. After she has spent years losing the weight, she shows up at his house in sexy lingerie, which didn't sit well with him. He overreacts and says mean things to her.

Our hero of this story is Fire Captain Douglass Finley. He is recovering from a divorce. He has a tween aged girl. Captain Finley is also the boss of Jessica's former crush. He has some real trust issues, since his wife left him for a younger man that she has been cheating with while they were still married.

While I liked the relationship between the hero and heroine of this story. The baggage that they brought with them was a little much. There are relationship issues between Jessica and her current lover, her former crush and herself and her weight issues. More issues between Doug and his ex-wife and his inability to trust.

The real character that I liked in this story was the daughter. She was great character who didn't let her parents divorce get her down. I loved how Doug made sure to put his daughter front in his relationship.

This was a quick read. I think I read in just a few hours. I enjoyed it. I just wish there was more time spent on the relationship between Jessica and Doug and less on the baggage that accompanied them.