This is a love story.

This is a love story. But it’s not an ordinary love story. There are no power hungry stepmothers out to make their son’s lives miserable by keeping them away from women their entire lives. There are no fairy godmothers swooping in at the last minute to provide the lowly maiden with a new dress and glass slippers for the ball. In fact, there are no grand balls in this love story either. No swooping music at the climax with a kiss on the shore at midnight.

This is a love story. But it’s not about two souls destined to fall in love. It’s not about arranged marriages between royals. It is not about gallant men thrust into danger to save their women. It’s not about happily ever after. In fact, it would be a stretch to consider this a story about everlasting love in the face of all adversity.

This is a love story.


Not mine, I just love this opening! This is from 52 Sunflowers for Ivan Braginsky. It's about a foreign immigrant family trying to get by in the US (Colorado Springs, Colorado) and they own a flower shop. The love part is a gradual thing between the flower shop owner (Ivan) and a cadet (Amelia). I love this story because, for one thing it's set in Colorado Springs, CO, where I used to live a good portion of my life so I can really relate to the setting, and because it's not just about the growing possibility of love between two people...and it was written by someone who used to be a cadet, which helps with the accuracy.