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Reviewed by Natasha Jackson for Readers' Favorite
Tom is a pretty happy guy. He quit teaching after an awful heartbreak and got a job at a swanky resort, where he happily works with a smile on his face. But as Valentine’s Day looms, Tom suffers the fate of many singles the world over when he realizes that he is well and truly alone. Ready to move on from past heartache, Tom has targeted a cute waitress to help him reenter the dating pool. So he asks Serena out and she says yes, and that very night they share a scorching kiss and Candy Hearts begins. Tom and Serena seem to hit it off, but she’s a bit standoffish and I think Elodie Parkes does a great job of illustrating her reluctance to share information about herself or the non-answer answers she doles out. From the moment they go to her place for dessert, I kept asking myself what is she hiding.
When Serena’s secret is revealed to the reader, I have to say I sighed in relief because Candy Hearts is a short story and I didn’t have the heart for a big dramatic break-up. I totally understand why she was reluctant to reveal her secret until she knew Tom’s feelings toward her, and it added a level of intimacy to the story for me as a reader, watching their relationship progress. And we are talking about Elodie Parkes so, of course, the sex between these two is off the charts. Maybe it is because they secretly pined after each other for months or maybe it will always be that way for Tom and Serena, but they burn up the sheets together. This was a great short story, filled with so much emotion I was sad when it ended so quickly.
