Short Story Review -- Seeds of Love

         

          Seeds of Love is an entertaining stranger-comes-to-town story with a sweet theme of love likened to a seed in need of nourishment. I particularly appreciated the unique setting; Blanca Islas finds herself turning a new page in her life as she leaves Chicago to settle in Crouch, Idaho as the new nurse practitioner. This is a town I have never read about before, and I enjoyed the small town setting, depicted beautifully in the following passage:

She grabbed a blanket and dragged it onto the back porch where she curled up on the swing and waited for the sun to rise. Birds sang, crickets chirped, and even a bull frog added his voice to the mix, but none of it fazed her. The sun came over the apartment from behind her and quickly the shadows of the night began to fade away. Still Blanca sat, dazed and lost to it all. Nothing was going to lighten the load Longbow had placed on her the night before.

               Her eyes drifted to his side of the yard where the garden was. Moisture on the plants sparkled like miniature crystals, but there was something wrong. The plants were sagging, bent over and nearly touching the ground. They looked how she felt, like she was dying inside.

JC Willibat really grabbed my attention with this section of monologue, comparing the landscape to Blanca’s inner struggle, a smart approach to bring any setting to life. The entire story is heavy with internal monologue in my opinion, though, and I didn’t feel like Blanca’s inner conflict is ever resolved. While the story ends abruptly with a hasty wrap up, I think this is an enjoyable read for anyone looking to read a short summer love story.

JC Willibat’s story, Seeds of Love, is on sale for $0.99 right now on Amazon. You can find out more about JC Willibat and Seeds of Love on her website.

From JC Willibat's website:

Blanca Islas is city-girl from Chicago who’s tired of healthcare politics and men who refuse to look her in the eye. Sure there is more to life than work and men, she finds a job working as a Nurse Practitioner in central Idaho, thinking the small town of Crouch is just the sanctuary she needs. What Blanca doesn’t factor in, however, is the ramifications of being the only health care provider in the heart of redneck country. It takes endless hours of work to care for an entire community, and violence and natural disasters put her independence as a doctoral level nurse practitioner to the test. Forest Longbow, a sexy and mysterious neighbor, tests Blanca’s resolve to stay clear of men and focus on her career.  An Apache smoke-jumper, who fights forest fires through the summer, Forest is nothing like the men Blanca left behind in Chicago. His strange but effective ways of speaking to Blanca’s soul will leave her breathless and hoping for an early Fall.