Rebel Wars - 2018 Awards [CLOSED]

SHORTSTORY/HUMOR/CHICKLIT WINNER || Recipe For A Love Spell

Recipe for a Love Spell

By djhowty

Review by kpambroziak

We've come to know the meet cute as a staple of romance. Since Billy Wilder's Bluebeard's Eighth Wife, or possibly before, it's been considered the most important aspect of the romantic comedy. Boy and girl must meet cute—or boy and boy, or girl and girl, or as is the case in "Recipe for a Love Spell" girl-witch and girl-werewolf.

Djhowty's meet cute is creative and darling and yummy in all the right ways. It goes far beyond appearance, circumstance, and even attraction. It's a soulful connection that happens in the space between. It's electrical, quite literally, and magical. It is insides kissing insides, minds meeting minds, hearts finding hearts, souls howling—well, you get the picture ...

This tightly told tale is so bursting with charm I caught myself smiling as I read it. The rhythm carried me away and I lapped up the words, returning to the beginning to read it through a second time.

They say there are two sides to every story. In Recipe for a Love Spell, it is quite literally true. The narrative is split down the middle, a hers and hers re-telling of the infamous meet cute that sends these two characters into orbit about one another.

Vik Lotvall is the librarian witch, living in conservative Oregon, generously pouring her heart into love potions she makes for others. On the eve before Valentine's Day, in a dark and lonely forest, her lovelorn chant is sent out and received. Rhia Blackbourne is a werewolf by night, darling girl by day, living in conservative Oregon, too, bravely venturing into the unknown, following her heart—and her nose—to the one that just may subdue her animal side. Both characters are drawn with delicacy, irresistibly sweet, their voices unique and alive with emotion.

Djhowty curates her details, bringing her story to life with specifics: Harry Potter, pheromones, teeth, Celine Dion and sounds like floompf! Despite its meager 2000 words, the story's world here is full, rife with smells and sounds and feelings that make it as big and deep as Crater Lake.

The writing is precise with not a word to spare, each one placed just right. For instance, look how lovely this is: A howl split the sky. Say it aloud and listen to how perfect this quaint sentence sounds, how it feels in the mouth. A howl split the sky. Or try this: It was a delightful bouquet I wanted to sniff for hours. Isn't that a gem?

The writing is so exact, in fact, the reader can't resist rooting for these two characters and demanding their maker give them a longer narrative to play out their newfound love, or at least the hours Rhia wants for sniffing.

Well done to you, djhowty. You've reminded us love really is beyond skin deep ... or at least more than fur deep. Brava!