So...

Last week purely by happenstance I'm blog hopping and a post pops up on Google Reader for author Megan Hart's blog. I pop over and see she has a cool little quickie contest. The first 5 people who commented would get a copy of a story Ms. Hart will have in the Red Hot Valentine’s Day anthology coming out from Avon Red in January 2009.

You guessed it. I scored a copy. I thought about waiting to publish this post near the release date, but I decided I couldn't wait. Can you guess why? GET THERE was one of those sorts of stories I like best. I've written before how good Ms. Hart is at making you feel like her characters are people you could meet in real life. GET THERE was very much such a story.

Ty and Edie meet on-line and then later in person through a message board for a sci-fi TV show Edie writes for. They meet and fall in love but live cross country from one another. Much of this story is about how they try to stay close, in touch and connected when they both have demanding careers, a significant time difference and distance between them.

While I adored the We could get there by... exchanges they had in their emails, it was the small nuances like Edie remembering his smell, the sound of his voice, adoring his smile as it came up on a screen saver of pictures she had on her computer that made the story for me. These small things that make characters so real are what I adore in reading.

Edie and Ty both speak and write of their longing for one another but they also pepper their IMs and conversation with the practicalities of their life as well. They are about to make a big move into a house and finally be able to live together.

We all from time to time wax poetic about our loves. It's hard to express how wonderful, fabulous and incredible the person you love most is if you aren't a writer. That's what I appreciate about this story. To know how much these two people love each other. Appreciate each other. Enjoy each other. Respect and admire each other and they aren't precious, or corny.

You know it was nice to read about a couple that is already together. I loved that without being preachy or trite Ms. Hart is able to show us that Ty and Edie don't take each other or their relationship for granted. That was my hook. The appreciation and joy a couple can take in one another. A couple already together. Already in love.

Of course, I would have liked to have a longer story. When you like someone's writing you just want more. Fans can be so pesky like that. Fortunately STRANGER a full length novel is due out January 1, 2009. GET THERE will be available in the anthology in early January as well.