So, we're going to try our new format for this week and see how it goes. So as today is Monday, we have a featured story review - this time a review by lilansui of Author Branflakes' From the Heart. Enjoy!

Reviewer: lilansui
Status: Complete
Word Count:2,205

From the heart is a different kind of love story. I’m so used to reading about romance, that the message at the end of this story caught me by surprise. Randy, the main character in this short, is a man disillusioned by love. He doesn’t believe in true love, and juggles a number of relationships at one go. He wakes up in different beds, and as the story starts, Randy has just woken up in an unknown bed, and is questioning why he does this to himself.

On his way home, he catches a glimpse of a couple who’ve just gotten married. His cab driver calls the sight beautiful, and declares the couple to be in love. For Randy, who has a different lover every night, the thought of settling down to one is an idea he considers boring. When he gets home, he finds a letter from a secret admirer asking for a dinner date the next day. He decides to meet this ‘secret admirer’. He figures he will just add this ‘secret admirer’ to his long list of current lovers. He even goes to bed early to make sure that he looks his best for this new lover. When he shows up at the designated destination, however, he gets more than he bargained that night.

This is a story that reminds me of getting that eureka moment. When you’ve been bashing your head against one idea, one way of living, an unexpected incident, phrase or situation shows you there is a different way. Randy learns about love in this story; he finds out that love finds you. He discovers that you can spend a lifetime chasing after love while it remains elusive, unreachable. He learns that when you least expect it love finds you.

Branflakes writes with command, his character is clear as he writes the scenes in Randy’s life. I wanted to reach out and tell Randy, ‘Hey, man, you’re hurting so many people living like this.’ The premise of this story actually reminds me of the movie, ‘Ghost of girlfriends past’. The general idea in the movie and how the Main Character lives his life juggling different women, not really knowing their names or who they are. I couldn’t help thinking of Randy that way at the start.

The end was surprising, because the romance in this story is about understanding yourself as an individual. In the world we live in today, epiphany’s like Randy’s are harder to share, harder to come by without dire consequences, and the realization that it’s too late. Branflakes weaves such a powerful lesson in to the story. Randy’s path is halted and reversed in a single night making for a very interesting end to this story.

I hope I have sparked your interest in ‘From the Heart’. Don’t you want to know what would make such a character make a change? Be sure to read ‘From the Heart’ and leave a review or a thought for Branflakes.