Dangerous Curves Ahead: Short Stories

Romance

By Pat Ballard

Publisher : Pearlsong Press

ABOUT Pat Ballard

Pat Ballard
Pat Ballard is the Queen of Rubenesque Romances and author of 10 Steps to Loving Your Body (No Matter What Size You Are).

Description

Ten romantic tales pack suspense and sizzle into this collection of short stories featuring amply curved women.

A handsome stranger comes to the aid of a full-figured divorcee in "Dangerous Curves Ahead" -- but what does he really want? A young woman learns the cost of trying to be someone -- and some size -- she' not in "Freedom." Bountiful women learn there may be more to their handsome new bosses than they suspected in "Misconceptions" & "Playboy."

Dig into these and other juicy stories for a healthy serving of entertainment and a reminder than love comes in all sizes.

Pat Ballard, the self-described “Queen of Rubenesque Romance,” herein tackles an entrenched stereotype of conventional romantic fiction — the perpetually skinny heroine — and successfully turns it on its bony derriere.

This collection of ten short stories feature women who are just that: all woman. There’s not one ultra-slim fashion model in the bunch. Their curves are all there and they make no apology for them, whether these ladies work their own cattle ranch, run an antique store or work as an executive secretary in the big city. What this means is that the vast majority of romance aficionados can relate very well to these shapely women who dare to wear larger dress sizes. Better yet, the handsome heroes depicted all appreciate curvaceous heroines, too.

In fact, some of these short stories could be more appropriately labeled “coming-to-terms” tales since they feature a young woman’s search for self-esteem that isn’t skin deep. In “Freedom” Molly’s boyfriend Mike is shocked when he discovers she comes from a family of large-sized women, because Molly has been starving herself for years in order to remain thin. When Mike issues an ultimatum that after they marry Molly had better not gain any weight, she realizes that he only loves her for her outward appearance and not because of who she is. Armed with this knowledge, she dumps him and eventually finds peace within herself and with her size.

Ballard doesn’t pull punches. She shows her heroines exhibiting ample will and tenacity to tell off those who would shame them into becoming something they aren’t just to blend in with society's narrow-minded notions of beauty. There’s no guilt in being a big, beautiful heroine in Dangerous Curves Ahead, and that is itself a formula for a classic happy ending.

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8-10/04