One In A Million

Judge’s Commentary*:

ONE IN A MILLION, by Christine Marie Blai, opens in San Francisco with the heroine Mariette Stuart, a 24 year old student, trying to enjoy her two-week vacation. When things don’t work out for her, she decides to follow a group of women into the Civic Center Auditorium for what she assumes will be another tour. However, it turns out to be one more disappointment and while making her way to the outside door, she runs into another crush of women who are pushing and shouting questions to an incredibly handsome man. When the near riot quiets down, she feels ridiculously amused by the process and shouts out the goofiest question she can think of. The man turns to her with a brilliant smile, and thus starts a delightful love story full of emotion, sexual tension, good action, wonderful dialogue, etc. The hero, concert pianist Christian Stanislaus is home after a long concert tour. On the day they meet, they have lunch together. She is smitten, but believes nothing will come of their meeting, until that evening when a bouquet of flowers from Christian is delivered to her hotel room. The dialogue and tension in this romance is absolutely great, and I confess I couldn’t put the book down. It is filled with emotion and humor. I alternately laughed and cried. Of course, like most romances, the plot rises with love and humor, but gets darker with doubt and suspicion. This book would be great on a rainy day when the reader is feeling the need for warmth and love.