The Introverted Bookworm

Title: Sparkle – A Lock & Key Valentine’s Day Short Story

Author: Cat Porter

Genre: Romance

Part of the acclaimed Lock & Key Small Town Motorcycle Club Romance Series, this Valentine’s Day-themed short story can easily be read as a standalone book. Alicia – a widow with a complicated past when it comes to matters of the heart – is happily involved with her new partner, Ronny, with whom she shares a passionate, loving relationship. However, on Valentines Day, she finds herself reminiscing about her bad boy ex-husband, Jump, and the effect that he has had on her self-esteem.

The attentiveness of Alicia’s new partner, Ronny, is in stark contrast with the treatment that Alicia received at the hands of her ex-husband, who she remained married to for twenty-five years. Although not physically abusive, Jump was withholding of affection, cold-hearted, and constantly kept Alicia on tenterhooks. He offered conditional love at best, and his actions and behaviour have left her implicitly afraid to commit to another relationship. When their troubled son, Wesley, who is a bit of a ladies’ man, like his father, visits her on Valentine’s Day, Amelia has an epiphany, and she realises that she, too, might be still stuck living in the past.

The use of first-person narration makes Amelia’s character easy to identify with from the outset. We are immersed in her world, thoughts, anxieties, and reflections; her joys and pains are easily accessible and relatable, especially when it comes to understanding her ambivalence towards her toxic ex-husband.

What is unique and unexpected about this story is that there is no one central love interest. If anything, the main Valentine’s Day gift which Alicia receives is permission from herself to identify her feelings, embrace them, let go, and move on into a new, healthier phase of life. The plot development is carefully crafted, with the text never lagging in places or becoming repetitive, as can sometimes happen in character-driven books that contain a lot of self-reflection.

Many readers will relate to the dilemma which Alicia faces: giving up on her desire for an emotionally unavailable, unattainable man, who never delivered what she wanted no matter how hard she tried. Even though Jump is dead, Alicia is hooked on his memory, and this is something that will resonate to those who have experienced this kind of one-sided romance.

Even though the plot mainly focuses on Alicia’s internal landscape, there is explicit sexual content – as well as numerous sexual references – that some readers may find a little intimidating. This contains some elements of BDSM, so this is by no means a sweet romance. Some of the sexual references (particularly in the first half of the book) are, perhaps, a little unnecessarily, and interrupt the smooth flow of the story. These could have easily been omitted, without affecting the overall plot.

Sparkle – A Lock & Key Valentine’s Day Short Story is a refreshing short romance, which emphasises the importance of letting go of past hurts. Porter has written a story that will resonate with anyone who has suffered from a broken heart, with a central character that is easy to relate to, and who we can root for from beginning to end.