All Comments on 'Kissing Cousins Ch. 22'

The conclusion to this terrific love story is everything a reader could have hoped for: excellent characters, plot, and a wonderful romantic atmosphere throughout. Five stars.

Hard to say how to rate this exactly, as on sheer hotness it's a 5, but while it's plausible and certainly better for the characters to not create the "white-elephant-in-the-room" conflict, it begs the question will the conflict be created down the road? No one questions it's best to end it once she married Steve and that's fair, but since the ending seems to exclude the girl not obviously looking like James, which could have proven an interesting conundrum. I would suggest the South-American angle of making the offspring question if she's really Steve's at some point (from a book of Gabriel Márquez): perhaps she develops some kind of unknown angst where she just "feels" something's not right and tries to find out more, all the while lashing out at Megan (since Steve wasn't really in the picture); she's not happy with the status quo and maybe through interacting with her cousins, notices some similarities in her looks that don't match her side of the family. I think you see where that could head, as in "kicking the can down the road" now, it could make for a very interesting sequel, since we don't know the girl's name and how she might interact with her cousins close to where James lives. Perhaps she even has to transfer to the same school where James kids go, and there begins the discovery process.

Their couplings sizzle, but I can't completely dismiss the convenience for now--although it does solve the immediate problem. 4

@comentarista82 thank you for the feedback.

The (second) cousins live four hours apart and only 'publicly' see each other every 3-4 years. James are Steve are both white, of similar size with similar hair and eye color. There is really no way anyone would draw the line between James and the child. Wouldn't even remotely dawn on anyone to even 1% think down that road. It would be like you thinking that person you hadn't seen in five years is the father of your neighbor's baby because they look so much alike. No way - you wouldn't think that way because the idea would never take hold. Impossible.

The door to a sequel is open by design.

Not sure about the South American angle you state. Are you confusing my two stories (with 'Forbidden')? Megan and James are both white.

Do I get bumped back up to 5?

XF:

I appreciate your input and most definitely your enthusiasm.

I attribute my missing some of the details due to being sleep-deprived, although I see the main parts that would have resonated more with me stuck with me nonetheless: the main thing was that unless you were going to make the last chapter a real bombshell, the storyline was going to be wrapped up rather nicely. However, there wasn't really a chance for real conflict, as I remember James barely getting out a window after one encounter when Steve was just coming in the door. While you covered your bases on making sure both Steve and James looked similar, it thereby eliminated what was hinted at but never consummated in the story: no evidence of conflict. While the distance precluded them getting "caught" by the most obvious means, it robs the story of something for neither of them to have to face any real consequences for their dalliance. Your own storylines suggested either Steve catching James in the act; catching them both in the act; or somehow finding out from a neighbor that "some dude" was fooling around with Megan and then...she's pregnant a few weeks later? Hmm... That is what was missing. How you accounted for that was certainly all up to you, and there's nothing necessarily wrong with wrapped up a story neatly--but the characters only evolved to a point--and stopped after that. To get the 5, there had to be some conflict for them to deal with and resolve. Nothing wrong with a 4.

The South-American angle was what I mentioned Gabriel García Marquez's novel (can't think of the name) where a ranch owner finds a woman on his property (a peasant) and takes her; in doing so, the son she bears (for no apparent reason) is all kinds of angry against anyone powerful and rich (the mother doesn't tell him how he was conceived, IIRC)--and it turns out he is the offspring of that ranch owner. Much of novel then deals with him trying to find out if that man is his father--and he does discover this: it creates a lot of tension and conflict to be resolved and much of the action following that proves very interesting to say the least.

The daughter of your first cousin is not your second cousin. It's your first cousin, once removed. Look it up.

Ooh, that's hot 'Anonymous'. Thanks for the fact check lol