Heart Choice

By Robin D. Owens

On Celta people are a little different. Many of them have magical powers that they call Flair. In fact, most of their technology is based on magical power. Although they originally came from Earth they no longer rely on Earth technology instead using their magical powers to handle almost everything in their daily lives, from dusting the living room to placing a call.
The most powerful are the Great Lords who are very wealthy and pretty much run things on Celta. One of these Great Lords, Straif Blackthorn, suffered a terrible tragedy when everyone in his family died of an infectious disease. Normally this disease isn't fatal but for his family it was because of a genetic defect they all shared. Only this man survived and he was so traumatized by the event that he set off on a quest to find a cure, either for the disease or for his faulty genes. He was just a teen when he left his home and he didn't return for fifteen years, abandoning his family's estates and neglecting the duties required of the Great Lords. Still, after fifteen years of searching in vain for a solution to his condition, Straif has now realized it is time to come home and resume his duties and restore his neglected estate.
So he hires an interior decorator to help him with the process of repairing and refurbishing his mansion. The woman, Mitchella Clover, is not a member of one of the Great families, she is just a commoner and her magical abilities are of a lower order than Straif's. But she is a talented decorator and is just the person to help Straif reestablish his home and thus his place in society.
Of course, since this is a romance novel, Straif and Mitchella fall in love. Which wouldn't normally be a problem. But Straif, being the last of his family, is anxious to have children, lots of children. And Mitchella is sterile, she is unable to conceive or to bear a baby. Straif has to make some tough choices, give up his dream, or lose the love of his life.

This was a pretty good story. The magic and the different way the people of Celta live their lives are really inventive and interesting. That's the part I enjoyed the most, reading about how they manage their lives using all these magical abilities and magic-based technologies. Over all, I enjoyed the story, although, I did find it a little slow in places.