After receiving a call from her family in Chicago, Rita
Jansen arranges an
emergency trip home. She currently lives in Beverly
Hills, California
working as a hair stylist at Roberto's, catering to the
elite and celebrities.
An unusual dream of ice-skating confuses Rita. Even
though she is near
six feet tall and wears a size 11 shoe, this sport has
always been her love
and something she has always been good at it. Receiving a
call that
Donna, her mother, has had a stroke, everything else is
set aside as she
heads home and to the hospital. She is surprised, though,
that it isn't her
father Richard or brother Ricky that greet her as her
ride, but Johnny
Hollister, an old school classmate. Her ride sports the
lettering "Jolly
Janitors", where Johnny works.
Donna operates Hair and Now, a salon in a Chicago mall.
Things have
been going downhill and business is nearly extinct. With
the father
working fewer hours and making less money, the salon was
subsidizing
their income. Rita is asked to look after the salon in
her mother's
absence during the vacation time she has taken. Not only
does Rita take
on the task of rejuvenating her mother's salon with a
totally new retro
look, but is plagued with feelings for Johnny at the same
time. She has
her trials to overcome with the help of her old friend
Marley while dealing
with Zinnia, a previous employee of her mom's. Zinnia now
owns her own
fancy salon upstairs at the same mall, and has taken many
of Hair and
Now's clients. Her love of skating is revived as well as
her interest in
Johnny. When Rita finally feels she has "come home",
considerations
must be made for her future happiness.
LOVE GENTLY FALLING is the first I have had the pleasure
of reading from Melody Carlson but
found the story to be filled with emotion, warmth, dreams
and genuine
caring characters. This delightful tale was fulfilling and
lovely to read as
well as sweet and inspiring. LOVE GENTLY FALLING is a
quick read that is sure to steal your
interest throughout. This is a refreshing and very
appropriate read for a
young reader that will be completely satisfying.
Rita Jansen is living her dream as a hairstylist in
Hollywood when her father calls with news that her mother
has suffered a stroke. When she gets home to Chicago, Rita
finds her mother is healing but facing a long recovery.
Worse, without being able to run their family-owned salon,
her mother could lose the business. Rita decides to help,
but she only has until Valentine's Day to come up with a
plan.
As Rita takes her mother's place at work, the nearby
skating
rink she loved as a child brings back fond memories. Rita
also finds herself renewing friendships with her childhood
best friend, Marley, as well as her classmate Johnny.
Although they now lead such seemingly different lives,
Rita
is surprised by how well she and Johnny connect and how
far
he will go to help her. Though Rita believes Johnny is
only
being kind, with romance kindling in the air and on the
ice,
their friendship may just fall into something more.