Story for the Week
I have never thought about opening an Etsy shop, but maybe it’s time.
There was a time in my life when I considered myself a bit of a poet. I’m clearly not Shakespeare or Robert Frost or William Wordsworth or any other famous poet someone might know and love. I don’t read poetry very often, and I certainly don’t sit down to write amazing literary poems.
I started writing poetry in middle school because I liked the rhythm in rhymes. It was a way for me to express my feelings about things that I didn’t want to say out loud. So I put them on paper. One year, I lost a spiral notebook full of poems. I had taken it with me to a week-long camp in Michigan, but I didn’t have it when I came home. I was devastated.
As I got older, my poetry became the angst-ridden, over-dramatic writings of a teenager. The world is a horrible place. No one understands me. Life is so hard. Teenage, middle child me was a bit much. Do I still have these atrocious writings? I do. Am I going to share them with the world. Umm…no. 🫣
But what my dabbling in poetry did turn into was a habit of writing cute or heartfelt poems for people I cared about or fun little ditties for specific events…things that would make people smile. When Corinne was small, I would make them up on the fly (pun intended…just keep reading and you’ll understand). The one I remember most vividly was about a reindeer plush toy by Ty called a Beanie Ball.
These types of toys typically go on sale during the holiday, and what kid hasn’t heard the story of Santa’s flying reindeer? I don’t know how we determined that a Beanie Ball reindeer would be incapable of flying, but I made up a little song to make a then very young Corinne giggle:
🎶I’m too fat to fly. I fell out of the sky. It hurt so bad it made me cry. I think I’m gonna die.” 🎵
I’ve written poems for birthdays, as thank yous, for new babies. My dad asked me a few times to write something for my mom for their anniversary or for Christmas. After she passed, we found one of those framed poems in her closet, and I read it at her celebration of life (A Celebration of Life: We Miss You, Mom 💖).
Probably one of the more unusual poems I’ve written was for a bridal shower. One of the women I worked with at the time had a friend group that loved to do themed showers and parties. For one of the showers, everyone was assigned an hour of the day, and she drew four o’clock. She couldn’t think of anything, and I suggested a Four o’Clock plant (also known as the Marvel of Peru), nicknamed because its flowers would open in the afternoon, typically between 4:00 and 8:00.
When I was a kid, my grandparents had Four o’Clock bushes all along the side of their house. My grandfather sent all of us grandkids out with Dixie cups to collect the seeds. That is the only reason I knew about Four o’Clock plants. To go along with the plant my co-worker bought for the shower, I wrote and framed a poem for her to present as a gift.
In the book reviewed below, the main character runs an Etsy shop for custom greeting cards. “Mostly couples place orders for birthdays or anniversaries. I do these silly doodles of things like inside jokes or scenes from a moment in their lives, and I’ll write jokes, or funny poems for them if they request it. They give me some information about what they want, and I make it into a greeting card.”
Sounds a lot like how I wrote the poems that I used to write. Maybe I do need to open an Etsy shop. 🤔 Maybe…definitely…you should go read this book. 😉
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 Stars for Thirty, Flirty, and Forever Alone by Christine Riccio
418 pages
Publisher: Montlake
Publication Date: January 1, 2026
I received an advance copy of this title from NetGalley and Montlake.
Publisher’s Description
When your name literally means “forever alone,” it takes a lot of positive self-talk to stay optimistic in the hellscape that is dating. But on the cusp of thirty, Rikki Romona is determined to find her person.
Columnist, therapist, podcaster, entrepreneur—Rikki is an overachiever who thrives on schedules. She can absolutely handle two weddings in two days, and lock down someone to drag along as a plus-one.
And yet, spoiler: She doesn’t.
Rikki finds herself flying hopelessly solo at a themed wedding in New Jersey. A lonely Rapunzel waiting for her Flynn.
Enter Reed Tyler: writer, podcast producer, wannabe actor. Surprisingly single with startling blue eyes, he seems perfect. The catch? He lives kind of far away, so dating him would be a bit of a hike. Like an intense, all-the-way-across-the-country hike.
After one unforgettable night together, Rikki’s sure this is the end. But as she braces herself for heartache, the universe, it seems, has other plans….
************
Main Characters:
- Rikki Romona – almost 30-year-old relationship columnist for The New York Minute, licensed family and marriage therapist, does a podcast about relationships, runs an Etsy shop making custom greeting cards, lives in New Jersey in an apartment owned by her estranged father even though he lives in California, plans to move once she renegotiates her contract at The New York Minute
- Reed Tyler – 32-year-old podcast producer, former author, actor, lives in California
- Jordyn and Micah – married couple who lives a couple of apartments down from Rikki, Jordyn is Rikki’s best friend, Jordyn and Rikki started as roommates and Rikki recently moved out after Jordyn became pregnant
The acknowledgements of Christine Riccio’s Thirty, Flirty, and Forever Alone start like this: “Dude. Book Four. This was a humdinger. What a time. I’ve written an adult novel! Who am I? Like a full-blown adult or something? I wrote spice? What a milestone. I’m proud.”
Girl, you should be proud! This book is laugh-out-loud funny with quirky characters, amazing banter, a touch of magic, and the happily ever after every romance reader wants.
When the story opens, Rikki is in attendance at one of two weddings in the same weekend on opposite coasts. Before her maid of honor speech, Rikki decides to take a quick bathroom break and finds herself unable to rezip her dress. She explains that a date could have kept her calm. A date would have prevented the “panic pee” she was forced to take before her speech. She fully believes this is karma for checking the plus one on her RSVP six months before when she didn’t actually have a plus one. That was her (failed) way of manifesting her person before her fast-approaching 30th birthday.
The second wedding introduces Reed. The wedding is Disney themed, so all of the guests dress as Disney characters. Rikki appears to be one of six Rapunzels but the only one without a Flynn. Again, she mentally berates herself for checking the plus one…as well as for not choosing a Disney character who isn’t part of a pair. When Reed sidles up behind her on the periphery of the dance floor dressed as Flynn Rider, we get a taste of the banter that fuels the rest of the book.
This man can’t be single. It goes against the laws of singleness. There are usually approximately zero to two single people of the opposite sex at a wedding. They are creepy, drunk, very young, or a combination of the three. They’re not handsome. Or quick witted. Or cute. Or age appropriate.
“Why are you single?” I ask.
“Why are you?”
“I’m a lot,” I tell him.
“I’m also a lot.”
“I’m cursed.”
“You’re cursed?” he repeats dubiously.
“My name is Nordic for ‘forever alone.’”
A hearty laugh falls out of this sharp red-headed war-hero statue man. “What is it?”
“And dating is terrible,” I add.
He arcs a brow. “Dating is fun.”…
“Reed, dating is the most stressful thing on my to-do list.”
His mouth twists up the side of his cheek. “Then I don’t think you’re doing it right.”
I cock my head. “I’m sorry, are you about to mansplain dating?”
The chaos that ensues during both of these weddings sets the tone for the entire book. Written from Rikki’s first-person point of view, the story flies. Rikki always seems to be getting herself into some sticky situation, and I didn’t want to put the book down.
But this is not just a love story either. Rikki has a lot of family drama (trauma?) to work through. The universe seems intent on bringing her and Reed together. It also seems determined to make sure she works through her crap in some pretty gut-wrenching ways.
I loved this book! This is my first encounter with Riccio, so I will likely go back and read some of her older books since I am also a fan of young adult, which is where she has focused until now. This is a great read for the beginning of a new year.
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