Release Day – The Love Commission

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By Vicki Ballante

Isn’t it always like a party on release day? It’s wonderful to see your baby being birthed into the world after all the labor pangs and pains of forming it and preparing it for the universe to enjoy.

The Love Commission is my first full-on fantasy romance, and I have to say, I became hooked on fantasy after writing it. The premise was inspired by my late mother’s love for fairies. I’m fascinated by pictures and ornaments of fairies and just by the whole concept, so I couldn’t wait to write a fairy book. Now, the ones I’ve read have all been full of dark and sinister happenings. The fairies seem to be more like warriors and take part in wars with evil, or even in some books, they are the evil ones. My idea of fairies comes from my mother’s. She used to take me around the garden and point to the dew on the spider webs formed on the grass. “Those are the fairies’ homes. That’s where they live.” She said it like she really believed it. I’m still not sure if she did or not, and I can’t ask her as she passed away when I was only six, but I loved her passion for them. One day, she told me to climb my favorite tree in the yard. I climbed up the tree and found a fairy doll with a beautiful outfit she’d sewn herself. So, for me fairies epitomise goodness and light.

Gelsey comes from a different world than Evan. She’s a savannah sprite—an earth fairy who works on eco-balance. She’s flighty and used to being in crowds. The fairies in Fairy World hang out in big groups. She’s not used to Evan’s one-on-one attention. When she enters the human world on The Love Commission to find out what it’s like to marry a man for a year and to conduct some research, she doesn’t expect Evan to touch a part of her soul that’s never been touched before. Gelsey can’t give up her dream job and her fairyhood forever because of love for a man. Especially when she suspects his love is just caused by sprinkling the gold dust on him.

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Here’s a short excerpt:

Gelsey thought her head would spin out of control. The strange warm sensations in her tummy made her loathe to eat despite the hunger pangs. Is this what the human love emotion felt like? Something about this man—the way he spoke to her, the way he looked at her, as if she was so important, as if he cared how she felt, stirred the strange feelings. Even her fairy friends hadn’t connected with a spot deep inside of her. She wished she could tell him of the turmoil in her soul, of the world she had left behind, and of how she missed her home and her friends. Maybe he would care. Maybe he would help her and let her leave early. He would tell her all about human love, so she didn’t have to be trapped a whole year.

“Um, tell me about love,” she said once they were seated opposite each other at the fish restaurant. She could somehow stomach eating seafood but, being an earth fairy, couldn’t bear to eat the animals she’d spent so many years helping out. According to Ziana, she would be human and forget most of her life as a fairy. The thought of losing all touch with her past had prompted a deep fear in her, and she’d determined never to forget. Thankfully, somehow, she could remember almost everything.

She’d skipped lunch, and the smell of seafood cramped her already empty stomach. Evan had sent her whole day in a crazy direction. She’d been quite happy to spend the rest of her year working in the florist, making pretty arrangements, meeting people, and asking them questions. She wasn’t ready for this marriage thing and had no idea what it entailed.

Evan stared at her. “Love?”

“Yes, tell me how it felt when you fell in love. It seems it happens more than once in a man’s life.”

His eyes twinkled. “This is my first time.”

He looked right into her, his gaze giving off some magic as though he’d been the one to sprinkle fairy dust. He’d almost bewitched her. If she hadn’t been a fairy, she would be falling into this love thing right this second.

“Why do you ask?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t expect you to answer in such a way.”

“You cut to the chase, don’t you?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You’re a very innocent person. It’s as if you’ve been sheltered from so much.”

“I’ve lived for the earth and the environment. Love hasn’t featured in my life.”

He took hold of her hand and squeezed it. “I’d like to show you what it’s like.”