Cindy and the Fella and Calling All Glass Slippers are two connected novels set in the college town of Clair de Lune, California. They share a common sensibility and many of the same characters. The main difference is the protagonists and romance in one are wonderful; in the other, not so much.

In Cindy and the Fella, Minnesota schoolteacher Cindy McChad receives an email from her best friend and fiancé telling her he’s seeing someone else and the wedding is off. Not about to be dumped via email, Cindy travels to Clair de Lune, where said fiancé Roland is a graduate student at the university. There she meets Hugh Bemling, who is in love with the woman Roland is now seeing. A literature professor who is a little low on social skills, Hugh is prone to falling in love with women who have no idea he exists and for whom he writes truly terrible poetry. Figuring Roland will eventually tire of the other woman and come back to her, Cindy decides to stick around town for a while. She and Hugh agree to work together to win their respective loves back, but naturally things don’t go according to plan.

This story was a real charmer, primarily because of its two offbeat main characters in Cindy and Hugh. Hugh is utterly endearing, his believable awkwardness making him sweet and lovable. His old-fashioned sort of chivalry also adds a nice touch that leads to several great moments. Though the premise makes Cindy sound desperate for following Roland to California, she never comes across that way. She’s sensible and down-to-earth. Neither is described as being physically perfect – Hugh’s rather skinny, Cindy’s tall and stocky – which added to their appeal and made them more realistic as people. I also appreciated how neither Roland nor his girlfriend Blair were portrayed in completely negative ways. Roland may be insensitive and clueless, but he’s not an entirely bad guy.

This is primarily a sweet story about two people who slowly realize that the ones they’re really in love with aren’t the ones they’ve been trying to win. Hugh and Cindy don’t engage in any crazy capers to break up the couple. The story is nicely character-driven, with a large supporting cast and a few subplots that add nicely. While not overly funny, I did laugh out loud twice, something that rarely ever happens while reading so-called romantic comedies.

Duets #89 demonstrates how the Duets line’s biggest selling point – two new novels in one volume – may also be the series’ biggest drawback. One story is usually better than the other. I’ve only read one where both stories were equally great reads (Duets #7 for the record, with Kristin Gabriel’s RITA-winning Annie Get Your Groom and Jennifer Drew’s Taming Luke). Duets #89 continues the trend of one story better than the other. Even so, Jacqueline Diamond has written two short books that avoid the usual series romance plots, offering a taste of something different. It’s worth checking out for Cindy and the Fella alone, but I recommend waiting a few days before starting Calling All Glass Slippers to give it a fresh chance. I bet it would be a better read.