How We Met: Chance Encounters and Other True Love Stories of Real-Life Couples

The road not taken. The one that got away. Serendipitous meetings. These are the stories that populate How We Met, an anthology of "chance encounters and other true love stories of real-life couples." They are stories of enduring affection that transcends time and distance until the couples eventually find their way to one another through happenstance or dogged perseverance. That fork in the road eventually circles back to the right path. The one that got away is found again. Romance blooms at stoplights. Sometimes it takes a week or a month, sometimes years--even decades--for the lovers to find each other and acknowledge their bond. In the end, they all live happily ever after--or at least that's what we hope: nearly all the stories conclude with marriage.

Some of the 32 stories in this collection are contemporary, with young adults meeting in modern settings such as through the singles ads; others date to World War II or start there and finish in the 1990s with long-lost lovers finding each other against all odds. It would be easy to prejudge How We Met as schmaltz, but once you dive in, you are assured of finding a story that reminds you of your own history (perhaps of the moment you met your spouse) or that rekindles memories of a special someone from the past. Single readers will be reassured that they, too, may one day meet their soul mate.

The writing style is journalistic and unembroidered with the intemperate gush of many love stories. This restraint allows the narratives to speak for themselves, and as examples of true love between regular folks, they need no embellishment. --Brenda Pittsley