All Comments on 'So Many Kinds of Love'

A tour-de-force, indeed, a really excellent story and plausible all the way through. I've known a few shits like Michael in my time and nothing's too bad for them. The only problem when you write a story as good as this one, Van, is how are you going to top it? Certainly not easy but I've got five-star faith in you.

This is one of the best stories I've read in a while. Insightful. Sensitive. Illuminating. Sincere apologies. I accidentally hit the wrong number earlier. Thus I'm giving it the proper score now 6+/5. Thank you for this incredible gift.

The emotional punch you managed is amazing. Well told. Thank you for sharing something so close to yourself

Please, please continue this story. This beautifully told tale needs closure. For Layla, Mom, Gary and Gabby.

There must be more to this!! You can't just leave it hanging like that.

I'm glad my dad died of pancreatic cancer when i was in my 30s. It was hard as fuck then, but i was an adult with enough life experience to work through the pain of seeing him go. You made me feel what it might have been if i was younger. Well done

Axelotto

who is still alive because an experimental treatment many years ago;

please accept my thanks!

Mom, wife and 2 very close friends all had cancer within a few short years. The friend with pancreatic cancer did not survive. You wrote her strength well. You wrote tge fight and emotion of thd support giver extremely well. Thank you.

Vaya con Dios

I was honored to be Van's beta reader (because that's what sisters do; we stick together and help each other!), and I am also honored for her by the wonderful comments that have been submitted thus far. Rest assured, dear readers, that I have already asked about Part Deux! Thank you, dear sister, for your gifts, and know how much I love and support you!💗

Thank you writing this, and so great that real family is with you on this journey! I wondered if the story went as you planned it or whether story just decided to take it's own direction and to take you with it.

Hello! Thank you so much for these thoughtful comments - they mean so much to me. Two of the scenes in this piece came directly from my life, and I am glad to know that touched some of your hearts.

To answer Anonymous, what usually happens is that I get an idea and start writing, but as the characters appear and develop, they start driving too. In this story, Gabriela just showed up - I never planned to include a second female lead character in my original outline. Mom also just showed up one day, and a good thing too, as she brought more depth. Gary turned out to be a lot more insecure and anxious than my first concept, but also more interesting and human. It was exciting to watch him develop as the story went on. And Layla turned out stronger and more badass than I ever realized. Dr. Hsu, Eddie and Smitty were all fun to write, too.

The story itself changed over the months I wrote it. The original ending was far darker than this one, but as the pandemic wore on in real life, I found myself unable to go to that place with her.

I hope this answers your questions!

This is an exceptional story that had me having to choke back a little. Thank you for this amazing story and characters. While you indicated you wouldn't post more stories in this category, you did it so well that you might want to rethink your approach. It was outstanding. Well done.

Wonderful...touching...poignant story! PLEASE follow this one up!!!!!!

Wrong category

Thanks for your note. I did flag the subject matter when I submitted the story, but tite administrator chose the category.

Great job! I certainly didn't see the twist coming, but you handled it with grace and humor and made it believable. Not quite like anything else I've ever read here, and it's not often I can say that!

I honestly am having trouble rating this. I know it has a lot to do with my pitiful excuse for a brother, but your description of that kind of love did make sense even if, to me, it was icky to read. Thank-you for making me push my boundaries and for a very well written tale. Of course would love to read more!

I read ten pages of romance, trusting that the category was correct, before finding it was an incest story. This needs to be deleted from this category.

One of those rare stories that makes you see the world a little differently, and makes you want to be a better person. Thank you. x

The title is perfect. The dialog... amazing. The characters are people I want to know, or in Michaels case, beat to a pulp. You are an artist, my friend.

This is really quite astonishingly good. You handle a myriad of very complicated and emotional topics with grace and aplomb. Professional-grade work. I also appreciated that the twist was written more loving than erotic - the first sex scene with Gabriela was hot enough to cover the entire story off, and the coming-together wasn't fetishized in the way it is in the I/T category. .

I am so impressed. Your stories and depth are wonderful. Thank you. Wieliczka

This is incredible. The writing is excellent. The characters are delightful. The ideas that fill the story are important, relevant and worth all the hours I know I shall be contemplating them.

This is what great writing is all about. You should be proud.

ZTHANKS

I liked that this story has many elements and shows moral issues as complex, not black and white. Cancer brings out strong emotions. I have known it well. My wife had breast cancer (she is still with us) and my son-in-law died of colon cancer. In both cases there were moments of love and joy as well as sorrow and pain. Even son-in-law’s death had a certain beauty as he died peacefully in my daughter’s arms. This story shows this complexity of emotions very well. As for the incest, being face to face with death removes one from the standards of the normal world to some extent. An act that would normally be unthinkable may become acceptable if brings comfort and joy to some-one facing the real possibility of death. For this reason the story doesn’t really belong in incest/taboo, as it is not primarily about incest, but people loving each other in difficult circumstances. Perhaps it should be in novels/novellas as it touches on many themes (cancer, child abuse, sexual abuse, the nature of relationships) as well as containing several relationships, not all sexual, such as the relationship with their mother. Romance fits the Gabriella Gary relationship better than Gary Layla, as that remained a once off sexual encounter in an otherwise sibling relationship.

Having read the sequel first have me a whole different take on the struggles you so expertly wove into this story. It still knocked me on my rear end and brought me back with faith in humanity. Beyond a doubt my best read on this site. 5* with a bullet

I work in a program dealing with relational brokeness, mother/father wounds. This is great story-telling with just tbe right amount of pain and hurt.

It started a little slow, made me wonder where it was going. Or even if it was going anywhere at all. But by page three it started picking up steam, and a page or two later it was impossible to put down. A couple of comments mentioned a sequel, I can’t wait to get into that. Just a great story, going places I never would have imagined but going there in a fantastic way. A Five Star story if ever there was one.

Thank you for reading! If you want to know what happens next, this story has a sequel, The Unbucket List - you can find it at https://www.literotica.com/beta/s/the-unbucket-list.

My thanks to the people who have left such thoughtful comments on both stories, and whose votes caused The Unbucket List to win the 2020 Summer Lovin' contest. When I got the unexpected news, I couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day! - Van

Very well crafted and written, thoroughly enjoyed a well told story.

Wonderful story, powerfully written with unique and surprising twists and turns. Will be reading more of your things.

Thank you for your stories. Everything that I have read has touched me, especially this one. Don't let this one be your last of this kind. Continue to write and share your gifts with the world. Martin B

For the first time, I chose not to rate the story. It's because I'm conflicted. I enjoyed this tale on one level but was disturbed on another. I suppose that if I had not lost one of my favorite Aunts to pancreatic cancer, it wouldn't have affected me so badly. Jean was my Uncle Austin's wife and I loved her almost as much as my own mother. She was sweet and angelic. I became totally invested in Layla because of your writing. When I finally reached the point where the chemotherapy wasn't working and her doctor said it was time to change therapies, I couldn't take it anymore and skipped to the last page. I liked the ending and the hope that it gave. But I think that I'm done. I don't know if I can ever come back and finish reading this one. It deserves 5 stars. But it hits me too close to home. Personally, I need uplifting stories right now. I hope that you can understand why. Thanks for sharing.

Really liked the story but it doesn't feel complete. It feels like it needs an ending and is dissatisfying without one. Sorry for your loss. 5*

My oldest and dearest friend beat pancreatic cancer last year. It was found very early, more or less by accident, while he was being scanned for metastasis of another cancer. He is now recovered, and eluded coronavirus too, so we have a lot of lost time to make up. Although this story brought back a whole year of stress and worry for my friend, it was also uplifting and hopeful because of the strength of the characters. Another 5 stars for Van.

Simply 5 stars, thanks for this, it hit home

Too many times in life we meet someone for a time and then move on, never knowing whether our paths will cross again. That uncertainty was really felt here with Layla’s condition and the unconventional step that she and Gary took to give her a taste of life she was missing but really needed to experience. I was happy for Gary and Gabriella as their relationship developed and matured, was sickened by Michael’s betrayal, and (besides feeling uncomfortable because I don’t read that other category) was left wondering if Gary had done the right thing with Layla or by Gabriella. The story was very well written and very well developed and told but I hate that Layla found herself forced into the position where she had to ask what she did and then actually go through with it. I’ll skip the rest of my qualms and questions since the sequel awaits and hope that it turns out well for everyone involved. Except Michael, of course. No need to turn out well for him. 5*

I loved this story as it realistically followed the joys and sorrows of life…the darkness of Gary and Laylas childhood, the lightness of Gabby’s family dynamics, the pain and unfairness of Layla’s cancer, the evolution of Gary as a human being, etc., etc., etc. 5 *****

I did not have a problem with the one time sexual relationship between Layla and Gary…choosing to believe it was very consistent with the story title…So Many Kinds of Love.

I want to thank SisterJezabel for introducing me to this author, in general, and this story, in particular. I just finished enjoying all of SJ’s stories and found this story on her Favorites list. My hope was that something catching the fancy of an excellent Romance story writer such as SJ, might appeal to me. This story didn’t disappoint. I look forward to reading more by this author.

Finally, I appreciated how the author dealt with Layla’s cancer. My own mother died from cancer decades ago when she was in her mid-fifty’s. I was too far away and too wrapped up in my own world to understand or appreciate her 18 month journey battling her cancer.

My favorite Aunt, her little sister, just passed due to cancer. Her cancer was recently diagnosed and I can appreciate and respect my Aunt’s decision not to fight it. As she shared with me a week before she died, she realized that we all are going to die and she was grateful for the full life that she had enjoyed for over 95 years.

Outstanding. I actually wept; it hit very close to home. Thank you. I'd give it 6 stars if I could.

God damn it! I wasn't ready for this. Not even with your warning. But at least you reminded me of something to help me ease back out of it a little, "Time In A Bottle." It's probably been years.