All Comments on 'More than a Substitute'

Isabella is just a little offbeat at times and that makes her very endearing. Your stuff is pretty good - keep writing!

Nicely done. 5 Stars

Enthralling from start to finish. I just love reading what you write. Please continue writing. Best of luck!

This is the first of your stories I've read. It won't be the last. I appreciate stories that build loving relationships. You kept me interested by giving your characters more than just quick dirty sex. The play on words was a nice touch. - I can see that happening in real life. (Miss Isabella v Mrs. Abella)

Thanks for a good read!

Fat_Dad

This is a good story about getting on with your life after a loss. It is also Isabella discovering that being in love is more than sex. It is caring for each other and not just the children. Keep up the great writing!

thoroughly enjoyed this one- hope there is a chapter 2

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Well written with nothing outrageous or over the top craziness, I enjoyed it thoroughly!!

BRAVO!!

Really good - loved it.

Nageren, you are a modern-day bard. You have a flair for writing stories with a depth of feeling that never disappoints. Add to that the fact that, technically-speaking, your writing is usually error-free and it is always a joy to read your works.

Thank you for sharing your wonderful gift of story-telling with us.

What a lovely romantic story. Thank you

Beautiful, romantic, well-written, erotic, true-to-life story. Very much like the relationship I find myself in now, after becoming a widower 18 months ago. Many of the issues raised here are really happening in my life. Thank you for sharing your gift for writing.

This is as good as story telling gets in this genre.

I say fantasy because the plot seems more fanciful than true life. The people were really fine.

I loved the word play with the name.

And who'd have guessed we would meet Give And Get lady & family?? What a nice surprise!

Well written, romantic, and fun to read. 5 stars

Thank you for a beautiful story magnificently told. "I didn't have time to worry about opening up my heart to Isa, because she was too busy filling it up." What a lovely thought and how skillfully framed!

Occasionally on this site you come across a story that makes the reader a better person for having entered into it. You have nailed it!

1. Your story affirms life. It's hard to raise a child as a single parent. Sometimes that's a matter of choice; at other times a matter of circumstance. Whatever, the reward is worth the price.

2. You revel in the slipperiness of language. What a breathtaking literary device -- Mrs. Abella versus Miss Isabella -- that you exploit with consummate skill in the plot development.

3. The narrator has the clearness of vision and largeness of heart to love and cherish the memory of his first wife and to embrace the second wife as no mere substitute.

Thank you again! I am truly blessed to have found this story.

Stunning story.

Rob

"Give and Get lady & family?" Could you please clue in the rest of us?

@GaiusPetronius, anonymous is referring to another story of mine- A Strange Arrangement. In chapter 7, the protagonist (Gina), who is a waitress, is serving a birthday party, which in this story we learn to be Noah's party. In A Strange Arrangement, we hear the conversation between Grandma Josie and the waitress, a conversation that greatly affects her and even gets referenced in A Misdirection of Affection (chapter 3, I think). So far, all my stories are interconnected, some more, some less. It's one of the fun parts of writing. Brian and Isa are very obliquely reference, though not by name, at the end of the last chapter of Of Hope Lost and Found. I had planned to bring that into this story, but it felt clunky. Maybe another time.

And the restaurant scene wasn't the only connection to Gina in this story...

Nicely written story. The play with the name was fun, in and of itself. What made it special was how you incorporated it into the plot (as another reader pointed out). References to Gina are ALWAYS welcome and it was immediately apparent when grandma spoke with the "pretty waitress". Besides, I'm sure Gina is going to help them adopt a baby in the future, right??

Such a beautiful story and so nicely written. 5+ stars

Very well told and tied together. Do you have any plans to continue this story? I feel like there's so many places this could go.

and sweet.

Obviously a chick-flick story, where everything falls into place. Almost too coincidental and trouble free. Why do I think you might be setting us up for trouble later?

Global note: As you mentioned in a comment, resist the temptation to create bridges and touch points to other stories or characters just for the sake of creating some cute tangentially connected series of stories. I suggest you let the story and the plot drive the interlinks, rather than the reverse. I found nothing added by having Gina be the waitress at the birthday party. Since nothing about Gina and her situation affected this story's characters, her cameo appearance seemed contrived. Which of course it was. I understand a future adoption for Isa and Brian may bring them into contact with Gina and Dottie, but that would be a logical intersection, while the waitress scene felt forced into the story.

Still, this was a fun read, and I look forward to more. Thank You for your good stories about good people doing good things to and for each other!

(Sorry Bonnie, another normal people having normal passionate loyal loving sex story. Its OK, plenty of garbage still on Literotica for you to feed on.)

@ Anonymous:

I disagree about the so-called interlinkages. Every author creates a fictional universe with every piece of fiction. Some authors start from scratch each time; others, like nageren, set multiple stories in the same universe. Far from gratuitious, situating Noah's birthday party in the "give and get" chapter of A Strange Arrangement is one way in which the author has alerted the reader to the existence of a common fictional universe between the two stories. It's part of his artistic vision, and I appreciate it.

You should make a part 2

@GaiusPetronius @Anon

I think you both have a point. I think the restaurant scene, when we realize we are seeing the Give & Get scene from A Strange Arrangement, works well to place the story in time and place. However, when we read later that Isa is reporting to Gina about Andrew, it seems wrong (at least in my humble opinion). Firstly, it's something Gina would have told us in ASA. Since she didn't tell us, it didn't happen. Also I think it overloads the links. Gina talks to G&G Lady, who turns out to be Brian's grandmother, Brian meets Isa, who also knows Gina, and she works for Andrew. Just my opinion, but I think it became too much.

That's a lovely love story. No need for a part 2 - it's perfect as-is.

one of the best reads for a long time , hope you do more stories .

Very good.

Anxiously awaiting the next story!!!

Looks like our Author is done with writing, at least for now. If so it is a well earned rest, as he has provided us with nearly 40 well written chapters in a very short period of time. Nageren if you see this could you let us know if you will be writing any more stories, and if so when? Your loyal readers would appreciate it. And hey, either way we appreciate all the great writing you've given us!

Jane

It's a busy season of life and work right now. I have a few stories in process, but not enough time to bring any of them to the conclusion they (and you) deserve. Thanks for asking.

Like I said, well earned! And speaking for myself, I'd rather wait for a good story than have a short wait for a possibly lesser quality.

I read this after the delightful "Bottles", and having been a single parent, I particularly like the emergence from loving and dutiful desperation to love with another adult, with all the constraints and complications. Also the hesitations of loving moral people are both real and endearing. Beautiful stories - looking forward to reading more.

but it didn't seem like they were taking it fast.

So much goodness. This was perfect. Sweet and cute and sexy and just absolutely wonderful! I loved how Isabella was working for the cleaning company Gina hired for Andrew. Truly a stroke of genius. Very well done.

Beautifully built up - loved reading this!

but I have a question

In my mind I pronounce Isabella the same as the Queen of Spain did.

Is a Bella

How do you pronounce Isa?

eye sah?

or Iza? as in, it - is a - far far better thing . . . .

that is the way my mind works when reading. Each time I came upon Isa I went back and forth wondering.

This story was about as perfect as a romance can be. Five stars. Easy.

I started to read and at the end of the first page I saw there were five more.

Actually felt a bit disappointed. I am not used to longer stories on here.

By the end of the story I was sorry there weren't more pages.

Thank you.

Even though he's snipped there's no reason to talk about adoption, he can just get a vasectomy reversal. I think the success rate is something like 95%

She does'n t want any more children. Why would he get it reversed? Look at all the money they will save on contraceptives!

5 Stars

This read quite like a modern romance. I enjoyed that it wasn't just about the sex. The lead up was romantic and funny. Good job.

Honestly, I loved it!

A very romantic and sensual story, with a slight touch of sex, but very romantic, not lustful.

I think it has been a very real explanation of how a relationship can be between a couple of single parents, with their fears and concerns about how their respective children are going to take it. Single parents tend to think about their children first, before they are in themselves.

Thank you for sharing your work with all of us.

5 * for you.

I apologize for my English (yet), is not my native language.

Really good story! I couldn't stop reading it until the end, thanks for sharing! Keep them coming ;)

It's perfect

him being sniped is a turn off.

Really happy that this wasn't a light plot to get to the good stuff (sex). The story development put the love (sex) into the right context and made it worth reading.

I love the story but wish it would have been longer. Good job.

Loved the characters and the story. Really well done.

I read it a while back and was happy to find and reread it now. Isabella is such a sweet character, loving but not overly sexualized like so many of the lead females in stories on the site. She has a past that is clearly visible in her thoughts and actions, right down to her visible stretch marks. The story is very well written, and I love the dialogue and banter between them.

Well worth the reread! Favorited and 5*!

But 4 stars for a 5 star story for 1 reason. To me getting snipped or a tube tie is a huge disappointment. They should at least have one baby together. See if it can be reversed!!! It's too good to give it 3 stars. It should have been a 5.

Vasectomies have a pretty high success rate for getting reversed, especially when it's only after a few years.

What a fun story. Of course they could have more children, if the vasectomy was reversed. Surely they'd know that. 5*s.

Master story teller. Nice interesting build up of the two main characters and the love developing between them. Beautiful description of sex. Thanks for not ruining it with anal. Richly deserved Five Stars.

Well done, loved it. 5*

Sometimes I read a nice story on here, then I remember when I read another story, and it kind of ruins this story.

I remember reading another where the wife cheats because the OM compliments her, feeding her body issues. The husband says I tell you you look good all the time. The wife says yes, but that's your job. So she rewarded him sighted because he did what her husband does it all the time.

It's not this author's fault its a hazard of this site.

Lovely story, much enjoyed.

Love these stories

[14.02.23]

Tres Romantique!

11/10!!!!!

Have read this several times. It is a great story that brings a smile to my face. Thank you 5*

A strategic Isabella who latched onto him from the beginning as a potential daddy!!

Surprised she does not want a child from him!!

She seems immature!!

Sweet

Very nice, loved the humour !