All Comments on 'Puttin' on the Ritz'

That is an absolutely well plotted & erotic story with first-rate dialogue appropriate for the story & times. My guess is that it either ends here, or continues in such a manner that Paul survives and escapes Nazi Germany with Garren, or ends up partnered with a high ranking officer of the American invasion. One can only surmise that the author might be of a mind to continue a great ride.

Isn't this a case where a continuance and, especially, a happy ending would deflate the power of the story? The intended message of this story is that even flawed characters can have a love story--and that love stories can be tragic and doomed. (Well, that and illuminating what I think is a very interesting story of the Ritz Paris.) Sure, you can fantasize that all works out well, if you like, and the ending leaves that open for you (if you must have such an ending). But the foreshadowing of the realistic end to this is right there in the story--where Garren, saying the war is lost, has his hands on Paul's throat and tells him that Paul will not suffer at the end--and Paul offers himself up for this ending as long as he can be with his lover. The logical conclusion here, supporting the theme of the story, is that the two will die in Berlin--at Garren's hand--before they can suffer any consequences not of their choice or that will deny their love story. That ending, I think, justifies the theme of the story and makes for a much more powerful love story. (As this is in the Valentine's Day contest, this might also be a good time to point out that St. Valentine's story is that he was imprisoned, beaten, stoned, and beheaded for cleaving to his beliefs. Not exactly a HEA ending--but an enduring one.)

I really enjoyed reading a story set in that period. You write very well, but some of the enormous sentences are dizzying. Just one example:

"Until late August 1940, following the June occupation of the city by the Nazis, the leading socialite in residence, occupying the Imperial Suite of living room, dining room, kitchen, and three bedrooms and three baths, taking up an entire floor of the old hotel wing, was Laura Mae Corrigan, one of the world's richest women, who had come from nowhere to marry an American tycoon who conveniently died early in the marriage."

The monster sentences need to be broken up.

Some others are awkward, such as:

"Noell Giroux was a notable French charcoal artist and sculptor of forty-two... "

The way this is worded it sounds like Giroux did forty-two sculptures.

Valentine has never been a saint. Stop writing rubbish.

Anon:

There were, at minimum, three different Saint Valentines. Stop being an idiot.