A Guide to the Best of Southern California : AT HOME : Mad Libs for Lovers

“HER HANDS reached up and tugged at the collar of (his name here) ‘s shirt, pulling his hesitant lips closer to her own. They swayed together in tempo with the tide of the ocean. In the intimate darkness, they were going to steal a moment of ecstasy that the tropical sunshine would have denied. . . .” Now that spring, and romance, are in the air, you and your sweetie may want to star as hero and heroine in a rapturously romantic fantasy like “Paradise Dream” (excerpted above), one of Evelyn Brown’s three personalized romance novels.

For $45, a customer receives a library-quality, hard-bound edition of “Paradise Dream,” “Lotto Love” or “Our Love.” “Our Love” is a California tale that sets up a land-developer hero and an investigative-reporter heroine in a series of classic conflicts. “It ends, of course, with the happiest ending of all: true romance,” Brown promises. The books come complete with his and her names worked into the copy and a special dedication for the couple. For $15 more, the author mixes into the recipe additional personalized ingredients. “I have about a dozen standardized points--hair and eye color, pets’ names, friends’ names and sensuality levels--G to PG-plus.” (The action, Brown says, is always “above the waist; I don’t get real smutty.”) For the deluxe edition, $150, Brown writes a custom epilogue based on the couple’s own romance.

In springtime, anticipating the flush of June weddings and anniversaries, Brown gets so busy that she sometimes has to put her husband and children to work. “And around Valentine’s Day,” she says, “it gets to be a real family affair.” But does she let them read the stuff? For further information telephone Swan Publishing, (714) 779-SWAN.