A Familiar Ring to It
Caryn Briggs (Rachel Boston - Christmas in Angel Falls) has never been one for commitment, she has had boyfriends but at 30 she is not in any hurry to settle down, especially as it would interfere with her career plans which currently sees her working for the easy going Tom Halsey (Kirby Morrow - The Pastor's Wife). During a charity event she attends with her friends, Gregg (Chad Krowchuk) and Stephanie (Ali Liebert - Virtual Lies), she agrees to have her future told by Madame Rue (Stefanie Powers - Love by the Book) who proclaims that she will either be wearing an engagement ring by Spring or else she will never marry. Of course she thinks it is hooey until Gregg and Stephanie's fortunes come true. Now panicking that she may receive a proposal from current boyfriend of sorts, Bryce (Chris Jacot), Caryn is going to have to face up to her fear of commitment even if it isn't with Bryce or else maybe that future she thought she had time to do the marriage thing in might never happen.
"A Ring by Spring" should be just another cutesy Hallmark romantic comedy where you know that by the end the career focused woman with commitment issues finds her Mr. Right, as I said it is a Hallmark romantic comedy so you shouldn't expect anything else and especially nothing more. And it delivers on all the things you expect which means whilst I am giving the game away Caryn and Tom end up getting on really well but she is too blinkered to see the obvious and is far too busy tracking down her previous boyfriends to learn what it was which caused their relationships to end.
But "A Ring by Spring" has an issue and that is it doesn't bother to work through the basics of introducing the characters and allowing us to get to know them and in turn like them. Without this the character of Caryn ends up being a bit annoying because unfortunately Rachel Boston forces her comic reactions to try and create some sort of character. It gets too much especially with her non stop talking which if I was Tom I would be having some second thoughts over his feelings for her. The thing is that Rachel Boston and Kirby Morrow have the right looks for a Hallmark romantic comedy and in one which doesn't feel rushed they would have worked but here it is sadly a no.
What this all boils down to is that "A Ring By Spring" should have been just another pleasant Hallmark romantic comedy which ticked the boxes and was easy to watch. But unfortunately it feels like it was made just to be made and done so in a rushed way, in doing so failing to create the characters for us to grow to like.
