Sickeningly slushy or cartoon cop-outs? We look at the cards on offer for this Valenine's Day.

LOVE is in the air. Well no, let's be honest - LUST is in the air. Horny handcuffs, naughty knickers, blatant boxers, and chocolates and lollipops in eye-watering shapes, all fill the shelves as Valentine's Day approaches.

Not so much the twang of Cupid's arrow, but instead the twang of knicker elastic as the age old urges are put much more directly.

Some of them are funny, some are rude, some are downright obscene.

But do you know something odd? We're still shy of love. Although we find it easy to be rude, it's much harder to be truly romantic. Far more embarrassing.

So those who are too shy to state their passion or devotion outright do it using a round-about route instead - via teddy bears or cartoons. Too embarrassed by their feelings, they make a joke of it instead.

Except for the Americans, of course.

They're not too shy to emote. Only the Americans could have a card with a long rambling message that includes the lines:

"Be my partner,

So that I may share my life

My love, my spiritual growth."

To add to the nausea, the card has a "hand crafted" look - which, as it's one of the most expensive, means that they can charge a lot of money for something that's trying to look what it's not.

Then there are those that speak of love - but indirectly. Hearts and flowers, but the cop-out message is not "I love you" or "Be mine" but "Happy Valentine's Day", which isn't the same thing at all.

Anyway don't give up hope, you true romantics, because there are some genuine cards out there that tread the fine line between subtle and sick-making. Some of them are sweet and simple, others are more traditional, that even Victorians would recognise. And for the really shy, we even found a card that simply said: "Will you marry me? Please say yes, please say yes."

A marriage proposal - Valentine's Day can't get more romantic.

Many of the more romantic cards were hand made - maybe nobody wants to put all that effort in just to be rude.

Time and again, in different shops, we kept picking out hand made cards by Talking Pictures, which is based in Thirsk. It seems to have the knack of making cards that are a nice modern twist on a traditional theme.

The company was started in 1989 by Ann and David Taylor, who started out making jewellery, moved into making greetings cards and have never looked back. Now they've won awards and sell over four million cards a year, many of them abroad, including to America.

"We have our contemporary ranges," says product development manager, Joanna Birtle, "but we also specialise in traditional cards and they seem just right for Valentine's Day."