Don’t forget: There’s still time to win a free book! Check out this post for your chance to win Divine By Mistake by PC Cast!!

Thirteen Romantic Movies I love

1. Casablanca (1942) – What can I say about this one? Wartime, sacrifice, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman. It’s got it all. A tear-jerker that never disappoints.
2. Sunset Boulevard (1950) – This is a movie I saw recently. I’d heard of it for years and who could forget Carol Burnett’s impression of Nora Desmond. Not a romance in the conventional sense, but still a wonderful movie and a fabulous example of film noir.
3. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) – A movie to make anyone feel good about his/her life. Jimmy Stewart is the great George Bailey, the “richest man in town,” and Donna Reed is wonderful as his wife, who clearly could only have married him. One of my dad’s favorite films and one of mine as well.
4. Vertigo (1958) – My sister got me turned on to this movie. She told me it was fabulous. My husband and I rented it early in our marriage and half way through it I thought, this is no big deal. Boy, was I wrong! It changed in my mind almost immediately after that. I still watch it and marvel at what Hitchcock did!
5. Rebecca (1940) – Another Hitchcock movie and one I could watch over and over. Lawrence Olivier and Joan Fontaine and that creepy housekeeper. I love the twist ending and just the feeling between the two people.
   
6. The Princess Bride (1987) – A fairy tale, a classic. A movie to lose yourself in. It’s funny and there are a plethora of quotable lines. My husband even learned to say the whole “My name is Inigo Montoya…” speech in German and my daughter has a tee-shirt with that line (in English) on it.
7. The Conversation (1974) – An interesting movie that I saw, kind of by accident. My father watched it on TV one day but for some reason, we didn’t get to see the end of it. Years later I watched it again and really liked it. It’s different but engaging and if you see Enemy of the State (1984) you see Gene Hackman play almost the same character.
8. Ben-Hur (1959) – This is another classic I’m ashamed to admit I only saw just recently. I was amazed at the depth of the faith element in this film, something Hollywood would be reluctant to do these days. The love between two childhood friends turns to hatred as ambition claims one man to the determent of the other. Only the love of Christ turns hatred to forgiveness. A wonderful story.
9. Miracle on 34th Street (1947) – The original, black and white version. A sweet story about believing even when everything tells you not to. The power of love and hope and the spirit of Christmas. One of those movies that are required to make the Christmas Season feel right.
10. While You Were Sleeping (1995) – I love Sandra Bullock movies, and this is one of the best romances. As a romance writer, it’s fun to watch these kinds of things and analyze just what is going on and where the plot points are and stuff. However, this one is just fun to watch and no matter how many times I see it, I just can’t help getting caught up in it.
11. Notting Hill (1999) – I kind of avoided this one for a long time because while I’m a Hugh Grant fan, I’m very indifferent on the subject of Julia Roberts. However, I think Hugh is wonderful in his movie, and he’s surrounded by a wonderful support system/family that I want to be a part of. It’s a nice, happily not predictable, movie.
12. Ever After (1998) – A surprising movie. Drew Barrymore is a thoroughly “modern” Cinderella in a fairy tale world. This is a movie that doesn’t make Cinderella a victim, but it doesn’t resort to blatant sex scenes, even though there is a clear opportunity for at least one.
13. Roxanne (1987) – Steve Martin is a surprising actor, and never more so than in stories he had some part in creating. This movie, a retelling of the Cyrano story, is one of his best, if not his best, in my opinion. Funny but touching and charming. If Roxanne doesn’t want this man, she’s nuts and there are tons of us out here who would!

Divine By Mistake by PC Cast

I had the pleasure of taking a workshop given by Ms. Cast at RWA’s National Conference last summer, and reading this book was like hearing her voice again. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Shannon Parker is a 30-something high school teacher with a passion for flea markets and estate sales. When she goes to a sale out in the middle of nowhere in the part of Oklahoma that she calls home, she finds an ancient ceramic vase with her image painted on it! This vase weaves a spell over her and she has to buy it.

Driving home, feeling a little strange, she encounters a freak storm and the pot explodes. When she wakes up, she finds her best friend acting like her slave and discovers that she’s been transported to a mythological world. If that weren’t confusing enough, everyone is calling her Rhiannon and she is also expected to wed a Centaur Shaman, like right now!

ClanFintan, the Shaman, is probably one of the greatest heroes I’ve read in romantic fiction in a long time, and yes, the Centaur thing is a little disconcerting (imagine yourself in Shannon’s place), but it does work out without any strange inter-species stuff.

PC Cast’s voice is contemporary and fun, like you know this person and really want to hang out or go shopping with her. Shannon/Rhiannon has to deal with a terribly scary enemy and deal with people who believe her to be a nasty, slutty Goddess. She manages it all while remaining a fun, 21st century woman. Being a high school teacher serves her in ways you wouldn’t expect given the situation she finds herself in.

Shannon is a girly girl in all the best ways and finds herself surrounded by true girlfriends who help her deal with tough problems along with the enemy who threatens her new found home.

I LOVE this book. I found myself actually cringing when things got bad and laughing out loud a lot of the time. This was one of those books you never want to end. Fortunately, there are more in the series and I intend to read them all!

If you’d like to read Divine by Mistake, leave me a message and I’ll pick the name of someone who comments to get this book. Please leave me a working email (separate the elements so as to stop the dumb spammers!). I’ll draw a name next Monday!

CAUTION: SOME “BATHROOM HUMOR” FOLLOWS.

While sitting watching cartoons with Mom sitting nearby reading:

The Boy: You know, Mommy.My mouth is like a toilet.

Me (looking up in surprise): What?

The Boy: Well, look. (opens mouth wide) And when I eat, stuff goes down.

Okay, I guess it makes sense, but he has a few bathroom issues. He is a boy after all.He told me he likes to pee better because he can see it.

Another time, while getting changed so Daddy can take him to the pool. Daddy was already changed and waiting for my slow-poke son.

“Daddy’s faster than I am. That’s because he eats his vegetables.”

Appetizer
Fill in the blank:  The best thing about where I live is _My family is here. What else do I need?_…

Soup
Create a new name for a deodorant (like “Flower Fresh” or “Shower Scent”). - Honeysuckle

Salad
What was the last piece of software you installed onto your computer? - I think I updated my webshots desktop

Main Course
If you were to receive a superlative award today beginning with the words ”Most likely to…”, what would the rest of the phrase say? - Most likely to do something creative instead of doing her housework!!

Dessert
What two colors do you like to wear together? - Pink and Black

Thirteen fantasy “cliches’ I hope I never have to see again.

 1. “Talking” horses – Horses are great animals and I know some people have a deep devotion to them, but seriously, how many books do we need where the hero/heroine has an equine companion who is psychic or can actually speak? There are other animals, people. Better yet, how about a “human” friend?

2. “Talking” swords, helmets or whatever – Swords, helmets and other tools are useful, but when they’re smarter than the hero/heroine or makes all the important decisons, something’s seriously wrong.

3. Princesses or noblewomen who hate stitching – Really, any kind of feminine thing. This is a typical thing for historical romances, too, and it drives me crazy. I love needlework and I don’t know why a heroine has to hate being a girl to be strong?

4. Women who can out-whatever a man – This is a corollary to #3. I’ve  read books (but never finished) books where a woman can out-shoot, out-ride, out-hunt, out-fight, out-drink, out-you-name-it, any man she meets.While, I don’t mind a woman holding her own, but these women are unrealistic and why do they need a man anyway??

5. Ladies who are running away from a marriage – Again, this is in historical romances as well as fantasies. It’s a way for the woman to get into the adventure, but surely, we’ve overdone the parents who are forcing a woman into a marriage with an old, smelly, mean or just ugly man.

6. Men who are sexist pigs – It might have worked for Sean Connery’s 007, but I’ve seen fantasy heroes who only think of the women as playthings or incapable of more than being rescued and/or seduced.

7. Women who wear clothing that is totally impractical – Just think about Xena for a minute. Was her outfit even capable of keeping her safe in anyway? If a woman is going to traveling or working or fighting or ANYTHING, dress her in a way that fits the situation. This mainly applies to covers!

8. Dice rolling stuff – I have read books that seem like someone was just basing it on a game he/she played. (Okay, Attack of the Queen was like that, but I tried to avoid gaming cliches.) In “real life” would a detect magic spell be called that?? If you can envision some one sitting at a table with a 12-sided dice working out the odds of making it out of the conflict or trap, take it out!

9. Name with more than one apostrophe – If you can’t easily pronounce it, don’t us it.

10. Ditto names with more Zs or Xs than vowels – see above.

11. Evil characters who are just plain evil – Give the villain a real reason to do what he/she is doing, even if it only makes sense in his/her mind.

12. I mentioned this in the heroine list, but girls dressed up as boys? Skip it, okay? I don’t believe it.

13. Parents or mother being dead in the beginning – Think of the Disney heroines. Not one of them has a mom. Stepmothers, maybe, but they tend to be evil just for the sake of evil (see 11). I think Sleeping Beauty had a mother, but she’s the exception. Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle. What do fairy tale writers have against moms?

Check out The Catholic Carnival to read a lot of great essays on faith, including one by yours truly, ME!