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This is just simply the most romantic and heartwarming story and proposal ever:
http://ceaserphotography.com/blog/archives/192
The very innovative man decided to special-order Muppet likenesses of he and his girlfriend, made a MOVIE TRAILER of the proposal, convinced a local movie theatre to air it, and got his girlfriend a front-row seat to her own future ;-).
Who can top that?!
Skip this post if you're the sensitive type. A romance author stumbled upon a scene late last night.
Last chance! I did warn ya!
Look at Betty crying in the background! Poor Betty. I can't believe Archie's getting married after 30 years in high school ;-). Damn. I always wondered who he would choose....
This ad is the latest from Calvin Klein. It's causing quite a hullaballoo in NYC because, well, the ad is the size of a FIVE-STORY building, and people are saying that, unlike a TV channel or a magazine, they can't turn themselves, or their kids, away.
Here's some Monday Fun! And the video is safe for work. It has one kissing scene and one bare chest.
This was a PBS featured appropriately titled Frenchman's Creek. I'm sure it was a wonderful pirate romance, but if you just listened to the "described video for the visually impaired," it adds a totally hilarious dimension to the story. Bone pipe and white foam take on totally new meaning!
Via Smart Bitches
These are romance books most often recommended by romance readers to other romance readers, books that have a "generational" or "classic" feel to them, pivotal in moving the genre into new territory. Some of these stories were provocative for their time, and of course, generated very different feelings today because most readers aren't comfortable with the subject matter (rape/UberduperAlpha behavior/dated male-female concepts), but I feel they all elicited strong emotional response then and now.
1) MacKenzie's Mountain -- Linda Howard
2) Sarah's Child -- Linda Howard
3) "Born In" trilogy -- Nora Roberts (my fave was Born in Fire)
4) Lord of the Storm -- Justine Dare (a classic, very hard to find)
5) Knight of A Million Stars -- Dara Joy
6) Naked In Death -- J.D. Robb
7) The Stud -- Barbara Delinsky
8) The Lover -- Robin Schone
9) Prince Joe -- Suzanne Brockmann
10) Walking After Midnight -- Karen Robards
11) Sweet Savage Love -- Rosemary Rogers
12) The Flame and the Flower -- Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
13) Dream Man -- Linda Howard
14) Chained Lightning -- Elizabeth Lowell
15) A Man To Slay Dragons -- Meagan McKinley
16) Menage -- Emma Holly
17) Devil's Bride -- Stephanie Laurens
18) Leopard In The Snow -- Anne Mather
19) Outlaw -- Susan Johnson
20) Blaze -- Susan Johnson
21) Blush -- Suzanne Forster
22) The Morning Side of Dawn -- Justine Davis
23) The Windflower -- Tom and Sharon Curtis
24) Dream A Little Dream -- Susan Elizabeth Philips
25) Gentle Rogue -- Johanna Lindsey
26) Flowers From The Storm -- Laura Kinsale
27) Stormfire -- Christine Monson
28) Rangoon -- Christine Monson (Please do not read 27 or 28 if you have no stomach for the most bodice rippling trainwreck taboos ever. You have been warned. They will make you gnash your teeth and buy brain bleach. But, for the 80s era, this was definitely a definitive classic, like Sweet Savage Love was in the 70s)
29) Hangar 13 -- Lindsay McKenna
30) Slow Heat In Heaven -- Sandra Brown
31) Nightfall -- Anne Stuart
32) Dark Prince -- Christine Feehan
33) Outlander -- Diana Gabaldon
34) Clan of the Cave Bear -- Jean M. Auel
35) Bridget Jones' Diary -- Helen Fielding
36) Golden Surrender -- Heather Graham
37) Bad To The Bone -- Debra Dixon
38) Fantasy Lover -- Sherrilyn Kenyon
39) Cry Wolf -- Tamo Hoag
40) Knight In Shining Armor -- Jude Devereaux
41) Whitney, My Love -- Judith McNaught (the non-revised version, please)
42) Walking After Midnight -- Karen Robards
43) Untie My Heart -- Judith Ivory
44) In The Midnight Rain -- Ruth Windy
45) Winter Garden -- Adele Ashworth
46) Morning Glory -- LaVryle Spencer
47) The Bride -- Julie Garwood
48) Sweet Starfire -- Jayne Ann Krentz (considered the first mainstream futuristic romance)
49) The Negotiator -- Dee Henderson (I feel this is the first Christian book that crossed genre into romance, thus brought a lot of attention to Christian and sweet romances)
50) One of Barbara Cartland's...breathy...novels..., especially the one with the overweight heroine that went into a coma...and...woke up...so amazingly...thin...and...gorgeous and...talks...like this.... That's one of hundreds I read but it definitely remained in my memory.
50) One of mine, of course! Come on, where would you find a Chinese heroine tied down with a seat belt? Or all brothers named Steve? Huh? Huh? J/K. Fill up #50 and above for me.
Yes, I've read 95 percent of the books above. I'll come up with the next 50 this week, maybe. Please fill free to help get to #100 by giving me titles that you always hear people recommend to a romance reader. Yes, I also left out the inevitable Danielle Steele. I know everyone knows her and she should be on the list because of recognizability (is that a word?) but I decided she should be on another list with the Bible and James Patterson romances. Ahem.
50 Years: LOVE EVER AFTER
The recollections brought smiles to my face. Gave me a good, gushy feeling in the tummy too.
As I slowly work my way through editing and updating Grace's story, a few things struck me about this particular manuscript.
1) The heroine is my youngest ever.
This being Grace--you know, Jed's daughter--she's a little different from most young ladies. She's around 22. Her story starts around five years after Big Bad Wolf. To give perspective, it's also roughly a bit after that period of time His Jedness gets entangled with a certain Hell ;-).
Anyway, the way Grace behaves and thinks is a challenge because she has that "I'm young and immortal" psyche crossed with "I'm uber spy's daughter and I've seen stuff" attitude. There are moments when she acts overly-confident thus driving her lover up the wall because he has trouble seeing her beyond that 22 year-old facade.
2) This is also the biggest age difference between h/h. The hero is around 31, nine years older than Grace. To the old girl in me, he's really just sliding into real manhood ;-) but while writing Grace, I have to see him through her eyes. When I was around 20, anyone 30 or older is out of my league and vice-versa. The nine-year age gap is bigger during that time than between a 26 and a 35 year-old.
So Grace (and I) has a lot of fun out-witting this poor OLD dude of 31 who doesn't know that he's messing around with Number Nine's daughter. Needless to say, the youth thing keeps tripping him up.
As you know, I wrote this book many years ago. I have to update the lingo and technology as I rewrite. It also made me think whether I could write another story with such a youthful couple. They are quite different compared to later couples I created who are a few years older. Grace doesn't have that sophisticated layer that her GEM friends have nor does she have any baggage. In fact, she's pretty well-balanced in spite of her strange upbringing. If you've read her in BBW, you'll find that she hasn't changed much since then.
My curiosity then is this--how old do you like your couples? Especially the hero?
When I started reading romances in my teens, the heroines were forever around 18 or 20, with the heros at the disgusting ages of 36-39. This vast difference in age was quite normal back then, and yeah, even though I loved those stories, I was always quite horrified at the thought of my hero being that OLD. When I returned to romances a decade later, a lot have changed, including the age difference. The heroines are now older too, usually between mid- to late- twenties. The heros are also younger, thank God. Reflection of the times and all that.
However, I'm now past the disgusting ages of 36-39 and suddenly, early forties heros are quite reasonably acceptable in my mind again ;-). Hey, early forties can be the new sexy, you know. Isn't that funny how that works?
So now I'm curious because I have both Grace-age readers and readers who are in that "disgusting" age group ;-). What do you younger readers think of the older heros? Conversely, what do you more, ahem, experienced ladies think of the younger heros? Admittedly, 31 here is quite acceptable, but I'm not sure whether I'd get into a romance with, let's say, a 25 year-old hero.
For example, the youngest hero I've ever read was in a Susan Johnson historical and he was a very, very, very, very, very, VERY experienced 18. I couldn't get into that story at all because well...18 is a BOY, no matter how sexy. I kept seeing my neighbor's son while reading it. Ugh.
I'm looking forward to reading about your take on hero's and heroine's ages/age difference, so please chime in.
REMINDER: VIRTUALLY HIS ARC CONTEST
(SEE FEB 15 POST)
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Still detoxifying but feeling better.
Whoa. That was some serious head spinning. I didn't eat much at lunch and had to explain to Ranger Buddy that I over-indulge. He told me that I'm now a real roofer.
At last. I've achieved roofer godhood. I put on my sunglasses and enjoyed my moment.
Here is an article about Harlequin Romance's partnership with NASCAR, with more books coming out about RACING and ROMANCE. If the link needs a password, just type in Gennita and the password is rooferauthor.
Overall, I think it's an interesting venture, what with so many of the newest racing fans being women (some of whom are romance readers!). When I was introduced as a romance author at the race, I was asked several times whether I was The NASCAR Romance Author, like that was a title or something ;-).
I explained that I wasn't The NASCAR Romance Author but I do write for MIRA, which is part of Harlequin. Then, of course, I was quizzed about all the NASCAR drivers, as if I meet them at parties or something, LOL. It was funny, kind of like being asked what Nora Roberts is like, as if I know her in person.
Anyway, the article said these new books have no sex or car crashes since NASCAR is a family sport. LOL. No car crashes in racing?!! What was that sliding by me on its hood at the finish line the day before? Whoa. Thought it was an upside down car shooting flames. Guess not.
Have any of you read any of these books connected to NASCAR? How did they avoid any car crashes?
MAY 07
