January 23rd, 2010 — 5 Stars, African American, Asian, Cinderella, Ethnicity, Kings, Princes, Sheiks, Chiefs, Movie Reviews
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I love Cinderella. I don’t really know anybody who doesn’t adore this type of character. Her story is one of rags to riches; poor in money but rich in love. Take her story, a timeless classic, and add Rodgers and Hammerstein to the mix and you have a hit musical. I love all versions of this musical but my all time favorite stars quite a cast of famous names including: Brandy Norwood, Bernadette Peters, Veanne Cox, Whoopi Goldberg, Jason Alexander, Whitney Houston, and Natalie Desselle.
In this version three new songs are added to the mix. They’re fun, uplifting, and just exciting to watch on screen. The first to appear is ‘The Deepest Love in all the World,’ sung by Brandy Norwood and Paolo Montalban. This song occurs just before they first meet in the market and it’s completely wonderful. It is probably my favorite song in the whole production. The next addition is ‘Falling in Love with Love,’ sung by the unparalleled Bernadette Peters. You really get to know the Stepmother in this sequence. The last is probably my least favorite, but it occurs at the very end of the movie in all the wrap-up so you can easily ignore it and that is ‘The Music in You’ sung by Whitney Houston.
I love the multi-ethnic casting! An Asian prince, a Caucasian king, a Black queen, and so on. Jason Alexander as the prince’s valet is spectacularly funny. Whoopi plays a wonderfully concerned queenly mother who just happens to always want her own way. Wink. Brandy is charming as Cinderella. She really makes you feel that she is Cinderella; her eyes are very expressive. Everyone was wonderful, so even as you recognize them on screen or try to figure out who they are the acting pulls you back into the movie before you can say Bibbity Bobbity Boo.
The choreography, costumes, singing, dialogue is colorful, spirited, enchanting, and just wow. Honestly, if you’re looking for a gift for your daughter, sister, or friend you can’t go wrong picking this movie out. It’s a feel good, put a spring in your step happy movie that gets you singing and dancing around the room just so you can join in the festivities.
Rating: 5 Stars
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Originally posted 2008-12-12 11:04:02. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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January 11th, 2010 — 3 Stars, Africa, Baroness or Viscountess, Category, Children, Contemporary, Divorced, Gambling, Great Britain, Guest Reviews, P-R, Racing, Scarred Hero, Virgin Heroine
By: Cara Lynn, guest reviewer
This one had a few twists and turns I didn't see coming, and it was more believable. The background of the leading characters unfolds throughout the book, and some of it you don't find out until mid-point.
Samantha van Bergen is in a disastrous marriage, mothering a step-daughter that she dearly loves. This little girl is bright and precocious, and knows more than anyone realizes she does. Her mother died, and Samantha had been her nanny.
The book begins with a bang. Samantha's husband, Johann, is a compulsive gambler, who has gambled away a family fortune. He loses it all to Cristiano. And come to find out, he has tossed in Samantha to sweeten the pot, but only after he offers his daughter first (nice guy, right?!) but Cristiano rejects this.
Of course, Cristiano has fallen in love with Samantha at first sight. He knows that the little girl will come with her stepmother.
The question is why is he going to this trouble? And what other unfoldments might we find along the way that unlock the puzzle?
Sam takes Gabriella and goes to England from Monte Carlo. When she is there, we learn more about her early life. She is definitely worthy of the best.
Lucky for her, Cristiano agrees with this. He wants to settle a fortune on her in a pre-nup, but she isn't interested in his money. They marry without a pre-nup, and when a divorce seems imminent, he wants her to use an attorney to guarantee her rights.
Instead, she decides to fight her fears, and she is successful.
She is a plucky heroine and you root for her when she comes out on top. There's very little fighting or whining; there is a strong, wealthy and scarred hero.
I give it a 3. Have you read it?
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Originally posted 2008-08-26 05:44:56. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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January 7th, 2010 — 3.5 Stars, Book Review, Estranged, G-I, Great Britain, Headaches, Historical Romance, Scarred Hero
Wolf at the Door is one of those stories that starts with a pebble falling off the side of a mountain and ends in an avalanche. The pebble is the little white lie Millicent Hyde tells her stepsister about being engaged. The snow drift starts when Sherry asks Captain Alec Wolferton if it is true, that he is engaged to Millicent. The avalanche is when Alec agrees in warm rich tones, that yes, he is Millicent’s fiancé.
Poor Millicent Hyde is in a pickle now. Always impulsive, she has been known to make one bad decision after the next – from running off with a poof who leaves her at the altar to telling the truth and creating scandal. Disowned by her father at her stepmother’s whim, it’s all she can do to watch the perfect Miss Sherry flutter her lashes and glide across the ballroom. Her own mouth gets her in trouble again and the noble Captain Alec Wolferton was just trying to help. Now his reputation is tangled with hers and Millicent is terrified the truth will come out and she’ll never reconcile with her father because of it.
For his part, Captain Alec Wolferton is quite pleased with this fake engagement. He’s on a mission for the London War Office to expose Sherry Hyde’s fiancé a corrupt and evil man. Colin Rafferty is also the man responsible for wounding Alec during the Crimean War leaving him scarred for life and doomed to endure forever constant throbbing headaches. It’s a personal vendetta for Alec to ruin Colin Rafferty as he had been ruined and not even the pretty, delectable Miss Millicent Hyde will get in his way.
The bedroom scenes are very steamy and enjoyable.
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Originally posted 2008-11-28 11:08:05. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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December 3rd, 2009 — 5 Stars, Book Review, Clumsy Heroine, Great Britain, Historical Romance, Poor Eyesight, S-U, Scarred Hero, Spectacles
I just finished rereading Love is Blind by Lynsay Sands today. It combines two of my favorite things to read in a romance novel. The hero is scarred and she is practically blind. Plus the sex is steamy. What more could one want?
Adrian Montfort, Earl of Mowbray, was scarred in battle against Napoleon. Raw and vivid, the scar proved indecent to display in polite society. Women swooned on sight! The women who did not cringe away in terror were nefarious and cruel. Before the night was over Adrian had packed and fled to his family’s seat in the country.
It is ten years later, after his father died, that his mother convinced him to return to London in search of a bride. Long suffering, Adrian complies and goes to London for the season. At the first ball, he explains to his cousin, Reginald, that the women are all the same, just younger, and proves it by referencing each maiden to one from the past.
Suddenly Reginald smiles and points to Lady Clarissa Cambray and dares Adrian to classify the chit as another girl from the past. She is clumsy, a terror to dance with, and vain, refusing to wear spectacles to help her see. Upset teacups, burned piffles, and alighting wigs on fire are her repertoire. Intrigued, Adrian finds himself drawn to her.
They hit it off right away with Clarissa’s frankness and cheerful retellings of all her woes since coming to London. But best of all in Adrian’s mind is that she can not see him! No awful cringing, fainting, or ugly whispers to contend with, but he can’t leave her blind forever. A few days longer wouldn’t hurt, though, right? He just needed a little longer to make sure she loved him back.
One of the most memorable parts of the novel is when the stepmother tries to explain to Clarissa about the marriage bed. Lydia, the stepmother, has either not had a singular good experience with sex or used this opportunity to spread fear of the act to her stepdaughter maliciously. It dealt with a key and a lock and more specifically the lock was a cherry pie and the key was a truncheon that was slammed violently into the pie. The fallout of this explanation scares the hell out of Clarissa and she immediately becomes terrified to complete the act with Adrian. Their wedding night is hilarious... poor Adrian was most confused.
Rating: 5 Stars
Happy readings!
Originally posted 2008-11-21 05:24:35. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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November 26th, 2009 — 5 Stars, Book Review, Children, Cinderella, Great Britain, Historical Romance, M-O, Scarred Hero
Let’s start this blog with my all time favorite romance novel, Charming the Prince by Teresa Medeiros. The surprising aspect of this story is that I like it despite the myriad of children presented. I am not a fan of them in most cases because I feel they’re not handled properly or serve a purpose to the story. It is not the case in Charming the Prince.
The novel is set in England during King Edward’s reign. They have just forged an alliance with France much to Lord Bannor the Bold’s displeasure. He loves war and fighting and does not know how to handle himself in times of peace. Plus he is terrified of his home life.
How could the Pride of England be terrified of his own castle? Well as I mentioned children before it is no surprise that it is his children that Bannor fears. And he should. He has twelve of the misbegotten creatures. His eldest son Desmond, is the most obnoxious one of all. Or is he? He has a soft side that Willow unlocks after a string of terrible pranks.
So speaking of Lady Willow of Bedlington, she is the Cinderella character to this tale. Her stepmother Lady Blanche treats her like a servant and nursemaid to the parcel of brats that she came into the marriage with and all the additions that came about afterwards. Willow is stigmatized into thinking she is ugly and unattractive because she does not fit into her step-family’s flaxen hair, plump bosom, wide hip beauty. Willow is French like her mother and reflects this in her tall, lithe, slender, dark hair beauty.
Her beauty presents the biggest problem to Lord Bannor, who only desires an ugly wife. He after all does not want to be tempted into love-making and begetting more of the terrifying beasts. All his good intentions however are thrown out the window the first moment he sets eyes on Willow.
Their tale is a humorous one as they both fall into the trap of misunderstandings. The pace and direction of the story changes when Willow declares war on her husband. And a war is just the sort of fire that will ignite all of Bannor’s passions.
Rating: 5 Stars
Happy readings!
Originally posted 2008-11-18 16:08:10. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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October 25th, 2009 — 4 Stars, Book Review, Category, Contemporary, Great Britain, M-O, Travel, Writer
First off I don’t get the title. I suppose I’m missing something, but nevertheless it’s very strange and I couldn’t spot a correlation to the story.
This book is another Harlequin Presents oldie. The hero is two years younger than the heroine’s father and more than double the heroine’s age. The author made a strong case for their romance while she built up the hero’s uncertainty and self-disgust until it fractures and breaks apart in a shower of pretty sparkles. It’s very rewarding.
Our heroine is seventeen and made a point early on in the novel about the arrival of a new stepfather. She’s no longer really welcomed. Her mother in a few short pages makes it plain in several ways that Tamsyn is an intruder in her own home. (She ignores Tamsyn or sends her from the room. She talks to Charles and doesn’t talk to Tamsyn the way she used to, etc.)
She’s leaves for Wales when her mother and stepfather take off for their honeymoon. This is the first time the heroine has ever really spent time with her father. She’s surprised to find her stepmother ten months pregnant (joke). She’s taken from the airport in Wales to her father’s home by her stepmother’s cousin, Hywel Benedict. He’s a writer and a preacher (after a fashion, he stands up and gives sermons in place of a real one because the town is so small.) Tamsyn finds him fascinating and frustrating and the rest as we say is history.
Rating: 4 Stars
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September 25th, 2009 — 5 Stars, Cinderella, Movie Reviews
Ever After has been one of my all time favorite romantic comedies. Drew Barrymore is at her best in this Cinderella spinoff (the first of a long string that soon followed.) Her prince is played by Dougray Scott, a very handsome devil that captures the sulky spoiled regent character very well.
This movie is one of those movies takes place in France but everyone speaks English. Good thing too or you’d miss out on a lot of the subtle and fun expressions this cast of characters do on a regular basis throughout the movie. My favorite one is the sly glance Jacqueline gives near the very end. She’s a wonderful supporting character that you’ll love to watch.
Danielle, Drew Barrymore, losses her father at the tender age of eight. The very day following his first night with his new wife, the Baroness, played by Anjelica Huston. You would expect poison or some other form of trickery, but this is never revealed. From that moment forward Danielle’s life is changed irrevocably from the life of a wealthy merchant’s daughter to the unloved and unwelcomed position of an unpaid servant in her stepmother’s home.
Meanwhile, Prince Henry has lived a relatively easy life until his father has made the unpardonable declaration that he is to wed some Spanish princess he has never met. Horrified by this backward thinking, Henry runs away (and this is not the first time he’s run off either). He encounters Danielle during this mad escape when she knocks him off his stolen horse. Paying her for her silence of his passing, Henry takes off again as if the very devil were after him.
The money paid for her silence heavy in her pocket, Danielle runs back to the manor excited and bubbly at the prospect at being able to save a man who has been servant, friend, and father figure in her life. A daring plan to dress above her station and a sharp-tongued speech directed at his royal highness insure the release of her old friend but starts a delightfully enchanting tale of cat and mouse between Henry and Danielle as he pursues and she flees until finally she is caught.
If you’re looking for a Cinderella tale that features a headstrong, book-read, saucy female lead this is the movie for you.
Rating: 5 Stars
Originally posted 2008-09-28 05:16:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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September 21st, 2009 — 4 Stars, Book Review, Cinderella, Contemporary, P-R, United States of America, Virgin Hero, Virgin Heroine, Young Adult
I'm a sucker for Cinderella plots. My first one was long ago and on the state reading list for eighth graders, you've probably heard of it: Ella Enchanted. The movie by the way is nothing like the book. The only similarity was the names and locations, but this review isn't about Ella Enchanted or the discrepancies between a novel and its movie makeover. Suffice it to say I have followed the Cinderella tale to other novels and movies and heard about Cindy Ella through Twitter not quite two weeks ago.
Cindy Ella takes place in L.A. at Castle Heights High. I found it to be pretty cleverly written. It's stuff full with lots and lots of trivia that will date the book in upcoming years because it's not going to be universally known... the pop culture references include everything from 80s movies, 90s pop music, fashion labels, and celebrities.
Cindy Ella has the usual trappings of the Cinderella plot with a stepmother and stepsisters, but other than that Cindy is relatively normal. Her dad is still alive and in good health. Plus she has a half-brother named Spencer. Also, while Clarissa and the Clones Ashley and Britney are clueless outside of fashion, celebrities, and popularity, they aren't mean like their traditional counterparts. Through in a therapist to help sort it all out and Cindy leads a basically normal blended life.
Cindy Ella Gold is 15 years old and considers herself average. She might be average in looks and smarts, but she's opinionated and has a fairly sassy wit that she channels into writing letters to her school's newspaper editor. They're never published, mostly because she's unpopular and a sophomore to boot. Until now... her letter to the editor about prom puts Cindy on the Untouchable list at school. Luckily for Cindy she has two wonderful friends to help her get through the period where she is socially ostracized.
Cindy has three crushes and no outstanding dating experience. While her social crisis is taking on epic proportions she's finding herself navigating boy drama. The first crush is a boy on internet, with whom she writes and shares her thoughts and daily life with in a way similar to You've Got Mail except it's all done via instant messaging. He refuses to share his name or picture and first contacted Cindy when she was still running a blog. The second boy Cindy crushes on is a boy in her real life. He's into sports (both soccer and basketball) and considered to be the most popular guy in high school. Did I mention he was a senior? His name is Adam Silver. Lastly and most recently added to the list is her 23 year old male SAT tutor, Noah.
Will Cindy be able to juggle boys, high school, and the prom?
Rating: 4 Stars
Originally posted 2009-01-22 05:52:47. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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