February 18th, 2010 — 5 Stars, Big Misunderstanding, Entrepreneur, Great Britain, Movie Reviews, Spinster, Victorian
Have you worn out your copy of Pride and Prejudice? Are Colin Firth
and Matthew MacFayden
in need of a little healthy competition? Richard Armitage is just the man to sooth your hunger for another hunk of delicious brooding male. You will melt. Mr. John Thornton is a new Darcyesque figure to fall in love with over and over again.
Richard Armitage is not only singularly fine; he’s also a terrific actor. When he proposes, you’ll die. Loved Mr. Darcy’s fumbling attempts at wooing Elizabeth Bennet? You’re going to enjoy watching Mr. Thornton try to win over the forthright Miss Margaret Hale. Daniela Denby-Ashe does a beautiful job portraying the vicar’s headstrong opinionated daughter.
The story is about a retired vicar and his family moving to the North to Milton, a fairly large factory town. Here they confront illiteracy, poverty, ignorance, and social mores their life in the South leave them unprepared for, especially the mother and daughter. Mr. Hale befriends Mr. Thornton soon after Mr. Thornton makes a singularly bad impression on Miss Margaret Hale. Misunderstandings and stubbornness are rife throughout the miniseries as the protagonists dance around each other trying to understand one another.
If you come into this knowing nothing, you will love it. If you have read the Elizabeth Gaskell novel by the same name
, you will love it. Trust me, if you borrow this instead of buying it outright you’re going to be bummed at the thought of returning it. Sandy Welch’s screenplay is phenomenal—four hours of 100% heart-warming goodness can’t be beat. This may just have replaced the BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries
as best BBC miniseries.
Rating: 5 Stars
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Originally posted 2009-03-24 05:18:48. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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November 7th, 2009 — 3 Stars, A-C, Alien, Another Planet/Dimension, Book Review, Cursed Lead, Dragon, Highlander, Paranormal, Queen or Princess, Succubus, Survival, United States of America, Werewolf
Dark Highland Fire is about two distinctly polar opposites getting together and overcoming obstacles that should under normal circumstances lay them low. Rowan is a fiery demi-goddess akin to the vampire as she needs blood to survive. However her blood-taking is about life not death so at most she is a cousin of the vampire. Her actual species is called Dyaad and they are descendants of the Goddess Morgaine.
Rowan is full of sass, sharp tongued, and has a streak of violence in her. Her version of her tribe’s magic is geared toward destruction. This is important to remember as for why this is the case is revealed at the end of the novel. There’s one thing that irritated me about Rowan, the heroine of Dark Highland Fire. She claims to not need anyone but the novel starts out with her brother, Bastian, saving her by transporting them to Earth’s dimension and then again, same method, to the Scottish Highlands.
Bastian is a perfect character that at the author’s will be applied like deus ex machina to any situation to get other characters to safety. He’s used this way more than the two times mentioned so far. Overall he’s a good brother to his sisters and I hope will be the focus of another book in this set of Highland novels even though he's not a MacInnes Werewolf. (Speaking of the MacInnes werewolves cameo appearances of Carly and Gideon abound in this book!)
Gabriel is a lackadaisical werewolf. He’s third in line and happy to stay there – no plots to overthrow his brother or father. When Bastian spies him, the cool Dyaad Drakkyn decides to leave his injured sister in Gabriel’s hands. Gabriel questions this decision and is said to have a streak of stubbornness inside him to rival Rowan – which he was going to need. Successfully he manages to get Rowan to do the things he wishes for instance drink his blood to heal, stay put in his apartment for safety purposes. He hasn’t quite figured out that as the next Dyana of her people, Rowan is more than capable of holding her own (at least when she doesn’t let fear paralyze her and smother out her flame.)
Lucien is a Dragon, heir to the throne and has fallen in lust at first sight with Rowan. His father backs his decision to go after the little fire princess and claim her as his own. Dragons apparently don’t understand the words no and not interested. He’s the reason Rowan is on the run and afraid. Though honestly from the daemon creatures mentioned throughout the novel with powerful magic sound more scary. I guess their weak and overly ripe bodies are the reason they inspire more disgust than fear though that’s there too in most cases.
If you’re familiar with the first novel in the series then you know that werewolves mate for life and this ritualistic act is like a marriage. Rowan and Gabriel initiate and finalize this unwittingly during some steamy sex scenes. Once created it is impossible to break though Lucien is going to try his best to do so – Rowan is his and the wolf will pay. Find out if Rowan and Gabriel make it in this fast paced multidimensional novel!
Rating: 3 Stars.
Originally posted 2008-11-10 14:09:27. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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October 20th, 2009 — Author Interviews, G-I, Great Britain, Kings, Princes, Sheiks, Chiefs, Medieval, Queen or Princess
Hello Keira – thanks for welcoming me to your Blog!
Keira: How has Gwenhwyfar and Arthur's love evolved from what it was in The Kingmaking to Pendragon's Banner?
Helen Hollick: Things have moved on from the close of The Kingmaking. Gwenhwyfar now has one young son and is expecting another child. Arthur is attempting to consolidate his victories by making peace with the Anglo Saxon English – but not everyone agrees with his ideas, not even Gwenhwyfar. When he insists she goes with him to visit an English settlement she is horrified. Not only is she frightened by not knowing these people, or their customs and traditions, she is about to have her baby.
The relationship between her and Arthur is pushed to the limit – and beyond – in this middle part of the trilogy. Tragedy can either draw a couple together or rip them apart….
Be warned, a box of tissues may be needed!
Keira: What are some challenges that will be put to them to challenge the strength of that love?
Helen Hollick: There are quite a few, some of them tragic, some of them frustrating, some downright infuriating. But sorry I’m not telling you about them as it will spoil the read!
Keira: Arthur is now King – what challenges will he face in Pendragon's Banner? How does he hope to overcome them? How must he change?
Helen Hollick: Arthur’s goal is to unite his Kingdom and bring peace. It is an uphill struggle for him though, as other people seem set on stopping him. Even Gwenhwyfar….
Keira: Arthur’s stubbornness and Gwenhwyfar's temper are sure to cause problems. Outside of their relationship, how do their flaws affect life at court, politics, and situations?
Helen Hollick: There are quite a few exchanges of stubbornness and temper in this one. Arthur is single minded – he knows what he wants and is determined to get it, but members of his Council, especially his uncle, Ambrosius Aurelianus are equally as determined to stop him, which heads disastrously towards what could be an end of the Kingdom and peace.
We find out a lot more about Morgause in Pendragon’s Banner as well – and her daughter, Morgainne, the lady of the Lake. Arthur meets her and the inevitable happens. There are a few scenes where Arthur should have kept his breeches fastened – no doubt Gwenhwyfar feels the same!
Winifred, Arthur’s first wife also has her fingers dabbling in several pies. She wants her son to be the next King.
Gwenhwyfar has her own distractions. Her children, her worry and concern for Arthur – her jealousy of his other women. But then, she has a few male friends too. Friends who spark Arthur’s retaliatory jealousy.
There are several scenes in Pendragon’s Banner that draw from the early Welsh stories of Arthur, you may recognize a few or them. Weaving them into my novel in a plausible and practical way was my own challenge.
Keira: Why do you think people are drawn to King Arthur's story? To Medieval stories?
Helen Hollick: I think people enjoy the familiar Medieval tales of Arthur and the round table, Holy Grail and knights in armour because they conjure up a long-gone era of courtly love, honour, respect and Doing Noble Deeds. The whole chivalric image that brings out our romantic emotions.
But my Arthur is not from those stories. My Arthur is a rough, tough, down-to-earth war lord and soldier. The sort of man who can be an utter b*****d – but will fight to the death to protect you, and will always be there when you need him.
The figure of Arthur, in legend and fiction is one of the most enigmatic and intriguing of all the characters of English history and literature. What is it about him that makes people discuss him, read about him, write about him?
Google for King Arthur, and you will spend weeks going through the links. There are discussion boards, forums, facebook profiles, blog pages, myspace sites. He is there in virtually every genre of fiction, from fantasy to thrillers. There are movies of Arthur, poems about Arthur, plays centred around Arthur – you name it its been done.
People argue about whether he lived in the Iron Age, Roman period, Dark Ages or the 11th Century, the 12th, 13th…..
He was a local warlord in the north of Britain. He fought in Scotland, Wales, Brittany or came from the West Country – Cornwall, Somerset. He is the King of myth and fantasy. Magic and mystery surround Arthur and his deeds.
Was he from the realm of Magic – or was he a real man, a soldier who led a war band into battle? The sad fact is - there is not a shred of evidence to prove he actually existed!
For the truth about Arthur there are no answers.
And it is that which makes him so fascinating, why again and again we write about him, read about him.
I fell in love with Arthur while I was writing the Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy. I intimately knew that man for more than 13 years while writing the Trilogy – it took a long, long while to get him out of my system and move on to creating my next main character (Harold Godwineson in Harold the King. – also to be published soon by Sourcebooks Inc)
But that feeling is not unique to me.
I wrote to the wonderful author Rosemary Sutcliff just before she died. I had completed The Kingmaking, but it was still in the process of being made ready to be published, so I could not send her a copy. I told her all about it though, and my ideas of Arthur. I received back a handwritten letter (complete with her cartoon motif of a dolphin attached to the last ‘f’ of her signature.) She confided that after she had written her novel about Arthur, Sword At Sunset, she had not been able to get him out of her mind for at least six months.
I know what she meant…. And that is why Arthur is so popular. His spirit, his charisma, his presence goes on, living for ever.
No wonder the legends state that he will come again when he is needed. He never left. He is always here, dwelling in the minds of his loyal subjects, those of us who read and write about him!
Helen Hollick
Main Website: www.helenhollick.net
Blog profiles: www.acorne.blogspot.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/helen.hollick
Monthly Journal: www.helenhollick.net/journal.html
Follow Publicist Paul on Twitter: @psamuelson01
http://www.helenhollick.net/culpa41.html my own hints and tips for aspiring writers.
Buy: Pendragon's Banner: Book Two
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August 27th, 2009 — A-C, Contemporary, Guest Blogger
by Beth Cornelison Guest Blogger, author of Healing Luke.
Hi and thank you so much for having me today as a guest blogger here on the Love Romance Passion blog! I'm thrilled to have this chance to tell you a little about my upcoming release from Sourcebooks, HEALING LUKE
.
The idea for HEALING LUKE came to me following a family vacation in Destin, Florida. I fell in love with Destin, with snorkeling, and as soon as the Morgan men appeared from the misty realm of my mind, I fell in love with them, too. All of them, not just Luke.
And I must say, I love Abby, too. She was an interesting character to write, largely because she didn't want to be the character I originally intended her to be! She had a mind of her own, and with all her sass and stubbornness in place, she told me who she was and how I was to write her.
I'd intended her to be a sweet, innocent, heart-broken thing. A girl-next-door type. A dewy-eyed darling who was bowled over by the Morgan men and had her world totally turned upside down by these hunky men. Abby would have nothing of it!
Right from the beginning she hijacked my telling of the story and told me flat out she was not going to be the docile creature I'd imagined. She had spunk and guts and a strong will. She'd grown up with two bully brothers and knew how to hold her own with the Morgan men, thank you very much.
Know what? She was right! Her character proved far more interesting, more fun to write and a better match for Luke the way she wanted to be written.
That's not to say Abby didn't have her vulnerabilities and heartaches, but gone was the docile, well-mannered innocent I'd first envisioned. And it's a good thing, too, because Luke needed a good strong kick in the pants early in the story and someone with Abby's faith and determination to find the heart of gold he'd buried under his pain.
Here's an excerpt from an early chapter of HEALING LUKE to whet your appetite. Abby is at dinner with Luke and his family (father Bart and brother Aaron), supposedly to discuss the terms of her coming to work for them. In truth, Abby has pre-arranged with Bart and Aaron to work for the family under the guise of a business consultant when, in fact, she is there to counsel Luke and assist him with his physical therapy (which he refuses to do). Let the fireworks begin!
“Bart says you’re some kind of consultant.”
Her gaze darted up from her plate to meet his. She drew her small frame erect and took a deep breath as she returned his stare with a composure that contradicted her previous signs of unease.
“He says he wants to hire you to work for us.”
Abby hesitated, and Bart jumped in to fill the brief silence.
“That’s right. I thought she could stay in the extra bedroom, help out in the office, give us pointers on where to improve customer relations.” Bart sounded overly enthusiastic and uncertain at the same time. He gave a nod toward Abby and glanced at Aaron.
“Sounds good to me. Especially the part where she moves in with us.” Aaron wiggled his eyebrows at Abby, and she sputtered.
“I… I, uh, don’t remember that being part of the arrangement.” She sent Bart a hard gaze under a furrowed brow.
Luke followed the unfolding events with interest. He smelled a rat.
“But surely you agree that having you live on the premises with us makes sense. I could include room and board in your salary.”
“It’s just… I—”
“I think you could get a better understanding of… our situation, if you’re living here.”
Luke tried to read between the lines of Bart’s carefully chosen words while keeping a watchful eye on Abby’s apparent reluctance.
“I can see your point, Bart, but I—”
“I agree with Bart. I like the idea,” Aaron interrupted, nodding with enthusiasm. “So you’ve said,” Luke groused. “Personally, I think the idea sucks.” He pinned another hostile gaze on Abby. “Bart built this business without any damn consultant. He knows more about money and finances than most of the people on Wall Street. And while Aaron may be clueless when it comes to running the office—”
His brother’s head snapped up, and he grunted in protest.
“—he can fix anything with an engine and can have customers eating from his hand. As you know.”
Her sea-green eyes flashed her affront at his implied insult, and she squared her shoulders.
Luke cast a meaningful glance at his father before continuing. “I may have lost my eye and my thumb, but I still have a brain. We don’t need any damn consultant.”
Abby sent Aaron an anxious look. A stab of petty envy prompted Luke to add, “Despite what my brother may have promised you under the sheets last night.”
“Hey!” Aaron barked.
“Luke—” Bart started, his tone grave.
Abby raised a hand to cut his father off. In the tense silence that followed, Abby set her fork down and narrowed a challenging gaze on him. “You’re probably right. The business has obviously thrived without outside help before now. It’s quite possible that I’ll have nothing new to offer. Nothing is settled. We’re merely exploring alternatives right now.”
She propped her elbows on the table and leaned forward. “And I spent last night under my own sheets, thank you, though I find your interest in where I slept very… interesting.” Her lips curved in a sassy smile, as if she thought she’d bested him at his own game.
He mirrored her posture, bracing his arms on the table and leaning toward her. “I don’t give a rat’s ass where you slept or who you’re giving it to. Just stay away from me and my family’s business, and take your cocky attitude somewhere else.”
“Damn, Luke, what’s your problem?” Aaron said. “Abby’s only trying to help.”
He turned a scathing look on his brother. “I don’t need her help or anyone else’s.”
Aaron gave him a dirty look, a muscle in his jaw twitching, but he turned away without replying.
His brother’s lack of response irked Luke.
A month ago, Aaron gave as good as he got. Now his brother walked on eggshells around him. Frustration wrenched Luke’s gut.
“All right,” Bart said evenly. “We have one vote against and two in favor. It looks like the decision is now yours, Miss Stanford. If you’re willing to accept the terms laid out earlier, the position is yours.”
Luke turned toward his father, anger roiling inside him. “Wait a minute! My ‘no’ vote should count for something! We don’t need any damn consultant.” He aimed a finger and a narrow gaze on Bart. “You can’t do this without me.”
“I think we just did,” Aaron muttered under his breath.
© Beth Cornelison, Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2009
I have to say, writing the banter between the Morgan men (and Abby got in her share of one-liners...) was a blast, my favorite part of writing this book! Each of the Morgans had a distinct voice in my head (yes, I know that hearing voices makes me sound a little crazy!) to match their personality and their position in the family. They burst on the scene so clearly defined in my mind that I even knew what they ate for breakfast. (Aaron likes Froot Loops while Luke's more of a cold pizza guy. When Bart makes the coffee, you never know what you'll get, but it is usually way too strong. He dumps the coffee grinds rather than measuring.) The Morgan family quickly found a special place in my heart, as they did Abby's... and, I hope, yours too!
So what qualities about a character— any character, hero or heroine, protagonist or secondary— tends to make them resonate with you the most?
Happy reading!
Beth Cornelison, www.bethcornelison.com
Buy: Healing Luke
Beth Cornelison has 2 copies of Healing Luke that she will give away to two lucky commenters. This contest is open US and Canada only. Increase your odds by Tweeting, Digging, Stumbling, Facebooking, etc. this post and then indicate in your comment that you have done so! One extra submission per format of sharing. Winners will be announced on September 3rd, 2009. Good Luke luck!
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May 3rd, 2009 — About
No hero should leave home without these 10 items in his repertoire:
- Good Looks - if gazing at him doesn't get your motor running and your engine purring, he's not the hero of your dreams.
- Synonyms: Casanova, Adonis
- Skills in the Bedroom - or in the shower, on top of the kitchen table, on the living room floor, against a wall, on the stairs, in the car, ahem... you know where this is going.
- Synonyms: In SBTB land it frequently goes by the term Heroic Wang of Mighty Loving.
- Brawn and Brains - nothing kills a hero's heroism faster than stupidity. Intelligence is sexy!
- Charm - if he can't charm his way into your knickers with a smile, something's wrong.
- Synonyms: Magnetism, Thrall, Charisma, Magic
- Domestic Skills - if he cooks, cleans, and gives orgasms in sets of three or more, he's never allowed out of the house. His name is slave and he answers to Master.
- Synonyms: Maid, Chef, Sex God
- Brooding - all heroes brood, it's built into their genetic makeup. We females simply can't resist a good brood, it's our kryptonite.
- Synonyms: Sulking, Moping, Pouting
- Possessiveness - they have it, how often they express it is another matter to be taken up by the subgenre or author.
- Synonyms: Beast, Alpha Male; Green Eyed Monster, Jealousy
- Wealth - not just money, the hero must also be wealthy in knowledge, social connections, life skills, common sense... hold on the last one until later in the novel, because otherwise there might not be a story.
- Stubbornness - you didn't read that wrong. They're male, it's one of the few flaws we allow them, but only when it serves our purposes.
- Synonyms: Persistence, Perseverance; Inflexibility, Pigheadedness
- Heroine - what's the point of #1-9 if he doesn't have #10?
- Synonyms: She came, she conquered, and he's forever enslaved to the Magic Hoo-Hoo.
Photo Credits: d_vdm
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