As part of the UK Carina/Harlequin “We Heart Romance Valentine’s Event,” we authors are blogging about our favorite romantic novels, films, and television programs.
Here are my personal favorites!
Last year I read “Marianna,” an amazing novel by Kate Saunders. While not strictly a ‘romance’ in the usual sense – it deals with a serious subject, a young man who’s slipped into a coma – it tells the story of the ill-fated romance between Marnie Rivers, the main character, and her actor boyfriend, Dominic.
As Marnie sits vigil every day at Dom’s hospital bedside, she recalls their relationship with equal parts hope, and despair. Will he ever wake up and be the singular man she once loved – still loves? And if he doesn’t wake, if she listens to her friends and family and the doctors who tell her he’s gone and to give up on him, then how will she live with herself?
And how can she believe the stories that her friends begin to let slip – that perhaps Dominic wasn’t the man she thought he was?
Marianna is a moving, beautifully written, thought-provoking read; and it DOES have a happy ending, although not perhaps the one you’d expect.
For sheer comedic fun, I never tire of “Overboard” with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. Joanna (Hawn) is a spoiled heiress who hires handyman Dean Profitt (Russell) to install an elaborate custom closet on her yacht. But when he doesn’t use cedar, she refuses to pay him for his work. When Joanna falls overboard, Dean dives in to rescue her.
Unfortunately, Joanna doesn’t remember who she is.
Dean sees a golden opportunity to (1) get payback for her high-handed treatment, and (2) snag a free babysitter for his five boys. He tells her she’s his wife and the boys are her kids. Hilarity follows as the clueless Joanna tries to cope with various kiddie catastrophes. Gradually, she falls in love with the boys…and with their father, too.
Until her memory begins to come back…
Yes, I know, we’re supposed to choose ONE favorite television show. But I have two. And in my mind, they kind of belong together.
Who didn’t love watching the weekly adventures of Carrie Bradshaw and her best friends Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda on HBO? We rooted for Carrie and Aidan to forge a lasting relationship (at least, I did). Yet we knew, in our collective hearts, that Carrie and Mr. Big belonged together.
Charlotte survived an unhappy (and childless) marriage to Scotsman Trey MacDougal to find love with the unlikely but wonderful Harry Goldenblatt. Miranda, a lawyer with a high-powered career, eventually forged a lasting relationship with Steve Brady, bartender and all-around great guy who loved Miranda unswervingly through a LOT of ups and downs.
And Samantha Jones? The libidinous, I-know-what-I-want-and-I-go-for-it advertising executive found love with various men (and a woman) – James, Maria, Richard Wright, and 28-year-old hottie, Jerry Jerrod. Did any of those relationships last? Of course not…but, let’s face it – Samantha was NOT the ‘settle down and get married’ type. Ever.
Ann Marie was one of the first – if not the first – career girls on television. Feminism and changing times lead to the (then-groundbreaking) idea of a female character who wasn’t a male character’s wife or comedic sidekick, but a woman making it on her own in the working world.
As an aspiring actress, Ann Marie worked in New York, where she temped in between auditions and screen tests. She frequently exasperated her boyfriend, Donald Hollinger, a magazine writer who was as grounded as Ann Marie was goofy. Although Donald and Ann Marie got engaged at the end of the final season, surprisingly enough, they didn’t get married.
Marlo Thomas, who portrayed Ann Marie on the program, wanted to send young women the message that marriage wasn’t the only goal in life or the only way to happiness.
And while it’s true that marriage isn’t the answer for everyone, love most definitely is. Love and romance will never go out of style.
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