romantic comedy – Juli D. Revezzo, author of the Antique Magic series and more

Top romantic films for Valentine’s day

It’s that time of year again, and since I usually do a movies thing on Monday I thought I’d combine them. There are tons of lists out there, everyone’s got their own favorite, and some movie choices that made me go WTH? And some I had to leave off just because—well, I had to cut myself off somewhere. When it came down to it though, it turned out incredibly hard to pick just a few. So forgive me if I missed one of your faves.

An Affair to Remember

A playboy named Nickie (Cary Grant) meets the lovely Terry (Deborah Kerr) on a luxury cruise, they flirt, and when he invites her to meet his mother, on a stopover, the encounter has Terry falling head over heels for Nickie. At the end of the cruise they agree to meet again in six months’ time, but tragedy prevents the meeting. When he finds out why Terry never showed up… well, it’s all good. You’ll have to see the movie to find out the end. I don’t want to spoil it for you. 😉

Somewhere in Time

A young actor (Christopher Reeve) falls for the portrait of a long-dead actress, and dares to go back in time to try to win the actress’ (Jane Seymour) heart.

Cold Mountain

A young man (Jude Law) sent off to fight the Civil War finds himself wounded, decides he’s not going back to the front and walks across two states to get home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina and the gal he loves (Nicole Kidman), dodging soldiers out to drag him back, runaway slaves, and befriended by a not so pious preacher. Meanwhile, Ada loses her father and has to learn to run her huge farm with only one helping hand the tenacious Ruby (Renée Zellweger).

A Room with A View

A young woman (Helena Bonham Carter) and her escort (Maggie Smith), Charlotte, travel around Italy where they meet the most bizarre young man (Julian Sands). In the center of Rome, despite her escort’s best efforts to keep her charge pure, they fall in love.

roxanne Roxanne

Steve Martin’s classic (hilarious) retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac. Martin plays C.D. Bales, the fire chief of a very inept fire crew, and owner of a very large nose. He falls for Roxanne (Daryl Hannah)—a young astronomer when their paths continually cross. Trouble is, C.D. isn’t exactly the most handsome man on the block, and Daryl has eyes for his new recruit—Chris, a guy that wouldn’t know romance if it bit him. He turns to C.D. for a little poetic help.

27 Dresses

A reporter (James Marsden) hears of Jane (Katherine Hiegel), a woman who’s been a bridesmaid 27 times in a row and decides to get the inside scoop. But the woman isn’t sure she wants to be a bridesmaid again, when she would stand for her sister–who’s marrying the man Katherine loves.

Carl has lost his wife of fifty years but… decides he must keep their dream of moving to Africa, just like their hero. Trouble is, his house is about to be taken away, and Carl forced into a nursing home. Afraid to lose the chance he’s finally decided to take, he devises a clever plan of travel. It has been said that the first five minutes of the movie pack more romance into it than some do in full length scripts. See it and you’ll see why.

50 First Dates

A zoologist (Adam Sandler) falls for a young woman (Drew Barrymore), but finds out she has a brain injury that keeps her from remembering her life beyond a 24 hour period. Despite these odds, he sets out to win her heart. (Although, let me warn you there’s a scene near the beginning that makes me gag every time. Other than that, this is a great movie!)

Shakespeare in Love

The bard (Joseph Finnes) faces writer’s block and finds his greatest inspiration in a young woman (Gwyneth Paltrow) desperate to act, in a time when only men were allowed on stage. From their affair (supposedly) springs Romeo and Juliet.
Gone with the Wind
A vain socialite sees her world blown apart by the Civil War, marries and loses her heart’s desire, only to fall for the broodish rogue.

I’d also add:

Four Weddings and a Funeral
A Englishman (Hugh Grant) and his pals attend four weddings, at each of which he runs into the girl of his dreams (Andie McDowell). When she marries someone else and a friend dies, it casts a pal of dread over both their lives. Do they get their HEA? You’ll have to watch it to see.

Wall-E

A lonely little worker-robot who’s only mission in life is to clean up the mess humans left behind on Earth, has his whole life toppled when a new, stylish robot lass shows up in his neck of the woods.

Letters to Juliet

A young woman on vacation in Verona, Italy finds a “letter to Juliet” and tries to find and reunite the lovers about whom the letter was written.

And I had to stop myself there or we’d keep going on… So that’s my list. What are your favorites?

Author Amie Louellen recently released her debut novel, Brodie’s Bride, via The Wild Rose Press, a delightful contemporary romantic comedy. She joins us today to tell us a little about it. Welcome, Amie.

Blurb–

Waking up next to a beautiful golden-haired stranger isn’t the worst thing that has ever happened to Brodie Harper, but staying in a fake marriage in order to gain a new construction contract could very well be.

Savanna Morgan just wanted a way out of an engagement to a man she didn’t love. Marrying Brodie seemed liked the perfect answer at the time. Less perfect the next morning when she finds herself disowned by her father and flat broke. Now she must make it through the weekend. Monday they can get it all annulled and forget it ever happened.

The real problem may be keeping their hands off each other until then.

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Excerpt—
“On Monday, after our appointment, you’re leaving.”
“I have to go home,” she said quietly, turning away from him to stare into the postage-stamp sized back yard.
“But we have an agreement for the weekend. I think we should have some ground rules.”
“Good idea.” Savanna clapped her hands, then rubbed them together as if she were ready to get down to business. “Like what?”
“We only have two working bedrooms here,” Brodie said. “Mine and Nan’s. Do you mind sharing a room with me?”
Her pupils dilated, and he knew she was thinking about the scarlet room they had shared last night.
“My room has two beds,” he continued. “We can be like Lucy and Ricky.”
She smiled. “If it was good enough for the Ricardos, I’m sure I can handle it for a few days.”
“We may not so lucky at the Sullivan’s.”
Sobering, she nodded. “If there’s only one bed there, we can just take turns sleeping in it.”
“Fair enough.” Brodie said. “Now, as a married couple—especially at the ranch—we’ll be expected to act like a married couple.”
“Okay. But only around others. When we’re alone, we can act like we’re not married.”
“Correct. But sometimes…” He took a step closer to where she leaned against the porch railing. “Sometimes married people hold hands.”
He reached out and took her fingers into his own. Her skin was velvet soft and smelled so sweet, like the mountains after a rain.
“I—I don’t have a problem with that.”
“Sometimes married couples put their arms around each other.” He placed her hands behind his neck, then slid his arms around her waist.
“That’s okay,” she whispered. He watched as she swallowed hard.
“And sometimes married people kiss. Just a peck here and a peck there. Are you going to have a problem with that?”
“Huh-uh.” She shook her head.
“Maybe we should practice,” he rasped, bending his head close to hers.
“Maybe,” she repeated before he brushed his lips across hers once, then twice.
His intent had been the small, nearly chaste kiss of old married couple, but once he got close to Savanna, once he could smell her sweetness and taste her heady essence, he couldn’t stop himself.
He pulled her close to him, gathering handfuls of her tank top, securing her to him. Over and over he slanted his mouth across hers. Over and over, deeper and deeper, until her whimper brought him back.
He released her, his breath rasping in and out of his lungs in hard painful gasps.
She grasped the edge of the porch railing, looking as disturbed as he felt.
With demonstrations like that, they may not ever convince Blair and Nan their marriage was an accidental twist of fate, but they would surely convince Red Sullivan their passion was for real.
Brodie ran his fingers through his hair, just one more gesture to keep from reaching for Savanna again.
“There,” he managed to croak. “That wasn’t so bad, now was it?”

—Brodie’s Bride,

Available at Amazon for the Kindle, and barnesandnoble.com for the Nook.

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Wow! Is it hot in here, or just me? 😉 Thanks for sharing that with us, Amie!

Now then, Amie’s agreed to give away a e-copy of Brodie’s Bride, in PDF or Epub ( $6 value), to one commenter so please, leave a question or a comment for Amie if you’d like to win (and don’t forget your email address, please!) and come Wednesday, we’ll choose a winner.*

Thanks again for stopping by, Amie, and good luck with Brodie’s Bride!

To learn more about Amie Louellen, see her blog at: http://amielouellen.wordpress.com/

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(Legalese silliness: My apologies to my Canadian friends but contests only open to US residents, and void where prohibited by law.

No extra entries necessary other than, of course, to leave a comment on the appropriate contest entry for that time period.

Full site giveaway disclaimers here) *Giveaway has expired.