This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will award a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn host. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Phaedra: On my favorite movies ever. Most gorgeous love scene ever. Movie that’s influenced my writing the most. Gorgeous score. Great acting. A love to burn the world down.
Blast From the Past: Adam, the hero (who’s lived in a bomb shelter all his life) is adorable, so innocent, so honest, and so open to the beauty of the world. Brendan Fraser, a superb actor in both comedy and drama, captures this charm and whimsy to perfection. And he can dance! Alicia Silverstone but she makes a good Eve, a bit shallow and jaded when she meets Adam, but essentially honest and loving like him, so I do love them as a couple.
Here’s the spectacular dance scene—Eve is helping Adam find a girlfriend. She tells him to be funny but expects him to be hopeless.
Romeo and Juliet: Zefferelli’s, not Baz Lurhman’s slight lunatic version. Except that Zefferelli cut too much of the actual text, it’s perfection. Beautiful and heartbreaking.
The meeting, set to the beautiful prophetic song.
Sense and Sensibility: What a pile of fantastic relationships. Elinor and Edward so adorable and the proposal scene makes me cry every time. I love that Alan Rickman wipes out the two handsomer actors with the intensity and tenderness of his love for Marianne. And even though Willoughby gets his just desserts, he’s still a delightfully sexy presence before he deserts. I think this is a perfect film, beautifully written, cast, directed.
Willoughby looks like the winner at first:
Pride and Prejudice: I’m fond of several! Sorry, I do not like Colin Firth as Darcy, though I appreciate the production as a whole and love Jennifer Ehle’s Elizabeth. My favorite Darcy is Laurence Olivier because, well, pride. Greer Garson is marvelous in the banter scenes, but fails to deliver a real depth of emotion. It’s got a great script but the production is too silly overall. But it has enough good points I return to it often.
But my favorite Lizzy is Lily James in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I really love Lizzy best, but Darcy’s transformation is wonderful.
Here’s the hilarious proposal scene:
Best version overall for me is the Keira Knightly film. I do love the Bröntesque feel, even if Austin would probably not approve. This version plays the physical attraction between Elizabeth and Darcy more than any other. I certainly responded to the sexual tension but I did miss the verbal banter and meeting of minds that other versions do better.
Bound: Corky and Violet, Woo! Pretty hard to find a scene that isn’t too steamy to post. It’s a great thriller and I love both women.
Who Am I This Time: I’ve watched this endless times. Christopher Walken and Susan Sarandon are fabulous as two lonely souls who find each other through acting. It’s a pity Walken didn’t get more romantic comedy when he was young and beautiful.
Full movie:
Luther (and Alice): This wasn’t on my list at first. It’s TV, so that’s one reason why. But then I added my beloved Who Am I This Time, which was an hour drama for American Comedy Theatre. And for what I watch over and over – and over and over – for sexual tension and a fascinating emotional relationship, Luther and Alice are way up at the top of the list. Do I believe a psychopath can fall in love? Probably not. Do I believe that Alice falls in love with Luther and Luther comes to love her? Yes. I do have to wonder if one of them would have ended up killing the other though. I couldn’t find their first scene, the interview, but this one is good at showing the game playing though you’ll have to watch the show to really get it.
La Femme Nikita (and Michael): So, doing TV and yes, another all time favorite couple. A wonderful attraction of opposites. They are both forced to serve Section One or be killed. Nikita constantly fights to keep her soul. Michael is convinced he doesn’t have one anymore but holds on to Nickita because she will be his soul, his conscience for him. I was going to write an Elizabethan historical romance that was basically a La Femme Nikita story. Instead, after many mutations, Michael and Nikita transformed into Michel and Theo in Floats the Dark Shadow. Without being captives of Section One, they had to change greatly, no longer captive spies but independent cop and artist at odds, detecting a murder.
The Last of the Mohicans: I wavered a lot on a final movie pick—really too many to chose from. Casablanca and its reverse, The English Patient. Notting Hill. Something New. But I love both Cora and Hawkeye, and even if action dominates the movie their love story is still at the center. Daniel Day Lewis is truly extraordinary in it.
The trailer:
Love scene at the fort:
Warrior. Spy. Marian Montrose dons silk or chain mail with equal aplomb. Sent by Queen Eleanor on a mission to Nottingham, Marian is waylaid in Sherwood Forest by the infamous Robin Hood. Her companions are stripped of their riches, but from her, Robin steals only one brazen kiss.
Seething with anger at the thief’s presumption and the haunting memory of his searing embrace, Marian arrives at the castle to find the sophisticated and seductive Sir Guy of Guisbourne a welcome distraction. Guisbourne would be the perfect ally against the Sheriff and Prince John but he believes he’s already picked the winning side. Deft at games of intrigue, Marian discovers Guisbourne’s involved in plans to steal the ransom meant to free King Richard the Lionheart.
Conquering her misgivings, Marian returns to Sherwood and recruits Robin with the promise of a pardon for him and his men. Now they are allies in the fight to return the king, but Robin wants far more from Marian. First she resists his almost magical allure, then succumbs, then resists again, distrusting the elemental power he has over her. Guisbourne may be lethally dangerous, but Robin threatens to consume both her body and her soul.
Danger surrounds them. Betrayal separates them. But desire—and fate—will not be denied.
Enjoy an Excerpt
Simon of Vitry was a dead man. His rush was telling on him. In his eagerness for the kill, Vitry had expended too much energy. As he thrust at her again, he stumbled over a root. He recouped before she could counterattack, but Marian regained her balance and her surety. She saw that the great sword had grown heavy for him, showing its weight in his faltering backhand. Deliberately she edged around him, letting him follow with his strongest cuts, then quickly reversed direction, playing to his weakest maneuver. The backslash came at her, aiming to open her chest. She brought her own sword under his blade and turned it, then instantly drove her point home, taking him deep in the belly. Vitry screamed, surprise and outrage rising to a shrilling agony as she pulled her weapon free. With a surge of cold triumph she saw him fall to the ground. He lay at her feet, clutching the wound and thrashing. She did not answer when he begged her for his death.
Implacable as fate, Marian sat by the edge of the pool and watched Vitry die, wondering if her father had taken as long. After an hour it was over. Rising, she went to stand over his corpse. Though all around the bright May greenery fluttered in the breeze, looking down on him she felt encompassed by winter.
About the Author:
Gayle Feyrer began drawing as soon as she could hold a crayon and writing when she was twelve. She holds a Bachelor’s in Pictorial Arts from UCLA, and MFA from the University of Oregon in Creative Writing. In her varied career, she has been a tie dye artist, go-go dancer, baker, creator of ceramic beasties, illustrator, fiction teacher, and finally, novelist. A Libra with Scorpio Rising, Gayle’s romantic nature takes on a darker edge. She hopes these shadows bring depth to her romances.
A world traveler, Gayle has visited Paris, England and Italy numerous times. She lived for two years in Jakarta, Indonesia, with many trips around Asia. She currently resides across the bridge from San Francisco, with her husband and their two rescue cats, Charlotte and Emily, the Flying Bronte sisters, half Siamese and half tabby.
Buy the book at Amazon.
Thank you for hosting “Marian” today!
Good morning and thanks for hosting.
Thank you for stopping by, and best of luck with your book!
The cover is just beautiful.
This book looks very interesting. Thanks for sharing!
The book sounds intriguing. Thanks!