All things Romance- Novel Reviews, Thoughts etc.

I'm not sure if this really fits into what my blog is about in general, but I figure it's my blog and I can do what I like.lol.
I recently wrote about the Twilight series which I adored, and since reading it I've become a little bit obsessed with the upcoming film. Twilight the movie is set to be released in the US on November 21st of this year and currently is looking at a UK release of January 2009 although I'm hoping this will get moved up. Whilst Twilight hasn't had the same level of success in the UK as it has in the US it has still done quite well and we also have the added interest of the lead male role of Edward Cullen being played by our very own Robert Pattinson (of Cedric Diggory fame).
The casting of Robert met with unbelievable levels of anger from Twilight fans and the actor is said to have received masses of hate mail in the few months after his casting being announced. The furore seems to have died down since Stephenie Meyer herself came out in support of Rob but out of interest I searched Facebook groups with Rob's name in and couldn't believe the strength of feeling of people who wished him dead, claimed he was the spawn of Satan and claimed their hearts died as they knew Rob was going to single-handedly ruin the film. I have to say I was more than a little bit disgusted.
On some levels I suppose I can sympathise with the Twilight fans after all Edward is a character described through the eyes of someone who is obsessively in love with him and he therefore comes to represent the perfect guy of every girl who reads them, it is therefore impossible to please everybody. I guess I was lucky, I've been a fan of Rob's since I lost my heart watching the Goblet of Fire so when I was reading Twilight I actually did picture Rob as Edward so I was thrilled!
However I CANNOT comprehend the utter disregard twilight fans have shown for Robert Pattinson's feelings and professional integrity. I can barely begin to imagine what it would feel like to have thousands of females calling you ugly and screaming for your blood and Robert is not a seasoned actor who has seen or experienced anything like this kind of reaction before, it's got to hurt. And in terms of his professional integrity I cannot imagine anything more galling for an actor than having people saying how dreadful you are and how you've ruined a film before you've even had a chance to shoot one scene. It is amazing what you can do with make-up and lighting, whether Rob looks like someone's picture of Edward should not be the issue. The character of Edward comes from within; the mental struggles, the mannerisms, the utter hatred of what he is vs his all consuming love for Bella, these are the real challenges that will separate a stellar Edward from a lacklustre on. I personally believe that Robert Pattinson is eminently capable of performing on these things and I hope the doubters will be pleasantly surprised or at the very least watch it before they put their plans to have him hung, drawn and quartered into action.

I judged a book by it's cover, and found myself sadly disappointed. The cover of Chasing Harry Winston is great; a lime coloured, killer stiletto with it's heel through a diamond engagement ring. The writer pedigree is good too, Weisberger wrote The Devil wears Prada which I just loved. So I picked it up and unfortunately the only good thing I can say about it is that at 278 pages at least I only wasted a day reading it.
Chasing Harry Winston is Sex and the City without the wit and originality. It charts a year in the life of three friends; Emmy, Adriana and Leigh all coming up to thirty and none of them married. The characters are so prosaic that I can't help but sigh in disappointment thinking about them. Emmy is, for want of a better word, vanilla, she has just been dumped for a younger model and dreams of long term relationships, weddings and babies. Adriana is a lesser version of SATC's Samantha only she leeches of her parents instead of being successful in her own right, she hates the idea of a long term relationship, flits from one mans bed to another and lives in a gorgeous penthouse apartment where she checks the mirror every five minutes to make sure she's still beautiful. Finally Leah, the little miss perfect , she's the intelligent young book editor with a famous sportsman for a boyfriend who is utterly dedicated to her and making her happy, yet of course she's not happy is she?
So Emmy decides she wants to sleep around, Adriana wants to marry a rich man and Leah tells the others she wants nothing but secretly wants to break up with her boyfriend, and they give themselves a year to do it.
I could tell you what happens but I think I would be insulting your intelligence if I did, and who knows some of you might still want to read it and I wouldn't want to give away the killer ending....
Basically this book is what I would describe as a literary vaacum. What I mean is you get to the end of it and try to describe what happened and all you can think is, well nothing happened. You spend the whole book waiting for a plot twist, or even something moderately deep and there is nothing, zero, zilch. The writing is flat, the characters are annoying stereotypes and to me it reeks of something punched out quickly to cash in on the success of Devil wears Prada whilst people still remember it.
I don't normally give stars but for this one I'll make an exception and give it zero stars out of Five, take it camping with you it might make itself moderately useful as bonfire fuel.

I've just finished reading the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer and I'm afraid there is a new name in my list of favourite heroes, Edward Cullen, I would pick Jasper but as he's not a lead he's disqualified :-(. The series is made up of four books; Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. It is mostly written from the perspective of Bella Swan.
Bella Swan moves in to live with her father at the age of 17 at the beginning of Twilight. Her father Charlie is the chief of Police in a small town called Forks in Washington state. On Bella's first day at school Bella is intrigued by the Cullen family and most especially by Edward Cullen who appears to hate her on sight when she is forced to sit next to him in Biology. The Cullen family are all graceful, beautiful and avoided by the entire student population.
When the very same Edward Cullen saves her life by pulling her away from an out of control van Bella realizes that something about Edward Cullen is not right; he is impossibly fast, apparently unbreakable, and held up a van with one hand.
When Bella finds out the truth about Edward it appears their relationship is doomed but Edward and Bella prove that if you want someone enough a little thing like one of you craving the others blood is never going to get in the way.
The Twilight Saga charts Bella and Edward's relationship, the dangers they face, Bella's friendship with Jacob, Bella's feelings of inadequacy and Edward's struggle between his desire to be with Bella forever and his fear that vampires are souless.
For me The Twilight series is successful for two main reasons. Most girls can relate to the Bella who arrives at the beginning, she is basically just average not spectacular at anything and not dreadful either, just average. As a result every girl who relates to Bella at the beginning dreams of having what she has, the certainty she gets from finding her soul mate, amazing friends and everything that is definitely NOT average. She's kind of empty so any reader can be Bella and feel like she's living it.
The far more important reason for the success of these books is, in my opinion, Edward Cullen. Something about this Vampire just capture the female mind. He has the elegant manners of the old-fashion gentleman we've read in Austen, coupled with a beautiful crooked smile and a love of fast cars. It hard not to fall in love with Edward in Book 1 and by Book 4 I'm afraid human males have just lost their appeal.
Viewed like this, as just harmless fun Twilight is great but it has a lot of deeper issues that troubled me a bit. But I'll discuss those in another entry later.
Stephenie Meyer has a lot to answer for. Me? I'm just going to be looking at people on the tube a little close; pale skin, amber eyes, impossibly beautiful...hmmmmmmmm.

I have a confession to make, I never quite believe happy endings where the hero and heroine just live happily ever after with all previous problems wrapped up and finished off with a little bow. Does this make me very cynical? Well I'm not sure but it did mean that I enjoyed Harriet Evans' new offering a lot more than I previously expected to. I picked the book up in a train station on a whim having quite liked "A Hopeless Romantic" which was fluffy make-believe fun and I was expecting more of the same. This new book however, well it has a lot more to offer.
Kate is a tortured soul, she ran from London to New York and never looked back convincing herself that she had recovered from 'the day that changed their lives' when really all she had done was put her life on hold. But now her father is ill and Kate is forced to return to London. Slowly as Kate tries to convince herself that leaving was the right thing to do the story of her past is revealed and I for one wasn't expecting it.
There will be characters you love and some you utterly hate! Sometimes it will be so cheesy you'll cringe but within an instant it can change into something fresh and new. This book really is a mixed bag! I Loved it and went away from it feeling the fundamental message that I believe people try to instil into us our entire lives; the easiest option is quite frequently the wrong one, life isn't for coasting its for living.

Picture the scene; your carriage is stopped by a group of highway men and somewhere in the midst of your fear you can still acknowledge that the lead man is devastatingly handsome and almost indecently charming. It can only get more confusing when aforementioned hottie kisses you whilst your boss declares him to be her long lost grandson. Intrigued? I don't blame you, and I assure you it only gets better. It's the new offering from the lovely Julia Quinn who I believe I've already waxed lyrical about. The story follows the romance between Grace Eversleigh, orphan from a well-bred but not aristocratic family who has been the companion of the dowager Duchess of Wyndham for the last 5 years (when you meet the dear dowager you'll realize that's the employment equivalent of Chinese water torture), and Jack Audley, Highway man, former army captain and all round ladies' man. But things are never that simple, when the dowager duchess isn't sticking her oar in there is the utterly delectable Thomas Cavendish, the other possible candidate for Duke of Wyndham, the mouthy Amelia Willoughby, and her father Lord Crowland who insists that his daughter will marry whoever turns out to be the Duke (nothing can hit a girl's self-esteem quite like a man utterly refusing to consider marriage to you.).
The Lost Duke of Wyndham is wonderful reading, it comprises of everything from witty banter to heartbreaking reunions, cute romantic scenes and steamy passion. I challenge anyone to read it and not enjoy it, and then pass it on to their male counterparts who will pretend to be disgusted but secretly love it too and will be practising Jack's lazy, lopsided grin in the mirror. And for girls without a male counterpart well girls everywhere are falling for the smooth Irish charm of Jack Audley but I'll let you in on a little secret...I'd rather have the lovely Thomas!
Hope you do read the book, and when you have you'll appreciate the truthiness of this review (and you'll get that reference too!)