This blog is for those 18 and older.

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

Movies That Make Me Cry

 

Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!
So, my favorite thing to do on Saturday mornings (because I get up so blasted early and really, it isn’t fair to start running the vacuum at 5 in the morning) is to sit myself down (in the dark) and watch a movie. I try to find one I haven’t seen before and this past Saturday, I hit the jackpot. I watched Return to Me. It’s an older movie with Minnie Driver and David Duchovny but I had never seen it (which is a bit unusual, because I am such a movie buff). Anyway, the storyline was sweet and charming and surprising (Carroll O’Connor, he of Archie Bunker fame, played a loving Irish grandpa, which just tickled me) but the most remarkable thing of all was that the movie made me cry. Oh, not ugly cry, where I’m sobbing big tears, but some sniffles, throat constriction (you know what I’m talking about) and a few tears that made my vision blurry.
It made me think of other movies that do that to me (I am not a crier by nature—something has to really touch me) so without further ado, here is Marie’s List of movies that will make you cry (in no particular order):
It’s a Wonderful Life. I’ve watched this movie on Christmas Eve (yes, it’s a tradition) for the past thirty years and every year, I say I’m not going to cry at the end and every year, I lie to myself.
The Other Side of the Mountain. The story of skier Jill Kinmont. Sat in a movie theatre with a bunch of friends and bawled like a baby. I was inconsolable though no one else seemed to be.
Steel Magnolias. The funeral scene. Need I say more?
A Star Is Born. Doesn’t matter which version (though my favorite is the Barbra Streisand one).
Forrest Gump. The scene where Forest meets his son for the very first time and asks if he’s like me. Gets me every time.
Homeward Bound, The Incredible Journey. You know the movie I’m talking about. The two dogs and a cat (voiced by Don Ameche, Michael J Fox, and Sally Field) who have to find their way home. Yeah, that one. My son was embarrassed (because we were in a movie theatre and I sobbed like a two-year old).
It also got me to wondering about books that make me cry (as an adult. When I was young, any book that was about an animal—dog, cat, horse—could make me lose it). There have been only two that come to mind. The first is Paint the Wind by Cathy Cash Spellman. I’ve read that book at least ten times and every time I cry. I know the scene that gets me is coming up and I mentally prepare myself, but that doesn’t work. I end up in tears anyway. The second is Jodi Thomas’s The Texan’s Reward. The ending was so sweet and so love- and life-affirming (even though I expected a happy ending), I burst into tears.
What movie or book has made you cry?
Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

Friday, September 29, 2023

REVEALING THE VISCOUNT by Lexi Post has Released!


 

Revealing the Viscount (Marrying a Mabry: Book 3) has released. This regency romance is the third in a series inspired by Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I hope you enjoy!

Amazon  | Amazon UK  | Amazon AU  | Amazon CA  

Lady Mariel Mabry Beaumont is shocked to discover the man she loved, who died in the war, isn’t actually dead and has been in hiding for the last three years. Furious, hurt, and determined to have answers, she sets out to confront him, but the spontaneous, energetic man she used to know has truly disappeared, leaving her to face a cold, hardened stranger.

Marcus Stratton, the new Viscount of Blackmore, curses the fact his older brother died for many reasons, one of which is it has revealed him to society. Now there will be expectations, expectations he cannot fulfill, but what he can fulfill is his oath to bring the last of his men to justice…once he finds him. When the woman he hoped to avoid seeks him out, his true torture begins. Despite his love for her, or rather because of it, he must turn her away. She deserves far more than he can give her.

Yet unable to resist, he finds himself agreeing to Mariel’s proposition of a fake betrothal in which she’ll happily throw him over in mere weeks to avoid being pitied by the ton. But as they spend time together, his fear becomes reality and he falls even deeper in love, putting her life in danger. Now, the only way to end their façade is to reveal his personal war wounds, but will that be all that’s revealed?



About Lexi:

Lexi Post is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of romance inspired by the classics. She spent years in higher education taking and teaching courses about the classical literature she loved. From Edgar Allan Poe's short story “The Masque of the Red Death” to Tolstoy’s War and Peace, she's read, studied, and taught wonderful classics.

But Lexi's first love is romance novels so she married her two first loves, romance and the classics. Whether it’s sizzling cowboys, dashing dukes, hot immortals, or hunks from out of this world, Lexi provides a sensuous experience with a “whole lotta story.”

Lexi is living her own happily ever after with her husband and her two cats in Florida. She makes her own ice cream every weekend, loves bright colors, and you’ll never see her without a hat.

Website

Lexi Post Updates

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Amazon Author Page

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D2D

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Wednesday, September 27, 2023

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

 The season of witches, pumpkins, and black cats is looming.  Katherine Howe puts together a story rich with history, witches, paranormal, romance, and thriller.  

As a Harvard graduate, Connie Goodwin has the summer to create a dissertation for her doctorate.  The hard part is coming up with a topic.  Another hard part is created when her mother insists Connie clean up her grandmother's abandoned house near Salem, Massachusetts in order to sell it.  

Connie is overwhelmed with the work at the house, which she chooses to live at for the summer.  The topic of her dissertation, well, that is found among the old books and papers her grandmother collected.  


A centuries old Bible with a key and scrap of paper with the name Deliverance Dane enacts Connie's curiosity.  She finds out Deliverance was a witch from 1691, and her story is astounding.  Deliverance created the Physick Book of remedies.  All Connie needs to do is find the book and her dissertation is complete.

Many hours of consideration and wondering with a mind in need of information to fill the blanks, Connie meets Sam who's high up on a steeple.  Turns out he repairs steeples for historical buildings.  They become close friends, both interested in the history of Salem.

One other person with great interest in Connie's thesis, is Professor Chilton Manning.  his interest is exaggerated, and he pressures Connie to find the Physick Book.  He has ulterior motives, and the friendship and love from Sam is a great help in Connie's multiple projects, some of which are unknown dangers.  

Actual history of the Salem witch trials, a little magic, and intertwined romance produce an exciting read for the Autumn.

Happy reading,

Dawn

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

REVEALING THE VISCOUNT by Lexi Post on Preorder at 99¢ for only 3 more days!


Revealing the Viscount

(Marrying a Mabry:

Book 3) 

99¢ for only 3 more days

Lady Mariel Mabry Beaumont is shocked to discover the man she loved, who died in the war, isn’t actually dead and has been in hiding for the last three years. Furious, hurt, and determined to have answers, she sets out to confront him, but the spontaneous, energetic man she used to know has truly disappeared, leaving her to face a cold, hardened stranger.

Marcus Stratton, the new Viscount of Blackmore, curses the fact his older brother died for many reasons, one of which is it has revealed him to society. Now there will be expectations, expectations he cannot fulfill, but what he can fulfill is his oath to bring the last of his men to justice…once he finds him. When the woman he hoped to avoid seeks him out, his true torture begins. Despite his love for her, or rather because of it, he must turn her away. She deserves far more than he can give her.

Yet unable to resist, he finds himself agreeing to Mariel’s proposition of a fake betrothal in which she’ll happily throw him over in mere weeks to avoid being pitied by the ton. But as they spend time together, his fear becomes reality and he falls even deeper in love, putting her life in danger. Now, the only way to end their façade is to reveal his personal war wounds, but will that be all that’s revealed?


Buy Links:

Amazon  | Amazon UK  | Amazon AU  | Amazon CA  


About Lexi:

Lexi Post is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of romance inspired by the classics. She spent years in higher education taking and teaching courses about the classical literature she loved. From Edgar Allan Poe's short story “The Masque of the Red Death” to Tolstoy’s War and Peace, she's read, studied, and taught wonderful classics.

But Lexi's first love is romance novels so she married her two first loves, romance and the classics. Whether it’s sizzling cowboys, dashing dukes, hot immortals, or hunks from out of this world, Lexi provides a sensuous experience with a “whole lotta story.”

Lexi is living her own happily ever after with her husband and her two cats in Florida. She makes her own ice cream every weekend, loves bright colors, and you’ll never see her without a hat.

Website

Lexi Post Updates

Facebook

Instagram

Amazon Author Page

BookBub

D2D

Goodreads

Instagram

Blog

Pinterest

Email

Friday, September 22, 2023

I ONLY LIKE THE WOMAN IN THE BEDROOM!

 

Hey, gang, how the hell are ya?  Doing good here, just busy as all get out trying to work my way through Kickstarter and now BackerKit. But I’m getting there! 

So, today I wanted to tell you about what I faced last week at home…a dog.  To be specific, a little “wack-job” of a dog that can’t weigh even 20 pounds.  He’s (I think) a chihuahua / Jack Russell cross and is crazy as a goat that’s been loosed in an LSD lab.  Seriously!  The dog is a freak. Nothing this animal does makes sense. 

Okay, let me back up.  Here’s a cartoon picture of the little guy from a couple Christmases ago.  I know…he’s cute. Don’t let that fool you. He’s not all there, and he's a bad judge of character.  He actually belongs to my son and DIL, and he’s a total mommy’s boy…and the biggest fraidy cat I’ve ever seen. His name is Zeus.  I think they were hoping he would live up to that, but I honestly don’t see that ever happening. 

Anyway, here is where being a poor judge of character comes in…Zeus is afraid of me. Terrified, actually.  Or at least that is how it would appear to the casual observer. But the truth of the matter is…the dog just ain’t right.  He’s so terrified of me that he won’t let me catch him to go outside, so we have to leave his leash on him the whole time he is here…because he’s not smart enough to know that just because he’s under the bed, the leash is still out there where that woman can get to it. 

I have never abused the poor little thing, nor have I even threatened him and no one in the family can figure out why he has fixated on me. But Zeus has been part of the family for…hell, I think about eight years, and yet you would think every time he sees me that he is seeing some big, hairy monster for the very first time ever. They pull into the driveway, and he gets out of the car all excited to be here and I step out the front door and say, “Hi”, and he freaks the hell out. It’s the same routine every time and is so funny and weird that it has become the family joke that Zeus loves going to gramma’s house until he learns who lives there…because clearly, no one has ever told him before who lives at this house. 

Recently, he’s surprised us all, as he’s begun to warm up to me—well, sort of. His mom and dad will bring him and his sister, Zoe, by and leave them with me to babysit for a few days. Zoe…no problem. She’s in my lap the minute they are gone and, while she will cry a little bit over them leaving, she does great with me. 

Zeus, on the other hand, needs time to warm up to this stranger he’s clearly never seen before ever in his whole life.  Who could be so heartless as to expect a sensitive young man like him to just jump into the lap of a perfect stranger?! 

Well, the newest thing is that within an hour of his parents leaving, a switch flips in his brain.  He spends the first hour he’s here cowering behind a chair, peeking out to see if I’ve left yet. Then he just can’t stand it anymore and when he sees me sit down in the recliner in my room and Zoe getting all the pets, here he comes, launching himself into my lap. Scared the bejeebies outta me the first time he did it.  I saw him flying at me and worried that he'd finally snapped. 


So, once in my lap, he’s as happy as can be…stays glued to my side the rest of the day.  I sit, he’s in my lap.  I sit at my desk to work, he’s right behind me in the recliner…we are best buds…in my room, for the remainder of that day.
 

Then he sleeps... 

Apparently, when he sleeps, his brain does a “clear storage” operation and he’s the living embodiment of 50 First Dates. I go to get them out of their kennel, and he is cowering in the back, avoids me like the plague all the way to the door, then hides behind a chair the minute I take his lead off and snap the short leash on him.  Yes, he still has to drag the leash because friendship is a very fleeting thing with this wackadoodle. 




This photo is the morning after he has just spent the entire day following me and laying in my lap.  Now, all this said, keep in mind that I do spend most of my day in my bedroom, working—either in the bedroom recliner or at my desk.  If I move into the living room mid-day, all bets are off…the dog that has just been in my lap all morning is now terrified of me again. I go to the bedroom, we are buddies.  Move back to the living room later and I’m dead to him. His friendship seems to be very location-specific…again, only with me. 

We have tried to sort it out and the only thing we can come up with is that he really only likes the woman in the bedroom.  Apparently, the woman in the living room is a terrifying, mean person that is NOT to be trusted. 

Have I mentioned yet that he is NOT right?

Well, that’s my story, weird and wacky, and I’m stickin’ to it. Hang on tight now ‘cuz we’re gonna go real, real fast!

Love ya,  





 

Did you miss the Butterscotch Martini Girl Kickstarter? Worried about what new items we have added that you may have missed? You can still get in on the fun and pick up some great items either by backing a tier or choosing ala carte! Go to the BackerKit platform NOW at the link below, as you only have a short time and some of the new items are limited quantity only. When they’re gone, they’re gone.

COWBOY CRUSH CAMPAIGN ON BACKERKIT

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Dallas Trip Recap

 

Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!
Oops! I missed posting when I returned from my trip to Dallas. My only excuse? I was recuperating. It was a whirlwind of places and sights and sounds! I was exhausted, but so very happy I had the opportunity to visit.
The Stockyards at Fort Worth was everything I hoped it would be and more. We did shop (how can you not when there are so many stores to wander in and out of?) and we ate (too much! I gained five pounds! Yikes! But that’s all right). I did not get to take that ride on a stagecoach but I did get to see that cattle drive down the street. That was exciting (and yes, a bit noisy). I never realized how big the horns on longhorn cattle are! They were huge! And in all different shapes and sizes.
The best part was staying at the Stockyard Hotel. Oh my gosh! It was beautiful and exactly how I picture the Possibility Hotel and Restaurant from my Wives of Bravado County series! Actually, stepping foot inside that hotel brought that fictitious place to life. I took a lot of pictures (lobby, saloon, restaurant, but unfortunately, my brand-new phone failed in that endeavor….it recorded one picture of every 10 I took….not sure how that happened). 
From my understanding, the Stockyard Hotel was built in 1907 and is
reported to be haunted. I didn’t see any ghosts, but as we were leaving at the end of our stay, the elevator kinda dipped a bit, like someone else was getting on though there was no one there. A spirit from another dimension leaving with us? Maybe.
        I didn’t get to see the Cowgirl Museum. Apparently, it has moved to Fort Worth proper, but the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame was fabulous. And we were able to take a tour of the John Wayne Exhibit (I’m a huge John Wayne fan! Love all his westerns!). Here’s a picture of me with the Big Man himself!
I did meet my friend for lunch. You know, it’s amazing when you haven’t seen someone in a long time and then you do, it’s like you’d never been apart at all. Yup, she and I picked up right where we left off and it really was so wonderful to see her! I think I miss her even more now!
The Tiki Cruise around the lake was lovely (there was a nice breeze coming off the lake, which was wonderful because it was so hot) then it was off to a slumber party! I haven’t been to a slumber party since I was a kid. It sure was fun! I even did karaoke, not something I would normally do (apparently, I can’t carry a tune in a paper bag, but you know what? I’d do it again. In a heartbeat!).
We also found time to visit David's Bridal and look for Mother of Groom dresses. Found one or two that I liked, but I'm still looking. I have time. The wedding isn't until April 2024 but we all know how times flies!
Just thinking about my trip and all the things we did makes me tired all over again. I think I’ll take a nap.
Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie